Book Lovers Inc.
Romance Novel Reviews, Author Interviews, Commentary
My Love of Writing by Zoe Archer + Giveaway
As soon as I learned how to write, I began writing my own stories. Most of them didn’t make much sense, or had serious gaps of logic. In one story, a mystery entitled The Road to Durango, a friend and I discover a body by the side of the road. Naturally, we put the body in the trunk of our car and drive on. I think we may have stopped for lunch, too.
In the 9th grade, when I was about 14, my friend Adrienne introduced me to romance novels. Her mom read them and then gave them to Adrienne, who then loaned them to me. I became hooked right away. I used to read them under my desk in class. I’d stay up far into the night, reading, until my head spun with eyestrain. She and I would lay on the floor of her bedroom and just read all day, with periodic breaks to make Pillsbury Sweet Rolls for lunch. We’d read Jude Deveraux, Judith McNaught, Johanna Lindsay, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Julie Garwood, Iris Johansen, Dorothy Garlock, LaVyrle Spencer, Nora Roberts, Karen Robards… Back then, there was a huge variety of settings and time periods, so I could be in Viking England or Imperial Russia or the American Frontier. I loved these stories of adventure, of passion, of things that as a teenager in suburban Los Angeles I hadn’t ever experienced.
Fast forward many, many years to me in graduate school, getting an MFA in Fiction. I would sneak romance novels in between my “serious” reading, and told only one other student at my program about my love of romance novels. When I’d come home for summer break, I didn’t work on The Great American Novel. I holed up in my room and wrote a historical romance novel. I went back for the next semester and didn’t talk about romance with anyone. I most assuredly didn’t submit that novel as my thesis. But after I received my degree, I got a day job, finished the romance, and, after a long, long process, found an agent.
You can find out more about Zoe and her novels on her website, Facebook or Twitter.
Zoe is offering a copy of her upcoming historical paranormal release Devil’s Kiss to a lucky commenter!
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Hi Zoe!!
it's wonderful how you remember the first book you ever read on your own and how you knew what you wanted to do at such a young age- I envy that drive and passion 😀
keep up the wonderful work!!
as for answering the question:
I would say my introduction to romance was a gradual thing, from reading fantasy which more often than not has romantic elements but I guess I did grow up on fairytales being told to my sister and I by my grandad (still don't know if he made them up or if they're in a book somewhere…)
but pinpointing it well I guess Anne Rice was where I got started and I don't know what lead me to her but Nicole Jordan's Passion would be my first official romance book (or is it Charlaine Harris? because I was already reading her at that point lol see? confusing!)
My favorite romantic trope is the hero falling for 'the other sister' or the 'quiet friend' or love hate and oh man, can't choose XD I just LOVE this genre and everything in between. But then it's a genre that is a part of everything in fiction so…;D
midnite dot fantasy at gmail dot com
My first romance author was Sandra Brown and I continue to love her as my favourite romance author of all time. My other favourite authors are: Johanna Lindsey, Sandra Hill, Catherine Anderson, Christina Dodd, Linda Howard, Diana Palmer, Mary Balogh, Nisha Minhas, Cecelia Ahern and Sharon Sala writing as Dinah McCall. I'm a big fan of the romance genre.
I read both contemporary and historical ,but I find that I particularly enjoy the Irish and Scottish settings (be they contemporary or historical) and I love regency era romances.
Thanks for the giveaway:)
Sarah
sarah.setar@gmail.com
Hrmm.. Although Laurell K Hamilton isn't a romance author, her novels have a ton in it. Her novels were one of the first romance(y) novels I started reading. Anne Rice was a favorite of mine as well. She's a classic. Besides those I read a bunch of Keri Arthur. 😀
natashajennex(at)gmail.com
my first was Laurel K. Hamilton which lead me to Kim Harrison and Charlaine Harris. I was a paranormal junkie!
Thanks for sharing
Oh, yay, so want to read Devil's Kiss, LOL!
I and romance novels have a hate relationship for the first. I love to read, but from elementary until high school I used to read manga (Japanese comic) and pure fantasy novel. I always despised romance, which I think as sappy genre. But, when I go to college, my friend lend me her Linda Howard's book. I remember the title is White Lies. And well, I'm hooked! And ashamed with my self, why I hate this wonderful genre. Romance not just about love, but about relationship too. White Lies, beside romance aspect, full of suspense and action aspect, that make me can't stop reading. After that, I begin reading so many romance novels, and from any genre. I don't want to be picky anymore My love of romance novels teach me that romance can be a great read. And because romance too, I learn to read English book and writing in English, things that maybe 2-3 years ago I'm so afraid and unsure to do it =D
Thanks for sharing your experience, Ms Archer!
