Kate Golden’s Shelfie
Here is my favorite section of my bookshelf at home, where fantasy bleeds into romance. I tried a while ago to organize my shelves by color, but genre proved a lot simpler when it came to actually finding a book, which is what bookshelves are for.
There are a few books in this section that hold a very special place in my heart.
One is Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover. You can find it on the bottom shelf in the center column, it's the one with the ruined spine. I read this book while traveling somewhere tropical and couldn't put it down, which meant it came with me wherever we went each day: the ocean, on a hike, in the pool, through the rain, etc. By the end of the trip it was thoroughly disfigured, but I didn't want to forget what it felt like to be attached at the hip to a book, so I never replaced it!
Another is Outlander, which was given to me by my mom. I devoured that book in just a few days and it will always make me think of her. We had a VERY heated conversation about the last few chapters which I felt she had not adequately prepared me for, and it began a long tradition of sharing our favorite reads with one another.
Of course, A Court of Thorns and Roses as well as Crescent City both get prime positions in this section, given their enormous influence on my own writing. Not only that, but I credit Sarah J. Maas with getting me back into reading fantasy after taking a break in my early twenties (world-building just felt too overwhelming post college, I can't explain it!)
Lastly, I feel the need to highlight the candle on the far right. It reads, Be the Leslie Knope of Whatever You Do. It was given to me by one of my best friends for my twenty-first birthday. If you're a fan of the series Parks and Recreation, you'll know Leslie is the main character and the kind of woman who throws her entire heart into every single thing she takes on with glee and passion and just the right amount of recklessness. My friend and I have watched the show through about nine hundred times at this point, and every time I think this candle is an even better mantra to live by.
Kate Golden is USA Today bestselling author of The Sacred Stones and Harker Academy trilogies. She lives in Los Angeles where she likes to do puzzles, host game nights, go on hikes with her husband and her dog, and try (and fail) to color code my bookshelves. You can find her on Instagram here.
Shelfies is edited by Lavie Tidhar and Jared Shurin. Join us on Instagram @shelfiesplease.