Growing up, I was a latch-key kid, a term almost extinct nowadays. Long before after school programs became the norm for most children of working parents, I would be discharged from school at 3 pm and be on my own until my parents came home at 7pm, every day from third grade until I was a teenager and got an after school job. This was my life. During the summer, though, I really couldn’t be left alone for up to 12 hours every day safely, so from the time I was in kindergarten until I turned 14, I was sent away every summer with my Grandmother.
My grandmother was a very hard, no-nonsense Irish immigrant who brokered no fools and ruled with that proverbial iron fist. I would accompany her every July and August to an upstate New York retreat owned by a good friend of hers. I learned to swim in the creek abutting the cabin we’d stay in, helped make breakfast, lunch and dinner for the guests staying at the main house, and generally spent the majority of the day on my own as my grandmother visited with her friends, played cards, and drank.
For an only child and loner who loved solitary pursuits like reading, this was nirvana.
This was the time before handheld technology ruled the world.
No cell phones, no Kindles, no iPads or iPods. We listened to music on the radio, put coins into a pay phone to call people, and read actual books with pages you had to manually turn. And this was the time I learned to love romantic fiction. I read Pride and Prejudice for the first time during my 11th summer, sitting by a cool, bubbling creek, a canopy of trees above me. Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rogers, Victoria Holt, just to name a few, became my constant companions during those long lonely summers. I learned a lot about writing, about romance, and about sex. Much more than my compadres at the time, at least.
I was hooked. Romantic fiction, and all genres of romance, became my summer companions. I’d take out 20 or more books from the library at one time, put them in a separate travel bag, and work my way through them during those 2 months away from home. It made the separation from my mother less painful and, having to deal with an alcoholic grandmother, much easier. I could drift away to the times of knights and ladies, lords and wenches. I learned about strict, moral codes of times gone by, and that no matter what the chronological time period, love always won in the end. Every book had a happily ever after, something my life did not. But I could hope…and I did.
Those long, drowsy, warm summer days and nights with a book in my hands remain my favorite summer memories to this day. I grew up reading about love, hoping for it to come into my own life when I was grown.
And it did….
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RV Memory | Visit blog
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Tricia Schneider | Visit blog
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Anna Durands Spunk & Hunks | Visit blog
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Judy Ann Davis Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog
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Spicy Summer Treats with Mia Downing | Visit blog
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Linda Nightingale. . . Wordsmith | Visit blog
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Jana Richards – Journeys with Jana | Visit blog
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Summer Memories of books well read @ Peggy jaeger. com | Visit blog
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Summer on Cape Cod ~ Kathryn Knight books | Visit blog
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Summer Fun at the Beach, with Katie OSullivan | Visit blog
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I Believe Ill Go Canoeing – C. B. Clark | Visit blog
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Summertime Love is Sweeter with. . . Frozen Mango? @ Kimberly Keyes blog |Visit blog
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Wild Rose Summer Treats Blog Hop @ Brendas Blog | Visit blog
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Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog
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Midsummer Magic on the Isle of Skye! | Visit blog
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My Guilty Summer Treats from Lori Sizemore | Visit blog
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Wild Rose Press Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog
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Hywela Lyns post for the WRP Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog
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Wild Rose Press Summer Treats & Reads | Visit blog
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Camping is a Recipe for Summer Treats and Reads | Visit blog
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The Snarkology | Visit blog
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Summer Survival Tips @ Nitty Gritty Romance | Visit blog
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Wild Rose Press Summer Treats and Reads Blog Hop | Visit blog
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Nell Castle – Summer of the Sweat Lodge | Visit blog
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Myth, Magic & Wonder Susan Edwards, Breathing Life into the Past | Visit blog
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Romance with Spice, Sydney St. Claire | Visit blog
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Author Kat de Falla | Visit blog
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Anni Fife. Exciting new author of Steamy Romance with Irresistible Heroes | Visit blog
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Summer Vacation, Victorian-Style, AND a Giveaway | Visit blog
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Wildfires, Monsoons, and Mojitos – Author Susabelle Kelmer shares how she keeps cool in a climate that is on fire! | Visit blog
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Casi McLeans recipe for Hot Reads and Cool Treats | Visit blog
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Cool Summer Reads: Jeannie Halls Romantic Suspense Blog – Where Hearts Tremble From More Than Attraction | Visit blog
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Summer treat – Adult Slushie | Visit blog
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How to Rediscover the Magic of Bicycling | Visit blog
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Charlottes Tips on How to Stay Cool in HOT New York City | Visit blog
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Caryn McGill | Visit blog
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Hywela Lyns Inrerplanetary Summer | Visit blog
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My most recent book, THE VOICES OF ANGELS.
Blurb:
Love is the last thing Carly Lennox is looking for when she sets out on her new book tour. The independent, widowed author is content with a life spent writing and in raising her daughter. When newscaster Mike Woodard suggests they work on a television magazine profile based on her book, Carly’s thrilled, but guarded. His obvious desire to turn their relationship into something other than just a working one is more than she bargained for.