And +1 to enter the 1000 follower giveaway =)
Ren
sawamura_foxman AT yahoo DOT com
At my age, it seems too far away to remember when or who. I would probably say the first romances were by Nora Roberts and I have been reading her ever since. I even go so far as to order her books from her husband's bookstore so I can get them autographed. I even stay at her inn that is decorated according to literary themes for my birthday wekend. About 8 or 9 years ago, a friend hooked me on Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I absolutely love them. Diana makes things come so alive you can actually believe in time travel, love and romance. I fell so in love with her books and Scotland that my husband took me to Scotland for two weeks for our 15 year wedding anniversary. I won't bore you any longer. I read so many romance authors these days that I love too many to count. There are so many wonderful authors that I hate to miss any of them. Thanks for sharing Zoe. Even though I have no desire to be an author, it is such fun to find authors who started on their reading journeys so young also.
My first romance author was Valerie Sherwood. It was a series of books about a girl who becomes a buccaneer's lady. I loved the settings. Often in Tortuga and North Carolina.
Thanks for the wonderful post and fantastic giveaway.
vsloboda(at)gmail(dot)com
My first adult romance read was probably I think Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series. I still love to read that series. Planning on doing a re-read of the whole series soon.
+1 entered the 1000 follower giveaway
bookdevoteereviews(at)hotmail(dot)com
I think it was either Diana Palmer,Kay Robbins, or Nora Roberts that was my first romance book that I read. I was 12 or 13 at the time and my grandmother was reading a book and let me borrow it when she was finished. I fell in love with romances and have been reading them ever since(OMG, over 25 years now..LOL)
+1 main giveaway
koonie2888 at yahoo dot com
Jude Devereux was the first author I read that I just had to read everything she wrote. I absolutely adored her medieval tales of the Montgomery brothers.
Margay1122ATaolDOTcom
The very first Romance book I read was once in Paris by Diana Palmer…and I still have that book as well as about 30 of her other books. I really fell in love with her books.
Then I read some Sandra brown and Nora Roberts and I kept their books too. I just loved the storylines, and the settlings in places like Scottish castles or on the beach or on farms with cowboys. You just never know what you are going to get with romance.
miztik_rose@yahoo.com
You know, when I was young I went for fantasy books after the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys phase. And one day I picked up a book I thought was a fantasy book. It was a book called Warrior's Song by Catherine Coulter. I had gotten the book at a train stop and when I discovered it was a romance book, I was not happy…at first. But by the time my train stop came, I wasn't able to pry my eyes off the pages. I was good and hooked. That turned out to be my first romance book. I read a lot of historical romance authors at first like julie Garwood and Amanda Quick, a few contemporary romances. And when I tried paranormal books later..well paranormal romance became my favorite genre. Laurell K Hamilton launched me into the genre. I quickly found Kim Harrison, Marjorie M Liu, Sherrilyn Kenyon, etc. Since then I have branched out so much that I have too many favorite authors and series I enjoy to really count them all.
+1 Entered the 1000 Followers Contest
LadyVampire2u AT gmail DOT com
Great interview! I don't read much romance, dose erotica count? The closest I come is the Claiming of Sleeping Beauty series by Anne Rice (I forget her pen name).
Thanks!
jason {at} jasonkivela {dot} com
The first Romance novel I ever read was Only His by Elizabeth Lowell. I got it in a thrift store and the cover was stripped. But, I loved that book!
My first real loves were Elizabeth Lowell and Amanda Quick, though I did read a lot of different authors when I started because a friend of my mother's inherited a huge box of romances that she didn't know what to do with, so she gave them to me and I was hooked!
Forgot to put my twitter name: @VivWestlake
my first romance book was diana gabaldon's highland series. i know that the first 100 pages of the first book were kinda boring to me, but then it just swept me away (well the story finally started for me with the girl landing in the past).
from then on it was really great. i loved the whole time changing thing and the setting of that century was really well described. and i loved the characters.
witchvela at web dot de
I got dropped right in the deep end of romance reading at a young age -eleven. I filched my mother's copy of The Kadin by Bertrice Small, and oh my. I knew right then and there that I'd found the genre I wanted to read and write for the rest of my life.
