What to Read?

As a romantic suspense author, reading is like homework for me.

I read as many best selling suspense and romantic suspense novels as I possibly can, and work hard to learn something from each and every one.

My most favorite author of all time is Wilbur Smith. He writes what I can only define as exxxtreme romantic suspense, although actually, his books cannot formally fit into the romance genre, as they don’t necessarily have a happy ending. They are immoderate, intense, terrible, wonderful, exceptional and graphically passionate. Maybe they are so vivid because he comes from Africa, like me, and Africa is a very vibrant place. It’s the first thing that always hits me when I go back to visit. There’s a unique pulse to it, and even the colors are brighter.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell has to be my most favorite love story of all time. Now that I live in the south and have visited some of the places she wrote about, it has really come alive for me. It too, cannot be termed a romance in the true sense of the book world.

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak comes a close third. Maybe I just like sad endings? I don’t write them, though. I like my heros and heroines to get together in the end.

Other romantic suspense authors whose books I adore are Danielle Steele, Sidney Sheldon, and of course, Nora Roberts.

I’ve read and enjoyed romantic suspense novels by plenty of other authors, but I’d love to get some recommendations from other readers and writers, so I can expand my knowledge of romantic suspense, and hopefully keep improving as a writer.

Please feel free to comment.

Peace and Love.