Handbag and Book: Oldies but Goodies. @VickiBatman #readromance #RLFblog #MFRWauthors

At age fourteen, my mom introduced me to romance books. On our summer breaks, she took us to the library. Our reads had to last two weeks and then she would take us back. I was such a fast reader. I read mine, sometimes twice, and sometimes, my sisters’ books too.
One day, I was totally bored. Nothing new to read. So I asked Mom if we could go to the library, a day off from our regular schedule. She firmed her lips and gave me an interesting look. Then she reached for her handbag, stashed on a shelf in a built-in bookcase. She pushed a small paperback in my hands and said, “Read this.”
On the front was a picture of a couple, a dark-headed girl turned away from a man with brown hair wearing a suit. The author’s name was Emilie Loring. I flipped the book over and read the back cover blurb. Hmmm, I thought, and went to my room where I plopped on my bed and began. I was captivated. A few hours later, I said to Mom, “Finished. Can I read another?”
Every week, my mom met her three sisters at my grandmother’s house where they shared everything, sewed, crafted, ate lunch. At those times, one aunt passed on the books. I had to wait for the weekly meeting before I could get a new one to read. So I read it twice. Before Christmas this past year, I decided to read all of Emilie’s work in order of publication. The first one was The Trail of Conflict from 1922. The last was The Shining Years from 1972. About the first half of the books were written by Emilie, and the second half were partially ghostwritten. The heroines were usually in their early twenties and the heroes were older. Some of the men were politicians, ministers, business owners, secret agents, ranchers, military guys. Together, they flushed out the bad guys. Emilie’s descriptions of food, scenery, and clothing drew glorious pictures in my mind and of course, a happy ever after.
And that’s when I fell in love with romance. What is the book you’ve never forgotten?   Romance + Fun + Mystery = a good story! Have you tried these:   Amazon Author Central