It’s time for another Liebster Award post! I’m still slowly working my way through my backlog of awards and tags because you guys are AMAZING and I love you all to bits. ♥ Thank you to Sarah, Laura Beth, and Danielle for these nominations! If you aren’t following them all, you should be, because they are literally all some of the kindest and most wonderful bloggers I have met!
(You can see my previous Liebster Award posts here, here, and here!)
The Liebster Award:
Liebster is a German word meaning beloved or dearest. The Liebster Award is for your favorite or beloved bloggers who deserve some love in their lives.
The Rules:
1. Acknowledge the blog who nominated you and display the award.
2. Answer the 11 questions the blogger gives you.
3. Nominate 11 blogs.
4. Notify those blogs of the nomination.
5. Give them 11 questions to answer.
Sarah’s Questions:
1. What hobby would you get into if time, money, and energy weren’t an issue?
Carpentry! I have literally ALWAYS wanted to give it a try, ever since I was a kid.
2. How would you describe your “aesthetic?”
I always joke that my aesthetic is “goth granny”, because I love skulls and black lace and Victorian goth vibes, but I also love weird, funeral-home-esque floral prints and could live in chunky cardigans and flat, non-athletic sneakers.
If you meant my bookish aesthetic, my favorite is always going to be anything spooky while still sad and gorgeous (so, basically, Seanan McGuire or Alyssa Wong stories).
3. What fictional universe (game/book/movie) would you most like to live in?
Oh man, this is tough, because all of my faves aesthetic-wise are ones I would totally not survive in, like Silent Hill.
4. What is your favorite thing about yourself?
I like to think that I’m unconventional and good at thinking outside of the box, and I’m also pretty fiercely protective over the people I love.
5. What is your favorite thing to introduce people to?
The book blogger in me wants to say books, but I honestly just love when I give someone any sort of recommendation that’s specific to them as a person (or how I see them, at least) and it ends up being something they love. I like knowing someone’s tastes well enough to guess if they will or won’t like something.
6. What’s your favorite article of clothing you’ve owned?
Do shoes count? If so, I used to have the most incredible Iron Fist heels. They hurt like hell to wear but they were so hot. Sadly, the metal studs rusted after a few years.
7. What’s the best Halloween costume you’ve ever had?
As much as I love Halloween, I’ve sadly never had a super awesome costume. That said, my favorite was when I was 19, I think; I wore this silky black dress that I had ripped up along the hems, fishnets, the above-pictured heels, and I teased my hair out and painted spiderwebs all over my face. I wish I had pictures, because even though I didn’t look like any specific “thing”, the whole look was so good and I got SO many compliments on it.
8. What fictional character do you relate to the most?
This is tough, because I don’t read a ton of characters whose actual experiences I can relate to, since I mostly read SFF or really tragic contemporaries. If we’re just going by personality, though, it has to be Cassian from the ACOTAR series. He’s totally a Libra, first of all; second, his gallows humor, protective nature, and the whole “flirty and tough on the outside, angry and wounded teddy bear on the inside” mannerism he has is something that I see a lot of myself in.
9. What’s the last text you sent?
I’m pretty sure it was a text to Kayla, whining about how much I’m craving soft tacos.
10. Do you believe in any paranormal creatures?
Oh, yes. I try not to talk too openly about it because I expect at least half of you will raise an eyebrow at me if I dig into it, but I have always been a very firm believer in the existence of many cryptids, as well as certain types of feyfolk.
Laura Beth’s Questions:
1. Do you play games?
I do! I don’t play board games or card games much, but I like video games.
2. What are your five favorite movies?
1. The Mummy (’99)
2. Jurassic Park
3. Evil Dead (remake, though I love the original, too)
4. Silent Hill
5. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (stop judging me, Peter Jackson nay-sayers)
3. Do you have a favorite animal?
Bats.
4. Where is your favorite place to watch movies?
Honestly, the theatre, because it’s the only place I can force my ADHD to chill long enough to sit still through a whole film. I usually watch them in halves or while doing other things if I’m at home.
5. Where is your favorite place to read?
Sitting outside on my porch in the late fall or early winter, but the rest of the year, at my desk or sprawled out on my stomach in bed.
6. If you could have a dream breakfast served to you, what would you order?
A cinnamon bun, strawberries, bacon, and scrambled eggs. I’m pretty easy to please.
7. Do you have a favorite alcoholic beverage?
Toss-up between mojitos or margaritas. Or Scooby Snack shots.
