It’s Read a Romance Month. . . Let’s Celebrate
Posted on August 1, 2014
Read-A-Romance Month begins today, August 1. I think August is the perfect month for a celebration like this. I always take a few weeks of vacation in August, and my idea of the perfect vacation is sitting in a hammock with a good romance and a pitcher of lemonade or sweet tea nearby.
Photo by by Meg Stewart (https://www.flickr.com/photos/megstewart/)
In fact, as I look back on my summer vacations, many of them spent visiting kin who lived in the little town of Denmark, South Carolina, I have to say that I spent a lot of hours in the hammock. I also employed rocking chairs and lawn chairs. But there was one constant – I always had a book in my hand.
Now, I admit that when I was younger – about ten – I wasn’t reading romance. I was trying to keep up with my older brothers who were plowing their way through Edgar Rice Burrough’s series of Martian stories, featuring the daring hero John Carter and his lady Deja Thoris. I truly believe that the boys enjoyed all the bloody battles that took place up on Barsoom, but I was mostly interested in the love affair between between John and Deja.
My Aunt Annie had some pretty strong views about a girl of 10 reading paperback books with lurid covers like this one. She didn’t think they were appropriate for my age or gender.
So one summer (I was 12), she handed me a copy of Jane Eyre. Ha! What irony. She may have thought she was handing me a classic, but, let’s face it, Jane Eyre is basically a Gothic romance. And I fell in love with the overbearing, misguided, and utterly tortured Mr. Rochester. And to this day I love a tortured hero. This book changed my life!
So I am forever in debt to my Aunt Annie for recommending a romance to me when I was 12. And isn’t that really how many of us get started? Someone recommends a book and you discover a life-long passion for reading.
I’m going to make a few book recommendations right now, in celebration of Read-A-Romance Month. All but one of these are relatively new authors, independently published or published by small press. I love them all.
Read-A-Romance Questions
The organizers of the 2014 Read-A-Romance Month have presented romance authors a series of questions this year and they are asking each of us to provide answers. As you hop around various webpages discovering new authors, these questions should be fun to read.
Q: Describe the most daring, adventurous, or inspiring thing you ever did.
A: I’m not a very daring or adventurous soul. This is why my idea of fun is sitting in a hammock reading a book. I get my adventure vicariously. However, the Georgia Good Ol’ Boy (AKA my husband), took up sailing late in life and roped me into becoming his crew in a two-man racing dinghy. We raced that boat for several years. And, yes, we did capsize it as you can see.
Hope hangs on for dear life
Q: Tell us about your journey to becoming a writer.
A: I always loved words. Even before I could read, I remember pestering my momma to teach me how to read for myself. And then when I was in second grade, I had to write my first paper about the pilgrims. I think the teacher wanted a couple of sentences. I wrote several pages, with a whole story that involved toil and trouble as the pilgrims sailed through rough seas heading for the New World. When I was finished telling my story, I remember turning to my momma and saying, “When I grow up I want to be a writer.”
Q: Tell us about A Book that Changed Your Life.
A: Well I sort of already did in the blog post above. Jane Eyre definitely made an impression.
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So, who would you recommend for Read a Romance Month? One lucky commenter will win a copy of Inn at Last Chance. Winners will be announced on September 1.
