BookLikes

Due to the technical problems some of the BookLikes features aren't working properly.

This include the BookLikes->Goodreads synchronization and social media connection (Twitter/Facebook). 

 

So sorry for the inconveniences! 

We're happy to welcome Johanne Levesque and her debut novel Trouble & Strife. Keep on reading to get to know the author better, and win a review copy in the Trouble & Strife Giveaway. 

GIVEAWAY JULY 17 - AUGUST 15, 2018

Trouble and Strife - Johanne Levesque  

REQUEST A REVIEW COPY ->

Sometimes the smallest voices make the deepest impact.
Josephine Hadley, a 1930s Canadian housewife, fills her days looking after her children, her indifferent husband and a stream of Depression-era visitors. Her contribution to her guests is a bowl of stew and an open heart.
Her small world, however, is soon shattered by a tragic event which forces her to become the breadwinner. Can she run a business without sacrificing herself? And is it possible to act on a long-buried desire without remorse?
Johanne Levesque’s first novel, Trouble and Strife, is a poignant and heartbreaking look at a woman’s life in a fast-changing time. With intimate details and a deft poetic touch, Levesque has captured the spirit of an age where war and economic hardship altered the workplace, home and women’s lives forever.

What are you reading now?

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Was there one event that inspired your decision to become a writer?

Yes, it was the recession in 2008. My husband was a landlord and he lost a couple properties and he sounded like Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh. I told him, “I wonder what it was like for a landlord in The Great Depression. He challenged me to write about it.

Can you tell our readers more about your book Trouble and Strife, and who gonna love the story?

It is about a family with four children living in Toronto Canada during the Great Depression. The husband is a landlord and the wife stays at home to take care of four children and she find ways to help others during this financial crisis. Things get more and more difficult for the family and she struggles to cope under difficult circumstances..

How did the book story emerge?

Curiosity about what the Great Depression was like for people living in Toronto during the 1930’s. I riffled through archive newspaper for 10 years, going through microfiche to make the story as accurate as it could be with the historical events of the time included in the story.

REQUEST FREE REVIEW COPIES ->

You studied Psychology. Do you / How do you use your knowledge and experience from the psychological field to create your stories and characters?

Because I studied who what where how of human behavior I have a good grasp of motivation of my characters and why they act the way they do.

What are your writing plans?

I am in the process of writing the sequel of Trouble and Strife. The story will continue into the Second World War and we will see how the family copes during the difficult years of 1940-1945.

In your short bio we can read I only spoke French for the first 18 years of my life. I learned to speak English by reading One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest using a French English dictionary for most words. Does it mean literature was always important in your life and your life decisions?

Yes reading was my solace as a kid. Our house was filled with violence and chaos and my escape was books. Reading was my safe place where I could travel to other countries, immerse myself into a character and feel his or her thoughts and feelings. My only exercise was when I took my bike to the library and back. If I had to play dodge ball at school I placed myself where I could get hit right away so I could go back and read my books. I would get into a theme, like a whole series of books about a flight attendant and her adventures. I would read everything I could find about Apartheid, or Martin Luther King or the Holocaust before I was a teenager. I am afraid to say I preferred books over people. I am still a loner but I am much more social now...

Who are your favorite authors and genres? Have they influenced you and in what way?

I like the classics, Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, Nathaniel Hawethorne, Gustave Flaubert, Wilke Collins, Louisa M. Alcott, Leo Tolstoy, Harper Lee. They have influenced me because I love the old English way of speaking and I feel it is a pleasure and an education to read such great works.

You mentioned running 7 marathons. What are you doing when not writing?

I injured my Achilles tendon twice now so I am retired from running long distance. I am lucky enough to have a beach walking distance and I try to swim for one hour 5 days a week. I have a 4 month old Doberman puppy that I walk three times a day and when he is fully mature I will take him on short runs and hopefully swimming with me. I take him to obedience classes and take him to all my book shows. When he turns one year old he will take a test with the Red Cross and if he passes, he will be a Therapy Dog and we will visit retirement homes together. I volunteer with the Alzheimer Society in a program called Minds in Motion where I facilitate a group of people who have Alzheimer to exercise physically and mentally through games. It is a lot of fun and I enjoy it tremendously.

Three titles for a holiday break?

In January we always go to Tanga, Tanzania to visit an orphanage which we have sponsored for the past 5 years. We make sure they can afford to go to school, have backpacks, uniforms, shoes, tuition money. When we have extra money we do repairs on their building. We take them out somewhere. Last year we took them to a resort to dance on New years eve. And we took them on a local safari.

The three book I have chosen for this trip is Drood, by Dan Simmons, Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

Paper book or ebook?

Always paper. I love the smell, the touch and feel of a book, I have to say I mistreat them, they are earmarked, highlighted, water stained and food stained, I use and abuse them.

Shelfie time! Please share your home library photo. And your writing spot, as well :)

My library is in an unfinished basement and my books are in boxes right now. My husband will build me a library but in the meantime there is not much to see. I work on a recliner in my living room also unfinished. Sorry no pics this time, maybe in the future...

But I can give you a picture of my husband and I with the orphans. My husband and I with the orphans. We do a fundraiser on Go Fund Me before we leave every year and make sure each child can go to school. Even the ones who got older over the years we pay for their college too. One is studying to be a nurse and one to be a teacher. We pay for their tuition plus all things related to school.

Today we have a real pleasure to present you an interview with Olga Goa, a romance books fan and a romance books writer! Read the Q&A to get to know Olga a little bit better and request Olga's debut book FATEFUL ITALIAN PASSION in our giveaways. 

What are you reading now, Olga?

Quintessentially Q by Pepper Winters 

Tell us a few words about yourself - whatever you want to share about your personal and professional life.

I was born in Russia, Moscow. I was always too attached to literature in my younger years, and my big dream was to share my creativity with a lot of people. I like to read romance and especially dark romance where things are so close to real life and make the readers sympathize with the book’s heroes. Such genre inspired me to write my first dark romance novel FATEFUL ITALIAN PASSION that I published in August 2017. It became the hardest and the most emotional work in my writer’s life. But I am happy that I did it, and I am totally satisfied with it. It’s my most favorite labor to which I dedicated my soul and heart.

ROMANCE GIVEAWAY: JULY 27 - AUGUST, 2018

REQUEST FATEFUL ITALIAN PASSION ->

REQUEST THE FREE REVIEW COPY ->

In my free time, I like to listen to music or watch movies, play the piano, read books, and enjoy walking in the forest. Especially the last one inspires me to write about a lot of things. It’s a big inspiration for originality—a source of obtaining the best ideas of what to write. I also enjoy traveling around the world, because a new place makes me fantasize and create new plots for upcoming books. I am so passionate about my works and plan to create a lot of stories, even in Teen Fiction or maybe another genre like Thriller.

Was there one event that inspired your decision to become a writer?

I suppose it was the books that I read. I said to myself, “Why not try to write down the ideas in your mind and share them with people?” And I was happy to see that readers on Wattpad liked my books and some of them reread them when they have a free minute.

Can you tell our readers more about your books and series you’re writing?

Now I am working on continuing the series of my first novel that I mentioned before: “FATEFUL ITALIAN PASSION” (FIP) and my new novel “CLUB DRUNKEN CHERRY” (CDC) that I published recently, in March 2018. My second book “HOT SHORT STORIES” (HSS) 1^st Collection came out in November 2017, and I also have some plans to publish the continuation of HSS – 2^nd Collection.

FIP is a part of Veneziani Family Series I planned to start a long time ago, Spring 2013 precisely. I really attempted to narrate the story about a broken man and an orphan girl who were abandoned by their parents and didn’t experience true love. They lived in a grey world not seeing any bright colors until they met each other. They don’t know what will happen to them and how they will solve their problems, but they are really liked each other. Readers must find out for themselves: do my characters love each other? Didn’t they cross that line where people cannot really live without their soulmates? These series show the difference between LOVE and PASSION, and at the same time show how hard is it to live with a man who has a mental disorder. I gave a hint to readers about the character’s state, but I didn’t let the cat of the bag. I want my readers to be puzzled about the reason why one of the main characters behaves that way and also find out for themselves the key to his emotional temper. I do hope that readers will see what I try to tell them between lines and will be attentive to my own reasoning about LOVE and other events that happen to the main and minor characters as well.

CDC is a part of Fighters with Darkness Series that open the most gloomy world of the mafia, their deeds, and their power. I tell a story about the sex club where everyone can do what he wants and ONLY if a member of this club breakes the rules would he answer for his deeds. This book shows the most disgusting and at the same time scaring facts of our life, things that we don’t want to know because they are so terrible. This story also explains how the education of a little boy can influence his own life and how important it is for parents to love and be mindful of their attitudes towards their child. Some people don’t ponder over this but think that their children don’t need a good education and other good things in life at their youthful age. Life is a complicated thing, but we have to teach our kids how to survive and not to show them cruelty or indifference. I am absolutely sure that without love and support, kids will never choose the right way, only some of them will if they have the strength inside. I also continue the theme of love and hate in these series as I did in FIP. But here you can see how people can sacrifice their own lives to save other people, how sinners want to be righteous men and how secrets can destroy or damage our lives.