8. What is your most vivid childhood memory?
Probably the day my mom brought home our first pit bull, Honey Bear. My mom was working at an animal hospital and was fostering the dog, and had her on a leash because she was still nervous about her. I was sitting on the kitchen floor when they came in, and Honey broke off the leash and ran to me. My mom was scared to death and tried to grab her, but she plopped down in my lap and started to lick me all over.
She had been severely abused by the people who dumped her at the animal hospital, but we had her for about 11 years and she never offered to harm anyone or anything. She became my best friend in the world and literally saved my life on multiple occasions, and I’m gonna shut up now before I start crying, but yeah, that was a really special day and I miss her a lot.
9. If you could have a house built anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Somewhere with universal healthcare and decent temperatures year ’round.
10. Where is the one place you want to visit, but haven’t yet?
That list is about a mile long. Washington, Maine, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, London…
11. What is your favorite city?
Atlanta. I grew up in the metro and it has my heart forever.
Danielle’s Questions:
1. If you had to choose one fictional world to spend the remainder of your days in, where would you go?
Velaris, except without the shit that goes down in ACOMAF. 😛
2. What was the last book/film that moved you to tears?
Sawkill Girls. There is an event at the end of the book that involves a grieving mother, and this one line absolutely wrecked me.
3. Name one book that you truly disliked that was incredibly hyped or well received within the book community.
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I know it’s really widely loved, and I am happy that so many people saw themselves represented in it, but as someone who suffers from many of the mental illnesses in that book, I felt like it was actually a really hurtful portrayal, and I hated the characters and the ending.
4. Who are three of your favorite female protagonists and why?
1. Kady Grant: she’s geeky, sarcastic, protective, and short – like me!
2. Mia Corvere: she’s a bona fide badass.
3. Lila Bard: I didn’t love her in book 1, but books 2 and 3 won me over for her wild, clever, thieving little self
5. Name a habit or vice that you currently have that you would like to give up or do away with.
My excessive love of brownies.
6. If you could only read one genre for the rest of your life, which would you choose?
This is tough. Could I say, like, a horror/fantasy cross-over?
7. If you were the main character in your current read, what would be your current situation (without spoilers of course)?
I actually can’t say anything about it without spoiling, honestly. I’ll just say there are two MCs and they’re both in pretty rough spots.
8. What is one book that you recommend to everyone?
I don’t really recommend any one book to everyone, but the most common book I recommend is probably either Illuminae, Nevernight, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, or Born a Crime.
9. What is something that most people do not know about you?
I used to have a pet squirrel.
10. Aside from reading and blogging, how do you like to spend most of your time?
Tickle fights with my little dude.
11. Name your favorite book villain or “bad guy” of all time.
Do morally grey “villains” count? If so, Holland, from the Shades of Magic trilogy.
My Questions:
1. What is the longest slump you’ve ever been in?
2. Do you prefer ARCs or finished copies of books?
3. What is your favorite review you’ve ever written (not based on views/likes, but your feelings)?
4. What was the last song you fell in love with?
5. What type of YouTube videos do you most commonly watch?
6. Do you have a favorite holiday? If so, why did you pick it?
7. Be honest: have you ever bought a book mostly just for its cover?
8. Do you like to keep your books pristine, or “live in” them with highlighters, tabs, annotations, etc.?
9. What is the most money you’ve ever spent on one book, and would you do it again?
10. Do you use any method to keep track of your TBR, like a TBR jar, spreadsheet, notebook, etc.?
11. Roughly estimate this one: how many more books can you fit on your current shelves before needing a new bookcase?
Tags
1. Michelle @ Fawn & Fern
2. Ainslee @ Jest and Hearts Library
3. Lacy @ A Ravenclaw Library
4. Beth @ Reading Every Night
5. Katie @ Too Old for YA
6. Amber @ ambsreads
7. Erin @ Undercover Binge Reader
8. Kayla @ Books and Blends
9. Sam @ Sleepy Sam Reads
10. Kaya @ A Fictional Bookworm
11. Zuky @ Book Bum
{TWITTER . BOOKSTAGRAM . FACEBOOK . GOODREADS}
(Danielle) Books, Vertigo and Tea
July 26, 2018Go you! That is a ton of questions to tackle haha ? this was so fun to read. Although I have this wonderful image of you in those heels doing carpentry while making on brownies ???
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 26, 2018Thank you, love! Hahaha that would be amazing!
Zuky the BookBum
July 26, 2018Thank you so much for tagging me! Well done on tackling all those questions, that’s a lot of work!!
