Armchair BEA day 1: Q&A with MYSELF?!

 

Logo created by Nina of Nina Reads

It's time for Armchair BEA, an annual event. I decided to participate in it because it was impossible for me to attend BEA. Mainly because I live on the other side of the world, and because I have to go to school :( 

"Any good event requires introducing yourself and getting to know your fellow attendees. Instead of NYC, we may be in our armchairs and pajamas this week, but that does not mean we cannot network right along side those heading to the Javits Center!"

I love the idea behind armchair BEA. It's all about networking and getting to know new people. And There's no better way to introduce yourself than doing it with a nice interview. So let's tell all about me and my disastrously crazy life! :)

Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

Okay, this will be a damn long story, be prepared! I am Margot, but online I go by the name Mar. I am a 14-year-old Dutch girl and I have a passion for books, chocolate, coffee, youtube and all things random. About 1 year ago I started blogging, and 6 months after my first sucking blogs I started up How I see it reviews. I did this partly because of the site goodreads, where I read reviews about books I didn't even know existed, and made lots of awesome friends. I wanted to be like all the reviewers there. My role models of book blogging are Wendy @ A Cupcake and a Latte, Kristie @ The Story Siren and Wendy @ the Midnight Garden. I read almost every review they post, and their originality keeps on surprising me. I haven't been blogging for a long time, as I wasn't able to read and write English before. In the beginning of 2011 I was first able to easily read English books, and I completely switched from Dutch to English in Augustus 2011, 3.5 months before the founding of my blog. That was also when I started following and reading tons of book blogs and reviews of books on Goodreads. So yeah, that's kind of the brief history of book blogging and me...

What is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

Okay, this is an easy question. The Fault in Our stars by John Green, hands down. It was my first John Green book, and right now I'm reading the final (and first) John Green book. I absolutely love all of this books, he is the god of YA books!

Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.

I really overshare sometimes, so I have no clue what I have and haven't told my blog readers. Wait, I haven't told them one thing; I am writing a story :) Well, I'm writing more stories, but I have just started one I'm pretty fond of. If everything goes all right, I might update everyone about it soon. But I only have written a tiny piece of the whole thing.

Where do you see your blog in five years?

I can tell you all very honest that I have no idea. At the moment, I can't imagine a life without blogging and the whole blogging community, but the next 5 years of my life might as well change a lot. I mean, I am now in high school, so in 5 years I will -probably- have graduated and gone to college. Maybe I won't have enough time for blogging, maybe my favorite genres will have changed, it's all a big fat question mark!

If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

Why on earth do you ask me this question that is impossible to answer?! I mean, I love tons of authors and even more characters, and I have to choose? I guess I would love to eat dinnen with John Green, and have some philosophical conversations about his books, or about the importancy of unicorns in our imagination, or just about anything, since he is god, in my opinion. And who wouldn't want to have dinner with god

What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

BEA would be awesome ^^ But I would also love to visit any other conference, no matter where. I haven't met lots of authors in my life -the counter stands on 2... both of them are Dutch- and I would love to meet as much as possible. Also I'd love to hang out with other YA book bloggers, which is kind of impossible in the Netherlands since there are hardly any people my age who like to read...

What is your favorite part about the book blogging community? Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?

I love it that everyone is so awefully nice to each other! I never expected to get so much support from everyone. Also I love it to interact with some of my favourite authors. I can't think of changes in the coming years at the moment, I think it's perfect already! :)

Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

Hell yeah they have changed! Before blogging I read mostly Dutch YA contemp books. Now I read English YA paranormal/fantasy/horror/sci fi/... That's already a major change. But there is more! I started reading lots of Indie books and 'small titles'. I decided that I wanted to support the less-known authors as much as I possibly could. They deserve to be as well-known as any other author!

I hope you liked the interview with myself. If you want to sing up for Armchair BEA you can do that at their site, http://www.armchairbea.com/

Have a great week, no matter if you are at BEA or just at home.

Love, Mar

Pandora's Key by Nancy Richardson Fischer + Q&A

book: Pandora's Key
written by: Nancy Richardson Fischer
series: The Key Trilogy #1
genre: ya, mythology
pages: 306
publication date: November 18th, 2011
publisher: Nancy Richardson Fischer *Indie*

the book:
When everything you believed about yourself is a lie, how do you unlock the truth…
Evangeline Theopolis has nightmares about the violent deaths of women she has never met. Her single mother, Olivia, suffers delusions she can’t hide. And Malledy, a brilliant young man, may have a disease that will leave him paralyzed and insane. Their lives are about to collide.
On Evangeline’s 16th birthday her mother gives her a necklace with an antique key charm—a family heirloom, though no one knows what the key unlocks.
Everything changes. Her mom is hospitalized. Her godmother attempts murder. An ancient Order tries to kill Evangeline, and a lethal sect to kidnap her.
Nothing makes sense—especially Evangeline’s own face, which has morphed from geeky to eerily stunning; the ancient key that feels strangely alive against her skin; and the magical abilities she begins to possess.
Evangeline must use her wits and supernatural powers to fight her deadly adversaries and discover her true identity. But can she accept who she really is and save the world?