HSS was created just for fun on Wattpad. I never thought that these series could garner 2 million views. It was really not expected. In making this collection, I wish people can forget about their problems and just enjoy hot steamy stories that can paint the stressed days off with love, explicit games, and even laughter. You can imagine anything with the heroes of HSS, and be anyone you want to. I think these series is a good therapy for our mind and body. 

Your titles are all about romance. Why have you chosen to write in this genre or did the romance genre chose you?

I started studying psychology and philosophy a long time ago while I was in the school. I was interested in human relationships and enjoyed to explore more things about them. I read a lot of articles about people’s emotional state and was glad to study it myself and explore. I was never fond of science, fantasy and other genres that could make me start a book based on them. I think Romance will always affect people minds because a man consists of a body and a soul. Without the soul we are nothing, we are unable to live. That’s why people are always curious about that genre. We get used to sense adrenaline and hyper emotions. This is our nature, and we cannot deny it.

I have also thought about writing a horror story someday. But I am not sure if I won’t add romance to it. The romance was and will always be my favorite genre.

REQUEST ->

Do you consider changing the genre or will you follow the writing path?

Never say never – the great proverb of humanity. So I think someday I may change the genre if I will discover all the themes of psychology that bother me nowadays.

Do you have any writing tips on how to write a perfect love story?

Yes, but I think every author chooses the best ones for himself because it depends on his experience and his personality.

My main tip on how to write a perfect love story is TO BE A UNIQUE AUTHOR. It means: do not copy other stories or copy scenes even because it won’t speak well of you if you are a writer. This idea of writing will not give you more fans because they will compare you with bestseller authors that have already written stories like you did and they wouldn’t see your originality. Although if you picked the same theme that another author discovered in his story, but you decide to show it from another point of view, such an idea can be a ticket to reach more readers and gain popularity. But I think that a good story is only born when an author knows what he wants to say to his readers. He must know WHY HE’S WRITING HIS NEW BOOK. If he doesn’t have any purpose why he needs to write? I suppose it’s better not to write anything at all if he has no message to convey. A great story must impact on the people and makes them participate in a thinking process. Readers must be immersed in a plot that forgetting it after reading won’t be so easy. The best story is the story that makes people reread the book, again and again, searching for verities on how to live and even how to love.

Who is your favorite bookish love couple?

I cannot reply. This is such a hard question that came as a puzzle me at the moment! Ha-ha! I have a lot of favorite couples that could be taken from the books by Sylvia Day, Pepper Winters and much more. Even from classic – Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, etc.

What are you doing when not writing?

Sleep! This reply can be really weird lol, but writing takes a lot of time in my life. Anyway, of course, If I have free time – I watch the movies, listen to music, walking, traveling around the world (if I have the money) and relax.

How do your love stories emerge? Where do you get your ideas and inspirations from?

Basically, from my head. They emerge like a movie that has no “stop” button. I put the main details of the stories on a paper because our memory sometimes can let us down. You know it yourself. My fantasy helps me to write my new stories and give me more ideas. I am like a director of a movie that wants to create a masterpiece. Stories that my friends narrated also help me in my writing, plus I might have got a big inspiration from what I watched already or would see. Other inspiration may come from books, music, video clips and movies. All of them have such a good emotional base that anyone who can feel it can create as many stories as his mind can imagine. There’s one thing you must have – endless fantasy!

What are your writing plans?

BIGGEST! I plan to finish FIP series because I have already made sketches of the continuation of Milano and Veronica love story that has a working title “INDIAN LOVE.” That book will also be a part of Veneziani Family Series. Another new book comes after “Indian Love.” I would round off CDC series this year but, I don’t know what my readers would want from me – the end or another book in that series; we shall see. I will finish HSS this year (I HOPE SO because writing three books at the same time is not an easy thing). I may continue HSS collections if I have more original ideas and a strong urge from my readers. Soon I will publish the story that I wrote a long time ago, but it’s awaiting its time to see the light. It will be a mix of fantasy and dark romance, so I am fascinated to show it to my readers. I have a plan to finish other sketches of the new stories; these are some of my secrets for now. I want to impress my readers so much that they couldn’t imagine what I will invent and present before their eyes. I like to shock them in a good way ;)

Who are your favorite authors and genres? Have they influenced you and in what way?

Dark Romance is my favorite genre of literature, so I enjoy reading books by Pepper Winters that I already mentioned. I adore her creativity and her writing’s style; it is so captivating and intriguing. I have read books written by Silvia Day, E.L.James, Christina Lauren, Sylvain Reynard, J.E.Malpas and much more that have influenced my style as well as my plots. It ’s so hard to name them all; they are so unique and unsuppressed, so I am afraid to miff them.

I love classic and modern literature. I enjoy reading books by my author friends that I met on Twitter and Facebook. Some of them influenced my writing as well, and their advice helped me to see myself from their point of view.

Please tell us about your day and your writing habits. Do you write every day, and for how long?

My day is full of job and writing. Sometimes I even forget to eat three times a day, but if I do, I will certainly eat at night. I am so devoted to writing that sometimes I think – it’s total madness! I cannot sleep if the scene came to my mind; I must finish it. Maybe that’s why I sleep about 5-6 hours in a day. But I am aware of the need to relax when putting the finishing touches on my books. This calls for a celebration for me, and I do buy something tasty and appetizing to please myself so that I will have fun in full. When I decide to rest from writing, it could be between 1-2 or 3 weeks. I need to come back to my stable in a relaxed state to start writing a new story. I think this is a good vacation for my brain.

I write in my free time between 1-2 hours in a day. Sometimes when I don’t have much work to do the next day, I could write up to 5-6 hours. I am a freelancer, following this routine helps me to be in form and to relax when I want. I don’t have plans on how and when to write, because whenever I compel myself to write, things don’t always turn out so good. Books would become boring, and this is not my way of doing things because it demotivates me. So I write when the inspiration comes.

You’re Russian. Can you please recommend top 3 Russian books to our readers.

Of course I can. If it is Classic – I can recommend Mikhail Bulgakov “Master & Margarita,” Leo Tolstoy “Anna Karenina,” Alexander Pushkin “The Blizzard” (Or Snowstorm) (Metel in Russian). These three books will really blow up your mind and heart. I love them.

From modern writers, I can recommend Sergey Minaev “Duhless,” Boris Akunin “Turkish Gambit” etc.

Three titles for a holiday break?

Sleep, music, sea.

Paper book or ebook?

Paperback is the best. It gives you more emotions when you hold the book in your hands; it would seem like you are touching ‘eternity.’

Selfie time! Please share your home library photo. And your writing spot, as well :)

Well, I recently carried out some repairs in my apartment, and all my books were taken to different places. My sincerest apologies for that. Maybe later I will put them up on display in my blog ;)

This is my writing spot! ;)

 Thank you, Olga! 

Olga Goa's books on BookLikes:

As of this writing, the BookLikes functionality we all depend on - the automatic importing of new books into the database when we use the search function - is 'under review'.  That means that for the time being books have to be manually added using the Add New Book button, OR

Use the Shelve It widget.  This widget currently works only with Amazon.co.uk, but the UK site has almost all the same inventory access as the other Amazons, so other than remembering to go to .co.uk instead of .com, or whatever your default may be, this might be a viable way to add books to the database faster.

So where is this widget, how do I install it, how do I use it?

Turns out finding it is the hardest part, because it hides in plain sight.  Go to your shelf page.  You'll find it there on the top right.  It looks like a small book. Drag that to your browser bookmark bar (you might have to turn this on in your browser settings). 

That's installation taken care of. 

To use it, simply go to http://www.amazon.co.uk and search for your book.  Once you find it, click the Shelve It link that's now in your bookmark bar.  There will be a small pause and depending on which browser you use, you might see it starting to load another page.  It should then take you to the new BookLikes book page for that book.  Done.  Imported.  Now you just have to remember to add it to your shelves.

Notes:

The shelve it function does not, at this time, bring in the book cover.  If you think about it, when you're on the Amazon page, before clicking the Shelve It button, drag the cover to your desktop (or screenshot it, whichever you feel comfortable doing).  After you hit the Shelve it button and it takes you to the new BL book page for that book, you can "Add Cover" and upload the cover too.  This will make everybody's day.

If for any reason clicking the Shelve It button takes you directly to the BL dashboard instead of the book page, the import failed.  Make sure you're on the Amazon.co.uk site, not any of the others, and try again.  If that doesn't work uninstalling/reinstalling it might: drag the widget off the bookmark bar (which uninstalls it) then go back to your shelves and drag it back on.  Try again.

Happy importing.  :)

Today we have a Q&A with J.D. Lasica, author of the new genetic science thriller Biohack. He is making the ebook edition available for free on Amazon for this week only. He’s doing so in the hope of receiving additional short, honest book reviews so don't hesitate, click HERE and grab the book, read, and write what you think!

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’m originally from New Jersey but have lived in Northern California for the past 25 years. I lead a double life as an author of high-tech thrillers and as CEO of a cruise vacation tech startup. And I've given talks at the United Nations, Harvard, Stanford and on four continents.

Why did you decide to write a near-future thriller?

