Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Blogger Interview: Enticed by Books

This month's blogger interview features my lovely, gorgeous and fun friend Aman. She's one of those people who you can't help but connect with and fangirling over Grey's Anatomy, Scandal or a good book is never boring with her around. Her reviews are so full of personality and she always speaks her mind which I highly admire. So without further ado, here's Aman, everyone :)


Profile

Name: Aman Panesar
Age:
22
Origin:
US
Blog name:
Enticed by Books (still don’t know why I picked that :D)
URL:
http://enticedbybooks.com
Blog’s age:
4 months shy of 2 years.
Favorite book of all time:
I thought this was going to be hard, but the minute the read this question, On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves popped in my mind. I can read that book countless times and still enjoy it like the first time.


Interview

Siiri: Introduce yourselves in 140 characters or less.
Aman: Movie buff, HEA Believer and fan of the written word. My priority is my family & my dream is to travel the world with them, or just Italy.

Siiri: Let me know if you need a road trip buddy for Italy. It's one of the places I still haven't visited in Europe and I can't wait for the day I do :) Okay, so why did you start blogging? Have you changed a lot throughout it? What kind of advice would you have for people who are thinking about picking up blogging? Do you have any blogging inspirations who you look up to?

Aman: I started blogging because I had nothing else to do at that time. Bet you’ve never heard that answer before! :D Honestly, when I took a semester break from college, I needed a distraction and that year I had read and loved Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series and found Goodreads community through it, so starting a blog seemed like a good excuse at that time. I never thought I would continue it after life got normal, but here we are! Still reading, still blogging and still loving every moment of it! Of course! Blogging, well I should say reading, has turned me into a major critique and a really good judge of character, which I’m so thankful for. Plus, it has improved my writing, so that’s great! For to-be bloggers, my advice would be the same I got from Morgan (Reading, Eating & Dreaming) when I was thinking of starting a blog: If you want to blog, then write a post and hit publish. Don’t think too much, don’t stress out over the audience number or the look of your blog. And the obvious advice, Google is your best friend; utilize it to the fullest, you might be surprised how much you can learn from it. There are so many bloggers I look up to for various reasons. Jenny from Supernatural Snark inspires me to improve my writing (because her reviews are so beautifully written!) and think outside the box when it comes to discussion topic or interview question. Ashley from Nose Graze reminds me to add a personal touch to my blog and not focus on reviews and books alone. Similarly, Rachel, Jasprit (Reader’s Den), Janhvi, Sarika (The Readdicts) and you of course inspire me to have a fun while blogging and not take everything too seriously.

Siiri: Aw, thanks, sweets! I could 100% say the same about you. I'm so inspired by Jenny as well. There is nothing that she is not talented in and her reviews.. *dies from all the prettiness* Are you an organized reader? Tell us a little bit about your blogging habits.

Aman: Eh, not really. I’m more of a moody reader. Every month I make a list of the books I want to read that month and I just go around it depending on my moody. So I’m a bit organized reader, depends on how you look at it, but definitely not a organized blogger. Now that’s a story for another day :)

Siiri: LOL! I have made thousands of lists and once I do, you can be sure that I'll not read that book for a very long time lol. It sucks the fun out of reading for me. What is your favorite and least favorite thing about blogging? 

Aman: Favorite is obviously the platform it gives to voice your opinions. Additionally, the readership is amazing, not only will they hear what you have to say, but they’ll even go a step ahead and discuss it with you. The twitter discussions are hands down the most fun part about blogging! Least would be the pressure. Even though I don’t read much arcs and I’m not listed on any Publisher’s contact, posting something every week is a very committed job in itself and sometimes can cause a bit of a stress that I’m not a fan of.

Siiri: Oh, wow! Mine are exactly the same btw. So, how many books do you own and do you categorize them in some ways on your shelf?
Aman: Oh, boy! I don’t want to count, but they are probably over 200, minus the e-books. I’m a compulsive buyer when it comes to those 99cents reads :D I categorize them according to format and genres. Harcover go together and so on and so forth. It’s too bad when a series is not in a same format because then it’s going to get separated. But mostly, my favorite books are the center of attention and least favorite ones are in the lower shelves or in a box (that’s where you’ll find Bloodrose :D ).

Siiri: BHAHAHAHA! Oh, my. Bloodrose will forever be one of our least favorites, that's for sure. What are your favorite genres and who are some of your favorite authors?

