Wow, it's pretty neat to see some of the posts mentioning Dark Shadows. I first got into gothic books, because my mother had many of them on the bookshelves, and I was drawn to the covers. But, I really got into the genre after watching Dark Shadows on PBS. I was a huge fan of the show.
It was random,I just saw Wuthering heights & bought it.I am a fairly new gothic romance lover.
It must have been in the late 60's ... when I was a preteen. My best friend's mother always had a book and we began reading her Gothic romances. I recall loving Mistress of Mellyn - all of Victoria Holt actually - as well as Dorothy Eden.
Like Fallover, I grew up reading fairy tales and recall my first non-picture gift book as a compendium of Grimm tales. How I loved that book! At about age 7 or 8, I discovered my aunt's Nancy Drew books and was hooked.
I love to read almost anything but when things are particularly stressful, I look for the comfort of Gothic. Through several relocations, I no longer had any of the books from childhood so I've picked up many via a used bookstore. I also belong to paperback-swap and have bought some books on eBay and even amazon.