The rules are as follows:

Say thank you to the person who has nominated you for the award.
– Answer the 11 questions the person has asked you.
– Nominate 11 people (comment on their blog to let them know).
– Ask the people you have nominated 11 questions

Thank you Sarah Zama for the nomination! I reviewed her book Give In To The Feeling last year and I’ve been closely following her ever since ready for her next book! You have to give it a go yourself if you get a chance, I’m expecting great things in her future books and I know you will too.

I’ve answered her questions but I’ve decided that rather than nominating another 11 people, I’ll just put my own questions at the bottom and you can choose to answer them if you like! Just don’t forget to link me to your answers so I can be nosy!

1) What is the one reason why you like that author so much that when a book of his/hers comes out you automatically buy it?

Two authors who fall into this category for me are LeeAnne Hansen and Stephen Kozeniewski – I’ll pick up anything they write without a second thought. They consistently write excellent characters and storylines that I adore, they’re also exceptionally well edited which is something that I always appreciate.

2) Do you read in just your mother tongue?

Technically my mother tongue is Welsh, though I do pick up the odd book in Welsh I do mostly read in English because they’re so much more accessible.

3) Do you think reading in the language a story was written in is the best thing? If yes, why? If not, why?

Absolutely, the term ‘lost in translation’ wasn’t invented for nothing! I recently learn that the Icelandic translation of the book Dracula is nothing like the original (thank you ‘No Such Thing As Fish’ podcast) so there’s nothing wrong with reading multiple versions but you should read the original if you really want to know what the author was saying.

4) Do you read in a preferred genre? Which one? Why you prefer it?

I lean heavily to the horror/fantasy/paranormal genres. I love the idea of there being more to this world than we accept, so books where the scary thing is added to an otherwise ordinary world works for me.

5) Do you ever go exploring genres you don’t normally read?

I do, I feel that I owe it to my own personal growth to pick up books I wouldn’t normally gravitate towards – some of them, I really don’t enjoy and never go back to but there are other genres that I wouldn’t have learnt I love if I hadn’t given myself that push.

6) Have you ever being part of a reading group? If yes, how was the experience?

Nope, I haven’t been able to find people who live locally and enjoy reading the same kinds of books I do so I enjoy discussing books online instead.

7) How do you feel about all the new formats available to readers?

I’m all for them! It’s about the story, not the way you get it into your brain! I totally count audiobooks as a method of reading too, I’m all for any format that people can use to enjoy stories.

8) I’ve meet people who basically only read in one format (for example only ebooks) Do you? Would you?

I mostly read on my Kindle, but that’s because it’s so easy to pick up books for it and it fits perfectly into my bag wherever I go but I would only ever read graphic novels in paper form (I’ve tried on my kindle and iPad but I don’t enjoy them that way). I have loads of print copies too but I only have so much space in my home, I only buy paper copies of books I want to show off to the world.

9) Today, getting in touch with our favourite authors is a lot easier than before. Have you ever taken advantage of it?

Twitter is the best for this!! I love getting in touch with authors and just letting them know that I’ve enjoyed their work – this has been the basis of great friendships!

10) Turning books into movies. This most upsetting practice.

I’m pretty open minded about this – there are some film adaptations that I’ve really enjoyed (the first one that comes to mind is Stephen King’s Carrie) but we all know there are some awful ones. If you want to get me upset, let’s talk Hollywood remakes of indie films! Oldboy and Let The Right One In remakes were like a dagger to my heart.

11) Would you ever write the novel you want to read?

Nah, I can only write about things I already know or can imagine – I want to read novels about stuff that aren’t already in my head!

My Questions

1. What would be your ultimate genre mashup?
2. If you could go out for a drink with any author (living or dead), who would it be and why?
3. Who are your top 3 literary villains?
4. What’s your least favourite literary romantic pairing?
5. If you could gender swap one book, which would it be?
6. Which classic novel do you wish had a sequel?
7. Which author do you think would make the best prime minister/president/royalty?
8. What’s your proudest achievement as a reader?
9. What made you decide to start your book blog?
10. Do you have a Goodreads challenge on the go and how guilty is it making you feel right now?
11. Which really popular/classic book do you not enjoy?