I’ve been a reader my whole life. I read the first "Harry Potter" book when I was just in second grade, even though they terrified my at the time. I could never get enough books: I would beg my mother to take me to our local library and I would exceed the amount of books you were allowed to check out at one time. I devoured novels: Mystery was my favorite genre, but I liked anything that had to do with fantasy, or monsters, or magic or extraordinary creatures. I developed this hunger for stories that I found out later I could never extinguish.

When I got older, I read whatever I could get my hands on: Horror, romance, comedy, tragedy, realistic fiction, even some nonfiction here and there. Heck, I was one of "Twilight"'s biggest fans. Reading gave me an escape into another world when my own was not what I wanted it to be. I fought alongside valiant nights against dragons, I solved cases with the best detectives around, I fell in love with Edward Cullen. These books became my best friends, and my most trusted places of liberation. I know, I know, that’s super nerdy. But you know what? Those books shaped who I am.

My point is, when I was reading those books, I could be anything or anybody I wanted to be. I could run away to far away and exotic places without leaving my own backyard. I could become a ballerina or a hunter or a princess.

This is why I have a love affair with books: They were and continue to be just what I need when I need it, friends who are there to let you lose yourself in their pages. These books made me who I am, and I am so very proud of that.