By: Lianna Hawkins

The first romance story I read was Shanna by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. I recall my mother telling me it was one of her favorite love stories. I was a young teen when I snuck Shanna from my mother’s shelf and hid away reading the book that would inspire me not only as I read it, but for many years as I grew into a writer. I read the beautiful, crafted words that swept me off into another world. It was as though I was there, living the adventure. As readers, we not only fall in love with the story, but the characters and the author as well. And to this day, I savor the first delicious words I read as a fresh romance story unfolds beneath my fingertips. I sigh as my world falls away and I escape to another time, a time where happily ever after is merely pages away.