Thrillers have always been my first love, and I wanted to tackle a big subject. Michael Crichton was a major influence, and I tried to follow his lead in weaving in some cutting-edge science without slowing down the action. There’s a Tom Clancy international vibe with scenes set in New York, L.A., Miami, Dallas, Rome, France, Belarus, and more. And you’ll find touches of a technothriller, crime thriller, science fiction, medical thriller, and even legal thriller weaved in.

Download a free review copy (Kindle ebook)

What is your book about?

Biohack is a story about the dawning era of reproductive technologies. It’s Brave New World in reverse – instead of the government deciding your genetic destiny, the free market prevails.

On one level, Biohack is a full-on pulse-pounding thriller with a hero who’s up against a villainous biotech company CEO who’s running a next-generation fertility clinic with the goal of ushering in the era of the New Enhanced Family.

Employees are told sex is for fun, not for making babies. It’s set in the mid-2020s when genetic science has advanced to the point where a lab can not only screen for genetic diseases but add “positive influences” and “genetic enrichment” to a pre-embryo. It gets darker than that: The bad guys begin to steal the DNA of Hollywood celebrities, and they start planning a grave team operation to steal the genetic remains of the most famous legends in history.

But It’s also a very human story with a protagonist who searches for her birth mother, a mom who lost her toddler in a swimming pool accident, and a 10-year-old girl who’s caught up in all this.

It really is a rollercoaster of a science thriller, and I’m happy to see the reception it’s getting – more than 60 five-star reviews on Amazon in two months.

Did that require a lot of research?

I spent three months doing research, reading up on the latest advances in CRISPR and other forms of gene editing, and came away thinking, wow, this is amazing stuff and society isn’t ready for what’s just around the corner.

I wanted to keep it in the realm of near-future science rather than science fiction. I had the feeling that the novel would be more disturbing if it hewed as much as possible to what labs are able to do today or by 2025, and then let readers wrestle with the morality of it all.

What was the most fun part of writing the book?

I loved researching the action scenes that amount to cinematic set-pieces. The opening scene takes place along the Roman Street of the Dead in the catacombs beneath the Vatican. Bringing that to life was just awesome.

What was the most challenging part?

The world building was hard to pull off. I wanted a solid layer of verisimilitude to undergird the story so I relied on a number of experts to get the science right. 

For example, I created this elaborate campus where clients of the biotech company, Birthrights Unlimited, are able to “trick out” their test tube baby with all the latest enhancements, ranging from eye color, hair color and skin color to height and optimal body mass index or BMI.

What they can’t do by the mid-2020s is to greatly increase intelligence or life expectancy. So a lot of the early enhancements are superficial, like the identical twin boys who look exactly alike, except one has blue eyes and one has green eyes. Do I think that can or will happen? As the uncle of identical twin boys, yes, absolutely.

The second challenge was appealing to the heart as well as the head. So I spent a lot of time creating strong emotional hooks to make sure readers would care deeply about the main characters.

Biohack - J.D. Lasica  

DOWNLOAD

Free review copies July 23 - July 27, 2018 

What would you give for a second chance? Valerie Ramirez, a special ed teacher haunted by her toddler’s drowning accident, faces a fateful decision when she’s admitted into a secretive program run by a biotech company. 
Kaden Baker, an elite hacker who dabbles in covert ops, finds her life turned upside down when she discovers her parents were imposters. Where does she come from? Who’s been financing her high-stakes secret missions? 
The answers lead back to the same mysterious biotech firm. As Kaden and Valerie become allies, they make one startling discovery after another about the company’s dark intentions. But each step closer to the truth puts their lives at greater risk. 
The stakes couldn’t be higher—for Kaden’s freedom, for Valerie’s fate, and for the future direction of humanity itself.

 

You’ve done some inventive things offering readers a freebie to go along with the book.

Right. I created a free 36-page full-color handout called The Hacked Celebrity Files that readers can download for free if they join my Readers Circle. It lays out a dozen grave team targets of famous legends, as well as detailing some of the genetic enhancement techniques on the horizon.

I also created a tripping futuristic fertility clinic website that gives readers a peek at where reproductive technologies may be taking us very soon. Check it out at BirthrightsUnlimited.com.

I keep coming back to one of the main conceits of the book, that one can extract DNA from bodies that have died decades or even centuries ago. Is that really possible?

Absolutely. DNA doesn’t care if you’re dead or alive. All that matters is that the DNA needs to be fairly intact. Look, they’re working on bringing back the woolly mammoth based on skeletal remains that’s 4,000 to 10,000 years old.

Think about what this could soon mean for all of us: A drop of blood, a fleck of skin, a trace of saliva left on the back of a stamp—any reasonably intact genetic material is sufficient for a capable laboratory to stitch together a person’s complete genome. For whatever purposes they choose.

Do you think people will want to take advantage of this new reproductive tech?

Certainly, selecting the gender of your child will be popular. Breast cancer survivors who want daughters without the BRCA mutation. Parents who are self-conscious about everything from big ears to red hair and don’t want to pass those traits on to their child. And even parents who want to clone a child that they’ve lost. It’s certainly within the realm of what science can do today.

You know, IVF and test-tube babies were once seen as morally repugnant in some quarters, and now we take that for granted. If left purely to market forces, I think we’d see the same thing with reproductive tech.

James Watson, co-discoverer of the DNA double helix, said, 

“If scientists find ways to greatly improve human capabilities, there will be no stopping the public from happily seizing them.” And I think that’s true.

So the book’s message has a warning for us?

I think historians will look back at 2012, when CRISPR was discovered as a gene editing tool, as the beginning of the Age of Genetics.

And I’ll definitely be opting for cremation.

What’s next?

I’m working on Book 2 of the Gender Wars series.

Where can readers connect with you?

I’m all over social media and the Web:

Facebook author page

Author website

On Twitter

On Instagram

By email

Hello Friday! Hello Follow Friday with book bloggers! Today let's meet Julie. You need to keep on reading to see those shelfies! :D

Follow JL's Bibliomania on BookLikes: http://jlsbibliomania.booklikes.com/

What are you reading right now? How do you like it?

I’m reading three things as I write these responses:

Heaven's Queen by Rachel Bach, which is the concluding volume of a lighthearted romp of a Space Opera featuring a girl and her big gun.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, which is the story of how Marie- Laure, a blind French Girl, and Werner, a German Orphan, converge in the French town of San-Malo near the end of the 2^nd World War.  Slower moving, especially as an audiobook.

The Inner Life of Cats: The Science and Secrets of Our Mysterious Feline Companions by Thomas McNamee, which is the current selection for the Flat Book Society.  OK so far, but recently I’ve been struggling with sustained attention to non-fiction.

READ & JOIN THE BOOK CLUB ->

However, I expect that by the time this is published, I will have finished Heaven’s Queen and moved on to another piece of fiction

When have you discovered you’re a book lover?

If this question is asking when did I (first) discover I was a book lover the answer is: When books were replacing my non-existent friends in Elementary and Middle School and I was devouring a book an afternoon.

Why reading is important to you?

Because I like how reading fills the spaces in my head. Because I crave the escape it offers.

Follow jlsbibliomania.booklikes.com

Which books are you most excited recommending to your followers?

I’m currently excited about The Hate U Give, which is getting a lot of buzz, and does a great job personalizing the questions behind the Black Lives Matter (Movie due to release in October)

I discovered Maggie Stiefvater relatively recently and loved The Raven Boys and the sequels as an audiobook.  

I read them a long time ago and the details have faded, but I think Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay is essential reading.  

I also love CJ Cherryh’s work.While a bit older, I particularly like how the Faded Sun Trilogy and Forty Thousand in Gehenna wrestle with the idea of being the “Other” and of becoming the bridge between human and alien.

In your bio you write: “Daughter of a Bookaholic. Wife of a Bibliovore.  Mother of 2 Bibliophiles” Did your family had an influence on your reading passion, and how do you encourage your kids to keep on reading?

My parents really didn’t watch television much and were always reading, particularly my Dad who always has a book or 3 going, typically Space Opera or military SF.  My parents definitely had an influence on my reading passion by always having books around, and nurtured my love of SF by handing me Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsong when I was in Jr. High and complaining that I was bored and out of things to read.

This is going to sound trite (or like stock advice), but when my kids were little my husband and I read to our sons, always had a rotating stock of library books around that were age and reading-level appropriate geared towards their passion of the moment, and modeled reading because we often had a book of our own with us. We were lucky. My older son dove into Richard Scarry partway through kindergarten, my younger son got lost in the Warriors series in 3^rd grade and we really haven’t had to do much to encouraging since.  

Do you read one book or several at a time?

As you can see by the answer to question 1, I typically read several books at a time.

- 1 fiction in print or ebook,

- 1 audiobook for the car,

- and sometimes a non-fiction. 

But the print book and the audiobook have to be different genres for me to keep track, which is fine because I like to mix things up.

BookLikes Shelf

Do you review all books you read? How does your review process look like?

I don’t review everything I read.  I write when I have something to say and when time permits (and as you can see by the fewer and shorter reviews recently, time has recently been in short supply so I haven’t been as active). 

