Feature and Follow Friday (#22)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Join in! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Kinx's Book Nook and Shelf Addiction. Here's this week's question:

Q: When you step out of your USUAL genre, what do you like to read? Best books in that genre?

When it comes to my usual genre, I definitely read YA Fantasy, Science Fiction, and dystopian books the most. I think my blog would agree with that.

Should I step out of my normal boundaries (beyond just stepping into the adult side), I tend to pick up historical fiction. Not romance novels with some kilts and old-timey language. Seriously epic historical fiction. My favorite is probably Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It is total 12th century drama with about 20 principal characters spanning decades and crammed into about 1,000 pages. It's not for the faint of heart! I still have yet to read his companion book, World Without End, mostly because I don't have the attention to devote to it. I'd have to actually do it justice!

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Feature and Follow Friday (#21)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Join in! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Reese's Reviews and Book Fever. Here's this week's question:

Q: What book do you think would make a great Halloween movie? Please explain in graphic detail of goriness…

I really don't read too many horror books. Maybe I should read more? There are only two books that stand out from my shelf. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake and The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa. One is a seriously creepy book with plenty of gorey ghosts and mystery. The other is a book with evil vampires and a nasty case of a zombie vampire disease.

If you are a new follower, please leave a comment so that I may follow you back!

Feature and Follow Friday (#20)

 Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Join in! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Angela's Anxious Life and Book Liaison. Here's this week's question:

Q: What do you hope to accomplish with your blog? Is it to one day become an author yourself, just for fun, maybe get some online attention, or maybe something very different?

A: When I started this blog earlier this year, I was in between jobs and just out of school. I missed having the responsibility of studying and I wanted to add structure to my life. I've always wanted to start a blog and I started a book blog for myself. At the end of the day, I want an outlet of fun and something productive for me to do! I don't take it too seriously, but it's always an honest reflection of myself.

What do you do with your blog? Leave me a link to your post in the comments!

If you are a new follower, please leave a comment so that I may follow you back!

Feature and Follow Friday (#19)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Join in! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are J'adore Happy Endings and (un)Conventional Bookviews. Here's this week's question:

Q: What is the BIGGEST word you’ve seen used in a book lately – that made you stop and look it up? Might as well leave the definition & book too.

A: To be honest, I don't find many words I don't know. It's probably a combination of my reading mostly YA books and my having a large vocabulary anyway. They say lots of reading can do that to you! Plus, I'm too lazy to look a word up. I just figure it out from its context. The last complicated book I read was Game of Thrones. I admit to having to look up who characters and places were because I had forgotten! Sorry if you think this answer is a cop-out. (Ha).

If you are a new follower, please leave a comment so that I can follow you back!

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Feature and Follow Friday (#18)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Join in! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Book Me! and Awesomesauce Book Club. Here's this week's question:

Q: Worst cover? What is the worst cover of a book that you’ve read and loved?

A: I wouldn't say it was bad, but I'm not the biggest fan of the cover for The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa and it was one of my favorite books ever! It's a bit boring. At least it's bleak like the world, so I understand that. I just wish the model on the cover was actually Asian! Would it be so bad for Allie Sekemoto to be Asian on the cover?

On a side note, do you think that's a problem in general for book cover images? Should they fairly represent the multi-ethnicity of characters? Or is there a lack of ethnic diversity in Young Adult characters in general?


If you are a new follower, leave a comment below! I would love to follow you back!

Feature and Follow Friday (#17)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Join in! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Compelled by Words and The Bookshelf Review. Here's this week's question:

Q: What would you do over if you were to start your blog again from scratch?

A: Honestly, I wouldn't start my blog over. I started it in March (just 5 months ago) and I really hit the ground running, I think. While I'm always looking for ways to improve Paperback Fantasies and making changes, there isn't anything I feel I left out or did wrong.

If you're a new follower, leave me a comment so I can follow you back!

Feature and Follow Friday (#16)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Join in! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Read It, Read It, Loved It and Reading Between Classes. Here's this week's question:

Q: Do your reading habits change based on your mood? Do you read a certain genre if you are feeling depressed or happy?

A: I haven't branched out in genre in awhile. Occasionally I delve into historical fiction or just plain non-fiction history books, but not because of my mood. I do sometimes make the decision to read books I know are going to be happier and avoid heavier ones because I need a pick-me-up. For the main part, though, my mood dictates how I read a book. Sometimes I give up on a book for a couple of weeks and start another one- not because of the book itself but because of my life! Everyone gets moody now and then and life around us is affected. Yup.

If you are a new follower, leave a comment so that I can follow you back!

Feature and Follow Friday (#15)

 
Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. It's really cool! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Concise Book Reviews and Alisa from mzalisakay.blogspot.com. Here's this week's question:

Q: Summer Reading. What was your favorite book that you were REQUIRED to read when you were in school?

A: In eighth grade we read The Giver by Lois Lowry. I seriously think this book changed my life! Or, at least my reading preferences. Harry Potter had already won me my fantasy obsession by then, and The Giver introduced me to a lot of utopian, dystopian, and eventually science fiction books.

If you're a new follower, leave a comment so I can follow you back!

Feature and Follow Friday (#14)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. It's really cool! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are A Glass of Wine and Booktastic Reviews. Here's this week's question: 

Q: Christmas in July! Someone gives you a gift card for two books (whatever that costs). What two books will you buy?

A: *goes to look at wishlist* I've really been meaning to pick up a copy of Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder. I haven't read this start to her newest series! Also, I'd probably buy Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini. The UK cover never appealed to me, but I've still been eyeing it a lot! 

