Day 3

Author Life Month: My last 5-star read

Reading is such a personal thing and everyone has a different idea of what makes a 5-star read. My biggest turn off when reading something, whether it's anything from a Facebook post to a full-length novel, is bad grammar or horrendous spelling. But the occasional typo is not enough to put me off. Which is what got me thinking about my last 5-star read.

I'm a voracious reader and can read up to 4/5 novels a week when I'm not writing. It's rare that I find a book that I can't finish and even rarer to find a book that makes me 'feel'. However, when I find something that makes me cry, or laugh out loud, or even mourn the end I can't help but put that in my 5-star pile, even if the occasional typo crops up.

So here's the thing.... my last 5-Star read... Harry Potter fan fiction. When I found myself sobbing into my pillow at two o'clock in the morning, I knew that I'd found something special. By the time I'd finished the story, I was hooked and it's inspired me to start looking beyond the usual places for something new to read.

So when you're looking for your next read, why not try something new? A new genre, a new author, something 'indie', something unpublished... You never know what kind of gem that might surprise you!