That One Certain Book

The first romance book I read was Roberta Gellis's BOND OF BLOOD. That was at age 12. I picked up the book at the library because it had a horse and a knight on the cover. I loved horses, knights and cowboys. Chances were I had already read everything they offered with cowboys on it. There was one scene I didn't understand until years later (THE SEX SCENE) when I bought a paperback copy of it. That copy now has Ms. Gellis's autograph and she wrote "For Carla. Kind enough to be a faithful reader." ::sigh:: I almost cried when I talked with her. What a nice lady.

I do have another book that profoundly changed how I looked at books and the stories they tell. THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder. Until then I never imagined a book could make you think about why things happen. The author admitted he left the story open for interpretation on purpose. So the big question remains, did the people on the bridge die because they were predestined or as punishment or was it an unlucky accident?

In my books, I like to place layers where hints are left to be solved further in the story. I just have to be careful and not leave loose threads unsolved or make the book too heavy and cumbersome.