I’m more of a book diarist than a book reviewer.  I started tracking on Goodreads and blogging about books to help myself remember what I’ve read.  I consider what I write to be book reactions rather than truly reviews, which is why many of my entries are a short paragraph or less, and I almost never include a synopsis of the plot. I try not to look at too many reviews before I read a book, but often look at the book page here and at other book-review sites after I finish.  I typically dash off a draft over the weekend, ask my husband to copy edit it, then post the following day.  

Your Shelf presents many audiobooks. Do you experience the book differently while listening to it instead of reading?

I do experience stories differently when I listen to them. Listening to an audiobook forces you to move at the narrator’s pace, which means that you can’t read too fast and miss details.  Sometimes that’s an advantage, and sometimes that leads to tedium.

I’m also not one who easily builds a concrete picture of what the characters look like, or imagines what they sound like.  The audiobook narrator often fills in that gap for me, especially the recent productions that turn books almost into audio plays by using multiple readers.

The experience of reading an audiobook is also different for me because I mostly listen to them in the car, while I’m driving. A story is different when experienced in 15-30 minute chunks, and with distractions.

2018 Reading Challenge Page

A library or a bookstore?

Definitely a library!

While my husband and I spent many pleasant hours in used book stores as a teen and young adult (hence the collection in the basement), we almost entirely stopped buying books as part of the financial adjustment after buying our first house. We are lucky to live in an area with good libraries and I get more than 90% of what I read from the local county library consortium. 

Your favorite genres are fantasy and sci-fi. Why are they so special?

SF and fantasy were initially appealing to me because of the escapism. If you’re not happy in mundane reality, SF and fantasy provide ample opportunities to imagine being a heroine elsewhere. 

Now I find that SF and fantasy are special in the way that they pose questions about what makes us human.

What are your three favorite book covers?

I'll admit that I hate the share 3 book-covers question since doing most of my book “shopping” in the online library catalog, the cover isn't really something I pay much attention to. However, there’s a strong tradition of SF-related artwork. So instead of book covers I’d like to share 3 of the signed, numbered SF-related prints that I’ve bought at conventions over the years. 

Menolly by Robin Wood, originally included in The People of Pern http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Prints/PrintPages/Menolly.html

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Virginia Poyser.  Victoria is currently working under her married name of Virginia Lisi and no longer focusing on SF-related art.  I couldn’t find a good copy of this picture online, but her website is https://victoria-lisi.pixels.com/

A Stitch in Time by David Cherry (brother of  CJ Cherryh)

https://davidcherryart.com/prints/a-stitch-in-time/  I don’t believe this piece is connected to a specific book, but it appealed to me as someone who occasionally stitches.

A paper book or an e-book?

When I’m home, I’m a traditionalist and prefer paper.  When I’m travelling, or when the library only has the ebook, I’ll happily reach for the e-reader for novels. I dislike non-fiction and graphic novels as e-books. 

Three titles for a holiday break?

Did I say that I hate giving recommendations?

Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach  and the sequels (though it looks like others who tried it here on BL haven’t liked it much)

When Dimple Met Rishi – light realistic fiction YA – definitely recommend the audiobook.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. Suggested in honor of the Summer of Spies.

Favorite quote?

My absolutely favorite quote is

Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.

(Often misremembered as – Life is short, Eat dessert first)

And when I was in college I spent several years doing just that.

Despite coming late to canine ownership, my favorite bookish quote is

Outside of a book, a dog is man’s best friend

Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read

Shelfie time! Please share your home library photos :)

The first two pictures are of the two bookcases in the living-room, which contain cookbooks, religion reference works and library books. Life has been so much easier, with many fewer desperate searches for the overdue or missing books since we cleared off shelves a shelf for me and a shelf for my sons to keep our library book in the right hand case.

The last picture is of a few of the 13 bookcases in the basement library.  We’re in the middle of re-sorting/re-shelving/trimming the collection as we recently decided to store all fiction alphabetically by author and to stop trying to sort by genre.  And while the basement is mostly fiction, there are 2 ceiling high cases full of my husband’s history references.

Thank you! 

*

Have you missed previous Follow Friday talks? Use ffwithbookbloggers tag or click the interviews catch up links below: 

BookLikes is a blog platform for all book lover. Thais means that when you register you set up your own book blog with an endless virtual bookshelf (YAY!). Here are three places to add your details in order to fill up your BookLikes profile information and to present yourself to other readers and bloggers. 

1. Settings

When you log into BookLikes you see Dashboard -- your feed, a place where you see the  blogs' reviews and bookshelf updates. Remember that in order to add a blog to your Dashboard you should start following the blogs! If you're looking for new blogs to follow, go to the Explore page (menu->Explore), click the blog name and click FOLLOW in the upper right corner.

Remember that all your actions done in your Settings and in your Dashboard view will be presented on your blog page (your account on BookLikes IS your BOOK BLOG). The Dashboard view is internal and will always stay the same. 

Your blog page on BookLikes is: yourusername.booklikes.com.

Let's get back to Settings. So once you're on Dashboard, you gonna view one menu button in the upper left corner. Click it and go to Settings. In Settings, select tabs to add your details:

Settings: add your photo and username, e-mail, change password, select language and e-mail notifications, connect your social media

Settings/Blog: add your blog name, your short bio, select comments settings, and a blog theme

Settings/Import: import your books & reviews collections from Goodreads and other book social sites

Settings/Pages: add a new subpage to your book blog

Settings/Affiliate Programs: add your affiliate IDs to earn on your book blog

As you can see, each Settings tab let's you fill up your personal information.

Make sure to click Save once you add new information. 

2. The Customization tab

Your book blog needs personalization. Make sure to visit the Customization tab to select a blog's layout and add your social profile links.

To enter the Customization tab view, go to Settings/Blog, scroll down and click Customize.

Here you are! Add your short bio, your social profile links and widgets. You can also select a new blog theme and customize the color and layout. 

Remember to Save all the changes and check how your blog looks like (your blog is at yourusername.booklikes.com). 

3. Add a new Page OR new links

If you prefer to add a new sub-page with your longer bio, you can do it in Settings/Pages. 

If you wish to add links, to your other webpages, you can also do it in Settings/Pages. 

Your new pages and links will be visible in your Settings/Pages:

Remember that all your actions done in your Settings and in your Dashboard view will be presented on your blog page. Your blog page on BookLikes is: yourusername.booklikes.com

You may also want to check our previous tutorial and how-to posts:

 

- How to start a book blog on BookLikes 

- 6 ways to blog about books

- 7 tips how to write a book review on BookLikes

- BookLikes How-to: Advanced Shelving Options

- BookLikes How to: book search tips

- It's time for a reading challenge!

- Reading lists know-how

- 4 ways to give a shout out to a beloved title

- 5 tips to show yourself as a professional reader, author, publisher

- A-Z ways to arrange your bookshelf

 

More BookLikes tutorial can be found HERE (click)

Have you noticed that books with woman in the title are a real trend now?! It's safe to say that the following titles are books about women who are dangerous,  interesting, gripping. And deadly. If you love books with a wide array of emotions, hop right into. Have a look at three amazing books and their reviews to make sure they're worth your reading time.  

The Other Woman - Sandie Jones 

Buy it ->

HE LOVES YOU: Adam adores Emily. Emily thinks Adam’s perfect, the man she thought she’d never meet.
BUT SHE LOVES YOU NOT: Lurking in the shadows is a rival, a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves.
AND SHE'LL STOP AT NOTHING: Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever.

Book review by Celticlady's Reading Room: 

I love a good psychological thriller that keeps you wanting more, page after page. The Other Woman definitely delivers on that score... continue reading

Book review by Obsidian Blue: 

So I am of two minds. This was a good thriller, however, I wanted to yell at the main character (Emily) for being so clueless sometimes. Love is not the answer if you think your fiancee's mother is out to get you... continue reading

The Woman in the Woods - John Connolly 

Buy it ->

It is spring, and the semi-preserved body of a young Jewish woman is discovered buried in the Maine woods. It is clear that she gave birth shortly before her death.
But there is no sign of a baby. Private detective Charlie Parker is engaged by the lawyer Moxie Castin to shadow the police investigation and find the infant, but Parker is not the only searcher. Someone else is following the trail left by the woman, someone with an interest in more than a missing child, someone prepared to leave bodies in his wake.
And in a house by the woods, a toy telephone begins to ring.
For a young boy is about to receive a call from a dead woman...

Book review by Reclusive Reads: 

This one had me considering mortality, my own and that of others, from many viewpoints. Connolly only gets better and better, the proof of this is not only in the longevity of the series, but the fact that his characters evolve naturally as time passes, growing older, but aging well... continue reading

Book review by Char's Horror Corner: 

At this, the 16th novel in the Charlie Parker series, I find myself still blown away by the quality of the writing and the depth of the story. Charlie Parker rocks!... continue reading

The Woman in the Window - A. J. Finn 

Buy it ->

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.
Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare.
What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

Book review by Thewanderingjew: 

This psychological thriller was written with a fine hand, using an exceptional choice of vocabulary to describe scenes and evoke images in superbly descriptive ways. The images will come alive in the mind of the reader because of the juxtaposition of words. No sentence is wasted and no description overdone... continue reading

Book review by My Never Ending List: 

I’m not going to rehash this novel as it seems everyone and their brother has read it. If you haven’t and you like mysteries and suspense novels, I highly suggest you pick this novel up. I found, as I read the first third of this novel, I got to know the character of Anna quite well but it wasn’t until after this point that I finally understood what the hype about this book was all about... continue reading

LOOKING FOR MORE BOOK WITH WOMAN IN THE TITLE?

