Goldilox and the Three Weres: Blogoversary Day 5 - Stacey Jay Interviews Me Plus Giveaway!

Wow - two years! That's pretty crazy! I've met a lot of really wonderful bloggers and readers in the past two years and have learned that I'm not the only crazy person who likes to read about things that go bump in the night...and in your bed! I've also met some really cool authors. Some were new favorites who were so down to Earth and others were such big authors to me that I was left star struck!

To celebrate my second blogoversary I thought I'd switch things up a bit. All this week I will be the one interviewed!

I've asked some of my favorite authors and bloggers to pick my brain and boy did they come up with some interesting questions! Some went the serious route and threw one big question at me, while others wanted to know a series of things about my reading life. Others still - and you know who you are - took a bit of a less serious route.

Here's the schedule for the week:

Mon. 7/29

Author Jenn Bennett

Giveaway: one book in the Arcadia Bell series

(US/CAN)

Tues. 7/30

Blogger Jennifer @ The Book Nympho

Giveaway: Midnight Frost by Jennifer Estep

(US/CAN)

Wed. 7/31

Author Darynda Jones

Giveaway: First Grave on the Right

(US/CAN)

Thur. 8/1

Blogger Jenese @ Readers Confession

Giveaway: Biting Bad by Chloe Neill

(US/CAN)

Fri. 8/2

Author Stacey Jay

Giveaway: Ebook copy Of Beast and Beauty

(INT)

Sat. 8/3

Blogger Laura @ Little Read Riding Hood

Giveaway: Undead and Underwater & Undead and Unsure by Mary Janice Davidson

(US/CAN)

On to day five! Today, Stacey Jay, adult and YA author, is stopping by to ask me a big question!

Here it is:

Does there ever come a point when an author becomes such a friend that you feel awkward giving reviews? As in: giving a negative review feels harsh, or giving a positive review feels biased? And if so, what do you do in those situations?

This must really be a hot topic with authors because another author asked a similar question this week as well! As a blogger, I've made tons of friends through Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter - some fellow bloggers but some authors as well. Sometimes these friendships between bloggers and authors make reviewing awkward, even if they are just casual online friendships. There have been times that I've not liked books by authors with whom I've cultivated friendships online. That's tricky. I still have to be honest about my feelings about the book, but now I worry what that author will think if they read my review. It really makes it that much harder to be honest in my review. This is most common for me when an author I love starts a new series. Sometimes I love that new series but sometimes it just doesn't jive with me like the old series. I've always been truthful when I didn't care for a book, but I do try to focus on what I didn't like about the book and not focus on the author. I typically don't tweet the author or the publisher with a link to my review, like I might have if a gave a book a great review. I kind of sweep it under the rug to be honest! I'll discuss the book with other readers and post my review all the same places I normally would, I just don't mention it to the author at all.

Thanks so much to Stacey for her question!

Hi! I'm Stacey Jay, author of young adult novels for Delacorte, Flux, and Razorbill books, and adult books for Pocket. Come vist my website at http://staceyjay.com to learn more.

And check out Stacey's books!