You should give carpentry a go!! Just go for it girl! Canada and Japan are on my travel bucket list too! <3
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 26, 2018Any time! ♥ Thanks for reading! I hope we both get to cross those off of our bucket list someday! 🙂
Kaya @ afictionalbookworm
July 26, 2018I love your answers!! Those heels are awesome. Thanks for tagging me!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 26, 2018Thank you, Kaya! 😀 Haha aren’t they great? I miss them!
Sarah
July 26, 2018Goth granny is SUCH a mood tbh. And your dream breakfast just made me soo hungry haha.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 26, 2018Bahaha, isn’t it, though?! And yeah… I was drooling while typing it, not gonna lie.
mybookworld24
July 26, 2018Thanks, for tagging people I started following them all and nice tag.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 26, 2018Awesome! 🙂 Thank you!
Beth (Reading Every Night)
July 26, 2018Great answers for this tag, and thanks so much for the nomination as well! 🙂 I would love to live in Velaris, but yeah like you only after everything they face in the trilogy is over and done with and they’ve recovered, also The Mummy is one of my favourite films ever. It’s probably one I’ve re-watched more than any other too.
I’m not a massive fan of All the Bright Places either. In fact it kind of put me off the authors work full stop. :/
Great post, and again thanks for he nomination. 🙂 ❤️
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 26, 2018Thank you! 🙂 I hope you enjoy doing it. Haha yes, Velaris towards the end of ACOMAF wouldn’t be so fun! And I’ve re-watched The Mummy sooooo many times! ♥ It’s so good! Oh yeah, I won’t pick anything else up by Jennifer Niven, either. 🙁 Glad I’m not alone!
Beth (Reading Every Night)
July 26, 2018That’s all right, and I’m sure I will you’ve asked some great questions.
Definitely not, we all have those authors we won’t go back to, no matter how amazing everyone else finds their books! 🙂
Kaleena @ Reader Voracious
July 26, 2018Goth granny, lmao I love this!
I have a work friend that is obsessed with squirrels and has literally trained a few that hang out in the arboretum on campus to be her friend. How the heck did you have a pet squirrel though?!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 30, 2018Haha thank you!
Awww, how cute! Okay, so, my mom used to be a vet tech, and I worked with her at the last animal hospital she was at. After we both left there, she got a call one day saying a baby squirrel had been brought in, wasn’t showing any signs of illness, but needed to be bottle-raised as the mother had been found dead (I think someone’s dog had gotten her? It was sad). Anyways, we took the little guy in and named him Mr. Jingles and he became this weird little family pet! He was the cutest thing, but you can’t really keep wild-born squirrels – once they hit sexual maturity, they desperately want to return to the outdoors. We had woods behind our house, so we let him out into them and he hung around the yard for a couple of weeks while he adjusted.
Norrie
July 26, 2018“goth granny” hahaha, love it! Those shoes! Impressive. My bestie is into painful shoes too. I tried, but i just noped out after like 10 minutes 😀
I love video games too! What are your faves? I’m almost exclusively into mmo or rps. Hehe.
Cinnamon buns, yep, defo could do those!
Also, omg, you have a porch?? I always wanted one. With a rocking chair… granny style <3
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 30, 2018Bahaha thank you! Oh yeah, I can’t do painful shoes anymore!! I used to be one of those “beauty is pain!” people and now I’m like, “No, you know what beauty is? Beauty is a worn-in pair of slip-on Vans and arch support socks.” LMAO.
Ahhh yeah! I used to be obsessed with JRPGs, personally, and my all time favorite game is still Final Fantasy X. The only MMO I’ve ever gotten into is WOW, which I still adore but can’t allow myself to re-sub because I get sucked down the rabbit hole and don’t come out for weeks on end. Like literally, if I re-subbed right now, you guys would not see any posts from me or reading updates or anything for at least a month lol! I also love the Zelda franchise, the Animal Crossing games (especially New Leaf, but I’ve been in the community since the first one came out on the Gamecube!). I love farm slice-of-life games like Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, etc. What’s your all time fave?
And yes, we do! It’s nice, though we are ALWAYS having to kill off spiders! Ugh! D: I don’t use it much in the warm weather because of that.
Norrie
July 30, 2018Oh, i’m quite the opposite i think. By the time i had good enough internet and pc to play, there were so many games out and WoW was a bit old and i was like “neah, i don’t like what the characters look like”…
I used to play Guild Wars 2 a lot, and Star Wars The Old Republic (it was so awesome with the different story lines) and Wild Star is still one of the games I load up every now and then.
