Liebster Blog Award

I was surprised this week with a very nice email from Henrietta of Leisure Reads, letting me know that she nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award! It's for new bloggers that have less than 200 followers and I'm so honored to have been chosen! Thanks, Henrietta! :)

Here are the rules for the award...

Award winners share 11 facts about themselves, answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who tagged them, come up with 11 of their own questions and tag 11 more bloggers with the award.

So, without further ado...


11 facts about me...
1. I'm an aspiring YA novelist - lots of books in the works, none near completion. :/
2. If I could be an Olympic athlete in any summer sport, I'd pick Archery.
3. I love rainy days.
4. I've recently developed an obsession with mango iced tea. (Frozen is even better!)
5. If I got the chance, I'd move to Europe in a heartbeat.
6. I've thought about becoming a vegetarian, but I just love bacon too much.
7. Typos in a book stand out to me so clearly, they might as well come with their own flashing neon sign.
8. My dream jobs growing up: dolphin trainer, Disney animator, or teacher/writer.
9. More recent dream jobs: travel writer, graphic designer, editor/proofreader (see #7).
10. I'm a girl, but I do not like to go shopping. At all.
11. I love learning languages. My latest course was in American Sign Language and I'd love to continue it!


11 questions from Henrietta...
1. What are you currently reading?
Blackwood by Gwenda Bond. I was so excited for this book because it sounded like it combined history (the lost colony of Roanoke Island) with some sort of paranormal edge, which is like my dream combination (historical fiction + paranormal = a very happy PidginPea). But unfortunately the writing is really not great and the combination is not nearly as spectacular as it could have been. I'm 87% through it and still waiting for it to pull me in. Overall a pretty "meh" book, I hate to say.

2. Name one YA contemporary novel that’s on your wishlist.
The one I'm looking forward to most right now is Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous by Kathryn Williams. Shameful confession: I love reality TV. And I never wanted to be a chef (nor do I even really enjoy cooking) but for some reason I love watching cooking competitions like Chopped and Top Chef. I'm really intrigued to see how reality TV crosses over into contemporary YA, especially with the cooking competition theme.

3. Do you have an e-reader? If so, is it a kindle, nook, or …?
I have a Kindle. I was anti-e-reader at first, and I still really do prefer having a hard copy in my hands. For me, nothing can beat the feeling of flipping the pages and seeing the real print and smelling that wonderful booky smell. But my fiance's family gave me a Kindle for Christmas and I have been hooked ever since. It's handy to carry a whole bunch of books with you all at once, and I love being able to highlight digitally without defacing my hard copies. (I could never highlight in a hard copy. Folding over the corners are a big no-no also.)

4. How many books did you buy last month?
Last month I put myself on a book budget. NO new books! Too many still waiting to be read. But this month Barnes & Noble had some fantastic sales and I just could not resist...

5. Do you borrow books from the library? If so, which library do you go to?
I do! I go to my humble little county library. Nothing fancy, but plenty of books. :)

6. What’s your favorite book cover?
Oh gosh. How do I pick just one?? ... I'm going to go with my favorite book cover at the moment, the one that's calling to me incessantly to pick up the book and give it a try. That's Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Something about the bright colors against the black background and those scratchy fonts just beg me to read that book.

7. Do you tweet about books online?
If so, what’s your twitter handle?
I have *just* started tweeting this week. I feel so lame saying this, but I'm still trying to figure out exactly how one properly tweets. When do I use @ and when do I use #? When do I reply and when do I retweet? I never used Twitter before because... well, my life is kind of boring and I didn't really have anything personal to tweet about. But now I feel like tweeting kind of goes hand in hand with blogging, so I'm finally joining in!
I'm @PidginPea - follow me! (And help me learn how to do this. lol.)

8. What type of memes or features, if any, do you include in your blog?
I love memes! Right now I've got I Heart YA hosted by Suze Reese, Teaser Tuesdays and Friday Finds hosted by Should Be Reading, "Waiting On" Wednesdays hosted by Breaking the Spine, and In My Mailbox hosted by The Story Siren. I'm thinking about hosting a few of my own too, whenever I find the time to start them up.

9. What’s the title of your first blog post?
"Welcome to the Book Nook!" Ha. So original.

10. If you could live the life of a fictional character, who would you become and why?
I have to go with Hermione Granger. She's a lot like me - studies hard, follows the rules, but still headstrong. And what Harry Potter reader didn't dream about getting their own acceptance letter from Hogwarts?? Years later, well over my Harry Potter obsession, I still would happily run away to Hogwarts to learn how to be a witch! :)

11. What will you be reading next?
Next up is Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan. I entered the Goodreads First Reads giveaway for it because it sounded interesting, and I was lucky enough to win a copy. I've heard great things about it so I'm excited to read it for myself.


11 bloggers I nominate:
1. Tara @ YA Magic Pages
2. Brittan @ Written By Brittan
3. Sarah @ Total Teen Fiction
4. Raya @ midnight coffee monster
5. Helene @ Helene's World of Books
6. Sandee @ Sandee Loves Books!
7. Ly @ Ly's Reviews
8. Jill Marie @ Little Hyuts
9. Lilly @ Lilly Road
10. Suze Reese
11. Book Travels


11 questions for the lovely nominees:
1. What started your love of reading?
2. What was your favorite book growing up?
3. Do you remember your first YA book? If so, what was it?
4. What's your favorite place to read? Your "book nook" of choice, if you will. ;)
5. Do you have a favorite author?
6. If you could rewrite the ending of any book, what would it be and how would you change it?
7. What was the last book you read?
8. What are you reading now?
9. What are you reading next?
10. What's the best book you've read this year?
11. Just for fun... If you could be an athlete in the summer Olympics, what would your sport be?


Thank you again, Henrietta, for the kind nomination! I happily pass on the Liebster Blog Award to the 11 wonderful bloggers above! :)