Hey there loves! As many of you know, one of the biggest “rules” that we are pushing is that we hosts must “know” you. A lot of you have asked what constitutes us “knowing” you, and that is a very valid question in this digital age! Basically, we want to have faith in those that we are allowing into our precious project. We want to be able to say, “Oh yeah, that is the girl who 
chatted with me about her search for a job as a Librarian.” Or, “She is the girl who was active in the hashtag despite not being able to join in on last round.” We look at your avi picture, we memorize your name, we make notations next to your sign-up in our spreadsheet. Full disclosure: when we go to our spreadsheet and one (OR TWO!!) of us has to notate, “no idea who she is, she doesn’t even follow me” we give some serious side eye. Are we looking for followers? Not in the least bit. Do we think that you ONE BILLION PERCENT should know who ALL THREE hosts are? OH. YES. We actually had a ridiculous amount of people this round thank two of us or not know that they were speaking to one of the hosts when we reached out to inquire about an issue, and so on. It is embarrassing for YOU when we bring this info back to base as the information on who we are is so readily available in a few different places.
With that being said, we thought it would be helpful if we each wrote up a little “about me” so that you had some points to bring up when you chatted us up over the next month. HINT: THIS MEANS IT IS A VERY GOOD IDEA TO GO AND VISIT ALYSSA AND AMY’S POSTS, THERE MIGHT BE A QUIZ LATER. We put the question to twitter, and some of you had some things you just HAD to know, so let’s get goin’!
GET TO KNOW THE HOSTS!
How did you get the idea for The Secret Sister Project? The project was Alyssa‘s idea! There was a lot of negativity floating around in the blogging world — specifically on Twitter — and Alyssa wanted to implement a project to bring positivity and build relationships throughout the community. She/we threw some questions out there to gauge interest and voila! The Secret Sister project was born!
How did the three of you meet? I first “met” Alyssa when I was a baby blogger and looking for awesome blogs to follow. I liked her posts and then saw a Princess Bride quote in her Twitter profile and I knew we needed to be friends. We worked on the very first Fortnight of Fright together, ended up tweeting each other Friends quotes all the time, and finally decided to move our friendship from Twitter to texts. We finally met in person at BEA 2013! She actually picked me up from the airport and we roomed together. We were afraid that once we met, we’d have nothing to talk about but we hit it off as if we’d been friends forever!
I knew Amy from around the blogosphere and we had chatted but not really talked as much as I had with other bloggers. We met briefly at BEA 2013 but I still didn’t know her really well. Once I started reading A Song of Ice and Fire (one of her favorite series), we ended up talking about the series! She and Alyssa had texted and we were like, “This is silly! We need to group text about this so we can all talk at the same time!” And thus, our conversation and a best friendship was born!
What is your favorite (or most popular) blog post that you have written? Favorite and most popular cross over a bit but are still a bit different! Some of my most popular:
- The Book Addict’s “Guide” to Crossover Books (adult books for YA readers/YA books for adult readers)
- If You Liked Divergent (book recs for fans of DIVERGENT)
- Which Lunar Chronicles Character Are You? (a Lunar Chronicles personality quiz!)
Some of my personal favorites:
- Young Adult Meets Disney and YA Meets Friends (YA + pop culture mash-ups!)
- 17 Books to Give You A Book Hangover
- The Stages of Starting a New Book by Your Favorite Author (as told by The Princess Bride gifs)
List a few things that anyone can mention to get you talking!
- Friends (I’m obsessed. I quote. I re-watch millions of times)
- Any of my big book fandoms: The Lunar Chronicles, The Grisha Trilogy, Harry Potter (I’m a Ravenpuff but lean more Ravenclaw!), anything Gayle Forman, Throne of Glass, The Name of the Wind, Brandon Sanderson books (Mistborn, Steelheart)
- The Princess Bride
- Beer (I’m a beer girl! I homebrew with my husband too)
- Heroes: Reborn – I just binge watched and caught up on the season so far!
- Pitch Perfect (JESSE <3)
- Choir (I used to be a total choir nerd! I miss it. Sigh.)
- What I’m currently reading
- Anything about reading/blogging!
- Hmmm this is hard! If you’ve struck out on all of those ideas, just stop by and say hi! I don’t bite 🙂
Which FRIENDS character would you have dated? Definitely Chandler.
Were Ross and Rachel really on a break? No. I mean maybe a break but a “break” doesn’t mean “break up”. Sorry, Ross.
