Follow Me Friday and Book Blogger Hop (Jan. 7)

What book(s) have you discovered lately from someone’s book blog?

Ah, well, that’s an interesting question. It’s more that I suspect that Kalin Gow’s books have been stalking me, particularly her Frost series. They’re following me everywhere: the blogs I visit, Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing. It doesn’t make sense because books about the fey are not usually part of my oeuvre. And, yes, I did just want to use the word. Anyway, it looks like she’s written a little bit of everything: vampires, ghosts, fairies and, next year, angels. I suspect Wicked Woods might have something to do with werewolves. Anyone know? I have a Shifter Challenge to complete.

“What book influenced or changed your life? How did it influence/change you?”

It might be cliche, but to be honest, the book that changed my life was Jane Austen’s Emma. Which is ironic, since it’s actually my least favorite of her novels. When I left home for college, I had this crazy idea that I wanted to be a doctor. Which meant taking a lot of science and math classes and for three years, I stopped reading. I’d been a pretty big reader in high school, but during college I had a long dry spell. Until spring break of my third year when, on an impulse, I checked Emma out from the library so I could read it during my flight home. As soon as I started reading it, it was like the dam broke. I read Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park and then started on her unfinished works. When I’d read all the Jane Austen I could get my hands on, I didn’t stop. I’ve been reading obsessively ever since. Oh, and I decided that I hated the sciences (and math) and that I had absolutely no desire to become a doctor and I changed my major and, eventually, universities. Thanks, Jane!