How Important is "REALISM?" - Comment Giveaway!

How important is realism?
If you read fantasy or scifi there is a lot of room for the author to stretch realism.  But if you read historical or contemporary romance how important is it for the plot/facts to be completely realistic?  Is it okay if the events are possible even if they may not be probable?  Would that effect how you like or rate the book?

This is a real snowman but how likely is it?

Picture from Bing Images -

Go to page:http://www.kentuckykatz.com/page/1419913

Actually - I have had lack of realism effect my rating.  I read one story where the circumstances were so improbable to me that it ruined the rest of the story.  Now in that instance, I recall I had some trouble with liking the characters and felt there was lack of consistency. Every thing felt flat as well as unbelievable. So the lack of realism only compounded an unhappy read for me.

On another occasion the circumstances of the story were on the edge of believable - it could happen but not likely! But I liked the characters and the intent of the story so much that the "stretch of the circumstances" didn't bother me. I still found the story engaging, upbeat, sweet and fun and therefore overlooked the improbabilities!  I would however mark the story down by at least .25 because of the realism issue.

Now on to a more technical area of accuracy: what about a historical romance that has a feature definitely out of time? For example buttons before they were in use?  Would you notice? Would you care?  I for one wouldn't know when buttons began to be used without looking it up (probably at a good historical author blog!) So I probably wouldn't notice that type of detail. But I know there are some historical readers who would definitely notice!

So tell me what you think?? How important is realism to YOU in the books you read?

Leave a comment to win a book from the Friday Picks!  Winner will be randomly selected from all comments made through Thursday midnight and announced Friday with the Friday 1/15 pick winners!

This is my SaSR Tuesday topic today.

Mailbox Monday January 18, 2010

This Meme starts with Marcia
at The Printed Page

I only received one book that I "won" this past week. But I picked up some bargains and borrowed some audios!

I got the book Forgotten Promises by Denise Skelton form AuthorIsland's December Goodie Box Sponsor.  Along with the book I got a large boxful of swag - bookmarks, pens etc. (Winners of books from my blog picks can look to get some extra bookmarks and things!)  I had been interested in this book for sometime and thought getting it with the swag package was a fun way to get it!

Thank you Denise and DeNita!

Product Description
True Love Comes Along Once in a Lifetime. That s what Detective Holly Lawson James believed. Her husband and co-worker Edmond was everything a woman could want in a man and a partner; strong, warm and romantic, he filled her life and her heart with passion and joy -until a police sting went terribly wrong and abruptly took him from her and their little girl, Abby. On that day her life changed forever. Now five years later Holly has grown accustomed to being alone, a state that suits her perfectly well, because she s sure that true love comes along only once in a lifetime. Despite promising his wife otherwise, Tyler Green knew he would never find love again. He had watched powerlessly as cancer ravaged his beautiful Felicia. Day by day, moment by moment, the illness, like a thief, dragged her closer toward death and tore away big chunks of his heart. When it was finally over he was left empty and cold, but it doesn't matter to Tyler because he s sure that true love will never head his way again. Still, love has a way of getting through to the stoniest of hearts and all it takes is one mischievous little girl and an unlikely meddling angel to prove them both wrong. But there is danger lurking in the shadows of their new beginning and one person s obsession may well cause Holly to lose the most important thing in her life. Her daughter!

Here are three CD books I borrowed from a clubhouse at property we own:

I am participating in the Stephanie Plum Challenge so Hard Eight will be for that. Of course I still have books 4-7 to read first!  [See note below the second picture for more about that.]
Since I really liked Survivor in Death CD Audio so much I picked up the Divided in Death one to read soon.

Also I got lucky and stumbled upon these J.D. Robb books at a thrift store:

I have two more books at home so now I have a good start on the 20 or so books in this series - oops just looked at Audible to pick up book 1 and they are on book #36! Well that could take a year or two to read - maybe a two year challenge?! Anyway - I purchased Naked in Death - the first in the series and Four to Score, book #4 of the Stephanie Plum series, with my Audible credits.  I have the print book Four to Score but I think the Audible will get me reading it faster.  I have to check with J. Kaye cause we were going to try to do a Twitter read togehter on that one and might start this month!

What are you Reading on Monday January 18, 2010

Join this meme at:
J. Kaye's Book Blog
I did do some reviews this past week but still need to get caught up.

[Note re codes:  YGR is You Gotta Read Reviews; CR is CataRomance Reviews, BTL is Between the Line/WRDF - these are the three sites where I read and review.  There are links under Some Friends on the sidebar for each of these. MBS is this blog - Martha's BookShelf!]

Finished:

PB:  Seduced by a Rougue by Amanda Scott. The handsome hero abducts the lovely heiress of an enemy clan.  Can love win out over clan war?  Reviewing on MBS for Hachette giveaway.  This was character driven and a good read. Review to be posted soon (I hope!).

Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.  Daily Devotions - the mini review and Giveaway are posted.  Courtesy of Hachette.

Kindle2: Hearts of Compassion by Eryn Grace.  Rylee, A lonely daughter of a millionaire, is forced to work at a homeless shelter in up-state New York as a team building exercise for her job.  She is guided by the shelter's lawyer who was fired from Riley's father's firm.  This was an engaging story and I liked the characters a lot!  Review to be posted soon.

Audible: ---------

Audio CD:  -------

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Currently reading:

PB: Breakfast in Bed by Robin Kaye. She is willing to teach "Mr. Perfect" how to clean up after himself and how to cook. But she is not sure she wants to send him back to his ex girlfriend after he is nicely trained! Doesn't this sound fun!! Reviewing for CR.

Kindle2:  Relative Danger by Terry Spear.  "Sexy murder mystery full of twists and turns." Reviewing for YGR. ( I didn't get this onto the Kindle last week so that is why I read Hearts of Compassion instead.)

Next: An American Rose Christmas Looks like an historical anthology I will like! Reviewing for YGR.

Audible: on hold.

Audio CD:  Survivor in Death by J.D. Robb.  I'm down to the last disc on this one.  VERY GOOD! This is the first in this series that I have read and I will read more!  Lt. Eve Dallas struggles to solve the murder of a seemingly ordinary family, and protect one small, terrified survivor.  My own TBR pile.

Sunday Words of Encouragement January 17, 2010

This morning there was a Word that said that you may feel you are in your darkest hour ... but God will turn the darkness to light!

Our Pastor's message was titled "Reigniting Your Passion." He said something quite interesting. If you are passionate and enthusiastic about football you are considered a fan. But if you are passionate and enthusiastic about Church you are considered a fanatic. What do you think?

Here is a song about Jesus' Light!

A Verse for Today:

Matthew 37-40 from The Message Bible:

Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

My prayer today is that the Lord restore and strengthen our passion each day!

WINNER of the 211 Follower Contest!!

True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 37 Result: 18 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

I don't know why I can't get a picture of the Random.org so I had to copy and paste!  The winning number was 18.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE LUCKY FOLLOWER WINNER:

[Note the snow in honor of the cold snap we just came through! LOL]
I have e-mailed to Donnas to please reply within 72 hours with her gift card choice!