by Mary Alford @maryalford13

I can’t tell you when I first started reading, but it always seemed as if I had my face stuck in a book. I sometimes wonder if I were born with one in my hand. Ha! Of course, I kid, but the desire to read was instilled in me very early in life.

As a little girl, I couldn’t wait for school to be over so that I could lose myself in a good book. When summer rolled around, I was in heaven!

One of the first books I remember reading was a Children’s Bible. There’s action, adventure, danger, and second chances contained in the word of God. Flawed heroes and heroines, and the absolute greatest love story ever written displayed by God’s love for his creation which was manifested by Jesus stepping into history to redeem us—what an amazing love.

Growing up, we lived in a small town of around 1,000 people. All the grades from elementary to high school were on one campus. Our school library was tiny, but I remember finding the Little House on The Prairie series and I was so excited to read Little House in The Big Woods. I think I read it in a day and then every single one of the other books in the series multiple times. I wanted to go back in time and live on the prairie. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible, but I did create some of the adventures Laura and her family had with my sister. It was so much fun.

From the Little House series, I graduated to Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys when I was about eight. Both series had me hooked on the mystery and suspense genre. What fun it was to join Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys on their mysteries. I loved it when I was able to figure out who the guilty person was early on.

When I was a pre-teen, while browsing through the fiction section of our local library, I found Victoria Holt, Phyllis Whitney, and Mary Stewart. I couldn’t get enough of these ladies and their stories. After I read every single book written by them, I waited very impatiently for the next one to be released. Even today, I still love that feeling when one of my favorite authors has a new book out, don’t you?

As a pre-teen, I tried my hand at writing my first book and was so proud. Unfortunately, it wasn’t anywhere as good as the authors I loved, but it did instill in me the desire to write that took hold early on and has never let me go.

This week Mary Alford tells us about her reading life. #Reading #ReadingCommunity #BRRC Click To Tweet

As an adult, I still love romantic suspense tales and I have so many favorite authors; Nancy Mehl, Lynette Eason, Elizabeth Goddard, Patricia Bradley, just to name a few. My list keeps growing.

Several years back, I discovered Craig Johnson’s Longmire mystery series and he has quickly become one of my favorites. I truly love Walt Longmire as well as the wealth of other wonderful characters Craig creates.

When I first became a published author, I wrote Christian romantic suspense and then I read, The Shunning, by Beverly Lewis, and soon became a fan of the Amish fiction genre. The Shunning has plenty of mystery and suspense in it. I attribute The Shunning for my transition into writing Amish romantic suspense. Thank you, Beverly.

There are many wonderful Amish romantic suspense authors out there, but one of my favorites is Linda Castillo and her Kate Burkholder series. She’s another one whom I eagerly anticipate her next book release.

Since I published my first book through Love Inspired Suspense in 2014, my days are filled with putting words on a page. God has been so good to me in allowing me to do what I love so much. I am humbled and often smile when I think about the way God prompted me not to give up when it seemed as if there wasn’t a way for my dream of writing to become a reality.

But He had a way in mind.

I’d entered a contest through Love Inspired Suspense and was selected to pitch, only we were on vacation in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. When I would have said, “I’ll try again another time”, God wouldn’t let me off so easily. I did the pitch in front of a hardware store in a small mountain town, and the book later sold. It’s God amazing?

That was many books ago, but I smile when I think about His amazing love. And reading His word is still the way I start out each day.

Today, as I look back on my reading life, I see that each book I read as a child was like a stepping stone leading me to the future, and all those pioneers in writing from the past were wonderful instructors along the way.

Though my reading time is limited these days, I do my best to carve out blocks of time each week because it is after all like taking a great adventure every time you open a book, and still one of my favorite things to do.

Meet Mary…

Mary Alford is the USA Today bestselling author of over fifty books including the Courage Under Fire series, the Cost of Redemption series, the Bitter Creek series, the Scorpion Team series, and the Amish romantic Suspense series about the Shetler Brothers of Montana. Mary writes for Revell. Her latest book through them is Among the Innocent. She has many books published through Love Inspired Suspense as well as Annie’s Publishing, Winged Publishing, and she is also an Indie published author.

Mary is an avid reader. She loves to cook, can’t face the day without coffee, and her three granddaughters are the apple of her eye. She and her husband live in the heart of Texas in the middle of 70 acres with two very spoiled cats and a sweet rescue dog named Cody.

Visit Mary Alford’s BRRC Author page.