What is in your Zombie Apocalypse Kit? Besides weapons/zombie-fighting essentials? A kindle loaded full of books (and some of my favorite physical copies for when I can’t find a way to charge the battery anymore), beef jerky, ummmm. This is hard! Photo albums to keep with me… and… water? I haven’t really thought about this!
Marry, Kiss, Kill: Loki, Thorne, Jamie Fraser | Kiss: Loki, Marry: Thorne, Kill: Jamie (sorry, Jamie, only because Loki would kill me if I tried to kill him and we all know I end up with Thorne)
What genre do you enjoy reading the most? Fantasy (both YA and adult) and lighter contemporary. I’ve started getting more into sci-fi too! It’s changed a lot over the years! I didn’t think I liked fantasy until I started reading the right books and now I can’t believe I wasn’t reading those all along! I do like a more serious contemporary/realistic fiction but lately my life has been so hectic that I need those lighter books!
Do you have interests outside of reading? Of course! My husband and I homebrew beer as a hobby (a delicious hobby) and we also started our own company to make and sell homebrewing equipment — Starting Point Brewing Equipment. It’s still a work in progress and we’re working on items to add to our shop but we’re hoping to kick that off even more soon! The dream is to open a brewery someday but that’s of course quite costly.
I also started making candles! It was just for fun at first and then I couldn’t help but pair them with book-inspired scents for inspiration and I really wanted to share that with other book lovers! I just opened my own Etsy shop — Novelly Yours — last month! 😀
My husband and I also love traveling. We haven’t gotten to do as much lately but we love to go camping, find new places to visit, and just get away when we can.
What is your favorite standalone book that you have read lately? Hmmm. The first one that comes to mind is The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens. I thought it was so well done and I really connected with the characters a LOT!
Who is your favorite or least favorite character in literature? I haven’t thought about this question in a while and I think it’s Kvothe from The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss. He just has so many qualities and traits that I love. He’s studious and smart but also wily and a prankster. He’s tough and yet sensitive. He loves music and performing, I love his friendships, and he’s maybe a bit of a dolt with the ladies but I’ll wait for that to develop a bit more haha! I just love him and I’ve become so invested in his story!
Who is your favorite author that you have met in person? Leigh Bardugo is instantly the author that comes to mind! She’s such a strong and fierce woman, which you can see from her social media accounts as well, and she’s also absolutely hilarious and so much fun to be around in person! I’ve been fortunate enough to meet her a few times on tour and she’s always so nice, warm and welcoming, and just an absolutely blast to “hang out” with!
What upcoming books are you excited for? Any new book by my favorite authors (Heartless, Throne of Glass #5, A Court of Mist and Fury, The Raven King, The Dregs #2), P.S. I Like You by Kasie West, The Last Star by Rick Yancey, Summer of Sloane by Erin L Schneider… oh just go look at my “omg can’t wait” list on Goodreads haha! There are WAY too many!
Favorite gifs for reference? (All of these are like Friends, New Girl, and Pitch Perfect by the way…)
For times when people need to shuuuuush
I mean, you just need this one. JESSE!
And this one
We all need a good omg gif
When you’re having a bad day…
Because Schmidt
Okayyyyy that’s about it about me! If you’re new to #otspsecretsister we would love to get to know you ASAP so we can give you the green light for round four! Unfortunately due to some circumstances in the previous round(s), we are enforcing the “get to know” you rule and do want to be familiar with at least who you are and maybe some things that you love! Hit me up on Twitter (@bookaddictguide). That’s the best place to chat! But you know where else to find me on social media if you want to hang out there (see sidebar!)…
62 thoughts on “On The Same Page Secret Sister: Round 4 | Get to Know the Hosts!”
I love all of these gifs! The Monica one is one of my favorites!
This project that y’all are working on is honestly the coolest thing that I’ve ever heard of. I kept seeing all the hashtags on Twitter, and when I looked through it, I was just like “OMG THIS IS SO COOL I WANT TO DO THIS.”
I was in choir all throughout high school and some of middle school, and I absolutely loved it. Honestly, it was the best part of my high school years. I met so many cool people, and most of my best friends are friends that I made in choir. So, I definitely get what you’re saying about missing it. I miss it all the time.
I have the same exact favorite genres! I basically only read fantasy and (sometimes) light contemporaries. There’re just so many great YA fantasy novels out there, and once I get my hands on one, I devour it.
Also, I freaking love you for all of the Jesse gifs from Pitch Perfect. LITERALLY LOVE THAT MOVIE SO MUCH.