Unzadi at aol dot com
I read my first romance books when I got bored one winter in the early 1970's and discovered my mum's stash of Mills and Boon books. Just a few smouldering looks and very few kisses in those far off days! I don't think anyone even took their shoes off never mind anything else :)I devoured dozens that winter!
irgl7(at)bonzo15(dot)plus(dot)com
I don't really remember who my first romance author/book was, but it could very well have been Nora Roberts – I do have one book case devoted to just her books!
Thanks for perserving! Devil's Kiss sounds good – great cover, too!
kacbooks(at)hotmail(dot)com
I had read a few category romance but my first memorable romance was by Brenda Joyce. Ever since I've been hooked on all sub-genres of romance.
I entered the Big 1000 followers giveaway.
Cambonified [at] yahoo [dot] com
The first romance I ever read was Gone With the Wind, decades ago. But I didn’t start reading romance regularly until about 7-10 years ago and that was when I added romantic suspense books to my steady stream of mysteries and thrillers. The first romantic suspense authors I read were Linda Howard, Kay Hopper, Nora Roberts and Tami Hoag. I still read them all. Several years ago, I broadened my romance repertoire to include contemps, PNR/UF and historical. Thanks for visiting today, Zoe. I loved your Blades of the Rose series.
Mochfly(at)swbell(dot)net
First romances I read were really innocent romances where only at the end there was a chaste kiss and a marriage to come. Then when I was 13 my grandmother started lending her books to me. The first was a book by Kathleen Woodiwiss. I think the first one was Wolf and the Dove, but it could have been A Rose in Winter as well.
I was hooked from the start and always listened my grandmothers recommendations. I also never looked at her the same way again after that 😉
My first romance book was Shanna by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss when I was a teenager. I know how boring. 🙂 I found it on my mom's nightstand and have to admit was kind of intrigued by the cover (half-naked woman). And I loved the book! I read it hundreds of times. As soon as I had it finished I started it again. lol After that I bought more books by Woodiwiss and discovered more historical authors like Kat Martin and Stephanie Laurens. I was grabbed by all the emotions and feelings that were described.
claudigc at msn dot com
I can't really remember, I mean I know the book but in English, nope. It was a Harlequin, a woman who became the lover of a sheikh and I was lost in the whole desert drama and never looked back. I devoured those harlequins for years
blodeuedd83
I'm *pretty* sure Susan Elizabeth Phillips was my first. I just remember being like wow, books can be this good? And I never looked back 🙂
P.S.
justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
WTF? How did that P.S. get in there? LOL! Sorry!
I have only been reading romance novels for 3 years. I know, a late bloomer! My first romance novel was Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Holy cow, I laughed and I had to read more. Since then I have plowed through a few hundred books but I will love the first few books in the Dark Hunter series. Thanks for the giveaway! Zoe Archer – Yippee!
+1 1000 follower post
jepebATverizonDOTnet
Years ago I believe I started with Rosemary Rogers, Kathleen Woodiwis, Joanna Lindsey, and Jude Devereux (apologize for any misspellings) and still on occasion revisit their work or dive into a new release. Thank you for sharing today and for the awesome giveaway opportunity.
dz59001[at]gmal[dot]com
The first romance author I ever read was Georgette Heyer, and I used to read a lot of Barbara Cartland's romances too. I then started finding the early paranormal type romances, which led to the awesome paranormals we have now.
Barbed1951 at aol dot com
Too far back to remember the first, but I think the ones I remember best are the classics.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
My first romance novel was written by a Dutch author, Leni Saris, as my mother owned two of her books. But after that I soon discovered historical romance novels by Jude Deveraux, Bertrice Small, Johanna Lindsey. I still own and collect them. I am nothing if not a loyal fan.
I've also started reading at a young age, and never stopped. But I have never had the drive to become an author myself. But I am happy that so many wonder ful authors did.
auriansbooks at gmail dot com
+ 1000 followers give away
hello,
honestly i can't remember my first romance book…only it was a harlequin book in french) and about pirates^^;; i was really young soit didn't mark me as really important at that time- i much prefered fiction- now it's different
thanks for the giveaway
isabelle(dot)frisch(at)gmail(dot)com
+1 1000 followers giveaway
My first romance authors were Jo Goodman, Carol Finch, Joanna Lindsey, Jude Deveraux, Iris Johansen, Catherine Hart, and Julie Garwood, among many other. I still have some of them.
