You have to understand first that romance novels always follow a pattern. I personally hate that, so when I find a book that doesn’t, I instantly love it. The pattern is that there is a long build up for the couple to get together. Then they do and there is always great sex. Next there has to be something that happens that breaks them up, and the story ends, of course, with the couple coming back together to live happily ever after. Generally the break portion of a book is the part that always angers me. It’s always something stupid that makes them split. Well, H2H had an interesting plot twist.

A year prior to the couple in the book getting together, one had a heart transplant and the other lost her twin sister to an anneurism during child birth. Turns out that there was a strong possibility that the heart the main character received was from the other’s dead sister. And this, of course, freaked her out and she just couldn’t bare to be with the woman of her dreams if that was the case. She explained it as feeling like she was making love to her sister. I didn’t see it that way.

People donate organs to loved ones all the time. I thought it was a wonderful coincidence that if she did indeed have her sister’s heart, what a joy she was able to help save her life. I also thought what kind of karma was that that she actually made the decision to donate her sister’s organs and now the woman she loves is alive because of it. And to think that you still have a piece of your loved one with you all the time. Obviously that was not the mindset of the main character.

So she freaks out. Okay, but she really does nothing to find out the truth. That wasn’t believable to me. And it took so long for her to even talk to the woman she loved, to tell her how she felt. She just didn’t say anything. Sheesh! That made me mad.

I still liked the book though, and I appreciate that the canned part was actually a little different from the norm.

A while back I was minding my own business when at tweet came across my stream on Twitter from @msherr.

I immediately recognized the book and the author as The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It has been so long since I’ve read the book, but I distinctly remember this part because of the personification of the lake. It’s truly a beautiful book.

So we’ve been following each other ever since, and Ms. Herr tagged me with this interesting tag:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences (sentences 6-9).
5. Tag five people.

Okay, so I’ll start by saying that I had to change the rules. I just had to blaze a new path. Do things my way or the highway. (Insert your own Cliché here)

The nearest book to me was my Freshman Composition book. I was not about to spend 20-30 minutes writing a blog post to insert a few lines from my textbook. Booooring. Next was the book I’m so desperately trying to start and finish: Persepolis. Yes, it’s a movie, but it was book first. And if you’re familiar with it, you’ll understand why I couldn’t use it either for this. It’s a picture book with bubbles with text in them. Pass.

Okay, so here’s where I changed the rules. Close your eyes and randomly grab three books off your bookshelf. Follow the above rules. Post the best one. So here goes:

“I am one such intrusion, stroking you with necrophiliac obsession, loving the shell laid out before me.

The dead you is constantly being rubbed away by the dead me. Your cells fall and flake away, fodder to dust mites and bed bugs. Your droppings support colonies of life that graze on skin and hair no longer wanted.”

I’ll leave that uncited in case anyone cares to guess the source. It’s a great book- one of my favorites. It beat out A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf – didn’t have 123 pages, and Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues. I just couldn’t bare having to type the word vagina 3 times and have it read out of context.

Now for the best part. Who should I tag? I’ll go with my old faithful Cybersalon Crew and my reading buddy. Although I don’t anticipate a big response since I know half of you will be heading off to SXSW next week, just thought I’d see what you’re reading.

1. @caitcody: I’m sure she’s got some juicy Rad book sitting on her nightstand.
2. @nooccar
3. @rrodrigo
4. @befitt
5. @cogdog

I spoke with Baldwin about her action adventure novels. Her first romance, Focus of Desire, was just published, so I thought I’d give that a try. She signed it and asked that I email her to let her know how I liked it. I read it on the plane ride home yesterday, so I’ll be sure to do that.

Goldsby was equally nice having posed several times for a photo. I grabbed her coming out of a reading at the Vixen for my first shot, but my photographer (Paffy) failed me and captured me with my eyes closed. She looked amazing of course. Then we ran into her again at Now Voyager and I got this shot. I hope she doesn’t think I was stalking her. lol.

Anyway, we spoke briefly about her work and the possibility of African American characters in future novels. She says her next novel out in 2008 will have a Black character, although she will need to do some research on that. I understood exactly what she was talking about. I had a similar conversation with Marianne K. Martin about a couple of Black characters she wrote in her novel, Mirrors. She did a fabulous job of portraying the stereotypical Black woman in contrast to the other extreme, a bi-racial Black woman who some may consider “not black enough.” It was a really interesting dynamic, and for a woman who is not Black, I thought she did a great job.

I can’t wait to see what Goldsby comes out with next. But it turns out she already has three other books published besides one of my favorites, Such a Pretty Face. I need to hurry and catch up. If you’re into reading fiction, I highly recommend reading something from any of the four authors I mention here. Such a Pretty Face is real, yet hilarious. Baldwin is the master of action/adventure, rivaling even Rad, who writes everything superbly. And Martin is just great. I don’t even know why, but her books are just different, deeper maybe, and real.