Hey everyone, as you may already know, it's Romance Week here at my blog! A week-long celebration of how much I love adore those things.
Today I'd just like to talk about romance novels in general, and how I got hooked on them.
Most people might groan at the thought of a romance novel, but not me. I adore a good love story, and, why hide it: a good love scene. I admit I used to giggle at them in the supermarket when I was younger - with a vague understanding of what was in those pages with the truly amusing covers of half naked men and women in an embrace, sort of like he was either getting ready to toss her aside and laugh at her, or do something that I still found somewhat funny in those early adolescent years.
I did manage to read a couple of those old Harlequin novels in high school, and admittedly feeling a little lost (and shocked) on the love scenes, not fully knowing what the hell was so special about all of it yet, I didn't read many. I actually didn't read much at all in high school, until I found the right book - which was read for English class: Jane Eyre. We read the book and the teacher brought in the old movie with Orson Welles, and I was hooked. Not to mention thrilled that the teacher had extra copies for who ever wanted one. I still have mine. (Though the cover has suffered a bit over the years. In which case I ended up buying a hard-cover copy in a used book shop.) Jane Eyre, I think, was my first taste of what a classic couple really was. A better grade of tragic love story, so to speak. While I loved that book, it wasn't quite enough for me, at that age, to really make me read more. That didn't start until after I got out of high school and my love of music was beginning to tire me out. So I looked for entertainment elsewhere, the library.
But let's fast-forward to shorten this post a teeny bit (if you're still with me, that is, lol.). My love of reading grew, but I needed more love stories in my reading. I remember shopping at the grocery store with my mom, and we went down the magazine/book isle. I paused in front of the books and a tempting cover caught my eye. This one, to be exact. A dude in a kilt with some kind of metal arm band and his plaid fastened around his neck/one shoulder. I even loved the author's elegant name. You guessed it: Julia London. I loved everything about it.
While I was still actually a little wary of romance novels, I decided to give it a chance. & It didn't exactly wow me. After looking around a bit online, I found it was part of a series. I wasn't really much of a series reader then (but now my TBR list is full of them) I thought I would go ahead and give the next book a try, and I LOVED it. The heroine and hero were a perfect match, and I found the story to be much better than that of the first book. My fate was not exactly sealed however. It was sort of a gradual thing, as I figured out what type of romance I really enjoyed: Regency. If you browsed my romance to-read list you would certainly take note of all of the men in kilts and rogues, rakes, and ladies running around on there. And, Julia London is still one of my favorite authors. Tomorrow, I will be doing an author spotlight on her.
I will wrap this post up here with a question for all you romance lovers out there, do you remember your first romance novel that started it all, what about it captivated you?
I did manage to read a couple of those old Harlequin novels in high school, and admittedly feeling a little lost (and shocked) on the love scenes, not fully knowing what the hell was so special about all of it yet, I didn't read many. I actually didn't read much at all in high school, until I found the right book - which was read for English class: Jane Eyre. We read the book and the teacher brought in the old movie with Orson Welles, and I was hooked. Not to mention thrilled that the teacher had extra copies for who ever wanted one. I still have mine. (Though the cover has suffered a bit over the years. In which case I ended up buying a hard-cover copy in a used book shop.) Jane Eyre, I think, was my first taste of what a classic couple really was. A better grade of tragic love story, so to speak. While I loved that book, it wasn't quite enough for me, at that age, to really make me read more. That didn't start until after I got out of high school and my love of music was beginning to tire me out. So I looked for entertainment elsewhere, the library.
But let's fast-forward to shorten this post a teeny bit (if you're still with me, that is, lol.). My love of reading grew, but I needed more love stories in my reading. I remember shopping at the grocery store with my mom, and we went down the magazine/book isle. I paused in front of the books and a tempting cover caught my eye. This one, to be exact. A dude in a kilt with some kind of metal arm band and his plaid fastened around his neck/one shoulder. I even loved the author's elegant name. You guessed it: Julia London. I loved everything about it.
While I was still actually a little wary of romance novels, I decided to give it a chance. & It didn't exactly wow me. After looking around a bit online, I found it was part of a series. I wasn't really much of a series reader then (but now my TBR list is full of them) I thought I would go ahead and give the next book a try, and I LOVED it. The heroine and hero were a perfect match, and I found the story to be much better than that of the first book. My fate was not exactly sealed however. It was sort of a gradual thing, as I figured out what type of romance I really enjoyed: Regency. If you browsed my romance to-read list you would certainly take note of all of the men in kilts and rogues, rakes, and ladies running around on there. And, Julia London is still one of my favorite authors. Tomorrow, I will be doing an author spotlight on her.
I will wrap this post up here with a question for all you romance lovers out there, do you remember your first romance novel that started it all, what about it captivated you?
2 comments:
I think for me it was A Darker Dream by Amanda Ashley. Nowadays vampires in love with mortals are literally everywhere, but back then the market didn't seem so utterly saturated and I liked the story.
I know what you mean there. A sort of vampire explosion has occured. But I have to admit, I kind of like it. But yes, there are SO many now.
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