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Great Expectations…yep, they suck

October 6th, 2007 at 04:19am orangehands

lou, good thoughts to you and DH. ((HUGS)) anything we can do, we’ll be there.
***

i have certain expectations when i go in to see a movie, or read a book, or hang with a friend, or go to class. these expectations may be good or bad, but they’re mine, and they’re from past experience/trailers/things i’ve heard. sometimes things fall far below my expectations (i have a list of movies/books, somewhere), and some so far exceed them i think something that was probably only “good” was amazing, and most times i met my expectations.

right now there’s a huge debate going on among the romance reader community, and it centers on Ward’s new book, Lover Unbound. (no spoilers for LU, i promise). people are having very mixed reactions to the book, and while most center on the end, there’s enough other stuff thrown in that makes you think. and the way people are reacting- i’ve seen people in the romance community go at it before. but i’m still surprised by how many conversations start off reasonable, listing things the person liked/disliked, and quickly move into a destructive fight between the rabid fan base who don’t believe anyone can hate her stuff (or utter a mean word) and people who think the book was a cheap-cop out with a host of other problems, normally ending with “you suck” and “no, you suck”. (i may be paraphrasing- it may be more “no, YOU suck, #%#^$%^%$, and your mom sucks too”). now, i see things all over the internet with conversations ending this way, from anime talks to the best water heater to choose (”you like X Brand? moron, someone should do the public a service and cut off your internet…and your mom sucks too”).

and though i’m oversimplifying things, it comes to expectations. from Ward, i expect a) Brothers and their relationships with other Brothers; b) a certain way of talking (”true”, “feel that?”, “(rapper and song title) pounded out of the speaker”, etc); c) a romance between a Brother and someone else; d) secondary stories; e) an extra “h” in words; and so on and so on. but basically, i expect a good book with a surprise twist ending. and the thing is, her books kept getting better. i mean, i liked the first two, and then Z’s book blew me out of the water. (Z…*sigh* have i mentioned how much i love Z?). for Butch’s, i really didn’t have very high expectations; i wasn’t that big on Butch, or Marissa, and while i liked V i was still on a reader high from Z. so that book was more about loving Ward’s writing style and calming my jones till the next book. and LR, while still not as good as Z’s, so totally passed my expectations that i still think of it as better than i probably would have if i read it the first time expecting magic again. and that’s the thing. how do you keep surpassing reader’s expectations? because from what i’ve been reading, for a lot of these posters, Ward fell way below, and readers are PISSED.

i truly believe no author can do it right 100% of the time, just like no actor is good in everything, and no friend stays the same, and no class will keep me entertained the whole two hours, no matter how much i like the teacher or subject. no one can do something a 100%- there will always be that one off day, or book, or movie, or whatever. but every time i go in, i expect it to be good, and for authors, maybe even a little better than the last time, or at least at the same level.

so i’m turning it over to you all, now. what have expectations done for you? and would you- with what seems like a lot of ex-Ward fans- drop someone just because your expectations weren’t meant? would you completely give them up if they missed the mark that one time?

it’s coming down to- do you believe in second chances?

Entry Filed under: Books