BBI: Julie from A Tale of Many Reviews!

BBI Interview #3


For the BBI interview this week, we have the wonderfully awesome Julie from the book blog, A Tale of Many Reviews! I hope all of you guys visit her blog, if you haven't already, and follow it! She has great reviews and excellent posts in general!


Now without any delay, let's start the interrogation...um...*cough*...I mean a friendly interview!

Tell us a little bit about yourself as a blogger and your blog.
A Tale of Many Reviews started out YA because I was so use to that age group from teaching. But, it started to broaden into my own personal likes as I realized this blog could be anything I wanted it to be. It grew and now we have 4 reviewers (Leisha, Jennifer, and Aaron) for the blog. We review YA and Adult in most genres but prefer elements of romance involved for the girl reviewers. Aaron prefers mystery/thriller/suspense/epic fantasies. We do book tours and book blog tours for fun and help promote books. We just like making good reader/book connections.

What makes your blog personal to you?
The blog is truly a labor of love. All 4 reviewers have an education background and all have been life long readers. We like helping get the word out about good books (and not so good books) and especially like that we review all types of published books, not just traditional. Also, I’ve known all the reviewers for a long time which makes it special. I have been friends with Leisha since elementary school, Jennifer is my cousin, and Aaron since high school. Aaron is also a distant cousin to Jennifer and me although we didn’t know that until we were already friends in high school.

If the Web suddenly disappeared, and there was only one part of your blog you could save, what would it be and why?
ALL THE REVIEWS! I can duplicate everything else, but all the review posts…no way!

How long have you been blogging and what advice would you give to new bloggers?
We’ve been blogging a little over a year, just celebrated our 1 year Blogoversary on August 30! My advice to new bloggers would be not to be overly concerned with what everyone else is doing or saying. Your blog should be an extension of you, and if you feel doing something a certain way is right for you, go for it! There are so many opinions out there, ‘you should do this’, ‘why are people doing that’, ‘I didn’t have to do…” you could start to question if you’re doing anything ‘right’. Really, manage your own blog, keep your audience in mind, and the type of audience you want to attract. There also may be a couple of blogs/bloggers you really admire. Watch them and take your lead there. More than likely those people will be similar to you. Like attracts like. Have fun, it’s a hobby, not a hardship. That advice is my opinion about life in general too. Haha

What are your favorite books and covers of 2011? All time? Top one?
I don’t have any favorites, but I seem to be partial to ones created by Phatpuppy Art. Pic-Earth

What is the one thing you get really excited about on your blog? Ex. comments, followers, requests...
I’d have to say the relationship with authors and publishers that come about. It is so neat to get to know an industry you don’t work in, in your daily life, and it’s fascinating. I’ve made some great writing friends, not to mention other bloggers with similar taste in books. So, I guess for a lack of better explanation, I really get excited about the networking side of blogging. I guess this makes sense since I do a fair amount of networking in my day job as an education consultant.

You are trapped on an island, and you can only have one series of books with you for the rest of your time on the island, what series would you chose? Why?
I don’t think I can choose. I don’t really like to reread anything. I guess if I were trapped on an island I’d think differently though. Hmmm…maybe I’d trade a series for indefinite paper and I’d write my own stories to help me not go insane on an island! Seriously, the movie Cast Away is good, but the idea freaks me out!! I’m a people person. It would take more than Wilson to keep me going.

What book world would you like to be in?
I think I’d choose one created by Lori Foster. She always has gorgeous men, strong family values and very committed once they commit, and the men are physically strong no matter the profession. That is only if I get to be one of the females they fall in love with. Haha No one wants to be the girl on the side lines pining after the guy. She writes great contemporary worlds with enough excitement to not get bored in life.

Have you enjoyed this feature so far? Do you recommend it to other bloggers? 
Absolutely! This has been great. It makes you think about why you do what you do. We get to do a lot of interviews of other people and rarely get to talk about ourselves. I think this is something I’d like see on more blogs and may do it from time to myself now that I see how fun it is for the blogger. Thank you for having me!

