15 March - why Lavyrle, of course

When I was at my parents' last week, I really got into reading again (it's been a while since I've been obsessed with books). I finished the library book that I brought with me on the first night there & was ready for my next book. I asked my mom if she had anything fun to read, but she had just gotten rid of most of her books.  After searching the house, she finally remembered some books that my grandma has.  She went into my grandmother's closet & pulled out this disgusting, dirty book - it was a large print, used edition from the library with a mauve/pink shiny cover & a lacy pillow w/ a bouquet of flowers on the front.  If I were walking in the bookstore or library, I would most certainly pass it by!  It was titled The Endearment, was a Romance novel (which I vowed never to read), & to make it worse, the author's name was LaVyrle! Sorry to offend you if you know someone named LaVyrle, but my first thoughts were, "Is she an LDS author?," "What kind of name is that?" and "There's no way someone by that name could write a good book." Talk about judging a book by its cover!

(Honestly, would you pick this book up except to laugh at it?)

Well, my mom told me to just try it & kept saying that she remembered quite liking the stories. And to help me get past the author's name, she started referring to her as "Lovey" (it's a little better). Well, I was shocked when I was hooked from page one. I quickly finished the book & read another one, Years, right after. Both of the stories were really sweet - I loved them (although the first one had some racy scenes)! My mom then surprised me with two more of hers.  Who would have thought that I would be reading LaVyrle Spencer novels, let alone four of them within a week? And I definitely wouldn't classify these as Romance novels (at least what I would have expected one to be) - especially Years (which I especially liked). They are very sweet stories that show the importance of & love between families, point out the beauty in simple everyday things, & make you feel as though you're looking into the lives of very real people. If you want to get on the Lovey bandwagon with me, feel free.