Hello blog friends!

I was nominated for the Liebster award, which is an awesome award to help encourage the discovery of new blogs! 😊 Since the folks around here are lovely, I was nominated by two different blogs, meaning I have a lot of questions to answer. The rules of this award are simple:

1. Thank to blogger(s) that nominated you
2. Answer the 11 questions given to you in your nomination
3. Nominate 5-11 bloggers who have less than 200 followers
4. Inform those people that they’ve been nominated
5. Give them 11 (mostly book-related) questions to answer

So, to start out, I was nominated by Aralyn from Paper Addictions and Magic. Read her post here. And awhile back (maybe an embarrassingly long time ago) I was also nominated by Lauren from Comma Hangover, and you can read her post here. Thank you so much to you  both! You’re both amazing.💙

Since I have two sets of questions to answer here, I’ll start with Lauren’s.

1. If you had to go to a deserted island with only one book, what would it be and why?

Hm… I had to think about this one for awhile, but I think it would have to be Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I feel like this book is just magical enough to make me forget how bad my sunburn is while sitting on an island all day. 😉

2. Is there a book you could see so perfectly in your head that you dreamcasted it? Share your cast here!

I’m actually horrible at casting characters! I can always picture descriptions and characters really well, but I don’t actually relate them to anyone in real life. I guess I get so caught up in the story, I forget who they might look like.

3. Name the best opening line from any book that you have ever read!

Can I go back to Harry Potter again? 😉 That first line, “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to day that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” just opens up a whole universe of magic and book love. I can’t think of a better line. It still gives me a giddy, happy feeling whenever I crack the pages and read it.

4. Is there a non-bookish item on your shelf? If so, what is it?

I love collecting mugs and teacups, so I have a bunch of them placed around my shelves. If I have one that is related to a specific book, like I have a TMI mug my friend made for me, I’ll place it on the same shelf as that series.☕️

5. Do you eat while reading? What is your favorite snack?

Sometimes I’ll snack on a cheese stick or have a few peanuts. A lot of the time I forget to eat while I’m reading, if I get really into the book. As for my favorite snack, its tortilla chips and salsa all day every day.

6. What do you think of books that involve food? Do they make you hungry? Or inspire you to cook?

I’m more of a baker and less of a cooker. So sometimes I’ll be inspired to bake something if the characters in my book are eating cake or cookies.

7. What is your favorite micro-genre? (Or subgenre?)

I guess if YA is considered a major genre, then things like YA sci-fi and YA fantasy are considered subgenres, yeah? And those are my favorite. So there 😉

8. What social media networks are you on most frequently? Do you promote your posts on there?

I have a Twitter account, which my blog posts do post to, however, I maybe look at it like three times a month. My most frequent social media is Instagram for sure. I started my bookstagram account about a year and a half ago, and I love it so much. Taking pretty pictures of books is the best. Here is a link to my account.

9. What is the most irritating character you have ever read about? Why were they so irritating?

I think I’d have to pick Dolores Umbridge from the Harry Potter-verse. I just hated her so much. She was just awful and gave people who love kittens a bad name. 🙄

10. What is one book setting that you wish you could visit? Do you keep a bookish travel list?

Aside from all the fictional worlds I wish I could visit, I really want to visit Prague after reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I didn’t actually love the book (I think too much hype) but the descriptions about the city are amazing. Makes me want to move that city to the top of my travel list.

11. How often do you visit your local independent bookseller?

I live in a tiny town without any bookstores at all. So I have to travel a ways to get to a library or even a Barnes and Noble. However, I only live about a hour away from Powell’s Books in Portland Oregon , which is a grand and beautiful store that takes up a whole city block and it 4 stories high. The rooms are actually color coded and you can download an app that has a map build in to help you navigate. It’s basically heaven. I visit it whenever I can.

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Now for Aralyn’s questions! 🙂

1. Do you have an auto-buy author?

Yes! Cassandra Clare every time. I love all of her books.

2. Physical copy, ebook, or audiobook? Or all 3?

I’m not a big lover of audiobooks. In theory, they seem really cool. But for some reasons it loses a little something for me when I don’t actually read the words myself. As for the others, both!

3. What’s your least liked trope in books?

I’m so over pointlessly dramatic love triangles. Ugh.

4. Do you have a favorite type of character personality?

I love the sarcastic and badass characters. Especially if they are women, because it makes them so awesome, independent, and inspiring.

5. Do you like dog-ear-ing and writing in your books or must they be pristine?

As pristine as they day they came off the printer 😉

6. What book world would you want to live in?

Who isn’t going to pick Hogwarts in this situation?

7. Is there a genre that you just will not read?

I used to say erotica, but then I read 50 Shades of Grey and I figure it can’t get much crazier than that. So, if there are good characters and a good story, I’ll pretty much read anything. Except most non-fiction.

8. What is your favorite book/series right now?

I actually just finished reading the first three books in The White Rabbit series by Gena Showalter and I loved them so much (review to come!) and I also just finished reading the Collector series by Stacey Marie Brown. It’s a new adult/adult series and I loved it! I read all four in about two weeks.

9. Do you have a favorite character couple?

So. Many. OTPs.

10. Is there an animal sidekick you’ve met in books that you’d want on your side?

Actually yes! In the Collector series I mentioned up there, there is a monkey/fae who can talk named Sprig. He’s obsessed with honey, he’s adorable, can open locks with his magic, and he’s just awesome.

11. Why do you like reading? 

I love being able to visit places I could otherwise never see. Especially fictional worlds. It feeds my wanderlust when I’m a college student who is too poor to travel.

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Now, I nominate:

Sharfin from A Tiny Reader’s Blog 

Kath from The Last Reader

Gretchen from ChicNerdReads

Ink Wells and Book Smells

Diana from Night Train Books 

Lisa from The Not So Secret Life of a Fangirl

Laura from Life is a Book Blog

and last, but certainly not least, Lissa from Rabid Reads

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Now! Your questions *rubs palms together in anticipation*

1. What is your favorite book that no one else seems to know about?
2. Are you a writer as well as a reader?
3. Confession time: Have you read/written FanFiction?
4. Do you prefer stand-alone books or multi-book series?
5. Have you ever been to a book signing?
6. Do you buy or not buy books based on reviews from other people? Or do you make your own decision?
7. What book was the biggest disappointment of the year?
8. Do you have an e-reader? If so, which one and how do you like it?
9. Do you collect anything else aside from books? What is it?
10. Who is your favorite indie author (shout them out!)?
11. What is your favorite part of reading a good book?

Okay, guys. I think this post is ridiculously long enough. If you made it all the way here, thanks for reading!

Cheers! ☕️