Where does all the blogging magic happen? 
Ha! Wherever the laptop happens to be. Usually either in my office, on the couch in the entertainment room while my husband is on the xbox, or in the living room to be near my husband while he works. Yeah, we’re weird ones and like to be around each other a lot. J

How did you find the virtual and not so virtual world of book blogging and vlogging?
I participated in a twitter chat with Amanda Hocking and Alex Bennet from Electrifying Reviews (although not the same blog name then I don’t think.) I really didn’t know much about book bloggers until then and started investigating. I had recently left working in a school system as a district administrator and former language arts/social studies teacher. I REALLY missed talking books with students and teachers, reading to my classes, etc. Book blogging became a way to fill that void and create a new group to talk books with.

What do you think the perks and disadvantages are about ARCs?
The perks are you get free books before anyone else does and can help influence future readers. If it’s a great book you can help get people excited. If it’s not so great in your opinion you may save someone with similar taste some money and time. The disadvantage may be if the book is in a series, it is even longer before you will get to read the next installment.

What is the most important part of a book? Cover?
To me it’s the plot and characterization. I do like romance but not just for the sake of romance. I like a strong plot as well. I’m a character driven reader though and need to connect and empathize with the characters. THAT being said, on a first impression basis, yes, the cover is very important! If the cover doesn’t grab me the description better be darn good if I’m going review it and especially buy it.

What is on your wish list?
Gosh, lots of titles. Right now though I’m more into contemporary romances, so you’ll find several of those.


What one book do you really just want to read this second?
Lola and the Boy Next Door. TOO many people talking about how good it is!! HUSH already. haha Also, one coming out soon by Abbi Glines called The Vincent Boys. It is set to release in October 2011.

If there was one author or any person for that matter you can meet through a time machine, dead or alive, who would you meet and what would you talk to them about?
Mine is a non-book person. I’d like to meet Diana, Princess of Wales. I was infatuated with her and all things royal from the time of her 1982 wedding. I was a little girl and remember laying on the couch in the early morning watching her wedding. Then I made scrapbooks of her from all the magazines growing up. I even received a letter from one of her ladies-in-waiting on Buckingham Palace stationary! It was one of the famous ones too talked about in the news. I still have all my books and everything. A biography of Diana was the first non-fiction book I can remember choosing on my own to buy and read. I thought she was just gorgeous and captivating.

What are you currently reading?
At this moment it is Ember by Carol Oates. We are part of her book tour.

Grab the book closest to you, close your eyes, open a random page and give us a quote from that page.
‘Candra blinked when he directed his smile to her again. She was staring. Her cheeks flushed, and she was relieved when he turned his attention away from her and toward Brie.” ~ Ember by Carol Oates

Coke or Pepsi?
Ugh. I’ll take Dr. Pepper thank you. Preferably Cherry Dr. Pepper

What do you normally do other than blogging?

Aaron, Julie, and her husband playing Rockband

I like to play xbox RPGs. My favorites are Fable II, Oblivion, and Borderlands co-op. I do play Call of Duty co-op but I die A LOT. I get a potty mouth then and it’s not pretty.  I also breed Siberians cats (picture attached of me with Dimitri named after Vampire Academy Dimitri Belekov) but I’m going to ‘retire’ from that spring 2012.

Can you show us your bookshelf?
You would get lost if I showed you my bookshelf. We wouldn’t want that to happen!

What is your blog’s button?
A new one is being made along with our new blog design.

Where does a blogger like you like to go on vacation?
I prefer warm places with clear water and history if at all possible. For example, when we vacationed in Cozumel, we had the weather, the water, and Mayan history to explore.


How much time do you usually spend on your blog? How much time do you wish you had?
Oh gosh, I probably spend way too much time on blogging. Fortunately, I work from home and I don’t have to work every day, so I do have the time. I post at least 4 times a week. Doing weekly memes help with that, not to mention, there are 4 reviewers. Not all the reviews are mine, but I am the one who maintains the blog and creates the posts. I’d say I’m doing something on the blog every day. Maybe 30 minutes when creating a post. I also do the book tours, which takes time for scheduling, getting things ready for the tour, etc. That adds more time and connected to blogging. I recently organized how we handle review requests because it was just getting too time consuming for me as the main hub. But, the other reviewers are great and I couldn’t do it without their help.


Thanks for doing this incredible interview, Julie! I had great fun! I hope all of you guys visit Julie's blog!

Visit Julie's Blog, A Tale of Many Reviews!

http://www.ataleofmanyreviews.com/

Twitter: @Tale_of_Reviews

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Believe me...its really fun doing these interviews...at least I hope so.......

-ROSHINI