HEART POUNDING PRIDE

Heart-Pounding Pride by Liam Wood Books don't usually get physical reactions from me.  Tears are hard to come by.  I rarely grip books in terror.  While audiobooks have me making faces along with the characters, that too is pretty restrained.  Only the best of books can get a physical reaction out of me— The Book Thief almost made my eyes leak, The Way of Kings had some suspenseful moments, and The Raven Boys has such emotions (and such a great performance on audiobook) that I couldn't help but make faces.  But there's one physical reaction that keeps coming up.  It's a heart-pounding feeling of suspense as I read. For a long time, I had no idea what caused it, only where it happened.  The first time I remember was actually in my Warriors days.  (Animal fiction is still one of my favorite genres, honestly.)  Early on in the series, the main character makes a promise to bring his nephew into the clan.  Without going into too many details, the rest of the clan is already skeptical about the main character's worth, and bringing his nephew along was not a good idea.  The scene where the main character fulfills his promise hit me really hard.  I was on the main character's side, I knew his reasoning, and I still wanted to tear out my hair as I waited for the clan's reaction. That series is one of the ones that really drove me to write.  I think that scene, and the emotional and physical impact it had for me, definitely affected that.