To Epilogue or Not to Epilogue?

Is that even a questions?

Yes I am seriously talking about whether or not authors should use epilogues in their books.

As a reader I mostly love them. Ok, more than mostly. 99.9% of the time I love them. There have been very few epilogues that I have not liked.

To me they are similar to a sneak peek into the future. Whether it be the near or distant future. A way for the reader to glimpse what happened after the story ended.

Do I think every book needs one? Nope.

But as an author, especially as one that likes to abruptly end books, I like to throw in an epilogue for the readers to help give them some glimmer of hope for the future that it is to come.

If you have read Guided, then you know that I ended the book with a huge cliffhanger. Of course you also know that the epilogue didn't exactly give you much hope for the future, but it gave you enough to keep you going... well I hope it did.

So here's my dilemma... I have now finished Deceived and it is almost ready to be released into the world. Yes, it is very exciting, and no I can't wait for you all to read it, but I have been thinking a lot about epilogues lately and whether or not I should include one in book 2.

Part of me feels that I should. To give the readers something because naturally Deceived ends, well, you are just going to have to wait and see how it ends. I can tell you that it is not as bad as the ending in Guided, so put those pitchforks away. But it is enough to beg the question, To Epilogue or Not to Epilogue?

But then there is a part of me, the evil author part, that doesn't want to write an epilogue and make you all suffer! Ha, just kidding. Ok, so maybe there is a little truth in that.

The real truth is that I'm not exactly sure which epilogue to give you. What would satisfy you all as readers, satisfy me as an author, and what would be the perfect lead into book 3.

For all those wondering, I have written an epilogue. I just haven't finalized it or decided whether or not I am going to use it.

Of course the other problem with all this is the fact that I'm not quite sure how book 3 is going to start. And I like to start my next book right where the last one left off, so that does put a certain damper on things.

So what do you think? Do you like epilogues? Why or why not? Please help me out here, because I am very close to laughing evilly while I watch you all suffer through my next book without an epilogue.