My Favorite Thing about eBooks

So when the eReader concept was first introduced years ago I NEVER thought I would be come a fan. I'm just so in love with my lovely, lovely paper books. I like the way they smell. Theres just something magical about book stores. And I just luuuuurve the good old fashion dead tree books.

And then we were given a Kindle and an Amazon gift card for Christmas one year. And well... it would be rude not to use the thing right?? And I discovered the joys of instant delivery of the next book in the series at 3 am when I finished the previous title and I NEED to know what happens NEXT. OMG.

And then I discovered that my book cases were FULL. Like full full. We even weeded out and donated bunches and bunches of books and we still have not enough room. We have 5 of the really big Billy bookcases from Ikea. My little house is full. I have ZERO room for more book cases due to the greedy small children and their 5 million toys and gear sucking up all the extra room in my house. And thus I reached this terrifying conclusion:

I have no room to buy more books. *GASP*

This represents crisis in my world b/c the one thing I love more than actual books is READING said books. And I love to reread my titles many times. In fact I rarely buy a book now days that I don't intend to read multiple times. Otherwise I'll just check it out from the library and move on with my life.

So since never buying another book was not an option, getting rid of the children isn't happening either and I can't afford to buy a larger house I need a way to buy new books that doesn't require shelf space. Enter the Kindle Store Stage Right.

Now to be clear we no longer have a Kindle (the hand held reader produced by Amazon). Our first one mysteriously died at 11 months old. So Amazon replaced it b/c it was less than a year old. Then our second one died THE EXACT SAME WAY and it was in my possession at the time and I swear to you I did NOTHING mean to it. But this time it was 13 months old so Kindle refused to replace it but offered me a discount on a new reader. For the low, low price of like 80 bucks they'd give me another one. And I decided they were insane if I was gonna pay them 80 bucks for a device that only lasts a year. I have a smart phone. The Kindle reader app is free. I now just read my books on my phone that is permanently glued to my side anyways and life is very happy.

But this doesn't tell you what my favorite thing is about eBooks.

My very favorite thing about eBooks is that I don't have to be seen in public reading books with hideously embarrassing covers. *nods*

I have in the last couple years discovered that I adore Urban Fantasy. I love it. Its fantastic.

The covers almost with out exception make me crazy. One of my very favorite series of all time is the Cat and Bones books by Jeaniene Frost (disclaimer: they have very graphic smexy scenes at least once a book. If this offends you don't read it or just skim that part). I am so very thankful that I didn't see the covers on that series BEFORE I read them because I may not have read them at all. Yes I am a bad person and I'm extremely visual and my initial judgement takes a lot for me to get over. So if the cover repels me, it will take some serious convincing from a source I trust for me to move past it and read the book anyways.

I know that you can't judge a book by its cover. I learned this many, many years ago. It really got hammered home the first time I read "Archangel" by Sharon Shinn. Its one of my all time favorite sci-fi/fantasy novels. Its fantastic. I love it. I. Hate. The. Cover. I hate it with the passion of a thousand suns. I hate it so much one of my dear friends sewed me a cover for it after hearing me complain about it, just so I wouldn't have to look at it ever again and I have been oh so grateful. lol

I have issues.

But so it just makes me grateful every time one of my favorite Urban Fantasy authors does another cover reveal and its once again heinous, that I don't ever have to see the cover again if I don't want to and that (even more importantly) I don't have to be seen in public to read such a hideously embarrassing cover b/c people would judge me and I wouldn't blame them.