I recently shared over in the Romance Gems Facebook group about my youngest's newfound love of reading and Harry Potter:

My 8 year old’s third grade teacher started reading her class Harry Potter right before school ended. I’m excited to say, she is hooked! She’s so hooked that we had to run to Target to buy the movies.
We spent the whole first week of summer break bingeing the series. She’s reading the second book now, and as I found, she bought herself a couple of things (thanks one click amazon LOL).
She one clicked herself a cursive practice book! I’m not even mad!
(Pardon my laundry which I covered for you all) but seriously how cute is she? So she’s watching the movies dressed as Hermione, has a wand, her cursive practice books, and the books themselves!
Her love of reading bedtime stories has always been there, but this year we’ve seen her love of reading alone emerge. It used to be mom or dad reading to her. Now she’s her own little person reading her own choices. Luckily our library is fantastic and we can keep up with her addiction.
But it got me to thinking. This might be the memory she looks back on and says, “this is where my love of reading began.”

Picture it, Sicily...just kidding, it was Eagle Lake. My parents used to take us camping all the time when I was little, and when I was 13, I fished a little, but I don't really love camping, so I was wandering around the campgrounds when I discovered a small library at the campsite. It was full of Harlequin categories. My little heart was in love. I had been a reader since I was about 4 years old. When I was 10, a library was built within walking distance of my house and I lived there, so I had always read. But I had read what was available, and what was familiar. And in my house, that was my dad's Science Fiction and Fantasy collection.

Reading Romance that three day weekend meant I read 3-4 books per day and did zero fishing or hiking. I was fully okay with that. I took home one of the books (sorry, Eagle Lake!) and I used the Harlequin post card to sign up for their monthly book subscription service. I don't think I ever really missed the Sci Fi/Fantasy books my dad had. Romance is where my heart lies.

The first actual book I remember reading after that camping trip was one I found in my mom's nightstand. A Laurel O'Donnell book called The Angel and The Prince. This book was everything. And the heroine was a warrior! She wasn't just the damsel in distress! My little teenage heart was in love. 

So, tell me now, do you remember your first Romance book? Do you remember when your love of reading really set in? Or was it always just there, a part of you? Tell me in the comments!