Thanks for linking to this post on twitter. 🙂 I heard through the project through Inge (@ Of Wonderland) and it sounds like such a great exchange! I also read a lot of fantasy and contemporary, and I love Harry Potter and The Lunar Chronicles. 🙂 I own Mistborn and I can’t wait to read it, but I haven’t got round to it yet, because I always want to make sure I actually have the time to get into a new fantasy world when I start a new series. My friend also recommended The Name of the Wind to me, so that’s on my TBR as well! And another friend just gave me The Princess Bride and we watched it together and I loved Montoya – that scene where they were fighting but being SO OVERLY POLITE to each other had me in stitches. I, um, hate the taste of beer with fiery passion of a thousand burning suns (which can make life difficult seeing as I’m German), but I hope you won’t hold that against me! 😀 I watched the entirety of Friends a few years ago and Chandler will always be my fave. <3
Thank you for this post! I am signing up for the OTSP Secret Sister and this post really helps!
I have to admit, I know nothing about brewing beer; but I do love drinking it. I am originally from Romania and I’ve been able to travel around Europe a bit and I love tasting beers wherever I go. When I was back in Romania, I did make homemade wine, which always turned out much better than anything you could buy, so I can only imagine how yummy your brewed beer is.
I also met Leigh Bardugo and was blown away by how amazing she is. I am obsessed with her Grisha Trilogy! I still need to read Six of Crows; hopefully soon.
How nice that you three met through blogging, and look at you now! I had a similar friendship with Jenni of the now-retired Alluring Reads. She and I moved from commenting/Twittering to texting to FaceTime. I think the only time we weren’t blowing up each other’s phones was when we were sleeping. Haha! Books can form crazy bonds between people… Or is it books can form bonds between crazy people? ::shrugs::
I know what you’re talking about when you refer to the negativity that can sometimes cloud the blogosphere. The drama gets so thick sometimes you could choke on it! OTP Secret Sister is a nice reminder of why we do what we do, and of our own humanity.
I follow your progress with NovellyYours and promise to order some candles someday – when I haven’t spent all my money on school and books! 😀
I can’t wait for The Raven King either! I’m so excited but also kind of terrified because I don’t want anyone to die #SaveGansey I’m also looking forward to Sarah J. Maas next books.
I’ve been hearing a lot of people getting into homebrew lately. It sounds like a lot of fun, really. I’ve tried my hand at mead and things like that, but only very casually. I don’t have enough room in my house right now for a major set-up, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to try more of.
Also, hey! Fellow choir kids! I did competitive choir/show choir in highschool. I also organized our school’s variety show two years in a row and did speech/debate. Those are easily some of my favorite memories. Traveling for competition was always the most fun as well and I loved the opportunity to make friends from other schools – I even took a couple of those friends to proms! 😀
I loved your “Which Lunar Chronicles Character Are You?” post! Lots of fun to be had there. Although now I am curious to go check out your personal favorites 🙂
You might want to shoot me for this, but I must confess I have never seen Friends. *ducks in shame* Bits and clips here and there but never actually sat to watch it yet. It is, however, on my very long Netflix list to watch at some point.
I love that you have gotten into candle making! Sounds like such a fun hobby to get into!
Choir and craft beer – is there anything better?! I did competitive choir in high school and really miss how diligent it made me about voice practice. Choir in college wasn’t as intense as I would have liked, and I’m finding less and less reasons to sing now that I’ve entered adulthood which is horribly depressing.
Also, so nice to meet other girls who don’t turn up their nose at beer – are you also a whiskey fan? I’ve found the two usually go together. 🙂
YES I love beer! <333 I'm not a huge whiskey fan but I mostly don't drink liquor/hard alcohol. It is one of the things I will drink when I do though!
Happy New Year! I just finished the Lunar Chronicles not too long about. I really liked Cinder and Scarlet the most, Cress was okay. Winter was better, but ending was nice, but I think I was hoping for a little more. And I totally think Cinder’s step-mom and sister should have had a different ending. Throne of Glass has to be my favorite series so far. Cannot wait until the next book is released!
A Ravenpuff – that’s awesome you mixed two of the houses together. I have to say, I’m a total Slytherin but I love all things Harry Potter! I love the idea of this secret sister swap and I would be honored to be considered for the next round. I think it’s great this was created to help launch some more positive-ness into the blogger world, even though I try and stay away from most drama if I can. 🙂
-Lauren
Omg that Chandler gif! Hahaha I love him so much.
I love what you have to say about Kvothe. I’ve only read The Name of the Wind so far, but I absolutely loved it. I’m getting The Wise Man’s Fear for Christmas and I can’t wait because I have actually found myself missing being in the world that Rothfuss created. I’m so excited to see how the story continues. Just a few more days and I can visit Kvothe again!
