Fiction writers trying to be clever!

Oooh! Yes I bet its changed since we were young.

Mills and Boon do indeed still exist. They now also have a rather...um... spicier imprint called Dare, which I saw in Smiths!

I hate to admit it but I went through a phase of reading M&B in my twenties. I had 3 young children so it was maybe all I could manage. I thought they were so romantic. But you knew how the storyline would go very quickly.We could all write thm lol.

Are Mills and Boon still in production? I have never read any but about twenty years ago I knew a woman who wrote for them. She told me that she was given the basic characters and plot line that she was to follow and she had to fill in the bits! She seemed to make a good living at it.

Luckygirl, I agree. If you look on amazon, books along the same genre as Girl on a train, Gone Girl, seem to be churned out at an alarming rate...and every one apparantly amazing! So bored of them all.

What puts me right off are blurbs like these:

"X (usually a fanciful name!) seems to have it all, handsome husband, perfect children, a high-flying job in publishing (always publishing!!).....but......a revelation shatters her perfect existence."

"Y finds a pile of letters/hidden album etc. and her life and all that was familiar to her comes tumbling down....."

I find it hard to believe that publishers are still putting these books out - but someone must be reading them or they would not bother.

It works sometimes but at other times it can be totally irritating and confusing. One I just can't get through which uses this format is Green Darkness by Anya Seton.

I really loved Apple tree yard.

Harry Bingham, Damien Boyd, Joy Ellis are three I can recommend.

How funny to see this thread, Jazzy, as I was discussing this topic with my Dh just yesterday. He's reading a book which is jumping about most annoyingly.

I am also reading a book with different timelines and from different points of views but it's all clearly indicated so I don't mind that.

It can be a good literary device but it can also come over as superficial and just trying to be clever.

Not long ago I read the first of the Cazalet saga books and really enjoyed a story that started at the beginning and ended at the end.

the end of the affair is one of my favourite books, after interview with the vampire. But I enjoy lots of modern books too. Apple Tree Yard, Notes on a Scandal, We Need to talk about Kevin are all easy reads.

Thats how I feel! Comfy duvet. Easy to read, without complicating things.

Or Kate Atkinson's Time after Time.

Try The Time Travellers Wife!

Sorry Jazzy I love books which go back and forth in time.

I do think some books get unnecessarily hyped up in the media and then prove disappointing.

I agree with you - I don’t mind the books which make it clear when they change time zone but I am reading one at the moment which I am finding hard to follow - the Tiger’s Wife- about the Balkans but very confusing.
I went back a few years ago to re read a Graham Greene - the End of the Affair - was like slipping under a comfy duvet!