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE BOOK REVIEWS

Read them if you date! Challenge accepted? 

Unnatural Creatures

Buy it ->

Unnatural Creatures is a collection of short stories about the fantastical things that exist only in our minds—collected and introduced by beloved New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman. The sixteen stories gathered by Gaiman, winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, range from the whimsical to the terrifying. The magical creatures range from werewolves to sunbirds to beings never before classified.

Review by Lora's Rants and Reviews: 

This is a collection of mostly excellent stories edited by Neil Gaiman. Naturally the quality of writing is set to a high bar and I enjoyed most of them very much... continue reading

Broken on the Inside - Phil Sloman 

Buy it ->

Phil Sloman’s BROKEN ON THE INSIDE presents a quintet of macabre mentality in: Broken on the Inside; Discomfort Food; The Man Who Fed the Foxes; There Was an Old Man; and Virtually Famous.

Review by Char's Horror Corner

These stories were all heavy hitters and combined, make up this powerful narrative as a whole. I enjoyed it as entertaining storytelling on one level, but it also caused me to think deeply about life as we know it and how we go about living that life. Every single person in this book had problems-addictions and obsessions. They were broken on the inside. This led me to thinking about the people I know and even myself. Aren't we all BROKEN ON THE INSIDE in one way or another?... continue reading

They Feed - Jason Parent 

Buy it ->

A troubled man enters a dusky park before sunset. A young woman follows, hidden in shadow. Both have returned to the park to take back something the past has stolen from them, to make right six long years of suffering, and to find justice or perhaps redemption—or maybe they'll settle for some old-fashioned revenge. But something evil is alive and awake in those woods, creatures that care nothing for human motivations. They’re driven by their own insatiable need: a ravenous, bottomless hunger. The campgrounds are full tonight, and the creatures are starving. Before the night is over, they will feed.

Review by sherrysniderfundin:

OMG. Everything, the title, cover, the woods…makes me eager to begin my ‘hike’ through the pages of They Feed by Jason Parent. I am a huge fan of Jason Parent and his ability to scare the bejesus out of me. He did not fail to do so in They Feed. I love book covers with the trees and woods on them and this cover is so eerie, I know there is some badness in them there woods... continue reading

Final Girls - Riley Sager 

Buy it ->

Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie-scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to--a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them and, with that, one another. Despite the media's attempts, they never meet.

Review by christina's book corner:

This book was crazy this is about Quincy and 10 years ago escaped being killed while all her friends died at pine cottage then one of the final girls died and another final girl shows up at her door. who is kinda fucked up and tries to get Quincy to deal with her pain of pine cottage . I loved how it had flashbacks to pine cottage going up to the killing of her friends and I will say I did not see what came coming... continue reading

Obscura - Joe Hart 

Buy it ->

In the near future, an aggressive and terrifying new form of dementia is affecting victims of all ages. The cause is unknown, and the symptoms are disturbing. Dr. Gillian Ryan is on the cutting edge of research and desperately determined to find a cure. She’s already lost her husband to the disease, and now her young daughter is slowly succumbing as well. After losing her funding, she is given the unique opportunity to expand her research. She will travel with a NASA team to a space station where the crew has been stricken with symptoms of a similar inexplicable psychosis—memory loss, trances, and violent, uncontrollable impulses. Crippled by a secret addiction and suffering from creeping paranoia, Gillian finds her journey becoming a nightmare as unexplainable and violent events plague the mission.

Review by Andreya's Asylum:

This book. This book is worth the hype. All of it. I had no clue what it was about going into it, which as someone who has read way too many reviews that give away the entire premise, I considered a win. I like Joe Hart, possibly because I may have confused one of his books with Joe Hill when I bought it, and liked it anyway. I knew that he could write with The Exorcism of Sara May. I've realized that he is on my must-read list after this.

Obscura hits all of the right notes in all of the right areas, which is a real diamond amongst books... continue reading

Survive the Night - Danielle Vega 

Buy it ->

Stephen King meets Pretty Little Liars in this pulse-pounding novel from the author of The Merciless. Just back from rehab, Casey regrets letting her friends Shana, Julie, and Aya talk her into coming to Survive the Night, an all-night, underground rave in a New York City subway tunnel. Surrounded by frightening drugs and menacing strangers, Casey doesn’t think Survive the Night could get any worse...until she comes across Julie’s mutilated body in a dank, black subway tunnel, red-eyed rats nibbling at her fingers. Casey thought she was just off with some guy—no one could hear her getting torn apart over the sound of pulsing music. And by the time they get back to the party, everyone is gone.

Review by Hooked on Books:

That was pretty intense... Great book if you like YA monster horror.

Share you scary book recommendations! 

Happy Friday the 13th!

I cannot imagine my Summer time without good mysteries and fast paced thrillers. And now I have to add spies. All because of BookLikes bloggers' trend in summer reading. It's called Summer of Spies. Hop on board, we'll give you a tip how to find a good old spy story! 

How to find summer spies books? 

1. TAGS

Use the book search as a tag search. Type in Summer or Spies or Spies and click TAGS. Voila. A library of summer of spies at your fingertips! Click the covers and +Shelf the spy books you need to read this summer. 

Recommended reading:

- Book titles are tags - finds book reviews and book posts

- How to start a book blog on BookLikes 

- 6 ways to blog about books

- 7 tips how to write a book review on BookLikes

- BookLikes How-to: Advanced Shelving Options

- BookLikes How to: book search tips

- It's time for a reading challenge!

2. READING LISTS

Go to Reading Lists sections (main menu -> apps -> reading lists) and use the search box on the right: type in spies and you'll see the lists tagged as spies or having books with spies in a title. 

If you love mysteries, make sure to check these summer spies reading lists:

2018 Summer of Spies, created by Wanda's Book Reviews

... and more

Women of Intelligence, created by Themis-Athena's Garden of Books

In tune with the 2018 BookLikes "Summer of Spies" and my "Women Writers" project, a few books on spies and spying written by women ... and a few books on woman spies written by men.

... and more

... and more

 

 

Summer of Spies, created by The Quilty Reader

 

 A somewhat narrower list of spy fic for my Memorial Day to Labor Day festival of espionage in 2018. For series books, I've just included the first book. I've also just included one book per author, although I made read additional books if I enjoy the representative selection.

 

... and more

 

Recommended reading: 

- Reading lists know-how

- 4 ways to give a shout out to a beloved title

- 5 tips to show yourself as a professional reader, author, publisher

- A-Z ways to arrange your bookshelf

 

 

Maintenance update info:

 

- BookLikes -> Goodreads synchronization - the feature is under review and will be turned on shortly 

- Twitter connection is under review and will be turned on shortly 

 

Happy reading! 

 

Hello and welcome to BookLikes blog. Today we have a real pleasure to talk to a debut author whose first novel is out in July. If you love romance books and looking for new reads to your TBR pile, keep on reading! :)

Nikki also agreed to give away an e-book copy of her debut novel. Read more and REQUEST HERE. 

Surrender to You by Nikki Mays  

E-BOOK GIVEAWAY

JULY 10 - JULY 18, 2018

 

"The day that I saw you was the day that other women stopped existing for me. You were all that I thought about and still are."

 

A quirky coffee shop owner finally lands the SWAT office who leaves her hypnotized. Unfortunately, not everyone is happy for them. Someone is willing to go to great lengths to keep them apart, including murder.

REQUEST ->

(for Kindle users only)

 

Let's get you introduced to everyone, shall we? Tell us your name. 

Hi everyone, my name is Nikki Mays.

Where are you from?

I live in a small town in New Jersey, about fifteen minutes from Princeton University.

A little about yourself (i.e.,  your education, family life, etc.).

I am a stay at home mother of three rambunctious boys, who I lovingly refer to as my little hellions. My husband and I just celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary but have been together for well over a decade. When I'm not writing or trying to keep my tiny humans alive, I love to cook and bake.

Tell us your latest publishing news.

I currently have Surrender to You out and am working on finishing up the second book in the series. I'm hoping to have it out around September but probably later.

When and why did you begin writing? 

I started writing a few years ago. I woke up one day and was just tired of only being "mommy". I needed something that was just for me and loved being able to hop into a different life when I needed a break. Or when I started to consider selling my kids on Etsy after a long day of tantrums.

When did you first consider yourself a writer? 

I've actually always loved to write. Even in school when everyone would groan over an essay assignment, I would smile to myself. It always came a lot easier than having actual conversations with people. You can change things on paper to make anything sound amazing...not so much in real life.

READ MORE & REQUEST ->

 (for Kindle users only)

What inspired you to write your first book?

It was a quote by Toni Morrison actually. The quote is:

"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."

It just seemed like really good advice.

How did you come up with the title for your latest novel?

