Last year, I was at a reader and writer get-together and I was at a table during dinner, talking with some friends.  Jude Deveraux’s KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR came up. And I was shocked to realize that book had made people angry.

WARNING…LOL… SPOILER ALERT…

Why? I asked.

Because they weren’t really together.  It was a descendant and her, my friend pointed out.  "Not exactly what the reader was expecting".

But that wasn’t what he’d promised…my soul will find yours…(And I’ve got to say, that’s still one of the most romantic lines ever for me).  No, it wasn’t what the reader was expecting, but sometimes the unexpected is what makes a book even better.

Then we started talking other books.  Sandra Brown’s books…and ANOTHER DAWN.  Yep.  Another book that had left some people unhappy. Another book that broke one of those rules. Another one I loved.

There is a science fiction author, SL Viehl, who has a way of breaking convention and I adore everything she’s ever written. Some of her most memorable books ENDURANCE, CRYSTAL HEALER and DREAM.

CALLED TIME—yeah, those books probably broke some serious rules.

I guess I’ve got a thing for authors who break the rules…as long as the book is worth it.  Maybe that’s why I like books where the characters go through hell and back—very often those are the books where rules get broken, and the happy ever after just seems that much more…complete.

But I want the rule-breaking to make sense…I don’t just want it to be simply for the sake of breaking the rules.  I don’t want it thrown in just for the shock-factor value.  Or just for the fun of it.