The YA Spill (#3)

Welcome to The YA Spill! 

The YA Spill is a (mostly) weekly meme where I'll have Q&A with YA book bloggers. As a founding member of a YA book blog, I've had the pleasure of getting to know many bloggers and even though I've stepped back from blogging in that capacity as often, I'm still a huge fan of reading YA book blogs and love hearing the blogger's opinions on the hottest books out there. 

So each week I'll be spotlighting anywhere from one to three YA book bloggers with a few questions on what they're currently loving and can't wait to read next. If you're a YA book blogger, and you'd like to participate in The YA Spill, please email me at cindythomaswrites (@) gmail (dot) com. 

 Please welcome this week's awesome participants:

Katie from Mundie Moms

(Blog / Twitter/ Goodreads / Tumblr)

Mundie Moms just (yesterday!!) celebrated their 3rd birthday. Happy Blogoversary Mundie Moms!! 

What is the most recent book that you've read and loved?

That's a tough one! There's been a lot of great books I've read lately. To make it easy I'll narrow it down to what I've read the last month and out of those I'd have to say my favorite is SCARLET by A.C. Gaughen I LOVE this book! Her unique take on Robin Hood and Will Scarlet is fascinating and completely engaging. I loved everything about this book.

What book recently surprised you?

I'd have to say Dan Wells PARTIALS. It was one of those books that was everything I had hoped it would be and it surprised me by how much I enjoyed it. 

What types (you can specific here, or vague as to subgenre, etc) of books do you wish there were more of?

Stand Alones! Don't get me wrong, I love a well written series, but there's so many fabulous stand alones out there as well that get over shadowed by how many series there are. I feel like there's this drive for series right now and not every well written book needs to be apart of a series. I wish there were more stand alones.

What book comes out soon that you can't wait to get your hands on?

Again, that's a hard question but with it being less than two months away, City of Lost Souls. I NEED to know what happens to Jace and Clary. Than of course there's Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Hidden by Sophie Jordan, Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins.... I've got a huge list of books I can't wait to get my hands on.

As a blogger, you get lots of review requests. What are you looking for in a request that will make you say yes to a review?

Great question! I've gotten a bit tougher on my review requests lately, because I've got a lot more going on outside the blogging world now and I have to picky on what books I'm going to spend my time reading and promoting.  alsoI get a lot of requests and don't have the time to reply to all of them in a timely manner like I used to, which has sadly made me pickier about the ones I do reply to. Well I should say I reply to all the request that are addressed to me personal, and that will make more sense below. 

Here's three things that will make me say yes or reply back to a request:

1) My name. I do not take the time to reply back to generic review requests at all any more. If someone has taken the time to address an email to either my first name or to Mundie Moms I take the time to reply back. 

2) A request that gives me a brief synopsis of their book, as well as links to their sites and a link to where I can read up more about their book is fabulous. That allows me to go research their book and decide if it's a book I'm able to spend the time reading/promoting on my site. I don't want a request that tries to sell me on their book or list all the reasons why I SHOULD read their book.

3) Understanding. I really appreciate a request that understands that I've got a busy schedule and may not be able to read their book in the time frame they would like, and are willing to work with me to fit their book in at a later date. For me, that goes a long way. On the flip side, I also understand there's a lot of bloggers/reviewers out there for them to choose from and I completely appreciate the fact they took the time to contact me and asked me to review their book. The reality is it's impossible for me to get all the reviews I'd like to do in a short amount of time. I personally really appreciate it when an author / publisher understands that.

Thank you so much for having me on!

It was a pleasure, Katie!