A poem from the past

This poem is one of the few poems that I had written when I was in high school that I actually remember, so I thought I would include it here.

Alone in My Room
Tonight I sit here, alone in my room.
All of my thoughts are only of you.
I love your smile and your gentle touch.
I never thought I could love you this much.
As I look back at the bridges we've crossed
I thank God that our love wasn't lost.
You are the world to me - my happiness.
You express your emotion with a passionate kiss
When you are near, I have no fear
For I know that your love will always be here.
So please don't ever leave - I don't know what I'd do.
I just know I could never love another the way I love you.

Honorable mention

To list all of the authors I have read and loved would probably fill up several web pages; however, I only have a limited amount of space to work with. With that being said, I wouldn't feel right without at least mentioning the following authors and their series:
JR Rain
The Vampire for Hire series
Rachel Caine
The Morganville Vampires series
Amanda Hocking
My Blood Approves, the Trylle Trilogy, and Hollowland
Lauren Kate
The Fallen series
Lori Handeland
The Phoenix Chronicles and the A Nightcreature Novel series
Molly Harper
The Jane Jameson series
Christine Feehan
The Carpathians - Dark Series
Katie McAlister
The Dark Ones series
Michelle Patrice
The Kendrian Vampires series and the Scions series
Kerrelyn Sparks
The Love at Stake series
Gerry Bartlett
The Real Vampires Series featuring Glory St. Claire
Sara Gruen
Water for Elephants

Kimberley Raye

Kimberley Raye's Dead End Dating series follows a female vampire, who runs her own online dating service. The book is the perfect mix of romance, comedy, and adventure, and I definitely cannot wait for additional titles to be released.

Visit Kimberley Raye's home page.

Christine Warren

Christine Warren's The Others series includes a little bit of paranormal romance for any supernatural fan. From fairies, to werewolves, to witches, and demons, Christine writes stories that have you hooked from the prologue.

Visit Christine Warren's home page.

Michele Bardsley

Michele Bardsley, author of the Broken Heart series and Diary of a Demon Hunter, is another great author that I have had the pleasure of reading. She is also coming out with a Wizards of Nevermore series that looks like a very interesting read.

Visit Michele Bardsley's home page.

Erin McCarthy

Erin McCarthy, also known by pen-name Erin Lynn, has written so many books that I have enjoyed that to give introductions on them would take several web pages. Some of her series include the following: Ohio's Most Haunted Town, Vegas Vampires, and Seven Deadly Sins.

Singles of Erin McCarthy's that I have enjoyed include Mouth to Mouth, the First Blood anthology, and Out of the Light, into the Shadows.

Visit Erin McCarthy's home page.

Alison Noël

Alison Noël's The Immortals Series is a different twist on the idea of immortality. The story retells the many lives of the book's main character, Ever - a high-school girl that can hear the thoughts of everyone around her - and her destined lover, Damen Auguste. Damen's miraculous invention of an elixir that grants eternal life is what he believes leads them back to each other after Ever is murdered in each of her other previous lives by another immortal. The book shows Ever at her worst, practicing dark magic, and at her best, rescuing lost souls doomed to the Shadowlands and the journey along the way is so riveting I generally couldn't put the books down until I had finished reading them.

Visit Alison Noël's home page.

Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris is the author of the Sookie Stackhouse - Southern Vampire series, which has been the motivation behind HBO's successful True Blood series. Sookie Stackhouse, born in raised in the small southern town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, is a waitress at a small local bar. In the setting of the story, Vampires have recently came "out of the closet" to the world and the humans had no choice but to accept the fact that vampires have been living among them since the turn of time. Sookie falls in love with the first vampire that walks through the doors at the bar she waitresses at because, unlike all humans, Sookie does not hear the thoughts in the vampire's mind. The story follows her relationship and immersion into the vampire night life, where she finds out along the way, her unusual appeal that vampires seem to flock towards her may stem from the fact that Sookie is not entirely human herself.

Visit Charlaine Harris's home page.

Mary Janice Davidson

Mary Janice Davidson is the author of the Queen Betsy series, a series about a newly-turned vampire prophesized to become Queen of the Undead. Betsy, who has a strong mouth and a kind heart, embarks on several journeys throughout the series, including the tale of surviving her death, becoming accidentally wed and unknowingly crowning a king through an act of intimacy, falling in love with her husband, and finding out that with her new title come new powers, some of which she would rather do without, such as the ability to see and talk to ghosts. Betsy is a typical strong, independent woman, with an addiction to expensive shoes, who truly learns that it is okay to depend on others and to make lasting commitments.

For more information, visit Mary Janice Davidson's home page.

Kim Harrison

Kim Harrison's The Hollows series follows the life of Rachel Morgan, a young witch who begins the story as a runner for the I.S. (Interlander Security), a government-run section of Interlanders responsible for apprehending and ensuring that all interlanders follow the IS Law to the letter. The Turn, which is the title given to the great reveal to humans that Interlanders have co-existed among their kind for centuries, consisting of vampires, werewolves, pixies, fairies, witches, gargoyles, trolls, and basically every other fairy-tale myth legendary creature ever written about. The Turn was brought about when a virus wiped out the majority of the human population and Interlanders were forced to reveal why their numbers were not affected by the virus. In the series, Rachel befriends one of the IS's best runners, a born-vamp named Ivy, and her, Ivy, and a pixy named Jenks, who was subcontracted out by the IS, decide to leave the IS and start their own runner business. After Rachel barely escapes the IS's death threat, she must now learn how to live with a born-vamp that has control issues with her blood lust while also trying to earn enough money with her own business to pay the rent. While her job constantly puts her life in danger, Rachel tends to be a magnet for danger and the story dives into the life and love of the trio throughout their many runs.