I think it’s really cool that you guys all meet online. You hear so many horror/creepy stories about that so it’s good to know that it can turn out ok 🙂
You can always count on Friends to make connections. I already mentioned on Alyssa’s post that my brother and I will have conversations entirely in Friends quotes. In fact, when I was still living at home and we pretty much hated each other, Friends was the one thing we could bond over.
Even though I don’t have the time to dedicate to Secret Sister I think what you gals have put together is pretty awesome!
Those gifs cracked me up!! You can NEVER go wrong with a Friends, Pitch Perfect, or New Girl gif. I am rewatching Friends on Netflix for the billionth time. I have been a fan since forever. I can’t recall if I knew you were one too. I think I did… LOVE! I gotta say, I would have dated Chandler too, he is just too cute and funny! As for Ross and Rachel being on a break… to this very day I still can’t bring myself to take a side. LOL
Thank you so much! YES, I love Friends! I didn’t get into it until the show was already over but I am so obsessed now! 🙂
I think the OTSPSecretSister project is a lovely idea and I have been watching enviously all the fun you guys have. I don’t know a whole lot of people around the blogging world, but I do love participating in the TBTB Secret Santa and am starting to use Twitter more. I absolutely love the Princess Bride, unfortunately for my husband, who still does not get the power of the words “as you wish.” I have to admit I have never watched an episode of Friends. I have a candle obsession, really a scents obsession, and if I ever buy something on Etsy, candles will probably be my first purchase. Good luck with next round!
Thanks, Sarah! Hope to see you around for the next round!! Always great to meet a fellow Princess Bride fan 😀
It’s so cool you homebrew! My dad does as well and while the end result is yummy, the smell while it’s being made is just atrocious!! I’m a Hufflepuff, but I wish I were a Ravenclaw, so I suppose I’m a sort of Ravenpuff as well! 😛
What are you currently reading? I’m about a third of the way through WE ALL LOOKED UP and loving it so far. I’m hoping for a cozy, quiet Sunday to let me finish it up.
The candles are so awesome, love them!!
Haha my mother-in-law hates the smell too! I don’t really mind it 😀 YAY fellow Ravenpuff! I definitely think I lean more Ravenclaw but I have a lot of Hufflepuff too.
I’m currently reading Call Me Maybe by Ellie Cahill. It’s a new adult book and Ellie Cahill is the pen name of Liz Czukas. I love all of her books and this one is currently also adorable!
Aww thank you! The candles are so much fun to make!
L❤ve that you answered my marry, kiss, kill question but I’m with Amy on this one because I know what my marriage to Jamie would be like
Haha! Yeah, I haven’t met Jamie yet so he’s the one who gets the axe, sadly!
It’s seriously so fun just to get to know even more about you ladies! You guys are SUPERSTARS for putting this event together and working hard so that things run smoothly <3
xoxoxo thank you, Alexa!!!
Wow! You spent a great deal of time sharing about yourself! I think this is an awesome project, and I so appreciate the effort that you all put into it! Best of luck with the next round!!
Thank you!! It’s so rewarding to see all of those beautiful friendships created and days made ;D
I’ve seen candle making stuff at places like Michael’s and I’ve always though it looks like fun. I don’t use candles enough to make it worthwhile to buy all of it though.
I don’t drink beer but I love that you have a beer-scented candle on your homebrewing site’s shop!
That’s how I started! I just really wanted to try it and then I got SUPER into it haha!
Aww thanks for checking out the homebrewing site too!
I think it’s so sweet that you lovely ladies started OTP Secret Sister in order to bring the blogging community together! Ever since I’ve started blogging I’ve met so many amazing readers and writer who I chat with all day about books. 🙂 It’s really cool that you make your own candles. It’s something I’ve always wanted to learn to make. What’s your favorite scent?
Thanks, Rachel! It’s been so rewarding to see people come together like they have.
Hmmm that’s a hard question! There are SO many that I like. I love Cabeswater, The Scorpio Sea, and Levi’s Pumpkin Mocha Breve… oh, and The Yule Ball! But each time I come up with something new, that’s my new favorite haha!
This is such a great idea to get to know everyone! Obviously I’m very familiar with you but I don’t know Alyssa or Amy at all so it was nice to read about them both as well! I really want to sign up for the next round so this is the perfect introduction. Also, Kvothe is probably my favorite literary character too! His stories are so engaging and I can’t help getting sucked into his narrative. I’m hoping to re-read The Name of the Wind this year!
