The Liebster Award Post

A huge thank you to the amazing Leslie @Books Are The New Black for the nomination. The rules are as follows –

THE RULES
Acknowledge the blog that gave it to you and display the award
Answer 11 questions that the blogger gives you
Give 11 random facts about yourself
Nominate 11 blogs and notify them of their nomination
Give these blogs 11 questions to answer

1 – A character that reminds you of yourself?

This is a really, really tough question – there are plenty of characters I would love to BE like, but I’m not sure if there are any I AM like! I was very much a swot at school and very often was top of the class so, magic aside, Hermione Grainger is my answer for that one!

2 – A book that you loved and wasn’t in your typical genre?

Hillary: Tail of the Dog. One thing I constantly repeat is that I don’t read horror. I don’t watch it either, it’s just not for me. Except there was something strangely compelling – and frighteningly, uncomfortably wrong – about this story.#

3 – What’s a book that deserves more hype?

Can I go for an author, rather than a book? Cari Silverwood is an indie published author who writes dark romance and I absolutely adore her writing. If I had to narrow it down to one book it would be Acquired Possession, or maybe Rough Surrender

4 – One unusual thing about yourself?
Errrrr…….. I’m blood group O negative. I also have really, really small toes. Really small.

5 – If you won the lottery what is the first thing you would do/purchase?

Depends on how much – the most we ever won (back when we did play it most weeks) was £10. If it was a few million then most of it would be invested so that I could stop working. I guess I’d buy my three offspring a house each – sadly young people can’t even afford to rent these days, never mind buy a house.

6 – What is your favourite trope?

This depends on genre. My answer for romance would be totally different to my answer for Urban Fantasy.
Years ago there was an advert where a little girl had to decide what she loved more, “Daddy or chips”, with the phrase being repeated throughout. Well I now have “second chance or dark?” on repeat in my head. Dark just has the edge.
However in UF my preference is for demons and magic. Is that a trope? Oh well it is now.

7 – Do you have a character that you absolutely hate and why?

Yes. Not a specific character but a type of character, in fact two types of character.
The alpha male is king in the world of romance. However sometimes authors seem to confuse dominant with domineering. I can’t stand a hero who keeps secrets from the heroine whilst insisting on total honesty from her, who knows what’s best for her without ever asking her thoughts or opinion and/or who feels more like a self-centred ass than a man who puts the welfare of the heroine first and foremost. I want to throat punch those characters.

The other is the “cheating/evil-ex” that doesn’t really add anything to the story. Usually they are so morally dubious, so odiously unpleasant, that you then end up questioning why the protagonist was ever attracted to them in the first place.

8 – Best advice for a reading slump or what works for you?

Re-reading old favourites. I went through a massive reading slump a year ago, when we went into the first national lockdown and we had no idea what the future would have in store for us. I DNF’d oh so many books and despite having a ridiculous number of unread books on my kindle, I found myself re-reading something, then another something and even more of them. Reading a different genre can also be a good kickstart to the reading mojo.

9 – If you could receive any ARC in the mail what would it be?

If I could go back in time it would be a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. However since that won’t be happening I’m actually going to say that, for two reasons, my answer is “none”. First of all I read exclusively on my kindle, since I do a lot of my reading in bed. My beloved paperwhite removes the need for a lamp or other illumination device that would keep my husband awake. A paperback doesn’t have this amazing ability. Secondly I’m actively reducing the number of arc books I read, so anything that adds to the pile rather than takes away is not welcome!

10 – Do you subscribe to any monthly book boxes? or other items?

I once, back in the pre-internet days, joined a monthly book club where you had to purchase minimum number of books per month for a set number of months. It wasn’t a great success, so I’ve avoided them ever since. These days most book boxes don’t contain books I’m interested in, and the ones that do are released in the USA, resulting in prohibitive postage costs to my little corner of England.

I did subscribe to a scrapbooking kit for a few years and loved that. Sadly an increasingly busy workload and teenagers who no longer wanted to pose for photographs meant this hobby petered out of steam and was eventually abandoned.

11 – If you had to choose, what book villain would you be?

This is tough, because I don’t read many books with female villains and the ones that DO contain them are not likeable at all. I have just finished a book where a female side character was a “privateer” and fairly kick-ass to boot. She did double cross several people too, so I’d be Roksana from The Curse of the Dark Prince, by Ariana Nash.

11 random facts?
My favourite subject at school was science – specifically Biology but I did enjoy chemistry too.

My least favourite subject – and the one I got a big fat U in – was French, I can not learn a foreign language to save my life.

Despite loving the film versions, I have tried to read Wuthering Heights at least 4 times but have never made it further than a few chapters.

I did a degree in Genetics at Nottingham University.

I can roll my tongue.

As I child of the early 80’s the choice was between two bands – Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet – I was a Duranie and madly in love with John Taylor.

As a pre-teen I took ballroom, latin american and disco dance lessons, passing my One Dance, Bronze, Silver and Gold awards with the IDTA.

Which is where I learnt the “Brooklyn Bus Stop” which is danced to Saturday Night Fever by the Bee Gees.


My first official job was as a sales assistant at a now defunct department store, Littlewoods, though I lived in a proper old fashioned corner shop and helped out in the holidays.

I have three children, had two pregnancies and gave birth the “normal” way once.

I would love to live by the coast.

This is the tough part – thinking up 11 questions and nominating other blogs. Here goes with the nosiness…


1 – Did you have a favourite childhood book? (If yes, what was it.)

2 – Have you ever met a favourite (or any) author?

3 – What is your most precious book or book related item?

4 – What is your favourite genre and why?

5 – What is your least favourite genre and why?

6 – Do you set any kind of reading goals/challenges for yourself?

7 – What made you decide to start book blogging?

8 – What is your favourite blogging meme to take part in?

9 – How have your reading tastes changed over the last 10 years?

10 – What is the longest you have gone without reading a book?

11 – Would you like to/are you planning on publishing your own book?

I’m tagging Tessa Talks Books, Susan Loves Books, EJ Frost, The Fantasy Princess, Reading Tonic, The Reading Devil and Musings of a Bookish Kitty.