What's On My Nightstand (February Edition)

So here's something I don't love as a reader: finding a new series and getting sucked in, only to have the writing go downhill after a few books. I think we might see this more and more as authors start to rely on AI a little too much (yes, I, too, just heard Dickens, Austen, Christie, and a plethora of past writers roll over in their respective graves). I've had two series now that started strong and then lost steam around book three or four. Because of the stronger starts, I continued to push through until I just couldn't take it anymore. From repetitive phrases to ever weakening plots, eventually you wear out your audience. 

And yes, I recognize that the very authors I referenced earlier (Charlie, Jane, and Agatha) could also be accused of being stuck in a rut (oh look, a poor urchin, hungry, in a dirty city, or yet another woman of no fortune who happens to find a love match with a wealthy gentleman, or oh my goodness, another murder in a small village or foreign location?!), and yet, for a variety of reasons, their works stands the test of time. ChatGPT has not advanced to the stage of providing the depth of human emotion that we find in Ebeneezer Scrooge, or the complicated character of little Fanny Price, or the mustachioed confidence of Hercule Poirot. Rather, they were dreamed up, developed, and eventually saved, loved, or (in the case of poor Poirot) killed off, totally evolved out of the minds and imaginations of creatives who understood the necessity of relatable humanity in their characters, which is something that a soulless AI writing aid cannot give. 

I believe it is also why the series I read recently started strong, but then fell off. My theory is that the authors had good ideas, and they wrote without pressure. But then when the ideas took off, the push for more stories, faster, cause them to lose their creativity and rely on technology to help them churn out tales a little too quickly. The end result was that, in addition to losing their creative juices, they also lose readers who would be willing to wait longer between books if it meant having something worth reading. I am no indiscriminate novel reader. The mere trash of the common circulating library I hold in the highest contempt. ~ Jane Austen

Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash

On that note, here's what I read in Feburary. As you can see, there are decidedly fewer books than January (which is why when I do get into a reading binge I just go with it, because at least I haven't fallen behind schedule this way), and they are both in the category of, "Please stop using AI to help you write." I have several other books in progress at the moment, but didn't manage to complete any of them before the month's end. However, I'm still reading something every day, so I'll take that!

1. Loving Lieutenant Lancaster by Sarah Eden - ⭐⭐ In short: repetitive and predictable. I loved the unpredictable nature of the author's writing in Book #1. Book #2 was still different enough to make it enjoyable. By book #3 the plot was obvious and the ending inevitable. The only difference in Book #4 is that it's Linus Lancaster, rather than one of his sisters, whose time it is to quickly fall in love. But when the books are centered around romances, it's not really a surprise for predictability to come into play. And while I still appreciate the purity of the relationships (nothing more than stolen glances, hand holding, and towards the end, a light kiss), it just feels more and more like the books I would have wanted to read in junior high. After four books I've grown weary of love at first sight or infatuation in two weeks. I'll probably read book #5, just to close out the series, and I'll add this caveat: if these were cheaply available in paper format, I would definitely let my younger teenagers read them. {Amazon Associates Link}
   
2. The Valentine Cipher by Anna Elliott and Charles Veley - ⭐⭐⭐ Honestly, more like a 3.5 star, and a decided improvement on the previous book in the series. There were still some repetitive phrases and women with "hair pulled back into severe buns," but overall, it was slightly less Nancy Drew-esque, and who did it wasn't immediately obvious. However, I'm pretty sure Merriweather was British army, and they put him in an American uniform, and towards the end, bad guys were coming out of the woodwork. 😏 It might have been a little excessive. Plus, for Pete's sake, please don't have Nigel or Evie get kidnapped in the next one!! That plot line is getting a little old now. This was one of those "final chance" books before I wrote the series off, and it passed well enough that I'll give the next book a try when it's released. A basic, semi-cozy mystery. {Amazon Associates Link}

What are your feelings about authors who use AI to help them write? Yea or nay?