Okay, don't roll your eyes. No, I'm not shamelessly kissing editor or powers-that-be butt here. I swear. I've just really been thinking a bunch about who I want to be as an author and what direction I may want to head since, really, my writing career is in its infancy (though I'm not!) I want to be prepared in this flip floppy publishing world. No pants down. No rug yanked. No left behind wishing I'd had some forsight.
So I've stewed. And thought. And dreamed. And mulled. And what it boils down to is that I feel like destiny grabbed me by some random body part - I won't guess which - and put me right where I'm supposed to be. Here. At Superromance. And, I'm pretty darn happy with it.
You see, I LOVE Harlequin.
Okay, not in a weird way.
Just in a nostalgic, cozy way.
Because like many of you, Harlequin, along with Mills and Boon, was my first taste of romance. My grandmother and her sister traded paper sacks of Harlequins every week, so it was natural that as a reader, my interest was piqued by those oodles of books. And not to mention that my grandmother took me every week to the library - she happily went her way toward the adult section while I piddled around the shelves of the children's section wondering if I could possibly be happy reading Those Happy Golden Years for the umpteenth time. Finally, one day I picked up one of her books. I'll never forget it. It was a medical and the heroine wore a cape and cute little nurse's cap. I was fascinated. So I snuck and read it. Yeah. A twelve year old wondering what in the heck an Alfa Romeo Spider was, not to mention a few other things that "wowed" me. LOL.
I was hooked.
Then I found The Thornbirds. Oh, the angst. The yearning. The delicious forbidenness of it all.
And then, finally, I rode to my aunt's used bookstore, peddling my short, little legs as quickly as I could all summer long to borrow one book after the other. And that's where I found them. Those delicious Superromances! Oh, I loved them best. They were thick and full of adventure. Long-fingered pianists (I wondered why that mattered), travel agents (very 70s, right?) and tortured lovers ripped apart by meddlesome mothers and happenstance. I'm pretty sure I read every one of them. I even thought antiquing was cool because one of the heroines always wanted to go antiquing. Try explaining that to a thirteen year old boy.
So, every now and again, I sorta pinch myself because I get to write them! How flippin' cool is that? I so wish my aunt were alive. Or my grandmother. Or my uncle who snuck and read them (though he would never admit to it. He was in the choir at the Baptist Church, for goodness sake!) I wish they could know because they would be so proud.
So, I'm good right where I am. I'm loving it. And because I have a new house and a new great office, I bought a vintage Harlequin calendar and used the pages to make awesome pictures to decorate my office with. I have them above....not so good with technical stuff so if they end up in making this look wonky, forgive me. The covers are so funny and risque. My favorite is "She was nice in so many ways....No Nice Girl" LOL.
So what about you? Let's get nostalgic. Do you remember your first romance? What was it and why did it hook you?
32 comments:
Hi, Liz! My first romance reads were by Georgette Heyer, Barbara Cartland, and Jane Aiken Hodge. I soon added gothic romances from Victoria Holt, Phyllis A. Whitney, and Mary Roberts Rinehart. Category romances began to fill my bookshelves, and then my reading life was changed forever when I read my first book by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss!
At one point or another, I have read from just about every book line published by Harlequin. SuperRomance is one of my favorites! I know that I will have a quality read, well-developed characters, a detailed story line, and of course, a wonderful, heart-touching romance. A book worth sitting down with and investing a little more time than you would with a quick read. A take your shoes off, get comfortable, and get lost in another world kind of read. I always feel a little better about myself and my own world after reading a SuperRomance. I adore “SuperRomances”–the longer-length format gives the author lots more room to develop the characters and the story line. I have read many, many “SuperRomances”, and I’ve never been disappointed. I’ve been touched, surprised, amused, intrigued and delighted. So many talented storytellers in the “SuperRomance” authors group!
Liz, I am not sure what my first romance was, but I remember two very clearly - a Sweet Dreams teen romance called P.S. I love you, and a much raunchier Dorothy Daniels called The Cormac Legend. I can still vividly remember details from both to this day. I have a selection of those awesome vintage Harlequin goodies, too, but my favorite cover/title is Pardon My Body. Makes me laugh every time.
