My love affair with books.
First, I'd like to thank Mist and the other Bookaholics for having me here today. I'm thrilled to be among a group of fellow book lovers!
I come from a family of bookaholics, so I've always been a reader. Both my parents and my grandparents loved to read, and instilled that love in me.
The books that really got me into reading were the Berenstein Bear books my Stan and Jan Berenstein. I'm not sure how old I was when I started collecting them, but I clearly remember my parents reading them to me, and then me reading them to my Grama. I loved those books. I think part of it was coming from a family just like the Bear Family—two parents, a brother, and then me as the baby of the family.
I was very lucky to have a family who fostered my love of reading. Buying Berenstein Bears books became a special ritual for my dad and me. Whenever we went to the post office, which was situated at the back of a large store, I was allowed to choose a new book. Those memories became even more precious after my dad passed away when I was ten.
Growing up in the 90s, my favorite books were pretty standard—The Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley High, and RL Stine's books were among my favorites. Throw in some classics like Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Tuck Everlasting, and the Chronicles of Narnia, and my love for reading never faded. Of course, it helped that my mum is an avid reader, and so was my Grama right up until her death, just three months shy of her hundredth birthday.
Becoming a book blogger has only added fuel to my status as a book addict. In 2011, my first year as a book blogger, I surpassed my reading goal, and ended up reading more books in one year than I ever had before. I've been opened up to a whole new world of books and book lovers who share my passion for the written word. I don’t have many friends in ‘real life’ who enjoy reading, so finding the book blogging community was a godsend for me. Now when I go on and on about books, I know other people get it. We’re all here for a common reason. I can stand up among these amazing people and say that I am proud to be a bookaholic.
Marie would like to thank the people who have supported her by showing her appreciation in some small way. So, for every person who buys a copy of Blue Sky Days during the tour and sends Marie proof of purchase via email to irishstar_83{at}hotmail{dot}com she will enter you into a giveaway to win a book of your choice up to $12 CAN from The Book Depository.
Blue sky days.
A year after graduating from high school, nineteen-year-old Emma Ward feels lost. She has spent most of her life trying to please her frigid, miserable mother - studying hard, getting good grades, avoiding the whole teenage rebellion thing - and now she feels she has no identity beyond that. Because she spent so many years working hard and planning every moment of her life, she doesn't have any friends, has never had a boyfriend, and basically doesn't know who she is or what she really wants from life. Working two part-time jobs to save money for college hasn't helped her make decisions about her future, so she decides it's time for a change. She leaves home to live with her free-spirited, slightly eccentric Aunt Daisy in a small town that makes Emma feel like she's stepped back in time.
When Emma meets Nicholas Shaw, everything changes - he's unlike anyone she's ever met before, the kind of man she didn't even know existed in the 21st century. Carefree and spirited like Daisy, Nicholas teaches Emma to appreciate life, the beauty around her, and to just let go and live. Between Daisy and Nicholas, Emma feels like she belongs somewhere for the first time in her life, and realizes that you don't always need a plan - sometimes life steers you where you're meant to be.
Life is wonderful, an endless string of blue sky days, until Nicholas is diagnosed with cancer, and life changes once again for Emma in ways she never thought possible. Now it's time for her to help Nicholas the way he's helped her. Emma will have to use her new-found strength, and discover along the way if love really is enough to get you through.
Find the author:
Thank you so much for being part of the blog tour, Mist!
ReplyDeleteI remember reading most of those books when I was little too. I had all the Berenstein Bears books. Although my favorite was Clifford the Big Red Dog. I had every one of those books and read them obsessively.
ReplyDelete