Michelle from Kingston Publishing Company helped me come up with it. We brainstormed and liked Surrender to You the best.

Do you have a specific writing style? Is there anything about your style or genre that you find particularly challenging?

I'm not sure that I have a specific writing style. I do like to make my female leads quirky. I also want them to have their own mind. No one likes a doormat. The thing that I find somewhat challenging is writing love scenes. I keep questioning whether I should add more or less. In the back of my mind I'm always like: "Crap. What if mom and dad  read this and start thinking that Billy (my husband) I have some weird sex life."

How much of the book is realistic and are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

I think that the relationships in the book are very realistic. I feel like these would be people that I would really want in my life. I am also addicted to coffee and would actually love to own my own bakery/coffee shop.

Of all your characters, which one is your favorite? Why? 

Mellie is definitely my favorite character. She is so awkward at times that she would make me cringe. But then she also has this kick butt side of her, that I feel males her a great female lead. I think that a lot of women can relate to her very well. Her relationship and banter with her brother makes my day when I write them together in a scene.

What is your favorite book of all time? 

That's really tough! There are so many amazing books in this world. But if I had to pick one that I have read several times, I would have to say, The Wall of Winnipeg and Me By Mariana Zapata. I adore all of her books but Aiden Graves will probably always be my favorite book boyfriend.

To craft your works, do you have to travel? Before or during the process? 

Not really. With three small boys it's hard to even get to the store. But my husband will try to give me one day a week to sneak out to a café for a few hours. Those tend to be the most productive.

Who designed the covers?

Crystal Green at Kingston Publishing.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Just that an awkward introvert can get the hunk. I'm kidding...a little. I like to try to make the relationships as real as possible. I know some women want the fantasy but I'm a realist. Even if you get the man of your dreams, it's not always going to be smooth sailing. Some days you might adore them, while others you're wondering how difficult it is to dig a hole. I also like having a woman who knows her worth. A girl who can talk smack while hanging with the guys.

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?  Who is your favorite writer, and what is it about their work that really strikes you?

As I said, I love Mariana Zapata. I love her build up and how it's not insta-love. My second favorite would be Bijou Hunter. I crack up reading her books! Junkyard Dog had me laughing so much my husband kept giving me weird looks.

Outside of family members, name one entity that supported your commitment to become a published author.

Author MA Foster has been supportive of me from the beginning. She was one of the first writer friends that I have made. I appreciate her support so much!

Would you please recommend three titles for a holiday break? 

I would say the Billionaire Boys Club by Jessica Clare. There's more then three books in the series, but they are perfect! Especially this time of year when you want to be at the beach on a fabulous island but can't. You get to pretend you're Bronte on a tropical island with a handsome stranger. I think that this series is the perfect getaway.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nikki Mays is a wife and mother, who lives in a small town in New Jersey. She has been with her husband for close to a decade. She began writing as a creative outlet after becoming a stay at home mom. She decided that she needed something exclusively for herself, not just being mommy. She has two crazy boxers who are way too loving towards the children that use them as horses. She is addicted to coffee and chocolate. She considers coffee, chocolate and naps to be a perfect trifecta. Besides writing and spending time with her little hellions, she enjoys cooking/baking. She has recently taken up gardening and made her loving husband plant her a mini fruit tree orchard.

Social Media Links:

https://www.facebook.com/nikkimays/

https://www.instagram.com/nikkimaysauthor/

https://www.goodreads.com/nikkimays

https://www.facebook.com/NikkiMaysRomance/

http://booklikes.com/nikki-mays/author,5061361

 

It's summer time! If you plan an intriguing trip, a long flight, a dangerous adventure, an escape to a silent and quiet place, like a desert island here's your survival kit. BOOKS. 

For the last year we've been interviewing BookLikes book bloggers and gathering reading recommendations. Have a look at 35 reads picked by an amazing group of readers and reviewers, and stay tuned, more is coming!

You can also read the interviews with the readers - interview links are attached between the book recommendations. All 46 interviews can be viewed here:

Follow Friday with book bloggers: interviews with book lovers

 

35 BOOKS FOR A DESERT ISLAND

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling  

Burdened with the dark, dangerous, and seemingly impossible task of locating and destroying Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes, Harry, feeling alone and uncertain about his future, struggles to find the inner strength he needs to follow the path set out before him.

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie  

Ten strangers, apparently with little in common, are lured to an island mansion off the coast of Devon by the mysterious U.N.Owen. Over dinner, a record begins to play, and the voice of an unseen host accuses each person of hiding a guilty secret. That evening, former reckless driver Tony Marston is found murdered by a deadly dose of cyanide.

The tension escalates as the survivors realise the killer is not only among them but is preparing to strike again… and again…

Lessons From a Scarlet Lady - Emma Wildes  

The Duke of Rolthven's new wife, Brianna, is the perfect aristocratic bride. So what would society say if they saw her with a copy of Lady Rothburg's Advice--a courtesan's lessons for the boudoir? When his innocent wife suddenly becomes a vixen in the bedroom, the proper Duke is truly astounded by her seductive powers. Following a courtesan's advice might lead to trouble-but will it lead to Brianna's ultimate desire: winning her husband's love?

Read a full interview: #1 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Jennifer's Books

Dreaming of You - Lisa Kleypas  

She stood at danger′s threshold-- then love beckoned her in. In the shelter of her country cottage, Sara Feilding puts pen to paper to create dreams. But curiosity has enticed the prim, well-bred gentlewoman out of her safe haven--and into Derek Craven′s dangerous world. A handsome, tough and tenacious Cockney, he rose from, poverty to become lord of London′s most exclusive gambling house--a struggle that has left Derek Craven fabulously wealthy, but hardened and suspicious. And now duty demands he allow Sara Fielding into his world...

Branded - Scottie Barrett  

Slade Dalton's partner has just dispatched their latest quarry, a member of the notorious Purdy clan. Slade's certain there will be retribution and he's certain that he's damn tired of the bounty hunting business. Returning to the family's cattle spread in the Colorado Territory, he's relieved to find his brother Grady has not claimed ownership of the ranch in his absence. But there is a troubling, new addition to the Lazy Heart Ranch, an irresistible, raven-haired English beauty.

Beau Crusoe - Carla Kelly  

Stranded alone on a desert island, he had lived to tell the tale. A triumphant return to the ton saw James Trevenen hailed as Beau Crusoe—a gentleman of spirit, verve and action. But only he knew the true cost of his survival! Scandalous! Susannah Park had been shunned by Society. She lived content with her calm existence—until Beau Crusoe determinedly cut up her peace! The beautiful widow wanted to help him heal the wounds of the past—but what secrets was this glorious man hiding?

Read a full interview: #2 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Punya Reviews…

The Count of Monte Christo - Alexandre Dumas  

Young, honest and loyal, Edmund Dantes, about to be promoted as captain of his ship, is accused of treason, and condemned to imprisonment in the isolated Chateau d'If. He endures years of suffering before making a dramatic escape. Newly liberated, he discovers the identities of his accusers, and intent on revenge he assumes a new identity for himself.

The Anubis Gates (Ace Science Fiction) - Tim Powers  

Brendan Doyle, a specialist in the work of the early-nineteenth century poet William Ashbless, reluctantly accepts an invitation from a millionaire to act as a guide to time-travelling tourists. But while attending a lecture given by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1810, he becomes marooned in Regency London, where dark and dangerous forces know about the gates in time.

Quick Service - P.G. Wodehouse  

When rich and imperious American widow Beatrice Chavender eats a forkful of inferior ham at her sister's country house near London, it affects the lives of everyone around her - her sister, her brother-in-law, her sister's butler, her sister's poor relation Sally, Sally's fiance Lord Holberton, and, most of all, Mrs Chavender's own one-time fiance, 'Ham King' J. B. Duff, whose rotten product spoils her breakfast.

Read a full interview: #3 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Tigus 

Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto

Kitchen is an enchantingly original book that juxtaposes two tales about mothers, love, tragedy, and the power of the kitchen and home in the lives of a pair of free-spirited young women in contemporary Japan. Mikage, the heroine, is an orphan raised by her grandmother, who has passed away. Grieving, Mikage is taken in by her friend Yoichi and his mother (who is really his cross-dressing father) Eriko. 

Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone - J.K. Rowling  

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

Read a full interview: #4 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Nicole Reads

 

Spectred Isle - KJ Charles  

Archaeologist Saul Lazenby has been all but unemployable since his disgrace during the War. Now he scrapes a living working for a rich eccentric who believes in magic. Saul knows it’s a lot of nonsense...except that he begins to find himself in increasingly strange and frightening situations. And at every turn he runs into the sardonic, mysterious Randolph Glyde.

The Princess Bride - William Goldman  

Beautiful, flaxen-haired Buttercup has fallen for Westley, the farm boy, and when he departs to make his fortune, she vows never to love another. So when she hears that his ship has been captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts - who never leaves survivors - her heart is broken. But her charms draw the attention of the relentless Prince Humperdinck who wants a wife and will go to any lengths to have Buttercup. So starts a fairytale like no other, of fencing, fighting, torture, poison, true love, hate, revenge, giants, hunters, bad men, good men, beautifulest ladies, snakes, spiders, beasts, chases, escapes, lies, truths, passion and miracles.

