Some of you may wonder why I get so doggone excited when I find a new Cozy Mystery author to follow. Well, there’s a very simple answer…

From time to time, I go through a “try new authors” phase… I read cozies by authors with whom I’m not familiar. I check out what other people have to say about the author, but ultimately, I decide for myself if the author might be someone I would enjoy reading.

I am not swayed by people who never write a negative review about a book or author. I mean, when 4 stars is the very lowest Amazon rating you ever see by a reviewer, it sort of cheapens the person’s reviews. I don’t even read those comments. (And, unfortunately, I don’t like seeing those 4-star-or-over reviewers on the back of a paperback mystery or on an author’s site… I get the same “avoidance” feeling, which I am sometimes able to overcome.)

I actually saw a person post an entry once who admitted to “having to find positive things about a book” he/she was reading to review. What?!?!

I don’t post negative comments, but I do post positive, only when I truly feel positive about a book or author. Because of this, the authors/books that I truly do not like, I simply don’t mention. I don’t know if that’s fair, but that is what I choose to do. I won’t go out of my way “to find positive things about a book” just for that purpose.

Better to be positive than to have to find something positive…

I have over a hundred books in my TBR book shelf. These are books I have acquired over several years – books that I am looking forward to reading. All of them are books by many of my favorite authors, so they are “tried and true” books for me. I know that none of them will disappointment.

So, what would compel me to go out and buy three more books? And then, upon finishing the first in this author’s series go out and get eight more books in her other cozy series?!?

I have written about a good friend of mine who shares my taste in Cozy Mysteries several times before. We met over ten years ago, when both of us belonged to two different online mystery book groups. She recently told me about a Cozy Mystery author she has been reading AND enjoying a lot. My taste in Cozies is so similar to hers that I quickly ordered the first book in this author’s new series. Well, I just finished the first book, and her recommendation is greatly appreciated! I am now reading a second book by that author.

When I first started the Cozy Mystery site I only posted authors who I had read. That was a few years ago, and although there were quite a few authors on the site back then, it has grown a lot. (Thanks to Cozy site readers who have recommended so many authors for me to add.) So, I already had this particular author on the site… She had been recommended by several people. I used to try to keep up with reading the recommended authors… but I found that I just couldn’t. So, I slowly try new authors who look particularly interesting to me. (This author is one of those writers who I put on my list of authors to definitely try… but it would have taken me a while to get to her, as that list is rather long.) I am currently reading the first cozy in her other series.

Now I have over a hundred, PLUS nine new books in my TBR book shelf!

PS>>> I’m writing my Monday’s blog right now, in which I talk about my new Cozy Author…

OK! I’m off on another rant! So, be forewarned!

Have you noticed that lately, while watching American TV shows (as in USA shows>>> Yes, yes, I know: South America, Central America, Canada…) it has gotten to look like all of the actors are competing on who got the whitest veneers? (I think that is the name for those things. It’s either that or luminaries, sort of like crowns, but I believe a whole lot more expensive!) Right when you see an actor open his  mouth, with the whiter than white teeth, an actress smiles and you see a dozen miniature flashbulbs go off!

Am I the only one who finds these “dazzling-est of dazzling” teeth distracting?!?  It has gotten to a point where even the actors who are playing street people, upon opening their mouths, sport their dentists’ over-zealous whitening techniques.

I’m not advocating that we stop using “All-Whitening Crest/Colgate,” but really… is a blindingly bright snow-scape what we are now going for? I mean, just how white is white?

Oh well, I guess that if I was able to get used to anorexic actresses who are “top heavy,” I will soon get used to these new developments in our society. Oh, Brave New World….