Giveaway Hop: Celebrating St. Valentine (INT)

Welcome to my stop on the Celebrating St. Valentine Giveaway Hop hosted by Nat @ Reading Romances.

For this Valentine's, I want to feature memorable "first reads" -- the books that got me started reading and loving the authors who wrote them.

My first Lisa Kleypas: Again the Magic

Ah, forbidden love. Aline is a lady and McKenna is a servant -- but the heart doesn't choose who it bestows love to. After years apart, McKenna returns -- filled with hate and resentment and determined to exact revenge on the woman who broke his heart. But, the reunion isn't what either one expected -- and both realize that true love waits -- and endures.

This story makes me cry every time I read it. I keep hoping that Lisa Kleypas writes a longer story about Gideon Shaw and Olivia, Aline's younger sister.

My first Laura Lee Guhrke: And Then He Kissed Her

I love, love, love Emmaline Dove and Harry Marlowe. Emmaline Dove is one of my all-time favorite heroine names (and was so tempted to name my daughter after her -- my daughter's name is Celestine. Close enough.) And I love the idea of Girl-Bachelors, making a wonderful living doing work that they are passionate about.

I have a soft spot for stories about writers and publishing and this one captures the intricacies of the publishing world. I enjoyed seeing that world from Harry's point of view -- and all the difficult decisions he had to make as publisher and owner.

My first Lauren Royal: Violet

The Ashcrofts with their unique motto: Question Convention -- and their three unique daughters remain one of my favorite families from historical romances. Violet and Ford are fun together -- both have very scientific minds and complement each other very well.

Royal's novels have the right mix of humor, warmth, heat and heart. (My most favorite part is how they "fashion" a pair of spectacles for Ford. ^_^)

Lauren Royal is one of my favorite authors -- and my love for her work was really put to the test because of how difficult it was to obtain paperback copies of her books: I was fortunate to have found my copy of Violet from the used books store in my city -- but the rest of the books took me a while to find: I went through Bookmooch, Ebay, Amazon, etc.

And, now, I am proud to say I own a complete set of every book Lauren Royal has ever printed.

My First Julia Quinn: When He Was Wicked

Believe it or not, I didn't start the Bridgerton series with The Duke and I (although it is my favorite book in the series) -- but with When He Was Wicked, Francesca and Michael's story.

Many romance novels feature only one love and it ends in a happily ever after for the hero and heroine. But Julia Quinn's story addresses the difficult (and painful) question, "What happens when our true love dies?" --

Francesca had the love of her life and she lost him. Francesca is content to be a widow and never imagined herself capable of loving again but, when she reunites with her dear friend (and her late husband's cousin and heir), Michael -- she realizes that the heart is capable of learning to love again.

(I am waiting for the Epilogues, The Bridgertons: Happily Ever After to be released this April because I am still wondering if Francesca and Michael were ever blessed with children.)

My first Mary Balogh: Simply Love

Have you noticed that I have the unfortunate tendency not to start a series with the first book? ^_^

This was again the case with Mary Balogh. Before Mary Balogh, I had envisioned all of the heroes and heroines in romance novels to be perfect -- angelic, delicate, innocent women and dashing, handsome men -- so when I picked up Simply Love, the premise intrigued me.

Sydnam is horribly scarred and Anne is a single mother. Anne is wary of men and Sydnam is wary of people in general -- so how can love grow between these two people?

A hauntingly beautiful story, the love between Anne and Sydnam reminds me of my favorite quote from Whitney Otto's How to Make an American Quilt: Young lovers seek perfection. Old lovers learn the art of sewing shreds together and of seeing beauty in a multiplicity of patches.

Can you share your memorable first reads? ^_^

***Giveaway Time!***

What you can win here:

Amazon Gift Card (value = $10) or any book (max value is $10 and can be a digital/Kindle copy or via The Book Depository) 

Number of winners:

1 

Open to (INT, US or US/CAN):

INT 

How to enter:

Rafflecopter!

*One entry per household, per IP address.
*This giveaway will run until February 18.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


In addition to my giveaway prize above, Nat @ Reading Romances has organized a grand prize and you can gain entries towards the grand prize by stopping by all the hop stops and by commenting!

To join the giveaway for the grand prize, fill out this form.