Realm of the Sapphired Dragon: day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of Armchair BEA! I am so excited to be participating this year again and am looking forward to meeting new people and find out about new books :-)

Armchair BEA is a virtual event for book bloggers who are unable to make Book Expo America, BEA Bloggers Conference and Book con to be able to talk books with other bloggers and publishers and runs simultaneously with these three events.

below is my introduction post. I have tried to answer as many questions as possible and visiting other day 1 blogs and 'meeting' some other bloggers and readers.

1. What is the name you prefer to use?

I usually go by either Sapphired Dragon or sometimes Nikk/s which is closer to my actual name. I find more and more I am going by Nikk rather than Sapphired Dragon however I do sign my reviews as Sapphired Dragon.

2. How long have you been a book blogger?

I first started book blogging in 2010 so about 6 years now. It has been a bit of an ebb an flow over that 6 years with a few little breaks from time to time when Real Life has taken over for a bit but I still love reading and review books so hope to continue doing for a lot longer.

3. Have you participated in ABEA before?

I have participated in ABEA about 3-4 times now I think. Some years I have been more involved than others depending on what else was going on in my life and how organised I was. Hoping to be quite involved this year :-)

4. Do you have a favorite book? If you cannot choose a favorite book of all time, pick your favorite book today - just this second. Remember that favorites are allowed to change if something affects you deeply enough.

My favourite book of all time is The Ancient Future by Traci Harding. I was a similar age to the main character of this story when I first picked it up and it had all my favourite fantasy elements - time travel, Celtic Royalty, Magic and romance. As a fan of the series and the author I joined the main forum for the series and have made some wonderful friendships which have endured to this day.

This book also changed my life in inspiring me to take control of my own future and the power of both positive thinking and trusting in the universe. A lot of where I am today is because of this book and the people I have met as a result.

5. What is your favorite genre and why?

My favourite genre is probably YA urban fantasy. I love a story that mixes magic with the every day non magical world

6. How do you arrange your bookshelves? Is there a rhyme or reason? Or not at all? (#ABEAShelfie)

I currently only have 1 1/2 book shelves due to an unfortunate mishap last time we moved and in the process of getting some more so for the moment the book shelf space I do have is reserved for special books and favourite authors or pretty books that I thin should be on display. Generally I shelve hard covers on the half shelf on display and paperbacks on the main shelf organised with al books form particular publishers group together and then in series and author.

7. What book are you most excited for on your TBR? What are you most intimidated by?

I am extremely excited for The Crown by Kiera Cass and the Problem with Forever by Jennifer Armentrout. I have pre-ordered both and am anxiously waiting for them to be released and delivered. I even made a Waiting On Wednesday post for The Crown! :-)

I am most intimidated by The Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard and Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. I am not quite sure why. Maybe because I have such pretty hard cover editions that I am afraid of ruining them. Either way saying have been sitting, though sitting very prettily, on my TBR for a while.

Well that's all from me for the moment. I am now off to visit some of you so please let me know you have poped by so I can come visit!

Hi everyone!

I am so excited to be taking part in Armchair BEA this year and can't believe its here already. It's been a couple of years since I last participated so I was planning to be all organised this year but time has gotten away from me so we will see how we go.

Today's day 1 topics are introductions and Library Love. I really do love my local library. My three year old and I are there at least once a week picking up books for one or both of us. Unfortunately my local librarians declined to be interviewed which was a shame but I still love my library and will talk a little more about it further down the page but first I get to talk more about me :-)

Tell us a bit about yourself: How long have you been blogging? Where are you from? How did you get into blogging?
My name is Nikk, I am from Sydney, Australia and I have been blogging for just 4 years now. I actually got the idea to start a blog after attending a lecture at the Australian Fitness expo in 2011. The person giving the lecture (which was mainly attended by personal trainers) was about increasing the fitness profile by blogging about fitness and how to get started. Now whilst I knew I couldn't blog knowledgeably about fitness, and with my love of writing, the idea of starting a blog really appealed to me and what better to blog about than the thing I spend the majority of my spare time doing or talking about: Reading. It has taken me a while to get myself established and even now, there are times when real life makes it hard but I still love it and really want to grow my blog further.