Are You Dave Gorman? - Dave Gorman,Danny Wallace  

After a heavy night of tequila, flatmates Dave and Danny set off on what turns out to be a 24,000-mile journey to meet all the other Dave Gormans in the world. They visit Scotland, Israel, America, France and Ireland. They even hold a party in London where 50 Dave Gormans attend, including two women who have kindly changed their name via deed-poll. Silly, but engrossing, fascinating and addictive - and a touching, funny story of two friends who grow to share a mutual obsession.

Read a full interview: #5 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Silence in the library

Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews  

The world has suffered a magic apocalypse. We pushed the technological progress too far, and now magic returned with a vengeance. It comes in waves, without warning, and vanishes as suddenly as it appears. When magic is up, planes drop out of the sky, cars stall, electricity dies. When magic is down, guns work and spells fail.

Read a full interview: #6 Follow Friday with book bloggers: That's What I'm Talking About ->

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle  

Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate the case. This was the first appearance of Holmes since his intended death in "The Final Problem", and the success of The Hound of the Baskervilles led to the character's eventual revival. In 2003, the book was listed as number 128 of 200 on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's "best-loved novel." In 1999, it was listed as the top Holmes novel, with a perfect rating from Sherlockian scholars of 100.

Arcadia Falls - Carol Goodman  

Financial straits and a desire for a fresh start take recently widowed Meg Rosenthal and her aloof teenage daughter, Sally, to Arcadia Falls, a tucked-away hamlet in upstate New York where Meg has accepted a teaching position at a boarding school. The creaky, neglected cottage they’ll be calling home feels like an ill omen, but Meg is determined to make the best of it. Then a shocking crisis strikes: During Arcadia’s First Night bonfire, one of Meg’s folklore students plunges to her death in a campus gorge. Sheriff Callum Reade finds the presumed accident suspicious, but then, he is a man with a dark past himself. 

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Mr and Mrs Bennet live with their five daughters at Longbourn in Hertfordshire. Jane, the eldest, falls in love with Charles Bingley, a rich bachelor who takes a house nearby with his two sisters and friend Fitzwilliam Darcy. Darcy is attracted to the second daughter, Elizabeth.

Read a full interview: #7 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Sailing in a Sea of Words ->

 

Exes and Goals: A Slapshot Novel - Heather C. Myers  

Harper Crawford is a big fan of the Newport Beach Seagulls, despite their abysmal previous season. It's been a year since Ken Brown's murder and Seraphina Hanson, Ken's youngest granddaughter, just survived her first year as the new owner and manager of the national hockey team. Barely. The last year was dismal to the point where Seraphina is making drastic changes. Like hiring Harper as their official blogger. Harper gets to travel with the team, write character pieces, critiques, game summaries, and the like. It's her dream job.

Rules Of Prey - John Sandford  

The "maddog" murderer who is terrorizing the Twin Cities is two things: insane and extremely intelligent. He kills for the pleasure of it and thoroughly enjoys placing elaborate obstacles to keep police befuddled. Each clever move he makes is another point of pride. But when the brilliant Lieutenant Lucas Davenport--a dedicated cop and a serial killer's worst nightmare--is brought in to take up the investigation, the maddog suddenly has an adversary worthy of his genius.

Dark Lover - J.R. Ward  

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Yet none of them relishes killing more than Wrath, the leader of The Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Read a full interview: #8 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Momma Says to Read

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley

At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.

Arabella - Georgette Heyer

To Arabella Tallant, the eldest daughter of a penniless country clergyman, the invitation to stay with her London godmother was like the key to heaven, for in addition to living in the glamorous city, Arabella might even find a suitable husband there. Armed with beauty, virtue and a benevolent godmother, the impetuous but impoverished Arabella embarked on her first London season with her mother's wish in mind: snare a rich husband. 

Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson  

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting, and bloody confrontations. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

Read a full interview: #9 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Midu Reads [Nominated]

 

Immortal in Death - J.D. Robb  

When Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas investigates the murder of a top model, she is putting her career on the line, because the prime suspect is her best friend. Eve's investigations lead her into the glamorous world of high fashion.

Read a full interview: #10 Follow Friday with book bloggers: The Book Gourmet

The Terror - Dan Simmons  

The bestselling author of Ilium and Olympos transforms the true story of a legendary Arctic expedition into a thriller worthy of Stephen King or Patrick O'Brian. Their captain's insane vision of a Northwest Passage has kept the crewmen of The Terror trapped in Arctic ice for two years without a thaw. But the real threat to their survival isn't the ever-shifting landscape of white, the provisions that have turned to poison before they open them, or the ship slowly buckling in the grip of the frozen ocean. 

Read a full interview: #11 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Book Cupidity [Nominated]

Sleeping Beauties - Stephen King, Owen King  

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, and the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place. 

Darkhouse - Karina Halle  

There’s always been something a bit off about Perry Palomino. Though she’s been dealing with a quarter-life crisis and post-college syndrome like any other twenty-something, she’s still not what you would call “ordinary.” For one thing, there’s her past which she likes to pretend never happened, and then there’s the fact that she sees ghosts. 

Read a full interview: #12 Follow Friday with book bloggers: 99 problems, and a book ain't one 

 

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders - Soji Shimada

Astrologer, fortuneteller, and self-styled detective Kiyoshi Mitarai must in one week solve a macabre murder mystery that has baffled Japan for 40 years. Who murdered the artist Umezawa, raped and killed his daughter, and then chopped up the bodies of six others to create Azoth, the supreme woman? With maps, charts, and other illustrations, this story of magic and illusion, pieced together like a great stage tragedy, challenges the reader to unravel the mystery before the final curtain.

The Changeling - Victor LaValle

When Apollo Kagwa was just a child, his father disappeared, leaving him with recurring nightmares and a box labelled 'Improbabilia'. Now a successful book dealer, Kagwa has a family of his own after meeting and falling in love with Emma, a librarian. The two marry and have a baby: so far so happy-ever-after. However, as the pair settle into their new lives as parents, exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll. Emma's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, until one day she commits an unthinkable act, setting Apollo on a wild and fantastical quest through a suddenly otherworldly New York, in search of a wife and child he no longer recognises. 

Read a full interview: #13 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Obsidian Blue

 

The Valancourt Book of Horror Stories

Spanning two hundred years of horror, this new collection features seventeen macabre gems, including two original tales and many others that have never or seldom been reprinted. 

Blackwater - Michael McDowell, Matt Godfrey  

Blackwater is the saga of a small town, Perdido, Alabama, and Elinor Dammert, the stranger who arrives there under mysterious circumstances on Easter Sunday, 1919. On the surface, Elinor is gracious, charming, anxious to belong in Perdido, and eager to marry Oscar Caskey, the eldest son of Perdido’s first family. But her beautiful exterior hides a shocking secret. Beneath the waters of the Perdido River, she turns into something terrifying, a creature whispered about in stories that have chilled the residents of Perdido for generations. Some of those who observe her rituals in the river will never be seen again ...

Read a full interview: #14 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Char's Horror Corner [Nominated]

 

The Best We Could Do - Thi Bui

This beautifully illustrated and emotional story is an evocative memoir about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman  

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office.

Read a full interview: #15 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Bookish thoughts!!! ->

See you next Friday! 

It's Summer time and this means so much more time to read, right?! Don't miss BookLikes July giveaways, here's a bunch of books ready to be requested, read and reviewed!

To sign up, please click Read more & request under the BOOK cover. 

Not a BookLikes member yet? No problem. Sign up to BookLikes.com, fill up your bookshelf with 11 titles and publish a Hello post -- these actions will unlock Giveaway for you. 

If you're still not sure how to request the giveaways, please have a look at our tips and step by step instructions: How to enter giveaways on BookLikes and Giveaways: win free books and give your titles away

Happy reading and winning! 

JULY BOOKLIKES GIVEAWAYS

READ MORE & REQUEST

copies: 1

countries available: USA

categories: Thriller, Fantasy, Legal thriller

In a future America still recognizable as our own, the outbreak of a vampire virus becomes front-page news. An infected trial lawyer named Morgan Lorenz sues the corporation that tried to conceal the existence of the virus, claiming medical negligence on a massive scale.
Facing potential bankruptcy, the Benjamin Rush Health Initiative files a unique motion. They say Lorenz cannot sue, because he's no longer human. For him, and all vampires like him, the Constitution simply doesn't apply... READ MORE & REQUEST

Happy 4th of July, folks! In honor of the US Independence Day we're sharing quotes from literature about freedom, liberty and independence referring to all life fields.

Remember, be free, be happy.

Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela 

Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country... 

1984 - George Orwell

Written in 1948, 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, Orwell’s narrative is timelier than ever. 1984 presents a startling and haunting vision of the world, so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the power of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions—a legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time...

Delirium - Lauren Oliver   

They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever. And I’ve always believed them. Until now. Now everything has changed. Now, I’d rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie. 

Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History - Rhonda Garelick

Certain lives are at once so exceptional, and yet so in step with their historical moments, that they illuminate cultural forces far beyond the scope of a single person. Such is the case with Coco Chanel, whose life offers one of the most fascinating tales of the twentieth century—throwing into dramatic relief an era of war, fashion, ardent nationalism, and earth-shaking change—here brilliantly treated, for the first time, with wide-ranging and incisive historical scrutiny...  

 A Room of One's Own - Virginia Woolf   

"A Room of One's Own", based on a lecture given at Girton College, Cambridge, is one of the great feminist polemics, ranging in its themes from Jane Austen and Carlotte Bronte to the silent fate of Shakespeare's gifted (imaginary) sister and the effects of poverty and sexual constraint on female creativity.

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë

A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre dazzles and shocks readers with its passionate depiction of a woman’s search for equality and freedom. Orphaned Jane Eyre grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, where she endures loneliness and cruelty, and at a charity school with a harsh regime. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane’s natural independence and spirit—which proves necessary when she takes a position as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice...   

Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison 

Invisible Man is a milestone in American literature, a book that has continued to engage readers since its appearance in 1952.  A first novel by an unknown writer, it remained on the bestseller list for sixteen weeks, won the National Book Award for fiction, and established Ralph Ellison as one of the key writers of the century.  The nameless narrator of the novel describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of "the Brotherhood", and retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be.

Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison   

Milkman Dead was born shortly after a neighborhood eccentric hurled himself off a rooftop in a vain attempt at flight. For the rest of his life he, too, will be trying to fly. With this brilliantly imagined novel, Toni Morrison transfigures the coming-of-age story as audaciously as Saul Bellow or Gabriel García Márquez.

Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson   

Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing...

Giovanni's Room - James Baldwin 

Set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. With a sharp, probing imagination, James Baldwin's now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of loving and creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.

Happy Independence Day!

Source and more desserts for 4th of July ->

Hello Friday! Hello Follow Friday with book bloggers! Meet Alicea, an avid reader and blogger who lover the non-fiction literature.

Follow Reading For The Heck Of It blog: readingfortheheckofit.booklikes.com

What are you reading right now? How do you like it?

I’m currently reading Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison   and while I’m enjoying it it’s quite a heavy read and I don’t always want to pick it back up. :-/ It’s actually one of the 100 titles from the Great American Read list (I’m using it for inspiration to read books I might not necessarily pick up on my own.). 

When have you discovered you’re a book lover?

I think it was pretty clear by the time I was in middle school that I was a big book lover. I would always carry books around with me and when everyone else was watching TV I’d have a book ready to read during the commercial breaks. Also, I was the only kid in my high school that continued the Accelerated Reader quizzes just because I enjoyed taking the tests. That’s when you know you’re a book nerd!

readingfortheheckofit.booklikes.com

Why reading is important to you?

I love learning about new things so nonfiction books are especially interesting to me. And I don’t think I’m unique in saying that reading is a great escape from reality so if you need to de-stress what better way than picking up a book and losing yourself in a character’s life?

Which books are you most excited recommending to your followers?

This answer changes quite frequently but right now there are 2 that immediately come to mind. The first is The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford  which is all about the death industry in the United States. Funeral industry practices as well as the stigma surrounding death in our culture are extensively discussed. It totally blew me away. 

The second book I’m excited to review and recommend is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows & Mary Ann Shaffer. Told entirely through correspondence the protagonist of the story, a female writer, is immediately drawn into the story of a small town ravaged by the effects of WWII and the book club that came into being as a result. Utterly captivating, heart-wrenching, and hilarious this is a book that I think anyone would love. 

I actually just thought of another one right before I finished these questions. This one came across my desk to be shelved and I couldn’t stop myself from taking it home to read. I am SO glad that I did. The book is called The Read-Aloud Handbook: Seventh Edition by Jim Trelease and it’s the perfect resource for anyone with kids, around kids, or working with kids. It talks about best practices and procedures for nurturing lifelong learners plus includes an extensive treasury of books at the back. 

You’re a Librarian this means you have unlimited access to all kind of books! WOW  Is that intimidating or encouraging to pick different titles?

It’s completely overwhelming! Hahaha Because I have access to so many titles I often bite off more than I can chew. If I sent you a picture of my desk right now you’d be absolutely horrified. I have 5 piles of books and a postage stamp sized space for my laptop. At the same time, if I’m ever in a book rut I can just go to the shelves and pick a random book to read which more often than not draws me right back into gobbling up a zillion books at once. My co-workers are always laughing at me because 4 out of 5 days in the week I have titles on request coming in for me to pick up.

Do you read one book or several at a time?

I generally stick to one book at a time because with the amount of books I have to look through at work and as a book blogger I get a bit scatterbrained. As it is, I keep a notebook handy to make notes about what I’ve read so that when I get set to review the book I actually remember details even if it’s weeks later. (I’m always backlogged.) The exception is when I read a book at work and then take another one to read during my commute (usually a graphic novel or audiobook since they’re faster).

Do you review all books you read? How does your review process look like?

The only ones I don’t review are the picture books that I read for storytime here at work and that’s because it would take me FOREVER to review all of those. Otherwise, yes, I review every single one that I read. I generally jot down page numbers as I’m reading so that I can reference back when I’m taking down notes later. Because I don’t review the books immediately after reading them I tend to take rather detailed notes so that I can reference back and get a well-rounded picture of what I thought of the book like its tone, characters, etc. I try to post every Mon/Tues & Fri to keep a consistent schedule. It can be hectic with my full-time job and the long commute that I have (2 hrs each way) but I’m passionate about it so I try my best to stick with it.

A library or a bookstore?

This is an impossible question! I love them both for very different reasons. Libraries to me are magical places and I have very fond memories of visiting my town’s public library as a child. Bookstores like the Strand in NYC are equally amazing because they not only have new titles but used books which might be out of print. (I tend to favor used books over new ones these days.) I love out of the way bookstores especially if they have a lot of ratty books lining every conceivable space. There’s a bookstore in Carnforth, UK which is absolutely BANANAS. Here’s their website because you’ll definitely want to go if you’re into unique bookstore experiences: http://www.carnforthbooks.co.uk/

Your favorite genre is nonfiction (especially science). Why non-fiction books are so special?

If you had asked me 5 years ago what my favorite genre of book was without hesitation I would have said sci-fi. I have a fascination with the future of science and how it could be used to either further our species or utterly destroy it. It was only natural that my interests in that topic navigate to the real deal of nonfiction science. I’m especially intrigued by Artificial Intelligence (I’m terrified of it) and Environmental Sciences (SO fascinating that I’ve thought about getting a Master’s in the field).

What are your three favorite book covers?

I don’t know if these are my favorites of all time but I really, really like them right now so…

 I preferred the UK cover to such a degree that I bought it from a UK distributor. So simple but so perfect…not sure why I love it so much but I really do.

 I liked this cover so much that I went to the illustrator’s website to see if it was available as a print. (In case you’re wondering here’s the site: http://peahart.tumblr.com/post/158472539301/hey-guys-i-had-the-opportunity-to-paint-the

I saw this book cover and chose it almost entirely because I thought it was beautiful. This was right around the time I was getting into Cosmology and Astrophysics so it checked those boxes as well.

A paper book or an e-book?

Paper although if an e-book is the only available option I’ll suck it up.

Three titles for a holiday break?

My first choice is a book that I read over a Thanksgiving break and so I’ll forever remember the experience as being associated with a trip to Disney. It’s Russell Brand’s second nonfiction book, Revolution, and much like his first book the writing is excellent and the points he makes are solid and thought provoking. Highly recommend. 

The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil by Stephen Collins is a graphic novel with a really powerful message. It’s meatier than the majority of graphic novels that I’ve read and I was so impressed by it that after I checked it back in at the library I bought myself a copy. The illustrations are DELIGHTFUL. 

My final choice might be a tad unconventional but for those wanting to know more about philosophy or who want a book they can really sink their teeth into on long-haul journeys Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder an excellent choice. It’s a middle grade novel that follows a girl who receives philosophical lessons from an anonymous source in her mailbox. This book is one of the reasons I fell in love with Swedish authors. 

Favorite quote?

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Dune by Frank Herbert

If you could pair a book with a drink, what would you prepare to sip while reading?

I don’t generally drink while I’m reading but when I do it’s usually a hot beverage like tea or coffee.

Shelfie time! Please share your home library photos :)

I’m including all but one of my shelves because it’s an absolute mess and I couldn’t be bothered to clean it. Hahaha

#1 is less of a shelf and more of a semi-organized pile that sits in my living room.

#2 is a shelf that runs along one side of my bedroom and holds a lot of hardcovers and books sent to me by publishers and authors for review.

#3 contains my Harry Potter collection, Doctor Who/Torchwood books, and some oversized hardcovers. The messy piles on top of the shelves are mostly review copies sent to me by publishers (which is why there are so many hardcovers).

#4 and my final contribution contains my C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen, & Charles Dickens books. Also, my little Pop figurines from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Sherlock, Fantastic Beasts, and Doctor Who.

Thanks again for including me in the bloggers that you interview. I really enjoyed the experience! :)

Thank you!

*

Have you missed previous Follow Friday talks? Use ffwithbookbloggers tag or click the catch up links below: