Books have always fascinated me, love stories especially. I still remember being a little kid and my parents taking me to see the Disney version of "Sleeping Beauty" in the movie theater. Even if the characters were animated, that True Love's Kiss at the very end seemed like...well, a really good thing.
I was still in my "tweens" when I discovered my aunt's secret stash of Harlequin romance novels, which she kept on a bottom bookshelf in a mostly unused sitting room. Well, maybe the books weren't exactly a secret but certainly they were off-limits to the budding prepubescent likes of me. I read them anyway. Since it was summer vacation, and I was still too young to get a permit to work, I had lots of time on my hands, time to do whatever I wanted which in my case meant reading. I logged in so much time in that sitting room that my grandmother, who lived there as well, threatened to dust me. I'm not so sure she was joking. ;)