the seaweed always being greener in somebody else's lake

Love the Little Mermaid reference. :-)

These days, I prefer to read series. I like getting to know characters over the stretch of several books. And, it means I don't have to go through the "this author is new to me, do I risk a prose allergy?" dilemma (thank you for that phrase, btw) with every book I pick up.

Sadly, I don't know any ASL, but I can understand buying stuff for the characters in your head since I've done it a few times.