Which do you prefer? Lurid, fruity prose, awash in imagery and sensuous textures and colors? Or straight-forward, clean, simple prose?
(You thought I was going to ask something else, didn’t you? Admit it!)
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Okay, honestly – I want the writing in my books to be just straight-forward. I don’t need a lot of big, sweeping descriptions with fancy words that I have to look up in a dictionary. I’m a “Just the facts, ma’am,” kind of gal. I don’t need all the pretty prose – I just want the words. I really just want to be entertained for a little while. I tend to stay away from the classics (you know, the books that everyone says they really love to read – but in reality probably don’t love them as much as they want people to think they love them, hehe) because I don’t like to get bogged down with the descriptions. I like to read murder mysteries because I like trying to figure out the puzzle – but I don’t need anything fancy with it – just plain words that everyday people can read with no problem is fine by me 🙂
Tales of a Book Addict 
I think straight forward language is so good for mysteries. I think the genre dictates what style works. Here is my response, in case you are interested: http://beastmomma.squarespace.com/from-shelf-to-hand/2010/3/18/booking-through-thursday-sensual.html
Flowery descriptions definitely don’t belong in every genre and shouldn’t distract from the story. But sweeping, beautiful language can hit the spot with me. 🙂 Here’s mine:
http://fictionfanatic.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/btt-sensual/