So, three weeks before we had to leave our home in the United States to go to our daughter’s wedding in England (and come back from said wedding the next week to host a wedding and reception at our home in Texas for all our American friends and family), my ever-loving spouse announced that we needed to replace the flooring in half our house.
Half.
For those of you who’ve ever gotten new carpet or flooring, you know that this means removing ALL the furniture from each room. All the junk in closets. All the books and clothes and stuff in corners. Everything that might get in the way of the flooring guys. You, in effect, move out of that portion of your house for the new floors to be installed.
Ten days before we had to leave the country, the flooring team arrived to install hardwood floors downstairs and carpet in bedrooms upstairs. My master bedroom was moved, in its entirety, into my master bathroom. The dining room moved into the kitchen. Hubby’s man cave moved into the living room. My office moved into my daughter’s bedroom, and the guest bedroom moved into the game room.
Which meant, that although I’d only moved out of half the house…I’d moved INTO the other half with furniture, boxes, clothing, books (so many books. Did I mention I’m a book hoarder?), and assorted junk.
I had nine—count them, NINE—days to put my entire house back together and have everything ready to go for a bunch of houseguests and a large celebration.
In the process of moving every book I own into and out of various rooms in my house, I ran across a whole bunch of my favorite books. I don’t know about you, but a great book feels like an old friend to me. I can sit with a book when I need comfort, escape from my life in one when I need a break, be swept away from everything, and find joy between the pages.
I decided to share some of my favorites with you in a series of Throwback Thursday Reads. They’re in no particular order—I love them all.
I decided to start with Elizabeth Hunter’s first book in her Shadowlands Series, FIRST LIGHT. It has arguably one of the most gorgeous covers ever made, and the story inside fully lives up to its cover. It’s a romantic fantasy novel about a woman who’s swept into a mirror version of her own reality where everyone’s the same…but totally different.
Here’s the blurb:
She crossed worlds to discover the truth. What she found changed everything.
When her boyfriend vanishes without a trace, mythology professor Carys Morgan refuses to believe he just walked away. Her search takes her to the rolling hills of Scotland—and to Lachlan’s identical twin, Duncan, a man who knows far more than he’s willing to share.
Because Lachlan didn’t leave her.
He crossed into another world.
Beyond a hidden portal lies the Shadowlands, a parallel realm rooted in Celtic mythology, where every person has a doppelgänger and creatures from myth and legend are real. Humans like Carys aren’t meant have magic… much less be able to use it. But when Carys discovers she can speak to dragons, she becomes a mystery, dangerously entangled in a world of ancient magic, political intrigue, and deadly secrets.
Torn between two identical men from opposite worlds, Carys must decide who she can trust before the Shadowlands claim her life.
First Light is the first book in a sweeping romantic portal fantasy series filled with unexpected magic, dragon bonds, Celtic folklore, and a heart-wrenching love triangle perfect for fans of epic fantasy romance.
Step through the veil in First Light. Once you enter the Shadowlands, there’s no going back.
If this sounds like your kind of story, you can give it a try on Amazon Kindle (link below) or any of the big ebook retailers.
Happy reading!
Cynthia