The lure of the family saga - even if the book is not that good

I have found myself reading the Nora Roberts Bride Quartet (about four BFFs who set up a bridal business - Parker organises, Emmaline does the flowers, Mackensie takes the photos and Laurel designs the cakes).  I started at book number two (the library didn't have the others when I was there), and even though I am not normally a fan of Roberts straight romances (I prefer the suspense romances as they have  bit of mystery and danger), I found myself sucked in.  I am not that sure why, as the story itself was not very exciting and the details of the bridal business got a tad boring (I am also of the opinion that some people spend way too much money on their weddings!  Some of the trappings that the Quartet (the nickname of the four main characters), were producing for the weddings seemed incredibly over-the-top - but maybe those sort of weddings are normal in the US... 

So even though I felt a bit blah about the story I found myself downloading number three and four onto my Kindle (couldn't wait for them to get into the library!  Why??!).  I think it is because each of the books is about one of the main characters and you begin to buy into them as people and want to find out what happens to them.  I haven't read number one in the series as I already know what happens to Mackensie from the other three books and the story itself is just not that gripping.  I have now satisfied myself with finding out their 'history' but find myself feeling somewhat unfulfilled from reading the books. 

The same thing happened when I started reading Stephanie Laurens and her Cynster family stories - once you cut out all of the gratuitous 'love making', there wasn't that much in the way of story left but there was still the inclination to keep on reading them to find out how all the family members end up.  This is why these writers are able to churn out so many bestsellers - all of their readers begin to buy into the characters and want to know what happens to them all.

Blackouts and bushfires

With all the turmoil around moving house, lack of internet (disputes with people sitting at desks in foreign locations), bushfires and lack of power it has been a number of weeks since a blog has been written.  I have included a number of photos of the view outside our house on Tuesday afternoon - somewhat reminiscent of photos taken outside our house on Black Saturday.