~☆Forever Summer Reading☆~ Christie Craig’s Favorite Summer Memory

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My Poolside Summers

When I was teenager my dad built a swimming pool in our backyard. I remember when he first told me of his plan, I was in teenage euphoria. I mean, all I could think about was the wild and crazy pool parties I’d have. All the hot Bama boys that would flock to my house to keep cool during those steamy summer days. Or even better, those sweltering nights. Oh, yeah. But, like most things in teenage life, it didn’t turn out quite like I thought it would. There were no cute boys lining up to swim at my house day or night. Honestly, as an awkward-feeling, extremely-quiet teenager, I’d have probably died before I would’ve let a boy see me in my bikini. Yeah, I was that girl.

Not that it stopped me from enjoying the pool. I would put on a swim suit, put lemon juice in my hair to give me summer highlights, Coppertone on my skin to help me get my summer glow, and I’d lie out there on a beach towel soaking up the sun.

Had I not been dyslexic, I’d have carried a bag of books with me to read about hot boys and crazy adventures. Yet because reading was so difficult, and the idea of being a writer was years off, I didn’t live vicariously through books. I didn’t start reading for pleasure until I was in my early twenties.

Not that my teen poolside time was wasted. In fact, quite the opposite. You see, while I acquired my summer tan and highlights, I daydreamed. Actually, they were more than daydreams. I wrote my own adventures in my head. I couldn’t wait to get poolside where I’d escape my humdrum existence and fantasize about those hot boys. I’d let my mind take me somewhere that was much more exciting than my own life.

And by exciting, I don’t mean just the romance. My tales always involved some mystery to solve or danger to avoid. Yup, it was on those hot summer days when I dipped my toe into weaving romantic suspense stories. It was there while I got bikini lines that I created some of my first heroes to love, plots with problems, and heroines with more gumption than I had as a teen. It is any wonder that even today, the clean, crisp smell of Coppertone—that is now hard to find—mingled with hints of lemon puts me in a creative mood.

I can only hope that Don’t Close Your Eyes offers some summertime entertainment for readers!

Happy Summer!

CraigDONTMESSWITHTEXASChristy

About Christie Craig: Christie Craig is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-nine books. She is an Alabama native, a motivational speaker, and a writing teacher, who currently hangs her hat in Texas. When she’s not writing romance, she’s traveling, sipping wine, or penning bestselling young adult novels as C.C. Hunter. For more info on Christie and her books, please visit ChristieCraig.com.

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