PS Love your green office walls. Yum.
Virginia - Oh, I made my way around to those, too. And I'll never forget the temptation of Rosmary Rogers. I studied that book for a while before I had the guts to pick it up.
Funny thing, Jennifer Blake is in my chapter, and I remember loving her Southern Gothics when I was in my teens. So everytime I say so she cringes. LOL. She doesn't look much past her late forties - a graceful Southern beauty who writes wicked romance. :)
Sarah - I went straight from totally sweet (Little House on the Prairie) to those nurse romances. Then from there to, um, more complex romances (aka, sex in them) I loved falling in love over and over again. Still today, my all time favorite romance is A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Devereaux. I found that one in college.
Sorry about the crazy look of the blog...sometimes I wish I were more technical and could do amazing formatting things. Alas, I am not.
I have no idea what the first Harlequin I read was called but I do know how I read it. I borrowed one of my mother's books and read it at night under the covers by the light of a flashlight.I was 11 years old. I also took them upstairs to the spare room and read them in secret. When my mom realized what I was doing she told me that I could read them after she read them. Then I discovered Regency romance and Georgette Heyer, Marion Chesney and others.
I love how you decorated your office. Did you know you can buy six vintage Harlequins? I have all six of them. I've only read 3 of them so far but my favorite one of the three was Virgin with Butterflies.
My first romance book was a Barbara Cartland, can't remember the title, even searched google to see if her titles would spark a memory, but no such luck. My aunt loaned it to me at a young age and boy did I get hooked! I read any romance I could get my hands on. I read other categories, but its always back to romance. I read everyday, have books all over the place. SuperRomances have really become my favorite harlequin line, like the longer length and depth of characters.
I forgot to say that I'm giving away a $10.00 Starbucks card to one lucky commenter. I could use coffee right now myself.
Like Virginia, I read Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney and Daphne DuMaurier in high school. At the time, I didn't realize they were romances. I didn't touch romance again until, in middle age, I read LaVyrle Spencer's Morning Glory and became absolutely hooked on romance. Shortly thereafter, I discovered Superromance and they are still my favorites of the Harlequin lines.
Kaelee - it make me smile to think of you huddled under those covers with a flashlight. And my mom was pretty much the same. She liked that I loved to read. And I agree about the new length of Supers - room to stretch our legs a bit.
Gloria - I'm sure I read a Barbara Cartland, but I've no idea which. I should probably go back and read some.
And Virgin With Butterflies is my favorite picture on the wall. Guess I need to order those - pretty cool idea. I do have one I found in my aunt's bookstore that was Superromance No. 12. I loved going through all those old books. Vintage is fun, a little dusty, but fun.
Hi Liz--Love your office! I read my first Harlequin when I was nineteen. I wondered what those racks of books were in the grocery store and at the time the covers had these rather cartoonish people on them. The woman all had pert little noses and the guys had dark winged eyebrows and brooding expressions. I told my boyfriend that I simply had to read one. I read it in a night and I was such a romance genre rookie that I didn't know which guy to root for and I was surprised that the hero and heroine got together at the end. After that I was hooked. I was in college and bogged down with studies, but I could read a Harlequin romance in the three hours every night I worked at the local theatre (instead of doing my homework). Boy did I plow through those books. I may still have my first one.
I don't remember what my first romance book was, but know that it was a Harlequin. My neighbor Mary used to bring me over an extra large Macy's bag filled with Harlequins every other month. She traded these with her girlfriends. There were plenty of Holt's and Whitney's thrown in there too. After reading, each person initialed inside the front cover because there were so many you couldn't keep track of which ones you'd read or not. This went on for years and years, til I moved out to go to college. I will always remember my special friendship with these ladies and those books which brought me hours and hours of joy, escapism, angst and always a satisfying HEA.
I don't remember what the first romance I read was but I was well into my adult years. Before that I only read mysteries and they were not romance. I do however remember how I got hooked on romance and as strange as it may seem it was my ex-sister-in-law ~ the same sister-in-law that I have remained good friends with ~ who introduced Harlequin to me.