Recently I got back into The Secret World. I love the super creepy feel of it, and the first few maps and story lines were heavily based on stuff Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft created. I’m not playing it as i used to, but every few week i put in a couple of hours because there’s some new content i haven’t played yet.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 30, 2018BAHAHA “I don’t like what the characters look like”, I feel you 100%. I have honestly turned down games for that exact reason before. I like the graphics okay now but they definitely aren’t *the* best. I just love the Draenei race, that’s who I usually main as. Here is some super cool character art someone made of their Draenei character if you don’t know what they look like.
Ooooh yeah, my partner always talks about having liked The Old Republic! I was never a Star Wars fan (don’t hate me!) so I never played it.
I’m not familiar with that but I am absolutely going to google it right now because I NEED more creepy stuff in my gaming life!
Norrie
July 31, 2018I love that draenei picture! I do remember those characters had a pretty neat starting area! <3
I hope you'll like The Secret World! It's been out for a while and the multiplayer aspect died down considerably, but it's still awesome to play just for the storyline and the atmosphere.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 31, 2018Yesss, love their starting zone! 🙂
It sounds super cool! I checked out the site earlier and bookmarked it for the next time I’ve got a little free time to check it out! 😀
Priyasha
July 27, 2018Congratulations ❤
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 30, 2018Thank you!
Laura Beth
July 27, 2018Thanks for participating! I loved your answers. The heels are so sexy!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 30, 2018Thank you! Haha I miss those heels!
Erin Eliza
July 30, 2018YAY thanks for the tag, excited to get to this one! 1) I’m totally thinking of making brownies now… or cinnamon buns. or soft tacos. 2) I want pictures of the pet squirrel! what was the squirrel’s name?! 3) lol’d @ goth granny but I feel it and can totally picture it. and 4) just went down a google wormhole about cryptids and I would NOT be raising my eyebrows if you dug into your paranormal creatures beliefs!!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 30, 2018You’re welcome! Ugh, brownies, cinnamon buns, AND tacos all sound amazing! What if you made brownies in the shape of taco shells and then put cinnamon buns inside of them… *drooling*
Haha his name was Mr. Jingles! I will try to find a picture and show you! I think my mom may have some on her facebook.
LMAO thank you for getting me!
Aren’t they crazy?! Dude I could seriously just research that shit for DAYSSSS. I might do it some time!
Erin Eliza
July 31, 2018CINNAMON BUN BROWNIE TACOS FTW!!!
Mr. Jingles is an excellent name.
I love having conversations about the supernatural but it is hard to find other people to talk to that won’t be like wtf kind drugs are you rn??
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 31, 2018Right?! Like, my partner and I recently started changing our eating habits big time, but I am low key tucking that idea away for our next “splurge dinner” lmao. It’s a thought for sure.
Haha my mom and I used to be obsessed with The Green Mile ♥
YES, EXACTLY. And I have this pressing fear every time I start to bring it up on my blog that people will unfollow me in mass flocks, lmao. Sometimes I miss being a kid, where I could just talk to people and be like, “I saw my cat’s ghost!” and they’d go, “COOL!” instead of, you know, cocking an eyebrow and backing away slowly.
Erin Eliza
July 31, 2018omg my family has so many ghost stories so whenever people are like, do you believe in ghosts? and I’m like do you want the short answer or the long form essay that’ll keep you up at night??? BUCKLE UP
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
July 31, 2018LMAOOOO it me, I swear. That’s how my family is, too, and I’ve been having experiences literally as long as I can remember. I used to have this best friend, and I didn’t know for the longest time that she didn’t believe in ghosts or any sort of paranormal shit AT ALL until one day she made a really rude joke about people who did, and I was like, “wow, this friendship a lie, what do I do now?” lmaooo
Erin Eliza
August 2, 2018LOL! Bye Felicia!!
Ugh my husband is ALWAYS making jokes about spirits cause he knows my thoughts on them and I’m like IF you FREAKING invite some malevolent ghost in here I’m leaving you, sorry not sorry.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
August 2, 2018BAHAHAHA yesss! Okay, so little story time, my ex fiance legit GOT US CURSED when we first got together. I allowed him to tag along when I went to visit the grave site of a witch who lived in my hometown in the mid-1900s, who I have always felt a very strong spiritual connection to for some reason, so I used to go sometimes and leave gifts and flowers or just sit and talk. Well, I let him tag along, which was a stupid decision, because he decided it would be “funny” to sit on the headstone and talk shit, and I literally started to drive off and leave him. I was so mad. For WEEKS we had terrible things happen nonstop and he kept seeing and hearing things until I finally convinced him to go back and apologize and leave an offering to her spirit. Literally the day he did that, everything stopped and was fine. I should have taken that red flag at face value and left him because he turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life but whatever. *eye roll*