Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Tag

I’ve been tagged again! This time, Shantelle tagged me in the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award tag.

Here’s how this works:

  • Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site.
  • Put the award logo on your blog.
  • Answer the ten questions sent to you.
  • Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer.
  • Nominate ten blogs.

On to the questions! Shantelle came up with some really fun questions!

What genre have you read most of this year?

I’ve read mostly Christian YA fiction this year, especially speculative and indie titles. I just discovered a whole community of Christian YA authors, and I’m slowly working my way through all their books.

A few books you hope to read soon?

I’m currently reading Of the Coldblooded by Angie Brashear. How can you not want to read this book after looking at the cover?  Once I’m done with this book, I have a stack of books to read, and I haven’t decided which one to pick up next!

OtC - eBook Cover

Favorite book of the year?

Seriously? I have to pick one? And I have to remember all the books I’ve read this year? So far, I’ve read nearly one book a week, so it starts to add up after a while!

Since I have to pick, it would probably be Resistance by Jaye L. Knight. I read it in one day in January when I was home sick from work with a bad cold. I absolutely loved it and immediately began shoving the book at all my friends and family and ordering them to read it because it was amazing. Luckily for me, The King Scrolls (book 2) came out a month later, but now I’m stuck waiting with all the rest of you Ilyon fans!

What was your favorite blog post this year?

Probably the character chats I did for Dare‘s blog tour, especially the second one I did. I had a few of the early readers ask some great questions that really got the characters squirming!

Favorite Dessert?

Um, I have a confession. I have a sweet tooth. I love a lot of things, especially donuts, ice cream, and my dad’s homemade chocolate shakes.

Summer or Winter?

Winter. While I like warmth, I don’t like it when it gets too hot or humid, and I’m not a beach person. Give me three feet of snow and a pair of cross country skis any day!

One Goal You have?

Publish book 2 in my series The Blades of Acktar before the end of the year, hopefully sooner rather than later!

Do you enjoy fairy tales? Which ones do you like the most?

I love fairy tales! Beauty and the Beast was always my favorite. When I was little, my grandparents gave me a large, beautifully illustrated book of fairy tales (I still have it on a specially place on my shelf). I especially loved the book because the illustrations for Beauty and the Beast were on the cover, and Beauty and the Beast was the first story in the book.

Which Disney princess are you most like, and why?

After all my ramblings about Beauty and the Beast, it’s probably no surprise that it was also my favorite Disney movie growing up (Tangled wasn’t out yet!). I think I loved it so much because Belle is a lot like me. She loves to read, she adores her father, she isn’t impressed by the hunky guy with no brain, and she dreams of doing something important. She also had a horse, and I desperately wanted one at that time.

Though, I look nothing like her. She has brown hair and darker eyes, while I have curly blond hair.

Which Disney prince do you consider the most dashing?

Ha! I should have guessed this question was coming from the line of questioning. I’m going to have to go with two:

Flynn Rider, because, well, he’s Flynn Rider. He’s the perfect mix of adorably sweet and good looks beneath his bad boy exterior:

Li Shang from Mulan, because he is kind of the opposite of Flynn Rider. Shang is the straight-laced, by the books guy who finds out he needs to bend a little bit. And he is absolutely sweet when he stutters.

So what about you? How would you answer these questions?

Outlaws and Redemption Stories

Outlaws & Remption

I absolutely adore the movie Tangled. Not only is it an all around sweet movie, but it has a big white horse that acts strangely like my own horse, but it also has an outlaw-turned-good-guy in it. I’m a sucker for those stories. Whether it is Flynn Rider in Tangled or Killian Jones/Captain Hook in Once Upon a Time, the outlaws with a soft heart get me every time.

But I can’t blame my obsession with this type of character on Flynn Rider or Killian Jones. I don’t even blame Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, even though that was my favorite Disney movie growing up.

Nope, I blame Renn Frayne.

Tall, dark, handsome. Steps into a bad situation and saves the girl and her land while also being stuck in a crazy love triangle.

Never heard of him? Well, you must not read Zane Grey Westerns. Zane Grey was an American writer who wrote a number of adventure stories and Westerns in the early 1900’s. Yes, the writing is early 1900’s style and the descriptions can sometimes drag on for pages.

I started reading Zane Grey in my teens, and my first Zane Grey was Knights of the Range. Holly Ripple is left alone on her ranch when her father dies. Before he died, her father gathered a group of loyal cowboys and dubbed them Holly’s Knights of the Range. When the ranch is in danger, the outlaw Renn Frayne accidentally saves Holly and reluctantly joins the fight to save Holly and her ranch. I might have had a little crush on Renn Frayne in my teens.

DSC09523A shelfie of one of my shelves of Zane Grey books. Knights of the Range is second from the left. Twin Sombreros, its sequel, is the scuffed cover next to it.

Why am I drawn to the outlaw-turned-good-guy so much? Perhaps it is the depth of the struggle that these characters face. Maybe it is the reminder that, as a Christian, my story is a redemption story.

It’s probably no surprise that my upcoming release Dare features a conflicted assassin.

What about you? Are you drawn to outlaws-turned-heroes?