The original post can be found here on Sarcastically Yours, Jen.
At a certain level, books offer readers the ability to check out for a period and get lost in another world, another time, another life, another reality. Some call it entertainment. I call it escapism. But both are good things. For me, I cannot think of a better way to put Life and all its drama on hold than to read a book that will pull me through the story while making me chuckle here and there, possibly with even a little LOL moment, and at the same time exercise my brain a bit. But just a bit. After all, I’ve got Life lurking, waiting for me to close the book and reengage in the real world.
I wrote Lucky Secrets to appeal to both readers looking for an entertaining lighthearted story and those looking for a puzzle or mystery to solve. In this case, there are many puzzles to solve, and one big mystery, but only if the reader chooses to engage. As the US Review of Books writes about Lucky Secrets, “Fans of escape rooms, the board game Clue, and the Netflix murder mystery franchise Knives Out will enjoy attempting to solve the riddles and clues alongside the characters.” However, if a reader just wants to sit back and be entertained, the story will do the heavy lifting and carry the reader on a fun ride full of twists and colorful characters. As Kirkus Reviews states, “There are lots of unnerving, shady characters…even better than Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum, and their cohorts.”
Ultimately, reading should not be work. It should be easy. By that I mean the prose should flow for the reader. Its job is to make the actual process of reading effortless so the plot and characters can shine. A certain word or phrase should not be so jarring or unnatural, or a sentence so poorly structured, that it brings reading to a screeching halt and yanks the reader out of the story. To me, this defeats the whole purpose of reading. Escapism. As Nathaniel Hawthorne once said, “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” And trust me, I toiled during the writing and editing of Lucky Secrets so the reader can just focus on being entertained. It was indeed damn hard writing, but I believe as a result, it is also easy reading. Hopefully you will agree.