If you are a new follower, leave me a comment so that I may follow you back!

Feature and Follow Friday (#13)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. It's really cool! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are A GREAT Read and Vivaciously, Vivian. Here's this week's question: 

Q: What drove you to start book blogging in the first place?

 

A: I've been blogging since March 2012, so it's a fairly new life addition for me! During that month and the February before it, I was in between jobs mainly because I had to get my visa sorted so I could continue to stay in the UK. I was extremely bored and wanted some sort of purpose for my day. I knew I enjoyed reading, so I thought it would be nice to have a place to post reviews. Not an original idea, but it was something. I had no idea there was an enormous community and the opportunity to connect with authors about their books and publishers for review copies. No idea! Every day I still discover something new, being a newbie to the blogosphere and I hope that never goes away.

Leave me a comment if you're a new follower! I'd love to follow you back!

Feature and Follow Friday (#12)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. It's really cool! Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance and The Paperback Princesses. Here's this week's question:

Q: Jumping Genres: Ever pick up a book from a genre you usually don’t like and LOVE it? Tell us about it and why you picked it up in the first place.

A: I'm really picky and I usually stick to the same genres like fantasy and science fiction, but occasionally I have been known to stray. One of my favorite books from another genre was Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It's a historical fiction novel that's about a billion pages long and rather epic if I do say so. I was interested in it because of its medieval time period. For someone who has studied medieval history and archaeology (enough to have a couple degrees), I usually (and oddly) steer clear of historical fiction, but somehow gave this one a try and loved it. I have yet to read its companion book, World Without End, which is collecting dust on my shelves. Sad day. They're just so long. 

Leave me a comment if you are a new follower! I want to follow you back!

Feature and Follow Friday (#11)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. So cool. Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Novel Sounds and Friday Dreamer!

Q: Birthday Wishes -- Blow out the candles and imagine what character could pop out of your cake...who is it and what book are they from?

A: I thought about this. I suspect a lot of answers will be about book boyfriends. Well, I've already got my man, you see, and the next important thing is the cake itself. So, I have to say Hagrid from the Harry Potter series. That cake would be HUGE. Who wouldn't want to see a cake that size?! And more importantly, who wouldn't want to eat a cake that size? I'm serious! 

Feature and Follow Friday (#10)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Books and Blossoms and Head Stuck in a Book!

*If you are a new follower, please comment below so that I may follow back!*

Q: If you could "unread" a book, which one would it be? Is it because you want to start over and experience it again for the first time? Or because it was THAT bad?

A: I'm trying my hardest to not say that I'd want to experience reading the Harry Potter series again. I'd like to branch out on these Follow Friday questions! So, without further ado, I'd like to unread the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix and experience that awesome fantasy story again. I can't believe there are people out there who have never heard of it! 

What would you unread?

Feature and Follow Friday (#9)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Patch of Sky and Candace's Book Blog!

* If you are a new follower, please comment below so that I may follow back! *

Q: Happy Father’s Day! Who is your favorite dad character in a book and why?

A: If I had to pick one from all time, it would have to be Arthur Weasley (from the Harry Potter series). Not only is he the father-figure in the quasi-adoptive family Harry gets to have, but he's hilarious to boot! His charming ignorance of 'muggles' is so endearing and funny.

Which dad character would you pick?

Feature and Follow Friday (#8)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Books of Love and Sinnful Books!

* If you are a new follower, please comment below so that I may follow back! *

Q: You are a matchmaker -- your goal, hook up two characters from two of your favorite books. Who would it be? How do you think it would go?

A: June Iparis from Legend and Jace Wayland from the Mortal Instruments seem like they could be an interesting match. With June as the brain and Jace as the muscle, they could take down all sorts of dystopian societies and demons! I think it could work. I hate to split up established couples who were written for each other. Platonic pairing: Magnus Bane and Adrian Iskhakov would be a hilarious duo to go out for drinks with! Adrian would have hilarious reactions to Magnus' antics.

Feature and Follow Friday (#7)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Charissa Books and Underworld Love Addiction!

Q: Activity! Dreamcast your current read. 

A: The first thing I thought while reading this Friday's question was 'oh great, I'm finishing Insurgent tonight'. I get the daunting task of casting Insurgent by Veronica Roth. I'm obviously no casting director, so don't go beating down my door and yes, you probably have better ideas for the cast. But here's my try:

Saoirse Ronan as Tris

She's quite an in demand actress but I think she's feisty enough and she's not typically pretty in the blonde-Hollywood way. 

Ben Barnes as Four 

I have no idea about his acting abilities, but I'd say his look was pretty spot-on to me. Ignore the old pic. I just wanted one with short hair.

Rachael Harris as Jeanine

Yeah I don't know about his one, but she plays a pretty mean beeyotch when she wants to.

I would love to do the whole cast, but I just don't have the skills! Who would you pick?

If you are a new follower, please comment so that I can follow you back!

Feature and Follow Friday (#6)

 Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and AlisonCanRead. It's set up so bloggers to discover new blogs and gain new followers. Every week two different blogs are featured. This week's featured blogs are Tribute Books Mama and Addicted to Heroines!

If you are a new follower, please leave a comment on this post so I can follow you back!

Q: Summer Break is upon us! What would be the perfect vacation spot for you to catch up on your reading & relax?

A: Well, since it doesn't feel like summer is on its way whatsoever in England, I would have to go some place warmer. I would love to be able to go back home to California and read on the beach where I've spent many summers vacations. Here's a picture for your viewing pleasure and to make my homesickness worse!

Where would you go?