PS....don't enter me in the drawing because I am a weird person ~~~ I don't drink coffee.
Great post, Liz! It brings back so many memories. The first romance I read was The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart. I must have read that book four or five times. Then I went looking for other books just like it.
I found my first Georgette Heyer at a local grocery store. Then Kathleen Woodiwiss. I read one of Judith McNaught's Harlequin Temptations, Double Standard, and I was hooked on Harlequins.
Have been ever since. Supers and Intimate Moments were always my favorites, though. And now I'm writing for Superromance. Life is very good.
My grandmother was my introduction to Harlequin also. And, yes, she kept them in paper bags :) She also made a tick mark in the upper-right-hand corner to denote how many times she had read each one--not sure why!--and some of the books had as many as five or six tick marks on them. She also introduced me to Emilie Loring, who was one of my early favorites, but I think I found the marvelous Georgette Heyer on my own. Thanks for the memories today!
My Mother-in-law gave me Kathleen E. Woodiwiss books to read when I lived with her for a few months before the wedding.
I have always been a compulsive reader. I can't not have a book to read, I feel lost, disconnected. I would go through phases reading different types of books. It wasn't until I picked up my first SuperRomance that I found exactlly what I was looking for.
I compare them to a great pair of jeans. I have tried trendy styles, they just don't work on me. I always go back to Levi's, the original. They are the only brand that I can count on to fit (as long as I don't try to buy them out of the Juiniors section- some jeans are not meant for grown up women). Sure they might not be the hottest trend, but I know they will work for me. Just like I know I will get a satisfying read when I pick up a Harlequin. They've been doing it long enough that they know how to keep it fresh, without losing the details that make it classic.
I think it is so cool how many of you had grandmothers who had papersacks of romance books. And come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that my grandmother and aunt marked the corners, too.
I like comparing Supers to a pair of jeans that fit perfectly. Good analogy, Kristina.
And, Kathleen Woodiwiss? Yeah, I read one and then I went back and found all the others and devoured them.
And, Ellen, regifting? I'm handing you the next gift you have to give. LOL.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments. I'm so enjoying them.
There is no way I could remember back to the early seventies. Sorry!
What I DO remember is that the man across the street always read them on his front porch, so I started to read one he had finished, and thus began my romantic journey. I recall authors like Anne Mather, Violet Winspear, Flora Kidd, and Carole Mortimer, though! I'm not sure if they were from the seventies or eighties, as I usually read (still to this day) at least 250 romances a year.
As to WHY I started reading them, I think they offered me the same thing they do now: sweet dreams. Back in the day, I used to dream I was a patient on Medical Center, with Chad Everett (Dr. Gannon) treating me. Ahhhh, what a sweet smile he had/has. Books, on the other hand, offered a greater variety in storylines, especially today, as back in those days most books had the heroine in a daycare, nursing, or volunteer capacity.
Laney - I agree about the sweet dreams. Reading romance allows you to fall in love over and over again, and that's a feeling we always want to experience. I always called romance my mac'n'cheese. Pure comfort and, oh so, yummy. My grandfather liked romances too. It never surprised me to see him reading one, and he watched General Hospital every day.
Sweet Savage Love was my first. It opened the door to a world that has kept expanding ever since. I still have that book, but I won't ever read it again. Times and writing styles have changed too much. I know I wouldn't feel the same way about it.
My beloved mother-in-law introduced me to Harlequins. She said, "I know you don't read that sort of book, but some of them aren't bad." LOL.
Nice post, Liz. Congrats on your new office.
Deb
I started reading romance because my mom had them and they'd be lying around the house. It was years before I picked one out for myself--I just always read what she had home.
My favorites at the start were Regencies (I still love them) and the old Mary Baloghs are on my keeper shelf.
Some of the tropes in those older Regencies make me uncomfortable, but I love them. The Sugar Rose by Susan Carroll is one that fits this category. It's a makeover story...and I love makeover stories...but some of the elements in this one would never fly these days.
