I was, of all things, grocery shopping with my mother when I noticed a new bookstore was having its grand opening. I couldn’t resist - I had to go in and browse among the racks.
Being a lover of books from a very young age, I had already read everything from Black Beauty and Beautiful Joe to Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre thanks to my local library, but this store, these books were different. These were romances with beautiful covers and heroes and heroines to admire and adore and excitement hiding within each page.
Every book I picked up was a new revelation to me. And then I saw it. Love’s Tender Fury by Jennifer Wilde. The cover, the back blurb, the pages I read standing in the aisle, everything about the book said I must have it. Well, being fourteen, with no money in my pocket (and no room in the grocery budget), I couldn’t have it.
Such disappointment (as only a teenager in love with romance could feel it), but I persevered and with the earnings from my next babysitting job, I bought that book. To say I devoured the story of Marietta and Derek would be an understatement. I lived each page.
I still have that much loved book. It’s dog-eared, the cover has been repaired with tape, the pages have come loose from the spine and it’s traveled across country with me, but Love’s Tender Fury remains the most treasured in my collection. Do you still have your first romance novel?
Happy Reading.
Marie
