The Unique Blogger Award

I haven’t been nominated for the Unique Blogger Award before so I was thrilled to be tagged by Pierina at Pierina Reads, A at Fandomly Bookish, Alaina at An Infinite Book World, Jade at Drink Coffee and Read Books, and Lila at Hardcover Haven. Thanks so much for the tag everyone, I had a lot of fun with this one so I hope you enjoy reading my answers just as much.

Rules:

• Share the link of the blogger who has shown love to you by nominating you.
• Answer the questions.
• In the spirit of sharing love and solidarity with our blogging family, nominate 8-13 people for the same award.
• Ask them three questions.

Pierina’s Questions:

1. What is your go-to read when you are feeling down and need something to get you through the day?

I wouldn’t say that I have one specific, go-to read that I pick up whenever I’m feeling  down; instead I’ll pick something light and fluffy, with a cute story and an even cuter romance. Normally this means a YA contemporary book, but there are a few fantasy ones that also fit that description well.

Most often it tends to be either Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, P.S. I Like You by Kasie West, and Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.

2. If you had a choice to travel to any fictional world you could choose from, what world would you choose?

There are so many to choose from, but if I had to pick just one it would have to be Red London from the Shades of Magic series. I love London as it is so I imagine visiting a version of London like Red London, where magic is real and every day, would be amazing to experience.

My other two choices would be Hogwarts, which I feel is an obvious answer for any readers who grew up with Harry Potter, and Le Cirque des Rêves (The Night Circus).

3. If your friend, sibling or relative asked you for book recommendations because they are suddenly interested in reading, what book would you recommend and why?

Honestly it depends on the person. Most of the people close to me who don’t read that much all have different tastes, so I would recommend a very different book to my sister than I would to my mum; and while I’d like to recommend a fantasy book I love I know that wouldn’t be their thing.

If my sister came up to me and asked for a book recommendation I’d say Gossip Girl. Based on her interests and the TV shows she likes this series would be perfect for her.

---

A’s Questions:

1. What are the most played songs on your music player? Just name at least five.

The top five, in order of most to least played, are;

• Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Lorde
• Warriors, Imagine Dragons
• Irresistible, Fall Out Boy
• Novocaine, Fall Out Boy
• The Kids Aren’t All Right, Fall Out Boy

Even though they’re not my top two played tracks, I feel the fact that three of my top five are Fall Out Boy songs shows how much I love their music.

2. What book made you cry the hardest and gave you an epic book hangover?

There are two answers here because there are two different books I could have picked for this question;

Half Lost by Sally Green is the book that made me cry the hardest, on the train during my evening commute home no less. The ending tore out my heart, stomped all over it, and even now I’m still not over what happened. However, it didn’t end up giving me a book hangover, somewhat surprisingly.

After finishing The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller there was just nothing that could follow it. I can’t remember for sure but I think after I finished this I didn’t pick up another book for at least a day, I was just wallowing in all my emotions from the way the story ended for Patroclus and Achilles.

3. If you could trade places/worlds with any fictional character, who would you pick and why?

Nyx
The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Not only can Nyx travel through time, which on its own makes me want to trade places with her as there are so many periods of history I’d love to experience for myself, but as she has a map she can also travel to mythological cities and worlds. Based on that, technically, there’s nothing to say I wouldn’t then be able to travel to all the other fictional worlds I’ve read about if I had a map.

---

Alaina’s Questions:

1. What is your most re-read book?

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

I feel like my answer for this question should have been Harry Potter, a series I love and try to re-read at least once a year, or The Night Circus, a book which I’ve said many times before is my favourite standalone. However with everything currently on my TBR list I don’t have the time to re-read as much as I’d like to, and when I think of the book I’ve picked up the most times it’s Poison Study, the first in a series which I love despite not talking about it a lot on my blog.

