I absolutely love books. When I was a little girl of no more than ten, I discovered two books belonging to my mother tucked away on a shelf in our family room: The Pink House, by Nelia Gardner White; and Cluny Brown, by Margery Sharp. Both were coming of age books that my mother had since she was a young girl.

These were wonderful books to begin a love affair with words, even if they were an  older read and based on a generation long before my time.  When my mother discovered my newfound enjoyment of reading, she introduced me to the Nancy Drew series.  I was in love. This series brought on the Hardy Boys and eventually, I graduated into more complex thrillers and romance, namely Harlequin Romances. I adored these books. I couldn’t get enough. I even frequented yard sales with my mom in the hopes of finding more books to read.

But my passion for reading didn’t stop there.  Soon, I was experimenting with various genres trying to find my niche, but truth be told, I loved them all.  I fondly remember my parents enjoying a lazy Sunday reading, and I too, began to follow their lead.  I’d spend hours in my bedroom taking journeys without moving a step, living lives that a person only dreamed of, falling in love and out of love, and discovering new possibilities never believed possible. I loved reading.

That love affair led me to my current profession, writing.  I wanted to write like the authors whose books I cherished. I started dabbling in writing at the young age of twelve, often reading my stories out to my classmates–many of those stories I’ve used in my children’s book series: The Adventures of Iggy Squiggles, that I penned under the name of J Spence.

My dabbling led to writing for local newspapers, producing a weekly column called School Beat, writing shorts for magazines and creating storyboards and handmade children’s books I shared with family and friends. I went on to take courses, go to College and University, and even now, continue with my education online. I continue to hone my craft as I believe this a very important necessity if you wish to write and write well.

Throughout my life, I’ve married, raised daughters, am still caring for a special needs daughter, owned and successfully operated two businesses until I retired, and now am enjoying reading and writing even more.

I am the most passionate about thrillers with a supernatural twist, good contemporary, fantasy and science fiction (as long as it’s not too dry).

A series of any genre, has to be a real grabber, in order for me to follow, but I’ve read some of the best, like Tolkien’s, C.S. Lewis’, Stephen R. Donaldson’s, Rick Riordan’s, Terry Brook’s, J.K. Rowling’s (of course), Nora Roberts’, Christopher Paolini’s, Lev Grossman’s, Douglas Adam’s, Orsen Scott Card’s, Ray Bradbury’s, and there’s so many more…

I love stand alones like those penned by H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Neil Gaiman, Robert E. Howard & Mark Schultz, John Scalzi, Ray Bradbury and again, there’s so many.

I enjoy adult fiction and YA fiction genres to read and, now here’s the kicker… if you’re talking non-fiction, then I get a bit more particular. I like historical biographies, and books about oddities and natural wonders, legends based on facts, mysterious locations and folklore and unusual happenings also based on facts.

I guess in the end, if I think I will like a book, I’ll give it a read.  If I really liked it, I’ll give it a review.  A lot of work goes into writing a book and even more to get it published. No one knows this and appreciates the work involved more than me. Happy reading!