The hardest question isn’t what the title has to do with this post. That’s easy. The song is about a man who takes out a classified ad about things he loves in the hope of having an affair. *Spoiler alert* – He attracts his own wife. Anyway the connection is I’m writing about details that made me fall in love with books. And don’t worry, I’ll also explain why there are ski boots in a blog post with a tropical title.
I just finished Karen Witemeyer’s Full Steam Ahead. I’ve read most of her books and liked them, but I loved this one. It’s about a “mad scientist” who’s experimenting on steamship boilers to improve safety. That’s an automatic swoon-worthy hero. But this title is hardly the first that’s drawn me into it with the details. Dani Pettrey’s Shattered has a scene with the main characters skiing/snowboarding. That’s better than any love scene. Hence the photo of my ski boots. Let’s just say when it comes to ultimate date nights with my husband, I like to keep my boots on, specifically a pair of purple Langes I’ve had since 1996.
There are others. Cara Putman’s novella A Promise Born doubles up with a WWII-era Purdue engineer and the Enigma Project. When The Treetops Glisten, her project with Tricia Goyer & Sarah Sundin, uses Lafayette, IN as a backdrop. I lived across the Wabash River in West Lafayette for four years and can’t wait see the city in the 1940s. Sarah Sundin has done her share in creating characters that were automatic loves for me with a trio of B-17 pilots and a pharmacist (there are three in my family).
Jill Williamson is another of my favorite authors, and Project Gemini has a special place in my heart. It takes place on Okinawa where I spent the summer of 2003 on a work assignment.
I jokingly refer to books like these as 8-star books. I’d give a poorly written one a minimum of 3 stars, but the books earned 5 stars on their own merits. I haven’t read Treetops yet because I can’t quite get in the mood for an Indiana Christmas when it was 70 degrees this weekend, and we still had pumpkins to carve, but I’m guessing I will love it too.
What subjects, locations, or professions entice you to read a book?
Gretchen E K Engel 
Anything set in Japan or Ireland will entice me, though just the countries themselves aren’t enough to make me love it. I enjoy unique cultures so books with those will entice me. Anthropology, archaeology, meteorology all intrigue me so books with those do the same.
Sparks, I’m like you certain subjects interest me but don’t make a book an automatic like. I too like reading about different cultures. I’ve even blogged about it.