Aman: By now, I feel like everyone knows this! Yes, it’s contemporary, but you’ll be surprised how many favorites I have in Adult Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Genre. That’s my second favorite for sure! Favorite authors are Richelle Mead, Jeaniene Frost, Kresley Cole, Nalini Singh, Michelle Hodkin, Tahereh Mafi, Cassandra Clare, Rainbow Rowell and Colleen Hoover.

Siiri: I’m a big shipper and I almost always ship a pairing in a book I’m reading. Do you have any OTPs? :D If so, why do you like these pairings so much? What makes them special?

Aman: Cat and Bones to death!!!! Someone called them a powerhouse couple in the paranormal genre and I couldn’t agree more! Cat & Bones are the perfect married couple, their arguments are the best because it sets the platform for a great make out sex, which Cat & Bones are the best at ;) But most importantly, I love them because they love each other so much and it shows every single time when they look at each other and communicate without saying anything.

Siiri: Ok, don't hit me please. I haven't tried that series again, but since it's on my kindle.. ;) Plus, I'm dying to see the dynamic between these two. I didn't get that far the first time. If you could have dinner with 5 authors/characters, dead or alive, who would the be and what would you ask each of them (without spoilers, of course)?

  • Richelle Mead: I want to tell her how her books started my passion for reading. 
  • Tahereh Mafi: She is such a cool author and SHE CREATED WARNER!!! I’ll probably ask her about any possible future Warner story. 
  • George RR Martin: I really want to know how the Game of Thrones end, I can’t wait another 6 or 7 or how many other years! Mainly I would want some scoop on Daenerys because she rocks! 
  • Renier Laroche: I want to meet Ren and I don’t know, go on a date with him. Works for me! 
  • Michelle Hodkin: I would want to know the truth about the real Mara Dyer and how much of her abilities are real. That’s one of the reasons why I’m such a huge fan of this series!
Siiri: Lols! While I'm not a fan of Warner, I must say that Tahereh Mafi has great humor and she's hilarious on twitter. Ooooh! Ren. Geez. That guy *swoons* I'd love to meet him too :) And Michelle Hodkin? Bhahaha. Her series is such a mind-fuck that I can't seem to figure anything out. Half the time I'm doubting my own sanity. Ok, so where can we find you when you’re not reading or blogging?
Aman: If not studying, I would be either shopping or watching TV because next to reading, that is my second addiction!


This or that

Blogger or Wordpress? Since I’ve been on both platforms, I would say Wordpress! Its user interface is so much cooler and up to date.
Facebook or Twitter?
Twitter for sure! Facebook is getting old.
Physical books or e-books?
E-books, hands down! They are much cheaper than physical book and very handy. Plus, you read a book twice as fast without any distractions.
Contemporary or fantasy?
Contemporary, no brainer.
Music or no music?
(while reading) No music, even though yes music any other time.
Triangle or no triangle?
I’m so over triangles!
Insta-love or slow-burn?
I like insta-love. I’m very into the werewolf mating thing, so insta works the best for me. Though some authors really butcher it, so it’s rare to find a good insta.
Cliff hanger or no cliff hanger?
YES CLIFFHANGER! Makes things exciting!


3 random facts about you would be...

  • I’m not a fan of animals and part of a reason for that is because my parents never allowed me and brother to have a pet. They joked that they already have 2 and don’t need more. So now whenever I look at any animal, I cringe and run away from them. Thanks Mom!
  • I’m such a foodie. I love traveling just so I can try out different, exotic, delicious cuisines, but at the same time, I’m a very picky eater. I’m confused by that too!
  • I’m going to steal the last one from Nick’s interview. No one in my family (besides my mom) knows I’m a book blogger, I tried hinting on it one time to my brother, but he acted like it was something stupid and I should get over it. Great, supporting family I got here! *sigh*

Siiri: Wut? That's pretty awful that he did so. My family knows. My sister even participates in the giveaways and follows me on twitter lol. As for friends, most of them know, but from uni buddies? Um, 2 people know and I just told one other person last week. She immediately asked for the link and checked out my blog and what do you say? The next day I got a compliment on the awesomeness of reading and having such a fun "secret" hobby. It all depends on the person you tell I guess. I've gotten side eyes and incredulous looks over reading and blogging too so not everyone's going to approve. As for animals, you should come to my place and meet my cat. (I don't like cats at all except for him or kittens lol.) He'll shower you with love and you'll be an animal lover in no time :D and exotic foods ftw!