For more information, visit Kim Harrison's home page.

P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

Mother P.C. Cast and daughter Kristin co-author the series titled The House of Night series. This vampire series follows Zoey Redbird, a high-school student, who is the forgotten child in a home where her father has passed away and her mother has re-married. Zoey is tracked down by a vampire tracker and is marked to be one of the new students to attend the House of Night, a school for where fledglings (soon-to-be vampires) learn about their heritage and undergo many changes in the turn process. Zoey falls in love and learns the meaning of true friends while she overcomes numerous obstacles in her quest to becoming a vampire Goddess.

Another great series, written solely by P.C. Cast, is the Goddess Summoning series, a series that highlights the struggles and triumphs of strong, independent women, as they are thrown into different realms and times in history, by the grace of the Goddesses throughout time. These romantic classics truly show how strong women can achieve greatness through sheer will and determination and how the most ordinary-seeming woman can become a goddess of her own world.

For more information on this author, visit P.C. Cast's home page.

LJ Smith

LJ Smith is another excellent paranormal romance author that has inspired a television series. Her Vampire Diaries series has been one of the most-watched television series on the CW since its release. In the novel, Elena Gilbert falls in love with Stephan Salvatore and his brother Damon Salvatore, two vampires that have been around the small town of Mystic Falls for hundreds of years. Initially, Stephan and Damon fell in love with the same woman, Elena's doppelganger, and a vampire, who decided she also could not choose between the two Salvatore brothers, and decided to turn them both, leading them both along with lies and promises of forever love.

LJ Smith also created The Night World, a series about other things that "go bump in the night" and follows the stories of several young teenagers who fall in love and beat incredible odds just to survive in the dangerous world of vampires, werewolves, and witches.

The Secret Circle, another series leading to a new television series hosted by the CW, is a story about witches, love, and lasting friendships.

For more information on this author, visit LJ Smith's home page.

Ayn Rand

I initially would probably never have chosen to read an Ayn Rand book if I had not been browsing the Web for scholarships. She writes philosophical novels that are definitely timeless classics. Her books align with my philosophy in life. All of the greatest things of our history have been accomplished by the achievements, strong will, dedication, and drive of humans.

Atlas Shrugged was the first Ayn Rand book that I read and I have to say I was hooked from the beginning. Henry (Hank) Rearden was a dreamer. He believed nothing was impossible outside of hard work and dedication. He created a new metal in the book that was used to revolutionize the railroad industry. Hank and Dagny Taggart, daughter of the owner of the largest transcontinental rail line, embark on a journey together, filled with forbidden passions and impossible dreams. This is definitely a great read for those that need inspiration achieving their goals.

The second book of Ayn Rand's that I read was The Fountainhead, which tells the story of a young architect, Howard Roark, who creates architecture that is totally new and evolutionary, instead of copying his ideas for designs from history's greatest architects, as everyone tries to tell him to do throughout his career. Howard falls in love with the daughter of another rich architect, Dominique Francon, who struggles with her own ideas that are so apart from that of society's. In The Fountainhead, people that think "outside of the box" are looked down upon. Everyone should think and act as everyone else. This is the opposite of how Howard and Dominique live and view life. The novel is truly another great story of not sacrificing what you believe in to accomplish your dreams and goals.

For more information on this author, visit the Ayn Rand Institute's home page.

Richelle Mead

Richelle Mead is definitely one of my favorite authors. She has an excellent collection of books about the supernatural, paranormal romances, and also strong, independent women.

The Vampire Academy series provides a glimpse into the life of Rose Hathaway, a dhamphir, whom are the result of a human-vampire pairing. Dhampirs are born and raised to protect Moroi, born-vampires, mostly belonging to a line of royalty. Strigoi, who the Dhampirs are trained to protect the Moroi from, are turned vampires that have bled their victims to the death. Once a vampire becomes a Strigoi, they lose their soul and become vicious killing machines. They are unable to go into the sunlight and live solely on blood and malice. Moroi are fed a pint of blood at a time, from living donors and they supplement their normal diet of food and drink with a small amount of blood to remain alive. Moroi are able to go out in the sunlight; however, excessive exposure will weaken them immensely. Dhampirs do not require blood, are able to move around freely in the sunlight, and have all of the strength of a Moroi without the dependency of blood. In the Vampire Academy series, Rose Hathaway is best friends with Lissa, one of the last living members of her royal family-line. Rose and Lissa embark on many journeys together and Rose's hope, after graduating from St. Vladmir's Academy, is to be assigned as Lissa's guardian. During the series, Rose falls in love with her training instructor and the books continue to follow Rose through this forbidden romance.

Additional titles by Richelle Mead include the Georgina Kincaid series, a series about a Succubus and her struggles with finding love at the risk of slowly killing any potential candidates, the Dark Swan series, which tells the story of a demon-fighting woman, who soon embarks on a journey in the otherworld, accidentally becoming queen of the Thorn Land, falling in love with a gentry, the very thing she has trained her entire life to fight, and trying to find a balance between how her life once was and the path she is undoubtedly headed towards, and several other short stories including Blue Moon, City of Demons, and Brushstrokes.

For more information on this author, visit Richelle Mead's home page.

What started it all:

Initially, I took a huge break from reading once I became a mother. It wasn't until I read Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga series that I became hooked on reading once again.
I definitely credit my love for reading and my re-introduction into reading with the Twilight Saga series (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn). Since reading this series, I have moved on to read many other paranormal romance novels and series.
First, I will begin with some of my favorite authors and then expand from there with my favorite books or series written by each author.