Welcome back to BOOK AND A BEVERAGE!

In case you don’t know the deal about Book and a Beverage, it’s a very simple yet fun feature: We read books, we drink beverages, we take pictures of them and then I share your photos and a little about you to the blogging world!

Give a big welcome to Amanda from Late Nights With Good Books!

Name & Blog Name: My name’s Amanda and I run the blog Late Nights with Good Books.
Tell us a little about your blog! Late Nights with Good Books is a place where I share my love of books and my love of writing. The majority of my posts are book reviews and, while I read a wide variety of genres across age ranges, most books reviewed will either be marketed towards a young adult audience or fall within the fantasy genre. I created Late Nights with Good Books as a response to that lonely, difficult period after college when I was unsure which direction my life would take next. Maintaining the blog has given me the perfect outlet to continue to think critically about books and discuss what I read with other book lovers, and it has contributed to my decision to pursue a Master’s of Library and Information Science degree.
What’s been your favorite post you’ve written so far? (Link us up!) A favorite review: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor. A favorite discussion: On Being a Long-Term Reader.
Got anything special coming up we should know about? Not really. I hope to start reading and reviewing more middle grade stories, as well as discuss some aspects of librarianship, but I’ve been so focused on my classes right now that none of those plans have come to fruition yet. Soon, hopefully!

Whatcha reading? Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth.
Where did it come from? (Library, purchased, publisher, etc) It was a birthday present from my parents. I was so excited that the U.S. release was right around my birthday this past September, although I’m only now starting it.
Any special reason you chose to feature this book? I’ve been excited about this book for a long time now, from back when I found out it was released in Australia and was soon to be released in the U.K., yet had no U.S. release date. Fairy-tale retellings hold a special place in my heart, and I love the fact that this isn’t simply a retelling of Rapunzel, but that it also strives to incorporate the story into a historical setting; in this case I believe it’s seventeenth-century France and Renaissance Italy.
What’s important that we should know about this book? Would you recommend it? I am only just starting it, so I’m afraid I can’t say whether or not I’ll recommend it yet. Hopefully the answer will be yes, though, considering how long I’ve been wanting to read it. I’d say that anyone interested in fairy-tale retellings and historical fiction might be interested in this one. Whatcha drinking?  A soy chai latte. I bought it from an organic grocery store that’s just down the road.
What’s your favorite thing to drink while reading? Nothing, to be quite honest. I don’t really drink or eat while I’m reading, partially because the majority of my reading takes place in bed. I also like to be fully absorbed in whatever story I’m reading, and I think that having a drink is an unnecessary distraction.
Favorite beverage of all time. Go! I’m going to cheat a bit here and say tea. I think that there’s a tea for every occasion and mood imaginable. I love having a chai or some sort of black tea in the morning and winding down with a green tea in the evening. But, really, I’ll drink any sort of tea at any time.

What are your top three books you would recommend to other people? My answer is totally dependent on each individual’s reading preferences and what they’re looking for in a book. For people like me who love their fantasies, I’ll go with a childhood fantasy, a fantasy I read as a young adult, and a fairly recent fantasy read. Childhood pick: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. Forever and always. This was the book that first made me love fairy-tale retellings, and I’ll always consider this to be one of the better retellings. Ella is the best sort of heroine who rescues herself and finds love, in that order. Young Adult pick: The Thief (and series) by Megan Whalen Turner. Words cannot express my love for these books. It’s definitely the cleverest series I’ve ever read, and these are books where you can gain some new knowledge with every re-read. Adult pick: Graceling (and series) by Kristin Cashore. Strong female protagonists (not necessarily in the physical sense) each believably struggle against their own personal demons in this series. I honestly wish that Cashore had published this series when I was a teen, or that she already had more books published for me to enjoy.
What’s your proudest blogging/reading/writing moment? Finding out that my blog’s name was listed in the paperback edition of Leigh Bardugo’s Siege and Storm was pretty awesome. As is any acknowledgement of my blog from the book publishing and blogging communities, really. It’s also wonderful whenever anyone tells me that a review of mine has inspired them to start reading a book. That’s why I started this blog, after all: to share my love of reading and encourage others to also foster a love of reading.
Anything else you’d like to share? I’m always looking for great book recommendations! I recently started working with kids at a public library and realize I’m not very familiar with middle grade books in particular, so I’d love receiving some suggestions for what I should read.
Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Brittany! I always love reading these posts, and I look forward to getting to know more of my fellow book bloggers.

Thanks, Amanda! So happy to have you on the blog today! It is SUCH a good feeling to see your name in a book! I get tingles every time!
Wonderful recs too! Graceling was fantastic (even though I haven’t continued that series yet). 

I hope you enjoyed getting to know the Amanda! Connect with her at the links below!
Blog // Twitter // Pinterest // Goodreads

And don’t forget! You can participate in Book and a Beverage at any time! Got a book? Got a beverage? Just tweet or post your photo on Instagram using the hashtag #bookandabeverage and I’ll retweet or repost your photo!

Sign-ups are once again CLOSED (you guys sign up so quickly!) and I am booked through May 2015! It will be a long wait, but keep your eyes peeled for sign-ups to reopen in the spring!