Blogiversary Guest Post: Nikki in Bookland + Giveaway!

My guest today is the lovely Nikki. She, Charlotte and Lizzie run Candlelit Author Services, where they help authors any way they can and run some amazing blog tours. It's always a pleasure hosting one of her tours for me, so go have a look at their web. But now, it's Nikki's time to talk:

When I was small my favourite place to read was the top shelf of the airing cupboard in the bathroom of my family home. Our house was old and creaking and full of interesting features and the huge airing cupboard was a fun place to hide as a kid. It took up the whole of one wall but had many cupboard doors and each shelf was large enough to fit a small person, who was brave enough to climb up the wooden shelves. I would take in a pile of books and a few biscuits and snuggle up in the old, musty sheets and towels that no one could reach because they were too high up. I also had a torch because, if I wasn’t in the house on my own but I was trying to hide, I would shut the doors and it was too dark to read as there was only one peephole – a small whorl in the wood. On a couple of occasions family members showered, unaware that I was giggling with embarrassment in the same room.

It was my very own doorway to Narnia. A secure, cosy spot where no one would interrupt. In my little den I read some of my favourite childhood classics: Nina Bawden’s The Witch’s Daughter, Matilda, Swallows and Amazons and The Secret Garden and only left, blinking into the light and modern day Yorkshire when my mum called me for tea. I never wanted to grow up and it was a sad day when I no longer fit in my cupboard. Still, the smell musty cotton gives me a sense of adventure and imagination.