Scotland; early January 2008 |
The summer I turned 13, my choir went on a tour to England. One day, while driving from one cathedral town to another, I noticed that the older girls had gathered in the back of the bus; the low constant murmur I could hear was punctuated every so often by peals of laughter. Curious, I picked my way down the aisle to see what they were doing, but as soon as they saw me they fell silent. One of the girls, a rising twelfth-grader, had a book in her hands.
"What are you reading?" I asked.
She shook her head at me. "You're too young for this kind of book," she said. "Go back to the front of the bus."
I hung my head and retreated to my seat - but not before I'd seen the cover of the book and made a mental note of the title and author. When we got back to the States a week later, I went straight out to Barnes and Noble and, of course, bought that exact book.
And that, dear readers, is how I discovered historical romance novels. Eliza and Sydney and Victoria, wherever you are - thank you for the education!
HA! Can you remember the name of the book that she was reading still?
ReplyDeleteyup - the name, the author, the cover art... all seared into my memory!
ReplyDeleteI THINK I really liked Outlander, but I'm not sure. Is that weird? I think the writing was absolutely beautiful, but there were parts of the story that I just didn't love. Towards the end of the book, I decided I was ok with not finishing the series. By the time I hit the last few chapters, though, I decided I might just take a break before going to the next book. So at the end of the day, I guess I DID like it. :P
ReplyDeleteCan you name it here or is it too scandalous?
ReplyDeleteMy college roommates and I had a whole library of historical romances in our room when I was a freshman/plebe. It turned into a lending library for the rest of the girls {and some of the guys} in the company. I forgot about that - I wonder if I still have any of them anywhere!
ReplyDeleteI read that book last year and hated it. Strongly hated it. haha. I am in the minority of all of my friends who rave about it (hence the reason for reading it in the first place). I'm weird, so don't mine me. I am glad you're enjoying it, though! There really is nothing better than a good book :)
ReplyDeleteLove it!!
ReplyDeleteAhhhh Outlander. I have deep and unending thoughts about the excellentness of that novel series. Two and Three are good, four and five drag a bit so hold on through those...otherwise welcome to the club!
I am definitely going to pick up the Outlander series now; this is probably the fourth time I've heard it referenced in the past week! I am five years in recovery from historical romance novel bingeing but I wouldn't mind getting back into it haha
ReplyDelete