Blood is not destiny.
The more you read about and immerse in a culture, the more it comes alive, and the more textured and nuanced and detailed and unstereotypable it becomes.
If I cared for human approval, I would have been dead long ago.
When I read, I'm either reading to learn, or I'm reading to switch off.
I like fast plots with things that explode.
But then, that was the problem with pretty toy stitches. When real life got hold of them, they always tore out.