8 authors on books that taught them about first love
Who doesn't love a good love story? Eight romance and women's fiction authors dish about which books inspired them and first taught them about love and share info on their latest releases.
Jane Porter, author of It's You
I read The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough when I was 14, and the intensity of Maggie's love for Ralph made such a huge impression on me. I was living in Europe with my family at the time, out in the Germany community, being homeschooled. I wasn't a popular kid before we left for Europe and was even more lonely in Europe and I related so much to Maggie, as the depth of her emotions resonated, as well as the enduring nature of her love ... even though it was very one-sided for much of her life.
About It's You: Dr. Alison McAdams has lost herself in the tragedy of her ailing father and moves to Napa to provide him care. In Northern California Ali finds a chance to rest, distance herself from painful memories and surround herself with people who aren't afraid of her grief or burning desire to move on.
Molly Cochran, author of Mireille
I learned everything I wanted to know about love from Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls, perhaps the first of the Big Sexy Novels that dominated the late '60s and '70s with their deliciously lurid stories of love gone wrong and girls gone bad. Secreted from my parents' bookcase, it was the first book of popular fiction I ever read, and I was shocked at how much more interesting it was than whatever I'd been reading in middle school. Ah, heaven! I never saw seventh-grade boys in the same light again.
About Mireille: At 17, Mireille flees from the home of her abusive stepfather. As she begins her new life as l'Ange she becomes one of the most celebrated courtesan in France thanks to an unlikely meeting with a wealthy aristocrat. However, when her daughter's future becomes threatened, Mireille is forced to make a deadly decision to finally choose her own path.
Susan Crandall, author of The Flying Circus (July 7)
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak lit my fire for love stories brimming with passion and angst. The beauty of the prose, the depth of characterization, and poetry of the emotional journey speaks of perfection. It is a lesson not only in historic struggle, but endurance and sacrifice to achieve long denied love.
About The Flying Circus: Set in the roaring 1920s, three very different people find themselves bound together due to life-altering circumstances. Though their bound continues to grow stronger each holds a secret that would destroy their friendship if exposed. From aviation and a flying circus to bootlegging and barnstorming, this makeshift family goes on the adventure of a lifetime.
Laura Dave, author Eight Hundred Grapes
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Every time I read Austen's masterpiece (which is often), I fall in love all over again with Elizabeth Bennet. Despite her financial and familial circumstances, Elizabeth refuses to settle for anything less than great love, and watching her find her match in the surly Mr. Darcy remains the greatest love story ever told.
About Eight Hundred Grapes: Georgia Ford discovered important secrets from growing up on her family's vineyard. However, a week before her wedding Georgia discovers a secret her beloved fiancé has been hiding. A secret so explosive it will forever change their lives.
Amy E. Reichert, author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake (July 21)
After grad school, I could not read one more depressing book by a long-dead man — I wanted a happy ending and a living author. I had never read a romance before, but once I picked up The Duke and I by Julia Quinn, I became smitten with the funny characters, snappy dialogue and historical tidbits. It was love at first sight.
About The Coincidence of Coconut Cake: Lou is a talented chef who pours her efforts into maintaining her beloved French restaurant which is a success until she catches her fiancé canoodling with an intern the same morning a brutal food critic eats at her restaurant. Eventually fate crosses the paths of the food critic and Lou. They quickly hit it off and love begins to blossom, but can Lou overlook the truth of the past to chase the future of their relationship?
Kamy Wicoff, author of Wishful Thinking
A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle. Who wouldn't love a story about a beautiful, sensitive, searching teenage girl searching for true love while learning to face the reality of life's impermanence? I was riveted as Vicky struggled to choose from three very different boys: Zach the dark and stormy rebel, the emotionally remote but sweet Adam, and Leo, Mr. Dependable.
About Wishful Thinking:Wishful Thinking is the story of Jennifer Sharpe, an overly busy divorced mom. Just when she thinks she can't handle everything on her plate, she discovers a smartphone application called Wishful Thinking "An App for Women Who Need to Be in More Than One Place at the Same Time."
Jan Moran, author of Scent of Triumph
When I was a very young woman, I read Barbara Taylor Bradford's sweeping saga about the passionate, indomitable Emma Harte in A Woman of Substance. What has remained with me was Emma's passion and love for her family, children and work, as well as for the men in her life, and life itself.
About Scent of Triumph: The year is 1939 and the war that has been declared on the European continent threatens French perfumer Danielle Bretancourt's beloved family. After searching desperately for remains of her family she is forced to gather the fragments of what her family was and flee to America.
Stacy Robinson, author of Surface
As a young teen in the late '70s, Judy Blume's Forever was my reference book on first love. With all of the controversy surrounding what now seems like a charming depiction of teenage love, I couldn't wait to get my hands on Forever to learn how other young girls faced the prospects of emotional and sexual intimacy, the intensity of first love and the possibility of heartbreak.
About Surface: All of Claire Montgomery's sensible decisions come crashing down after one impulsive indiscretion. She loses everything — her wealthy entrepreneur husband, her high status symbol and the successful future she planned for her 17-year-old son, Nick. Claire, as well as her angry husband, Michael, blame her actions for the recklessness Nick's life has become.