BBAW interview with Harmony from *Harmony Book Reviews*

One of my favorite themed posts from BBAW 08 was the interview exchange.  I interviewed My Friend Amy, the founder of Book Blogger Appreciation Week.  This year I’m excited to be interviewing Harmony  from Harmony Book Reviews! This is one of those “I don’t know how she does it” stories – Harmony is a teen, student, prolific reader and blogger, and she organizes a book blog tour.  Read on to learn more about her … and if you want read the inside scoop about SITFOB, check out Harmony’s interview with me.

She is Too Fond of Books: I see your blog archives go back to January of 2008, were you journaling your reading before you moved to a blog?

Harmony: Kind of. It seems that every time I clean I come across an old notebook where I would start writing down the books I read along with my rating of them but I never kept up with any of them.

SITFOB:  What motivated you to start your blog?

Harmony:  Basically, I was just bored. Then I realized how great of a community there was and I couldn’t stop.

SITFOB:  Where does the name Harmony Book Reviews come from?

Harmony: This is a long story…I used to write fanfiction under the pen-name HarmonySake for my two favorite pairings (Harmony = Harry + Hermione and Sake = Sam + Jake from the Phantom Stallion series) then all of my online friends just started calling me Harmony. So when I started my blog, it was only natural to use Harmony. Plus, I wasn’t creative enough to think of anything different. And yes, Harmony is only a pen-name. Very few people know my real name.

SITFOB: I know you review only MG and YA books – can you name your top MG and YA picks for this year?  For all time?

Harmony:  Oh man…there’s SO many amazing YA/MG books out there…For this year, I’d say my favorites are: Willow by Julia Hoban, Spell Hunter by R.J. Anderson, Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler, Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz, As You Wish by Jackson Pearce, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and Also Known as Harper by Ann Leal Haywood. There are two I really love that haven’t been released yet – The Dark Divine by Bree Despain and also Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken.

My all time favorites: the Harry Potter and Twilight series (yes, I admit it!), the Phantom Stallion series by Terri Farley, and Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books.

(Disclaimer: I KNOW I am forgetting some of my favorites for this year…)

SITFOB: What is the 1 ARC Blog Tour that I see mentioned under your header?

Harmony:  The 1 ARC Tour is an idea I came up with because so many bloggers and authors were talking about how it was impossible for everyone to get ARCs due to the limited supply. So basically, the author or publisher (sometimes another blogger) provides one or two ARCs/finished copies then any interested author signs up on the blog and the ARC is passed between them. It cuts down on the number of ARCs needed but increases the number of bloggers who get to read them. (For more info, check out onearctours.blogspot.com and click on the “About” tab).

SITFOB:  What do you do when you’re not blogging?

Harmony: Usually, I’m reading or writing. Other times I’m just staring at my ceiling and daydreaming. Like most teens, I love hanging out with my friends. I also volunteer at the library. Other times, I’m scrapbooking/cardmaking or anything else I feel inspired to do.

SITFOB: You do a lot of author interviews, who would you most like to interview?

Harmony: My dream interviewees would be either Sarah Dessen, Meg Cabot, J.K. Rowling, or Tamora Pierce. I admire all of their writing and aspire to have the following any of them have.

SITFOB:  Where do you read?  Any funny stories about the most unusual place you’ve been caught reading?

Harmony: Usually just laying on my bed or in the chair when I have to babysit. When I was at school, I’d read on the bus. I don’t read in any abnormal places, really. Just where ever there’s a place to sit and a book.

SITFOB: And I have to ask, even though I’ve yet to read Hunger Games or Chasing Fire … Team Gayle or Team Peeta?

Harmony:  I actually haven’t read the Hunger Games yet so I can’t really say. Though I like the ring Team Peeta has so I’ll go with that