Sad Disappointment

by Marsha Ward

I recently read a book that disturbed me. Here's the thing. The fact that this book was published by any credible publisher is what threw me for a loop. It was poorly written, had little plot, mis-used words right and left, and the formatting of the print edition was abominable (not the author's fault). Yet, at the time the book was published (and it wasn't the author's first), the author was said to be one of the publisher's best-selling authors.

At first I thought the publisher must be a boutique or hobby publisher, and that may still be the case since they're a small publisher, but today they seem to have a stable of authors in excess of seventy, and publish many titles, both in print and e-book formats, so I doubt it's just one person using multiple names to self-publish.

Beyond the disappointment that I paid good money for this sadly produced book, was my disappointment in the crux of the content: sex after alcohol, outside of marriage. This occurred after the heroine insisted that she wasn't the kind of girl who indulged in "causal" sex (used not once, but several times--where was that highly lauded editor?), and indeed, was a virgin, but fell happily into bed with the drunk hero because she promised she would do so to prevent a scene that might compromise his future.

!!!???

My greatest disappointment, though, is that a person purporting to be LDS would write such trash. Sorry, I won't be sampling the author's subsequent efforts.