For a couple of weeks, the Japanese lilacs have been blooming. Many of those trees are standing, tall, in the neighbourhood.
The little white flowers are slowly turning golden brown now, and their sweet perfume fills the summer heat.
Sitting in the shade to write, my thoughts keep wandering toward the many piles of books to read that have been gathering dust, one on the nightstand, another beside a deep armchair, one here, one there…
In my francophone writing community, summer seems to be the preferred season to either start a writing project or, better yet, if, like me, you’ve been working on the same project for almost two years, finish it.
Maybe because I know a lot of teachers and adult students!
For me, summer always went hand in hand with reading. Or, more precisely, binge reading.
Last weekend, an old friend of mine, one I haven’t seen in five years or so, reminded me of my teenage reading years; how she remembered me reading Lord of the Rings and the very first novels about King Arthur and les chevaliers de la table ronde. How, she said, I was either reading or making my friends read the repetitive letters I wrote them while I was supposed to pay attention in class.
Since writing I’ve proven to be somewhat… blah lately, I set myself up for a reading quest!
And because I’m taking a class in Romance literature, I had to start with a romance novel.
A genre, weirdly enough, that is a challenge for me. I’m very picky. It has to be on the « clean » side, and it needs to be well-written.
I browsed and browsed to find myself increasingly annoyed despite the so many romance novels out there. Everything seemed too cutesy, too clean in fact.
Until I stumbled upon a title in French, L’amour en cadeau. The cover shows a sober Christmas tree. Precisely what I needed: I may be picky, but give me a good Christmas novel and there’s a good chance I’ll love it no matter what.
Turns out, I choose the fourth novel of the Sweet Magnolias series by Sherryl Wood. Didn’t even know it was also a series on Netflix.
I do so Hate to start a series in the middle. But here I am, reading Welcome to Serenity and… loving it!
Must admit, I skip some paragraphs, and there’s eyebrows rising all the way up to the sky, but overall, I’m conquered up to the point where I will read the first tree novels of the series for sure.
A very enjoyable summer read!
Marie Alice Writes & Reads 