So, I’ve been reading the Eternal Guardians series by Elisabeth Naughton.(Doesn’t her name make you think naughty? It’s too perfect for someone writing steamy PNR). The blub from her blog describes Eternal Guardians this way: “As unrest in the Underworld threatens, seven warriors descended from the greatest heroes in all of Ancient Greece may just be mankind’s last hope.”  They’re modern day Argonauts, as in Hercules (Heracles), Jason, Achilles, etc. The whole series reminds me a lot of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, which was really my introduction to the genre as a whole. So no real complaints on my part there.

I grabbed the first, Marked, off of the KDP free list and bought the second two. I reviewed them here, here, and here. but I’m trying to decide if I want to grab the fourth and fifth too. I’m tempted, but it bothers me a little that they are six bucks apiece (pretty much the max I’ll pay for an ebook) and not lendable.

This is my new thing apparently. I have hundreds of books on my Kindle, not many people ask to borrow books though. So I don’t have that many opportunities to lend them out, but I really feel like I should be able to. I’m not having any kind of go at Ms. Naughton. I respect her choice concerning her own books. I even understand the logic. Keep the first two lendable and people might introduce their friends to the series. If they want to continue and can’t borrow the rest they’ll go buy them. It makes sense, but it is affecting my decision to buy the rest of her books or not.

Plus, and yes I know this is ridiculous, I keep a list of lendable books on Goodreads. As the number of books I own has grown I use the list as a way to see all of the covers and decide what I want to read. If a book isn’t lendable it can’t go on the list and I tend to forget I own it. The end result is that I’m reluctant to spend the twelve dollars, even though I’d like to know Orpheus and Gryphon’s stories.

I imagine this is a decision many authors and publishers face when presenting a book to the ereading world. Should ebooks be as easily loanable as physical books? Those that have lending enabled are almost easier.  You don’t have to be physically present to hand it over and you know it will come back to you in the end. In my experience once a physical book leaves my shelf I hardly expect it to come back. It’s a pleasant surprise when it does.

I don’t speak for the industry, can’t even present all of the arguments, but to even my own surprise I’ve recently decided where I stand on the issue. I don’t like un-lendable ebooks. It’s decided. My current conundrum is what to do about that fact. Am I ready to boycott those that I can’t lend out and buycott [god I love that word] those that I can? I don’t know. The lending vs. not lending verdict is in, but I guess I’m still waiting on the sentencing. I’d love to hear others thoughts on the matter, have a little discussion, see where others stand. What are your thoughts?