Long before I was a writer, I was a reader. I still am. There’s little I enjoy more than tucking myself into a cozy corner with a good book and no obligations to take me away from it – I can read for five minutes or five hours, whatever I want. That, for me, is heaven.

And because reading is so important to me, it’s usually a book I turn to when I’m feeling lost or down. And when I feel that way, I don’t want something new, no matter how good it might be. What I want is an old friend, a book whose characters have touched me in some way, one I can read over and over again even though I know everything that’s going to happen. Because it’s not the plot that makes me want to revisit the story, it’s the people.

There are a lot of books, a lot of authors whose books I always buy and always read, but those books and/or authors are not necessarily the same books/authors on my comfort shelf.

So, what are my comfort books? Here’s a few of them, beginning with the ones I read years ago and moving to the present …

Kate Elliott’s Prince of Dogs – This is actually the second book in her Crown of Stars series and I love the whole series. But this second book touched me more than the others. I love the development of Sanglant and Liath’s relationship in this book. Well, actually, I think Sanglant is one of the best fantasy characters ever written, but I especially love this book.

Patricia Kennealy’s Keltiad: Tales of Aeron. The Copper Crown (1984),The Throne of Scone (1986), The Silver Branch (1988). Kennealy’s characters are powerful and her mythology compelling. My favorite of the three is actually The Silver Branch which, although it was the last one published, is actually the first of the stories chronologically.

Linnea Sinclair’s Finders Keepers Again the characters. I love the relationship between Rhis and Trilby, the way it develops, is challenged and grows stronger.

Eileen Wilks Tempting Danger The first in Wilks’ World of the Lupi books, this starts the series with the meeting between Lily Yu and Rule Turner. Chosen by the Wolves’ Lady to be partners, the two must reconcile their forced intimacy with their own feelings for one another while trying to save the lives of people they care about. What a great concept! And Wilks does it so well.

Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten Again the first of a wonderful series, this book introduces the wolves of Armstrong’s Otherworld, and most importantly Elena, the only female werewolf, and Clay, one of the most intriguing characters I’ve ever read.

And my most recent Comfort Book … Adrian Phoenix’s A Rush of Wings in which we’re introduced to Dante Baptiste, one of the most beautiful, seductive, powerful and frighteningly vulnerable characters ever created. I’ll spend an evening with Dante and his friends any time.

I know there are more on my shelf. And there are some that used to be there, but have lost their place because of what the author did with her/his characters in later books — things that destroyed even the early books for me, because it made me see the characters in a different light. But these are the ones I read the most, the ones I’m most likely to reach for.

You must have comfort books, too, dear readers. I know I’m not the only one out there!

DBR

One final note … anyone who’s read my books knows I believe in a well-trimmed bikini area. But THIS woman takes it to a whole ‘nother level. Her ex-husband? While driving? To meet her boyfriend? WTF