There are few things out there that can suck me in better than a good story.

Here’s mine:

Not weird enough to be an outcast, but not cool enough to be popular, I was in social limbo for most of my life. I’ve always loved to read though, and in the 6th grade, I was so irritated at the speed with which I could read that I began to read upside down in order to prolong the book. (Looking back I am disgusted with myself for being that concerned about savoring a volume of The Baby-Sitters Club when I could have attempted A Wrinkle In Time.) As I got older, I became slightly more adventurous with my reading, but I’ve always loved popular fiction. I read VC Andrews, some Ya-Ya Sisterhood stuff, and on and so forth. My tastes have run the gamut.

I’ve liked romance novels in the past, but to be perfectly honest, whenever I would pick one up I’d generally be horribly disappointed. There’s a reason that romance as a genre gets a bad reputation. There is some drivel out there, masquerading as novels. I let my love of that slide, choosing to get my twitter-pated love fix from romantic comedies (not knocking them, still love some of my favorites – How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days, 13 Going on 30, While You Were Sleeping, Clueless, When Harry Met Sally… I won’t go on).

Then I fell in love with a tiny town in Connecticut named Stars Hollow, and then I began reading fan fiction, and then somehow, I couldn’t get enough of love stories.

The last time that I read romance novels on the regular was when I was just starting high school, and hadn’t even been kissed yet. I devoured the YA ‘Love Stories’ books like candy. They were so tame compared to their adult counterparts, but I loved them. But after Gilmore Girls, I started reading Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ novels since her books topped some random romance novel best of list, and suddenly, I had read about half of her books (and she has a few). After that, I was an addict looking for my next love fix. I started following all the book blogs, reading like crazy.

Sometimes I wonder if I should be reading ‘capital B’ Books. You know the ones: Pulitzer Prize Important Award Winning Thinking Books. And yes, I should probably read a few of those. And I will. But, until then, I’m going to dive into as many love stories as I possibly can.

With a supplement of Gilmore Girls fan fiction.