The first reviewers post of the weekend comes from Sarina, check out her post below and don’t forget to enter the giveaway
Hello All! My name is Sarina and like many of my fellow reviewers, and despite writing reviews on a fairly regular basis, I found myself struggling with what to write for this post. I figure that means I should just start at the beginning of my love affair with reading and books in general.
While I’m sure I was read to as a child, I don’t actually have any memories of it; my mother is an avid reader (though I’ve far surpassed her at this point) and she always did her best to encourage my love of the written word. My fondest memories are from when I was in grade school; we had a family library card and with it, I was allowed to check out a maximum of 10 books at a time. I thoroughly and unashamedly took full advantage of that and while it wasn’t so easy to get to the library during the school year, every summer I was practically a resident. I have no idea how many books I read using that library card but I always got the 10 books I was allowed and read them all quickly so that I could go back and help myself to more. My mother was exceedingly helpful in providing the necessary transportation, of course!
In High School I helped out in the school library during my free period and participated in reading contests as regularly as they were offered. I pretty much thrilled in finding the longest, most obscure books to read for my page counts and I enjoyed the friendly rivalry with my fellow readers. I’m quite proud to know I won and/or placed in every competition I entered. I don’t quite remember when I first started reading M/M romance but I can tell you how it started. My first experiences with m/m anything was a series by Mercedes Lackey, the Valdemar Series.(For those unfamiliar with it, there are multiple books/series that are all connected and take place around or within the Kingdom of Valdemar. The whole thing is fantastic.) My best friend at the time introduced it to me and in one of the trilogies, The Last Herald-Mage, I found the main character, Van, was gay. And he wasn’t even the only one! It was an eye opening experience to be sure and with an engaging story and fabulous characters I never looked back.
From there I moved onto reading online yaoi manga to print manga to then finding actual novels to read on my kindle. While I loved it all and enjoyed every word read, there was also a kind of secretiveness about it; I just couldn’t tell anyone in my family or my circle of friends that I read, and adored, m/m romance and did so quite often. At this point I rarely read anything else! Finding first the M/M group on Goodreads and then being invited to become a reviewer for Love Bytes were some of the best moments I’ve ever had since I began reading this genre. Finding other likeminded individuals that read the same things I do was like being handed this really amazing gift, one I will forever be thankful for.
This blog is about more than reading and reviewing some really amazing books; for me it was like finding another family only I don’t have to hide part of myself from them and I will forever be grateful to the people that make that family up.
Have a change to win a $10 Ninestar Press store credit donated by Ninestar Press
Thank you for sharing some of your reading story with us, Sarina, and for your great reviews!
Thank you for sharing and the opportunity.
Thanks for the post and reviewing for Love. Talking about reading as a kid – I old enough to remember when they had bookmobiles come around in the summer, so no transportation needed! And agree on Lackey, one of my first gay fic and still a fav.
great post! Thanks
Libraries certainly are the BEST places! Thanks for sharing your journey and thanks for all of the reviews!
Thanks for the post! I also have a lot of great memories of going to the library as a kid and checking out my limit of books.
Thanks for your reviews!
I’m STILL a library addict (in one as we speak)!
Thank you for your post. I also loved to read as a child and still love to read as much as I can.
I loved the library as a child and would call in several times per week on my way home from school (it was only a block off my normal walking path)
Thank you for the post! I use to spend a lot of time in the library since it was close to my home.
Thank you for your post. I have fond memories of the library in my town (i used to help there when i was a kid)
thanks for your memories Sarina. I do remember as a child making the little folders for all my books and the cards and so having my own library!!!
Thanks for being a reviewer. I got my library card when I was seven, many years of enjoying books..
Sarina, thanks for your post. I also used the library often as a kid. Great place, if you need your book fix, but don’t have money xD
One of my earliest memories is sitting on my mom’s lap, curling my finger in her hair, and listening to stories at nap time. By the time I’d graduated from the one room country school house I attended, I’d read every book in the school library at least once…including the Rime of the Ancient Mariner!
I am so glad you feel like Love Bytes feels like finding family. I’m still hoping my local library will add mm books!
The library was my savior when I was a kid. I buy all my books now but I couldn’t back then.
Thank you Sarina
Thanks for the post, I enjoyed reading it!
I, too, have found through GR some really great people with whom I can share my love for MM genre. And since this genre is relatively small, this community really feels like one big family.