A Brief History of My Life in Reading.

I was destined to be a reader. 

I grew up on a small hog farm in the boonies. I also happen to be allergic to anything with fur and those allergies cause asthmatic symptoms (or, more simply; I see a pony, I wheeze and gasp). Benadryl allowed me to breathe with the consequence that I wasn't able to stay awake. Unfortunately, I was given it so many times that it stopped working altogether when I was still young. The inability to breathe and exercise + my insistence on overeating = a chubby kid. 

The elementary school I went to was tiny. And 27 years ago there weren't anti-bullying campaigns in my school district. Kids were expected to stand up to bullies or not (I promise I'm coming to a point). I was lucky enough to have an asshat in my class; he made school life hell until 5th grade when we were no longer in a class together. Thanks to him, I had no friends until then either. I'm rather proud to tell you that I DID finally stand up to him in junior high. But that's neither here nor there. 

Except in books. I could go outside and experience things in books. I had friends in books. I wasn't a chubby girl that couldn't do things other kids were doing in books. Every time I picked up a book, I was taken out of my room and into a different world. 

I was a chicken as a kid and everything scared me. So naturally, I read books that were creepy and scared me too. I owned and read nearly every Goosebumps book published. That ventriloquist dummy was the stuff of nightmares. From there I eventually found myself reading almost everything Stephen King had ever written. Then I read Dean Koontz. And I will admit, I always liked his books better than King's. Insert collective gasp here. At some point I realized I liked Koontz's books better because they were lighter...and they had romance. 

My mom introduced me to Sandra Brown's books my freshman year of college. I remember rolling my eyes at the thought of a romance novel. A few months later, I had read everything of Brown's. I continued to gobble up contemporary romances until I was looking for something new to read one day in Walmart and ran across Snowy Nights with a Stranger, an anthology of historical romances. I, like so many people still do today, scoffed at the idea of a historical romance. I bought the book anyway and read it. And I've rarely read anything that wasn't historical romance since. 

I love historical romances. The heroines that struggle to be themselves in a world that expects only one thing of them; marry well. The heroes that very well could be complete assholes but somehow manage to be the good guy anyway. The fact that they can't just get together and go on a date but the author has to find a real reason to keep throwing them together. I love it all. 

In this blog, I plan to discuss the historical romances I'm reading; some old, some new. In addition to that, I'll be discussing common themes I like and dislike. And the types of characters I like and dislike. 

Thanks for reading!!

-Reader