first of all; Thanks a lot to the author, Nancy. She just contacted me via goodreads and gifted me her book, which is so awefully nice of her! THANK YOU NANCY! You should check this book out on amazon. go to the page of this book with THIS LINK *paperback edition* Below you will also find an interview with her. My first author interview ever :o Enjoy!

my review:

I love anything that has to do with mythology, so I had very high expectations of it. Luckily, it lived up to my expectations. 

First of all, my first impression. 1) Greek mythology, 2) amazing cover 3) nice author - this book has to me freaking fantastic!

The blurb of this book intigued me, and I instantly started reading it. I couldn't put it down, and I had finished it in a couple of hours. I read it in 2 sits, which hardly happens to me, so that's a very good thing ^^ 

The main character, Evangeline, is just your average high school girl. Not the prettiest, not the most confident, or the smartest of them all. Nothing special. Or is she? She is given a key on her 16th birthday. And that key will change her life, forever. How can her mothers precious key change her appearance? how can it give her enemies? The necklace brings up some difficult questions and massive trouble. The unknown has to become known to Evangeline. 

Evangeline is a great character. Just a normal girl, as I said before. Not a silly girl, like some YA-book girls are, but a real character, with thoughts and reasonable feelings, which weren't annoying at all. I hate it when main characters in books annoy me, so this was perfect!

This book kept me 100% interested from the first word till the end of the prologue. A real pageturner, as I might as well call it. The editing had been done well, a nice writing style, all of it was one piece of awesomeness

A lovely story for every book lover - and even for the ones that don't like mythology at all - which includes amazing characters, lots of drama and a huge amount of action.

rating:

5 stars - definitely recommended!

INTERVIEW

1. Why did you start writing, and when did you decide that your book was going to be a young adult mythology novel? I started writing when I was a kid - short stories, poems, jokes (bad ones). When I graduated from college I got a "real" job working for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. I wrote stories about lion trainers, trapeze artists, clowns and elephants. Super fun, but I realized that I didn't want to write about other people - I wanted to write my own stories.

I always loved mythology and one day the idea just sort of came to me... What if the myth of Pandora was real? What if not all of the Furies inside the Box were released? What if someone protected the box through the centuries? Who would that be? And on and on... It became clear to me that person should be a teenaged girl so making Pandora's Key a young adult novel was the logical thing to do.

2. What was your favourite thing about Pandora's Key? My single, favorite thing about Pandora's Key is that the hero is a sixteen-year-old girl. Evangeline is flawed, empathetic, kick-ass, and has only begun to explore her supernatural powers.

3. While writing, do you like to listen to music or not? if yes, what kind of music? I do! The type depends on whether I'm writing or editing. If I'm writing I like songs I know - like Adele, Joss Stone, Dave Matthews, even Eminem. When I'm editing, I can listen to anything.

4. What is it that inspired you so much about the story of Pandora?
Well, the "true" story of Pandora made me mad. I mean, one woman is blamed for ALL the bad things that happened to Mankind - plagues, disasters... you name it! It's not fair because the original Pandora is set up by the Gods, given unrelenting curiosity and a golden box - of course she opens it! My story of Pandora is different because one woman actually SAVES Mankind from the worst of the Furies because she's SMART. I find THAT inspirational;-)

5. Which of the Greek Mythological gods and godesses intrigues you most? and why?
There are so many! I love Cronus because the guy was so powerful yet so threatened by his children that he ATE them! I love Zeus because he was the King of the Gods yet he was so threatened by lesser Gods that he created elaborate punishments for them. And I think Athena is super cool - she's brilliant, gorgeous, wise, and both powerful in war and in peace.

6. What is your favourite myth?
Right now, because they play a part in The Key to Tartarus, Book Two of The Key Trilogy, I like the Dirae. They're three Goddesses that are both beautiful and horrific looking and together they avenge crimes against women.

7. Roman mythology or Greek mythology?
Whichever one works best for the purposes of my story:-)

8. Hera or Zeus? Definitely Zeus. The guy has mad skills but he's so twisted that, as a writer, you can have a great time manipulating him:-)

want to know more about the author? go to her site, http://nancyrichardsonfischer.com/