Mike Woodard is ambitious, and not only in his chosen profession. He wants Carly, maybe more than he’s ever wanted anything or anyone else. As he tells her, he’s a patient man. But the more they’re together, Mike realizes it isn’t simply desire beating within him. Carly Lennox is the missing piece in his life. Getting her to accept it-and him-may just be the toughest assignment he’s ever taken on.
Buy Links: Amazon /// TWRP /// Kobo /// Nook
If you need to find me, you can: Tweet Me// Read Me// Visit Me// Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//
Peggy Jaeger, Author 
I loved Kathleen Woodikiss, Johanna Lindsey, and Rosemary Rogers as well. Growing up in the country, and after chores were finished, the hot summer afternoons were free; to read, to learn and to dream. Now I have new dreaming to do since those of younger years have, for the most part, come true.
Great to hear from you!
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Great post, Peggy. I grew up on a farm in the Pennsylvania countryside and a book was my constant companion all summer. I don’t know what I would have done without having those good HEA (Happily Ever After) books to read. The three authors you mentioned were also part of my romance reads.
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I grew up like this, too–only far back in the woods. Mom and Dad read a bunch and the upstairs of our house was full of book shelves. Like you say, no technology–we didn’t even have a phone–so I read an have never stopped. Thanks for the trip back to my roots!
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Great readers think alike!!
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Enjoyed reading your post.I always read growing up. I still love a good book.Your new book sounds like a great read. Nancy Burgess jean60212@gmail.com
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Good post. Not being an only child I think I used books to escape from the crowd and avoid chores-not that my mom ever allowed that…
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YOu know, it goes both ways, doesn’t? I used books as companions to escape with since I had no one else. You used them to break free from a crowd. Just goes to prove that books enrich EVERYONE’s lives!
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Great post. I also enjoyed reading in the summer, and now that I’m retired I read that much more.
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Love your article Peg! And your books! My to read list keeps growing. 👧🏻
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what a poignant post. I’ve loved reading as long as I can remember and luckily married a man who shares my love of reading. Both of our children are voracious readers also. You’re never alone if you have a book.
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Caroline – no, you never are!
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Thanks for the memories, Peggy. I too grew up in a family who loved books. When I was little, The Magic Faraway Tree was my absolute fave. xx
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Summers, I’d sit with the door open eating dill pickles and reading. My favorite was a book that never really made it. The title escapes me at the moment, but it was based on a true story about the Doan Boys, Quaker outlaws.
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I loved reading in the summer. Your blog brought back some nice memories. Thanks
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there’s nothing like long, lazy summer days to lose yourself in a book!
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What an enjoyable post. Victoria Holt was my favorite writer as a young girl. I was ecstatic to find more of her historical fiction under the name Jean Plaidy. Thanks for helping those of us of a certain age revisit some sweet moments from our childhoods. Thank heavens for books!
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What a poignant, bittersweet post. I was a bit of a loner, growing up, although I had a younger sister.I lhave always loved horses, and spent time with them at the local riding school as much as I could and when not at the stables, I would be found with my head in a book – usually a book about horses, but as time went on, romance joined the horses as my favourite type of book. Isn’t it wonderful when the love of reading turns into a love of writing!
(By the way there is a problem with the LInky link for my own post on the hop, it should be
https://hywelalyn.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/interplanetary-summer-twrp-summer-reads.html )
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A very touching post, Peggy. Thank you for sharing! I was extremely shy growing up, so I was content to curl up in a corner or under a tree with a good book. I started reading Nancy Drew around 9 and progressed to Jane Austen, Louise May Alcott, and Mario Puzo (Yes, the Godfather and other stories) at 13, and then into the stories by James Michener at 17. Books transport us to other worlds, blocking out our pain and helping us along our path in life.
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Hello Peggg, The voices of Angels sounds great ♡ I love your story! Thank you
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Hi Peggy, Thank you for sharing such a personal piece of your history. Funny how the hardest times can also be some of the best times, when there’s hope. 🙂
I enjoyed your book blurb, and look forward to reading more of your work. 🙂
Kimberly Keyes
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Thanks Kimberly! Books are the one friend who will never let you down.
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Hi Peggy, Did you ever read The Witch of Blackbird Pond? It was one of my favorite summer reads for I think a few summers in a row because I re-read it a bunch of times. Thanks for sparking some lovely memories!
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DeeDee, sorry, I’ve never heard of it. What genre?
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Great post. I enjoyed your story. Thank you.
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What a great blog post! I bought your book also. I can’t wait to read it!
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Erin ( my favorite name! -it’s my daughter’s too!) You’re a sweetheart!
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How wonderful that your love of reading helped you through those summers. And the bonus? You learned a lot about love! Great post, Peggy.
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Lovely and inspirational story, Peggy. I’m so glad you got your happy ending! ❤️
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