Series? Or Stand-alone books?

I have to say, I love a good stand-alone book. I really do. I like getting to the end of a book and having that nice feeling that the story is finished and the ending is real. A good, satisfying ending is something that I yearn for a lot of times, something that doesn’t always happen, so when it does it’s extra nice. I yearn for that nice closure, the kind that just doesn’t happen in real life.

Then again, I’m also a big fan of anticipation. Angst, too, but really anticipation. I like the wondering of what is going to happen. I have to admit, too, that I love characters I’m already cozy and familiar with. I like companion books for this reason, too… familiar faces in a group, even if it’s just a few.

But to pick one or the other? I don’t know that I could. I do know that I’m more likely to buy a series. Partially because I just don’t have a lot of cash around to spare at the moment, so if a new book comes out in a series I already know that I love, well, I’ll snatch that before trying a new author. Still… there really is something satisfying about closing a book and knowing that you’ve finished it—and its whole little world—for good.

So I can’t decide between the two. What matters to me is the writing, and the story. I’m a great lover of Story, as I’ve said many a time before. If a story can carry over three or four (or seven! Or ten!) books, then sure, I’d love to read it. If a series is being extended just because it’s a well-selling series… no thanks. I’m not a James Patterson reader, for example. And I never will be. Give me a good YA trilogy any day, though. Any day.