People often ask me what are my favorite books, but that question is impossible to answer. The list is far too long! However, I can tell you what some of the most influential books were and are to me as a writer.

I’ve always been a voracious reader. From a young age, I could read at several grades above my current level at school. As a child, some of my favorite books were the Little House Series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and both The Secret Garden and A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnette.

These books instilled in me a love for historicals and for beautifully-told stories. There were many other wonderful books that I loved, of course, these books were the ones I most read over and over. They were so well-loved that eventually the spines broke and pages fell out.

I could list hundreds of books that I read and love as an adult, and most of them have influenced me in some way. However, I managed to boil a list down to five that had a noted impact on me as a writer and on my career as a published author.

I was invited to share my list on Shepherd Books, where you can find all kinds of wonderful book recommendations based on a theme or genre, or other categories/classifications such as mine, which is: Historical Romance Novels that Don’t Need Bedroom Scenes.

Check out my list and lists by other readers and writers here:

.