This is a picture of me meeting the lovely Rachel Vincent. One of the authors, whose books I love to read.

Why do you love reading and blogging?
I have always been a reader. For as long as I can remember. There is nothing like getting yourself lost in a book and taken away from reality for a while. In some ways, I liken reading to meditation, at least for me. It relaxes me and takes me to that zen place. When you you turn the last page of a good book and then close it, it can be like waking up from a dream and sometimes it might take you a minute or two to get your bearings again and for a little while after that you mind may linger in the world of the book as you mull over the events and story that took place. This is why i love reading.

With blogging I get to write about what I am reading. Share my thoughts without worrying whether the person I am talking to actually cares that i am distraught as the main characters soul mate has taken from her in a series of tragic coincidences or that she has battled 5 monsters, challenged two gods and overcome 101 hurdles to get them back.
I also get to participate in a community with other people who share my love of reading and whether it be gushing about our latest read or titles received or impatiently awaiting the next book in our favourite series, its nice to have other people I can talk books too and get recommendations for new reads.

Lastly love being able to give my those books I love and the authors that wrote them a little bit more recognition and promote them by giving them honest reviews be they good or better. I don't generally write reviews for books I consider less than 3 stars.

What is your favorite genre and why?

I am a bit of mixed bag when it comes to favourite genre. Generally when answering off the top of my head, I will tell you Urban fantasy because I enjoy reading books about magic or fantasy stories with a more urban real life setting however my mood often decides the genre I will read and I also go through phases of reading everything i can get my hand on in just one type of genre before growing bored or having an entirely different genre spark my interest.

Generally most genres I read run along a similar vein so other genres like paranormal, paranormal romance, romantic contemporary and high fantasy are my life blood with my reading predominantly being in the YA/NA territory though I will read adult novels and the occasional historical fiction also if the story takes my fancy.

For me reading is an escape from the real world so the genres I read tend to reflect that.This picture is a typical library haul with its mixture of YA,NA and adult

What book are you reading right now?
I am currently reading Nowhere but Here (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry and really enjoying it. Hoping to get my review up for it this week.

What is the top book in your TBR pile?
The book that is at the top of my TBR pile is Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch. I have received the second book in the series to review so am reading this one first. Here is a picture of it with the next two books on my TBR list

Library Love

As I mentioned above, I love my library! I have been a member there now for 5 years and my daughter and I make weekly trips to one of its branches to pick up books to read.
As well as being a very well stocked library with many of the latest reads available to be borrowed, they also do awesome thing in the community as well as have the occasional book event also such as hosting a signing event for author Lauren Kate, author of Fallen and Teardrop series, whilst she was visiting Australia.
They also run Baby Rhyme time for 0-2 year olds and story time for 2-4 year olds. This was a godsend for me when my daughter was a baby. It was a way for me to get out of the house, get new reading material, meet other mothers with young children and Buffy loved the singing and intro to books. My daughter already loves reading and its an important part of our night time routine and this Baby rhyme time was the perfect way to introduce her.

They also do cool promotions like Mystery date books on Valentines Day where you would pick up a wrapped book as your mystery date and have no idea what it was until you got home and unwrapped it. Unfortunately the date I randomly chose was not really up my alley but I still thought the idea was cool and when Leonard Nemoy passed away earlier they put up a star trek display in his honour.

Lastly they do a whole lot of other awesome stuff for the community like tutoring and study programs for chool age children, they have a justice of the peace come in once a week and regular groups for all sorts of other book, film or community related things.
My library forms an integral part of my community and I want to say thank you for the job they do.
As mentioned, the librarians at my library declined to be interview for this post but I would love to hear from other librarians and library assistants around the world for a follow up post in a week or two.
If you can spare the time, please pop across to my interview page here and answer a few questions. Don't forget to let me know what country you are from as it would be great to compare and contrast libraries in diferent states and countries and find out more about them.