2. What are some blogs that inspire you and/or motivate you to blog?

Can I say everyone? Pretty much every blogger I follow, or every blogger whose posts I’ve read, is a blogger who’s inspired me in one way or another. Reading their posts makes me want to write my own and seeing their five star reviews makes me want to immediately pick up said book.

Three actual bloggers I would say inspire me, albeit in three very different ways, are; May, who inspired me to start writing again, Marie, who inspired me to pick up and start reading YA contemporary books, and Lilly, whose reviews have led me to so many amazing fantasy books.

3. What was your least favourite book you read in 2017?

Wesley James Ruined my Life by Jennifer Honeybourn

This is a book I’ve spoken about before simply because it was just such a letdown, I can’t say I even expected that much from it which made it worse in my mind. I hated Quinn’s character; her reasons for wanting revenge on Wesley were petty, her actions were unforgivable especially how she used the people around her, and she never apologises for or learns from what she did.

---

Jade’s Questions:

1. What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?

Most of the books I own are the kind you’d expect to see on my shelves based on what I’ve reviewed so far. I have plenty of fantasy books, with a few sci-fi and contemporary releases for good measure. I guess the most surprising books I own would be my recipe books.

I love baking, and it’s a hobby that I’ve recently gotten back into so there are plenty of books all full of amazing recipes that I have to try one day. I’m going to get started with All Things Marshmallow because so many of the recipes in there are ones I’ve wanted to try for ages and ones that look so yummy.

2. Can you leave a book series unfinished or do you have to own all the books and read them all?

I used to be the kind of reader that had to finish series, even if I wasn’t a fan of them I’d always need to know how the story ended. Then I realised there were too many amazing books out there to waste my time on the stories I didn’t enjoy so I stopped doing that.

There are more than a few series I started that I know I won’t finish, either because I didn’t enjoy them as much as I’d hoped (Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard) or because I feel like I’ve outgrown the story a little (Unearthly by Cynthia Hand).

3. How do you think you would be described if you were in a book?

Can’t say I’ve ever thought about this too much but I guess if a writer were to ever add a character like me in their story it’d be a character described as introverted but loud, opinionated, kind of lazy and very sarcastic. I feel like just based on how I’ve described myself I’d likely be the antagonist in someone else’s story.

---

Lila’s Questions:

1. If you could speak any language other than the languages you currently speak, which language would you choose and why?

I only speak one language, but I am currently learning Italian so hopefully before too long I’ll be able to say I can speak two languages. The reason I chose Italian is simply because I love Italy; Rome is one of my favourite places in the world so I wanted to learn to speak the language.

2. If I began a story with “Once upon a time…”, how would you finish the story?

Part of me wants to say I’d end the story with “happily ever after”, but I love dark fairytales so I’d more likely end things with a dark twist or moral. Like the kind you’d find in anything written by the Grimm Brothers, or in Leigh Bardugo’s The Language of Thorns.

3. What is your astrological sign and what book would you recommend to people who are the same sign as you?

I’m a Gemini, and after looking up the typical traits of people with that same astrological sign I’d have to recommend The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven. It’s a book that’s humorous, mainly because of Izzy’s voice as she tells her story, but also serious and thought-provoking because of the subject matter. Basically, a book that’s perfect for all the Gemini’s out there.

---

My Questions:

1. If you could take one object out of any book (for example a wand from the Harry Potter world) what would you take?
2. If you could erase one book from your memory – either because it was so bad you want to forget you read it, or because it was so good you want to be able to re-read it with no memories of what happens – what would book would you choose and why?
3. Do you have any favourite quotes, what are they?

---

My Nominations:

1. Hazel at Readarella
2. Lilly at Lair of Books
3. Marie at Drizzle and Hurricane Books
4. Sydney at Fire and Rain Books

As for everyone else out there reading this post, let me know what your answers for these questions would be. What are the most played songs on your music player? How do you think you’d be described if you were in a book? What release would you recommend to people who share your astrological sign?