I love eBooks because they speak directly to one of my most primal fears: that I’ll find myself somewhere—a plane, a broken elevator, a long line—without something to read. Look around any subway car in New York City and you’ll see people pecking away maniacally on their phones like starving sparrows. But I like to read far more than I like to answer email.

One thing that’s surprised me about my eReader is that it’s turned me into a packrat. I buy beloved books that I already own. It’s just too tempting to have all those covers lined up in orderly e-shelves. My justification goes back to that primal fear: What if I break my leg while vacationing in Corsica? I would be stuck reading the Boy Books that crowd revolving stands of English language novels.

Do we have plans for Corsica? No. But who cares? I have the reading material to weather any number of disasters!

Except, perhaps, a catastrophic loss of electricity…

Winning the Wallflower by Eloisa James is available from Piatkus Entice now.