Growing up, I was always a voracious reader. If you ask my mom, she’ll tell you I practically came out of the womb with a book in my hand. I would read in bed at night, using the sliver of light from the hallway, countless books I had were swollen from moisture because I would take them into the tub with me. As a child, I even went so far as to copy (by HAND!), some of my favorites from the library so I could have them all the time. Clearly, my 5th grade self didn’t know much about copyright.
My taste in books has always been varied, while other kids in school were doing book reports on Judy Blume and Babysitter’s Club books (which I loved!), I was toting around Gone With The Wind and the Collected Works of Shakespeare. I was a big Poe fan, and enjoyed biographies of Einstein and Hitler (I was a REALLY weird kid). I went steady with Stephen King for a long time, enjoyed occasional flings with John Grisham and Dean Koontz.
Even though I would read just about anything I could get my hands on, romance novels were never on my radar. I never bothered with my mom’s Danielle Steel or Jackie Collins novels, and I would scoff at the paperbacks at the drugstore with Fabio’s glistening pecs and random windblown females on the cover. Sorry, but it’s the truth. I just can’t trust men with prettier hair than me. That shit’s not natural.
Then, one fated day in May, HE came into my life. Gird your loins, ladies; you know who I’m talking about! Christian “Spank Me, Baby” Grey. I had been hearing about this 50 Shades of Grey thing for a little while, mostly on Facebook and Twitter. So I downloaded the first book just to see what all the fuss was about. I remember reading the first few pages, and being bored out of my mind. But I persevered, and then I was HOOKED. I remember reading it on the Kindle app on my phone, unable to look away from the screen, while shopping for Mother’s Day gifts with my little brother. There we are, at the jewelry counter, when I let loose with a “HOLY HELL!” I shoved the phone in my brother’s face and whispered to him, “He’s got a dirty torture room!” My bro was all, “What the fuck are you reading, you animal?” and I was like, “Dude. You don’t even know! You.don’t.even.know.”
Naturally, I was all over Facebook and Twitter talking about the books, and found a ton of groups that were just as obsessed as I was. I’ve made some awesome friends from these groups, who have opened my eyes to AMAZING books that I never would have taken a second look at. After falling in love with Christian, I was introduced to the likes of Gideon, Travis, my Black Dagger Brotherhood boys, and my favorite dirty rockers from Sinners and Sole Regret. I’ve also become a huge fan of indie authors and the community surrounding them. We’re a great big dirty family!
So here I am, one year and about 200 books later, still obsessed. And apparently, a bit of a pervert! Who knew? Call it what you will; romance, smut, erotica, mommy porn…I’m a fan! (But I still won’t touch Fabio with a 10-foot dildo)
Image Credit: Erik Stabile