And that's a wrap, you guys. I hope you enjoyed getting to know our friend a little better and give Aman some well-deserved love!

14 comments:

  1. oh thank you for the nice little interview. It's always so interesting to discover some new bloggers like that all around the world. That was a lot of great questions!

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  2. Well it's really interesting that more or less all of us don't share blogging with our families and friends. I mean my mum knows about the blog but not much. Dad has no idea what the blog is xD For the friends not so much. Only my closest one and my friends from uni know about its existence but only one girl actually checks it out from time to time.
    But back to interview, Aman and Siiri this interview is amazing! :) I love how friendly it is and it seems you both really enjoyed this. Needless to say Bloodrose is a NO-NO for me now xD Great job, girls ;)

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  3. YOU TWO ARE THE BEST!!!! I adore you both and wish you would both move to Ohio so we could be neighbors and run our blogs together. Or we could both move to Estonia Aman, because it's pretty spectacular:)

    I have to agree with Aman on Cat and Bones. CAT AND BONES FOR THE WIN, ALWAYS. Chapter 32 is all I have to say about them. *dies*

    It makes me a little sad that your family isn't aware you run a blog, you write fabulous reviews my friend, but you do have all your fellow bloggers here to support you and we all hope you never get over it so you stick around for a while yet!

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  4. Lovely interview ladies. I laughed so much with the banter between you both. I'm a bit of a moody reader myself, Aman. I will try to be organised but that never really works out to be honest. LOL! Jenny and The Reader's Den ladies are so lovely and they welcomed me into the reading blogosphere as well. Great post, Siiri. :)

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  5. Aman, you might be one of the first people who I know who admits to liking insta-love! It's always interesting to see the different thoughts of bloggers.
    Ha! My sister constantly jokes about my blog too, but it's not mean-spirited. She just likes to tease me about how I don't really have a social life outside of blogging. :P I prefer the company of books to people. :)

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  6. A new blogger to check out!
    I love Urban Fantasy too and Cat and Bones are on my list. I tried the audio but the accent of Bones reminded me of a leprechaun. And made me want lucky charms. I returned the audio and will have to suck it up and read the books.
    Hardly anybody knows I blog either...

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  7. This was fantastic and funny and informative..ya'll made me laugh. Cat & Bones rocks :) and I love On an Island. I have my bags packed to meet you in Italy!!

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  8. What a fun interview! Anyone who loves On the Island is someone I want to know!

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  9. Thank you so much for sharing this! It's always fun getting to know other bloggers! :D

    ~ Zoe @ The Infinite To-Read Shelf

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  10. Fun interview ladies! As a blogger, I'm so used to asking the questions that this post is a nice reversal from that.

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  11. aww fun interview :D nice to meet you. I have to agree, I am not much of an organized blogger either, I tend to read the next book on my list based on my book. Thought sometimes it ends up being like 2-3 books at a time o.o

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  12. What a great interview! Thanks for the shout out, Aman! No one in my extended family know that I'm a blogger. My son, daughter & husband know, but I don't share with anyone else. I have a lot of judgmental family members that might not approve of my reads. :(

    I loved On the Island, it's one of my favorites as well! I'm a huge fan of Richelle Mead as well. You love cliffhangers and insta-love? How did I not know this? I don't mind insta love when it's shapeshifter/mate type, but I think that's partly because there's a solid reason behind it. Cliffhangers make me want to through my kindle. I do prefrr e-books more than physical copies but if I loved the book I want a copy for my shelf.

    Great interview ladies! I enjoyed getting to know both of you a little better! :)

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  13. My dearest Siiri and Aman, did I tell you lately how much I <3 you? Because I do. I love our discussions - random and book related.
    Not a lot of people knows about my blog too, but I don't easily share that info, especially with my work colleagues. Most of then would have same reaction as your brother, Aman.

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  14. Love this interview and getting to know Aman a little bit better! I'll travel to Italy with you too. I studied there in college but that was SO LONG ago. It's embarrassing how long ago so I won't say. But I hope you have many travels ahead. I love that you said that you like insta-love. I think it can work wonderfully as well, but I do love a good slow burn, and I think authors can butcher both. But when you get a good one it's delish. I've had to box up some of my least favorite books and put them in storage. I just can't have them sitting around my house any more. And YAY for no more triangles. Can't wait to see who you interview next.

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