I just looked this book up to confirm the spelling of Carroll and saw it was a Rita winner in 1988. Neat.
I haven't read Kathleen Woodiwiss. Her books were kept in the very back of my mom's closet and I was way too much of a goody goody to steal them. ;-)
Deb and Ellen- I think you are very correct that it's hard to go back and read those romances of the 70s and 80s. Think how much we've grown and changed over those years...and how different writing has become. It was so purplely, wasn't it? I've picked up a couple and it's been hard to get through the first chapter. Oh, but as a young woman begging for romance in her world, they were fantastic. Of course, I think much about my tastes have changed since I started writing romance.
You were smart not to have filched those, Ellen. Never stand between a reader and Kathleen Woodiwess. :)
Liz, I framed those calendar pics too! My favorite was Harlequin's first ever cover. Wait for it...The Manatee published in 1949.
The tag is 'Strange loves of a seaman'
I get a lot of comments on them.
Karina
My very first romance aged thirteen was a Georgette Heyer Regency, Charity Child. My second, a week later, got me well and truly hooked on romance, a Mills and Boon, 15c special offer, King Country by the amazing Margaret Way who still writes Australian Romances for Harlequin Mills & Boon. From then on I spent my pocket money every week in the newsagent buying those lovely books on the bottom shelf of the paperback section. Quite a bit later in my twenties that the other lines like Supers came to Australia, and then I got even more addicted to my HEA fix!
Last year on our vacation back in Australia I found an odd little shop selling second hand books in a tiny country town, and there it was. That first ever Mills & Boon from 1974. I bought it again, of course!
Liz,
Love your post. Love Harlequin. I don't remember what the title of my first romance was, but (you all are so young) the guy had a crew cut. I was hooked on happily ever after long before that book, so it was love at first sight.
Liz,
My first romances were Barbara Cartland's. I got two bags full at a library sale. Then I read all of Georgette Heyer's books. I was so happy when I discovered M&B was publishing great stories like these.
My first romance was Gone With the Wind and I read that book several times. It is the book that really got me started reading. I was in my early teen years.
Hey, Liz! My mother read mysteries so I didn't get much opportunity to read romances at a young age. (Although by 16 I'd read every Agatha Christie novel three times over.) I do recall finding a stray romance lying around the house when I was about 11. There was a single chaste kiss on the very last page. Shocking! It wasn't till I was pregnant with my first baby and a gay friend gave me some Mills & Boons to read as a joke that I read another romance. The joke was on him -- I loved them! That's when I decided I wanted to write them as well as read them.
I heart Harlequin too. My first Harlequin romance was The Wool King by Kerry Allyne. I also read a lot of Harlequin Presents - Anne Mather was my favorite. I liked Barbara Cartland too. I read Gone With the Wind when I was 10 and was hooked on romantic stories. (and mysteries too - I read every Agatha Christie book. )
Karina - I figured I wasn't the only one. They fit just perfectly beside my pocket doors and look good against that green. Love my new office, just wish I had a lock on those doors. LOL. My boys don't seem to get that I'm working...or playing on Facebook.
Autumn - isn't that cool that you happened upon it again? Love that. I may have to go back to my aunt's used book store and sift through the stacks of books again. I didn't have the time needed. It was cold and my parents were rushing me to hurry.
Mary - I dig crew cuts. :)
Laura - seems like Barbara Cartland was a first for many people. I'm going to have to dig some of those out and take a second look.
Virginia - I read GWTW right after The Thornbirds. I hated the ending. So frustrated with Scarlet. In my young mind, I couldn't see the nuances of Scarlett so well. I didn't understand that she WAS going to get her man.
Joan - I like that story - you turning the tables on him that way. Bet he loves that you write romances now.
Hey, Tammy -
Must have been posting while you were :)
Ten is pretty young for a book of that size. I'm pretty sure I was still reading Newberry books at that point. But it wasn't long until I had those romances in hand. I think I was 12 when I read GWTW.
Thanks for posting :)
Liz
Too long ago to remember the first. I remember loving the chase, still do.
marypres@gmail.com
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