1- If you knew you were getting amnesia and you could leave yourself a note to re-read just one book or series which one would it be?
It would have to be the Ranger’s Apprentice series. I had been cranking through books quite happily but I found that nearly all the YA books I got recommended or found through browsing but 99.9% of them had female protagonists, I certainly don’t have a problem with female leads but it would be nice to occasionally have stories with male leads so when I found Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan I was immediately intrigued. The story reminds me in a way of the radio serials I listen to on Old Time Radio it is a example of classic storytelling and I can’t recommend it enough.
2- What has been the review that you've had the most fun writing?
The reason I had a lot of fun writing this was because I could remember the time before reading the first book in the Morganville Vampires series when I would see the various books come up on Amazon or other popular online shops and roll my eyes at yet ‘another vampire book’. Now I can chide myself over wasting so much time when I could have started reading those books even earlier.
3- Tell us a little bit about your book crush, literary significant other or however you wish to call it ;)
Stevie Rae from the House Of Night Series by PC & Kristin Cast as soon as I started reading through Marked (1st in the series) she had a special effect on me, Stevie Rae is Zoey’s (the protagonist) best friend and just this positive ball of energy who it is almost impossible to depress. She also has this cute habit of absolutely refusing to swear no matter what. And last but by no means least is her simultaneously adorable and sexy Oklahoma twang. This last fact was probably helped by the fact that I have the audiobooks.
4- Tell us what in your opinion sets your blog apart from the others
My blog isn’t primarily a book blog I like to think of it more as a review blog. I will however sign up to book blog related contests and activities because this blog has a lot in common with them. For instance I signed up to the Soul Screamer and Morganville Vampires challenges because those are two series I follow very closely I was even lucky enough this in 2012 to go to a Rachel Caine book signing for Black Dawn here in the UK.
Recently I have been writing a lot about my experiences in something called the Work Programme which is this thing in the UK where private companies try to help the unemployed find work or so they claim. It is something I feel strongly about as well as in the past having a very negative experience with the provider I am assigned to which involved bullying. So if you were to come to my blog regularly you will probably see posts about that come up in the days following an interview where I have attended the Work Programme I find it can serve to inform other people going through the same sort of problems or people who might otherwise have a low opinion of the unemployed.
5- Can you tell us a little about your blog schedule? What can we expect to see in your blog during the week.
It really depends on real life constraints like recently I had 3 job interviews in less than a week and between the studying up on the organizations and the job descriptions and then the traveling to and from the interviews I felt much too wiped out to think of anything clever to write. Generally though I tend to try to write a book review for a book after I have read it, ongoing TV reviews and articles suggesting what might be worth watching and then very occasionally I might update people on all things Azeroth when I talk about gaming.
The things you are most likely to see on my blog though are book and TV reviews.
6- Do you eat when you read? if so tell us a little about what snacks you like to have.
Sometimes, I find that I tend to read on the move like on trains or buses so if I am snacking it is usually something that isn’t going to make a mess. My two favorite snacks would have to be Starburst and Skittles both the Sour types, I definitely have a sweet tooth.
7- Tell us about the most random character you have ever read. Did you love the character or hated it?
Myrnin from Morganville Vampires has to be the most random character that I have ever read about. He brings a steam punk aesthetic to an urban fantasy story and his character is just so full of energy and frenetic. The best thing about him is you can see the good and bad in the character, you see the remorseless killer and then you see his softer side which are honestly surprised is actually there.
8- Favorite and least favorite thing about blogging
My favorite thing about blogging is meeting people who are interested in what I am writing about. Because my blog is not a book blog I feel I can’t participate in a lot of interesting events that I would otherwise want to but at the same time I am happy with the flexibility of my blogging which keeps me interested most of the time.
My least favorite part about is when blogger’s block hits and I am sitting there trying my hardest to come up with something to write about, those times when it is not a review or my thoughts on a show or movie but something like commenting about a news story which is why you will rarely see things like that on my blog. I would tend to comment more about current events on Twitter nowadays.
9- Most emotional or passionate review.
Soul Screamers, I always had a very strange relationship with that book. The first four books had left me with no love for Kaylee. I liked the series itself but her decisions always left me wondering why as well as some of the decisions made by the protagonists as a group.
It was only after reading If I Die that I truly begun to understand Kaylee I think and that definitely changed how I felt about the book as a whole. So I think that is what made it more emotional than most book reviews where I knew before reading the book how I would likely
feel about it.
10- Have you ever met any of your favorite authors? If so, could you please share your experience.
For the launch of Black Dawn by Rachel Caine I was lucky enough to be able to go to a signing event in London where I got to meet her. I was so flustered I was not able to properly tell her how awesome a character Claire Danvers is, I could only get my book signed and take a couple pictures. This brings me onto the distinct lack of appearance dates for popular authors in the UK, I remember Alyson Noel came over for a week and did nothing but closed events and school events I am certainly not blaming her as this sort of thing comes down to the publishers but I feel all too often that the UK gets a raw deal on these things.
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