Tamara Leigh has a posse.

I have a confession.

For the first time since college, I have a stack of fiction books I haven't read. Granted, half the stack is in digital format on my kindle, but the other half is a brightly colored assortment of Mardel discounts that I couldn't bear to walk away from.

Normally, I buy a lot of books and read a lot of books. Over the past couple months, I buy a lot of books and read kind of a lot of books.

As a result a stack of characters just waiting to be cherished now stares at me from the nightstand.  

I didn't mean for this to happen, but new books make me feel happy the same way new lipstick does. And with work and life ramping up, I've had less brain cells and less time that I can devote to novels.

I say this only to explain how it was that I let the newest book by one of my favorite authors, Tamara Leigh, lay neglected in my kindle for weeks.  You know how people line up around the block to get the latest i-gadget? Or sleep on streets to buy tickets for Justin Bieber? Well, that is how I feel about certain authors, one of whom is Tamara Leigh.

Yesterday afternoon as I was trolling Amazon for some more novels I might need (Yes, I hear someone coughing to cover the word "Problem" in the back of my head too), and I googled Tamara and there was the book Dreamspell. 

Since I already had it, I quit reading and Amazon and immediately opened my kindle.  I did take potty and dinner breaks, but it was two a.m. before I finally made myself put it down and try to sleep.  The woman can weave a tale. Likable characters, insurmountable odds, and the guy who is hot, but doesn't know it. Sigh.

I finished it today, and have been reminiscing ever since. I love how a good book does that. It leaves a sweet aftertaste on your tongue and while you're sated, you kind of wish you weren't done. You contemplate just flipping back to the beginning and starting over. 

Well, I won't give in to that temptation, but I will pick up another off the too-long neglected pile and open a fresh page.

I've talked before about how much I love that God is a creative type and a story-o-phile, and once again I'm grateful for story at all, and that we will never run out of them. For Tamara's mad skills, for kindle instant delivery, and for naps after a long night's read, and that spell check doesn't yet recognize Bieber as a word.