YAYYYY hope to see you there for the next round!
I already want to re-read NotW! It was just SO good and the audio was amazing as well.
Sometimes I think I’m the only one who has never seen Friends.
A couple people commented and said they haven’t watched friends! And actually Amy isn’t a huge fan (not that she doesn’t like it but didn’t get into it like Alyssa and I did). You’re not alone!
I love the favorite gifs question. That “Youths” gif kills me!! Too funny.
Hahah thank you! Schmidt is the best ;D
I have an uncle who does some brewing, and it’s seems like an interesting hobby. What kind of beers do you make?
It’s a lot of fun to have a creative outlet like that! We make all kinds of beers! We’ve made some pretty good IPAs, wheat beers, we just had a saison that was pretty good, stouts… we pretty much like to try a little of everything!
I am also super excited for Heartless and ACOMAF. ACOTAR was actually my first book by Sarah J. Maas and instantly became one of my favorites of 2015.
I also love the idea of a crossover YA/adult post. I’ve been on the lookout for more adult books since I’m applying to a few editorial assistant positions for adult books and that post seems like a great place to start.
Yessss Heartless and ACOMAF! I quickly fell hard for Sarah’s books!
Hope the crossover post is helpful! 😀
Ahhh a fellow choir nerd! Choir basically prevented me from dropping out of high school. I’m still in choir in college, and I can’t imagine what I’ll do after that. Probably join a community choir. And I love love loveeee the gifs you included. Who doesn’t love Friends, New Girl, and Pitch Perfect? I think it’s so cool that you make bookish candles! Your hobbies are just the coolest!
YEAH, go choir nerds!!! I wish I had the time to join a community choir. I always meant to but then life got in the way. I still want to get back to it someday becuase I miss singing so much!!
YEAH, go choir nerds!!! I wish I had the time to join a community choir. I always meant to but then life got in the way. I still want to get back to it someday because I miss singing so much!!
What fantastic timing! My fiance and I decided LAST WEEK that we need to get into home brewing. And we need equipment, cuz all we have are glass growlers. Now we’ve got a trusted resource. Yay! Thanks. 😀
YAYYY best timing! I’m happy to help out if you have any questions or just want to talk brewing! ;D
Between my Velveeta cheese, your beef jerky and water, and all of our bombs, we’d last a while with those zombies I think.
Also, LOLOL I’d like to see you TRY to kill Jamie! He’s a battle-tested warrior! Thorne would be crushed.
I mean, maybe Loki and Thorne will help me? I don’t WANT to kill Jamie… you’re right, he’d probably kill me too.
Love ittttt I love trading Friends quotes with you! And A+ fandoms of course. I hope that you guys writing these posts makes the experience a little easier to manage going forward, it’s a great idea! Also let’s talk about Pitch Perfect and Jesse foreverrrrrr 🙂
Yessss I always love swapping Friends quotes!
Omg Jesse forever! <3 He is just adorable and I love him.
Okay, confession time, I’ve only seen one episode of Friends. My sister used to watch the show all the time, but it never caught my interest.
I’ve also kinda sorta been stalking your Etsy shop until I have my Christmas money to buy a few candles. You have some pretty amazing stuff there.
Thanks for sharing this with us. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!
I am with you on the whole not watching Friends. It was before my time (I’m 25) to be interested in shows like that let alone get half of what they where talking about!
I was definitely too young for it when it first aired! I didn’t start watching until I was watching re-runs with my sister (once the show was already over) and then slowly started becoming a huge fan! 🙂
I think Friends is like totally hit or miss! Most people are obsessed or haven’t seen it/don’t really care. We still love everyone, no matter their Friends preference 😉
Eee thank you! The candles are just so much fun to make!
love the work you guys put into this project 🙂
Thanks, Molly! We appreciate all the work that all the participants put into it too. You guys keep it great!
It’s so cool that you guys homebrew! That’s my hubby’s secret wish – to brew his own! BTW, I can’t argue with Thorne! He is my first book boyfriend ever! Ha ha
I can’t believe you guys all met online! I honestly thought you were friends from birth or something!
Homebrewing is easy and hard all at the same time haha! It’s not hard to do but it’s a bit of a science at times. But anyone can do it with the right equipment!
Haha nope! We only met a few years ago!! But honestly, it feels weird to think about a time before we were friends. We’ve just grown so close!
Haha that “Youths!” line is probably my favorite New Girl moment ever 🙂 I quote it all the time.
Hahah Schmidt is just the best! And I also love that gif because sometimes I feel SO OLD around teenagers/people in their early 20s!