I can't remember the entire stories but there were scenes that never let me go. Like, when a heroine in Julie Garwood's book warmed the hero's feet, or when the devastation of Great Quake in San Francisco hit and the hero thought the fires had killed his wife in a Catherine Hart book. There's another about a sexually abused hero, which was a first and very unusual for the time, who found love.
saobrienATcoxDotnet
Some of the first romance authors I fell for are Nora Roberts and Jude Devereaux! They wrote wonderful romances, but I would be hard pressed today to mention the titles I read. Not so with Diana Gabaldon! When I read Outlander, I was hooked! Give me some good Scotsmen in quilts, set in historic times, and I was in love! I still love a good historical romance, especially when there are Highlanders involved:)
jwitt33 at live dot com
I used to read a lot of harlequin series books. As far as bigger books, two of the authors that I read were joanna Lindsey and Kathleen Woodweiss.
I started at age 11 or 12 sneaking into my Aunt's attic where she hid her romance books. Victoria Holt (wow – this dates me!)is the 1st author I can remember. I loved all of the dark gothic romances – the mystery of whether he hated her or loved her – was he an evil man – was the house haunted by an evil spirit – all of those things! I also got hooked on the old horror romance comics around the same time.
I would love to be able to find any of these old books now – and relive that time!
wandre3000@yahoo.com
Thanks for the fun post and giveaway!
I remember being in junior high and sneaking my grandmother's copies of Laverne Spencer (sp?) and sitting in a corner reading those. I'd also spend hours in the public library reading clan of the cave bear/horses… something… (?) and being scandalized by the sex scenes 😉
+ 1 entered main giveaway
efender1(at)gmail(dot)com
I'm not sure if I'd call it a romance series, maybe paranormal romance I guess, but the series that gripped me best and hasn't let me go yet is Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series. I just love it and I'm kinda a lot like Anita other than the guns and vampires and were-animals in my life. LOL! =)
Awesome giveaway!! =) Thanks for the chance to enter!
Valerie Long (Scorpio1974 on GFC)
just.val.1974@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/just.val.1974
Jewelry Creations by V.S. Long – https://www.facebook.com/vsl1974
Nalini Singh was one of my first and I still read her, she is one of my favorite authors
thanks for the giveaway!
katie_tp(at)yahoo(dot)com
I like Penny Jordan. I like settings where the heroine is in trouble or being stalked by someone and the hero is protecting them. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com
Not entering, Zoe, but what fun to read this!
I remember finding my mother's Jackie Collins novels and reading them (of course, while hiding from my mother).
Thanks for the giveaway.
areeths at new dot rr dot com
Jude Deveraux was my first real romance author. Someone gave me "A Knight in Shining Armor" and told me I just had to read it. I did, then I just had to read the rest of her books – and on, and on, and on. I've been happily reading ever since!
msculp@gmail.com
One of the first romance authors who I read from was J.R.Ward. After the Twilight craze I decided I have to read something new and I choose a vampire story from the adult category. And it was awesome! I've always had something for the paranormal things and stories as I was so in love with the first Black Dagger Brotherhood book when the vampires and supernatural world were mixed with romance and passion. I couldn't get enough of it! 🙂
And since then, my favorite genres are the paranormal romances and the urban fantasies 🙂
mikki-mano@hotmail.com
I am very new to the romance genre. I attribute my introduction to the genre from reading the Fever series by Karen Moning and absolutely loving it. I liked it so much I started to dig into her Highlander series and that was my gateway into the genre.
Thank you for the giveaway!
ssosborn at gmail dot com
In my previous entry, I forgot to add +1 for entering the grand giveaway.
Sorry about that!
Sarah
sarah.setar@gmail.com
I remember "borrowing" my aunt's early Kay Hoopers and Iris Johansen's (loved those covers!) and getting swept away in historical romances 🙂
smaccall AT comcast.net
I can't really remember. I remember at first I'd just look through at the library, usually ending up with some not so good books, and I did like Linda Howard. Umm, one of the first romance series that I really liked is the Lords of the Underworld by Gena Showalter, and I've sort of always enjoyed things with a mix of romance and something else like paranormal or action. Thanks!
jessicamariesutton(at)msn(dot)com
Ok – now that would be Hedwig COurths-Mahler. My grandma had all those books by her and lets face it – she wrote A LOT and I read them all. Hilarious, but oh so entertaining.
hrududu At hotmail DE
I don't quite remmeber if the first romance author I read was Linda Howard or Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
They both keep being my favourite contemporaty romance authors.
spav05(at)gmail(dot)com