Bonus Friday: Favorite Book

/ Staci Troilo

Hey, SEers! This is one of those months with five Fridays in it. That means today is a group post.

The theme for today is Favorite Book Written and Why. We’re each going to tell you our personal favorite. We encourage you to share yours in the comments.

Tortured Soul by Staci Troilo

Ciao, amici! Staci here. It was hard to pick a favorite, but I chose Tortured Soul. It’s the fourth and final book in the Medici Protectorate Series.

I won’t swear it’s my favorite, but it’s up there. And here’s why.

  • The writing is a lot stronger than at the beginning of the series.
  • It’s the culmination of a work inspired by my grandfather.
  • It’s a springboard to another series that I enjoy.
  • I love these characters.

You can read more about it here or purchase it here.

Hey SE Readers. Joan here.

So far, my favorite book to write has been Unknown Reasons. It’s the second book in the Driscoll Lake Series.  Here are some of the reasons why I like this one.

  • My main character, Brian Nichols. He’s a minor character in the first book and “told” me to write this one.
  • A love for music helped inspire me. Brian is a part-time musician who just happens to enjoy listening (and playing) a lot of the same songs I do.
  • I feel the writing is stronger and more concise than my first novel.
  • I was able to use a personal experience of someone close to me in the character’s background.

You can read more about the book here or click this link to purchase.

Hi, gang. Craig here and this is really hard. It’s like asking me to choose my favorite child. Since I can only have one, I’m going with Voyage of the Lanternfish.

This is the first one I felt might support a genuine series, and I intend to extend this story. I have others that could make an additional story, but as a stand-alone tale. This one will have an overarching story. Here are a few fun things about it:

  • I took a chance on the root monsters. They could have come across like Jar-Jar Binks instead of beloved characters like Scrat or the Minions. Fortunately, they’ve been very well received.
  • The fantasy world just seems to work. This involves some unique monsters who actually get very little page time, but a lot of reaction from the crew.
  • The international flavor of my pirate crew. There is a mixture of European types, mingled with a witch doctor, an Asian martial arts expert. There’s even a toothless elderly man and one child on board.
  • There are a few magical artifacts that hint at a world that’s been around much longer than the cast of this story.

If you’d like to check out Lanternfish, click this link.

Hello everyone. Harmony here. Feeling …. er … somewhat unharmonious! LOL. Pick a favourite?!?! No! You can’t make me. Like Craig, this feels like being asked to pick a favourite child. Honestly, I’m never any good at choosing a favourite in anything … it shifts with my mood! Tee he he.

Okay, so with my arm twisted up up my back … I could say The Battle For Brisingamen because it’s my first ever book I published and got me writing at last … but, no. Then there’s Interludes, the naughty one, because that’s my best seller … but, no.

My favourite of all time is the second book I wrote, The Glade.

Here’s why:

  • It’s a scary one, and I like scaring people (mwa ha ha haaaa)
  • It’s also got my favourite book cover of all of my books
  • Even though I still had a lot to learn, it got rave reviews right from the off, and that gave me the confidence to carry on
  • I love all the twists in there. You just never see them coming
  • It’s the one book of mine I want to emulate in future books … I have a scary one up my sleeve for some point in the future, which I hope will frighten folks as much as The Glade 🙂

If you’d like to check out The Glade, click AMAZON US or AMAZON UK.

Book cover for A COLD TOMORROW by author, Mae Clair shows a deserted country lane at night beneath a sky of green clouds

Hello, SE friends! Choosing a favorite is always tough, but I’m going to go with  A Cold Tomorrow, the middle book in my Point Pleasant Series. A few reasons that tipped the scales for this one:

  • I loved examining the UFO mythology.
  • The “green cloud” and reference to “when the sky had a tail” both come from a summer night when I was six years old and saw a UFO (my one and only experience).
  • Researching UFOs, Men-in-Black (MIBs), and the Mothman was fascinating.
  • Lach Evening (a MIB I created) remains one of my favorite characters to date.

You can read more about the book here or use this universal link to purchase if interested.

Hello to the Story Empire readers. Like everyone else, it’s tough choosing between books, especially in a series. My favorite is The White Arrow and my reasons are as follows:

  • The book was entirely new. The Bow of Destiny was re-written from its original manuscript from the mid-1990s. An Arrow Against the Wind contained some of the original material, but The White Arrow was all new.
  • The book wrote itself. I was able to write it in about three and a half weeks and my editor couldn’t find major flaws in it (still can’t believe that happened the way it did).
  • The chance to answer all the remaining questions and tie-up loose ends from the other books. Readers wondered a lot about many details and it was fun to reveal those.
  • The timing of the latter stages of the book was crucial and fun to construct. All the scenes took some heavy consideration but fit together like puzzle pieces very neatly.

Find out more about The White Arrow and the entire series here.

We hope you enjoyed these selections. Now, it’s your turn. Tell us your favorite of the books you’ve written and why.

82 thoughts on “Bonus Friday: Favorite Book”

  1. Pingback: Nag, nag, nag – Judi Lynn

  2. I think my favorite book I’ve ever written would have to be The One Enlightened, book two in my series. This book was where I built the world and the history of my Diasodz, and it was where I truly fell in love with my series. I grew to truly understand each of my characters, even the ones who were “off screen” for this book. While writing this book, all of the other pieces started falling into place, which made me fall in love with all of my characters, even my antagonists. 🙂

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  8. Yay, some new reading choices 🙂
    It’s hard to choose a favorite, I think the one that stayed with me the most was The Beast Within. It’s a departure from my normal writing; a dark thriller where I spend a fair amount of time in the killer’s head. But it challenged me- I like that 🙂

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  10. I typically write flash fiction, short stories, and poems, but I have one novel, Romance Under Wraps. So, I will use that as my favorite–for now. I am currently working on another book. Who knows, perhaps that will turn into a favorite. Here is a link to it: https://tinyurl.com/y3ya6s8p

    I enjoyed writing this one because of the research. It’s amazing what you can learn.

    Liked by 3 people

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