Random (pathetic) fact about Meljean #353: Winking

If I’m reading a book, and one of the characters winks, I can’t stop myself from winking back.

I don’t know why. I hate it. And it’s not like I can prepare myself for it (unfortunately, books don’t come with winking warnings WATCH OUT FOR PAGE 45, AGH!) and even if I know it’s coming up (like when I’m reading back through my own work) I do it anyway.

(I suppose this would be a really good way to torture me — if someone like, say, Ilona Andrews wanted to torture me to death, she’d write a book where everyone is winking all of the time. And I wouldn’t be able to put the book down, because she’d written it, and her last book has pretty much guaranteed that I’ll read her even if she starts writing books about rainbow unicorn babies. I’d still take it. It’d be like a rape of my eyelid, but I’d secretly want it.)

Speaking of Ilona Andrews: I LOVE THIS BOOK. I got a chance to read MAGIC STRIKES back in an earlier (unfinished) form, and I liked it a lot — but I got the final version, closed the book, and felt happy. Absolutely satisfied in every way. Sometimes you run across good stories, and really good stories, and excellent stories, and think they are wonderful … and then there are the books that are not only excellent, but just hit every single one of your happy buttons. This book did that.

So I’m giving away a set of Kate Daniels books (complete with Powell’s Bookstore tote that is kind of a little ugly, but I saw it at the store last night while I was checking out after going to see Candy Tan’s BEYOND HEAVING BOSOMS reading (which, by the way, was fantastic) and I’m such a sucker for 99cent totes. So, of course, I bought a bunch).

Here are the rules: leave a comment mentioning a book that was both excellent and happy-button pushing for you, and you’ll be entered to win MAGIC BITES, MAGIC BURNS, and MAGIC STRIKES, and an ugly tote bag. I’ll do a random drawing tonight, midnight-ish. Open to everyone, even furreigners.