Hi everybody! Most of you (I’m sure!) know one of my best friends Brooke by now. She’s my favorite pen pal (okay, so she’s my only pen pal. She’s still my favorite) and bookish friend who I met on my blog! (#17869 on why blogging is the best.) Today I’ll be doing an interview with her… but it’s a bit different because this is a DOUBLE interview! (Which means Brooke will be asking me a few questions as well.) If you follow my on Goodreads (go do that here for lots of updates on what I’m reading – I’m addicted), I asked you on Wednesday for any questions you had for me or Brooke. Brooke and I will be asking each other questions we came with ourselves, and your questions as well!

OH and I almost forgot the best part: you can finally put a face to Miss Brooke! 🙂 If she hasn’t commented on your blog, it’s only because she hasn’t discovered it yet, because Brooke comments on practically every blog. Meaning if you’re a blogger who comments on my blog frequently… she has probably visited you. And if you have no clue WHO Brooke is? You can thank me later for telling you about her. (She’s the coolest friend.)

So Brooke, you blushing yet? (It’s my life goal, I promise.)

Meet BROOKE!

Do you recognize those peoples beside Brooke?? Do you?? DO YOU? Yep, that’s the AH-MAZE-ING Marissa Meyer – author of The Lunar Chronicles – and Kiera Cass – author of The Selection series. Brooke’s a lucky duck. No scratch that. Marissa Meyer & Kiera Cass are. (Cause unlike me, they’ve met Brooke in person. Grr.)

Emily: Hey Brooke! I thought I would probably start off with a question relating to a little bit about yourself: what’s your family like? (Also just like a general overview of yourself.) 🙂

Brooke:

Haha. Well, I have two older brothers, one older sister, and one little sister. I have two neices and one nephew on the way! My dad retired in 2015 from the air force. I have lived in Hawaii, Japan, Guam, and New Mexico. We are currently in between moves. I’ve been homeschooled all my life, and I am in 8th grade. Umm….. I don’t really know what else to say. Haha Now for my first question, what books are you most excited to read this year?

Emily: 

Let’s see: January 26 – The Siren by Kiera Cass, February 2 – Stars Above by Marissa Meyer, February 9 – Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard, March 8 – A Tyranny Of Petticoats, March 29 – The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski, May 3 – The Heir by Kiera Cass, Mother/Daughter Book Camp by Heather Vogel Frederick… I can’t think of any past that at the moment but I’m sure there will be! Now for my question for you: If there was any fictional character you could live with, who would it be?

Brooke: Hmm…. probably Hermione Granger (Harry Potter), or Annabeth Chase (Percy Jackson). What author(s) have a similar writing style to yours? 

Emily: Rachel Coker and Ann M. Martin. They both write beautiful historical fiction books that are poetic and powerful, and I’d dream of writing like that someday. I think I write like both of them even now, just because it’s natural to take the same writing style of the books you read. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Brooke: Well, in ten years I would be 23…. I see myself a new graduate from college and working. I don’t know totally what I want to do but it’ll probably be something book related( publishing or something like that). What are your favorite movies or TV shows? 

Emily: AHHH I REALLY LIKE THIS ONE. As much as I adore books (adore is an understatement, but I think everybody already knows that), I do love talking about movies/TV shows I like. LET ME THINK: movies… You’ve Got Mail, anything with Tom Hanks, any Jane Austen book-to-movie adaption, The Giver, Divergent (the first one, not the second one), THE BOOK THIEF (READ THE BOOK FIRST), Back to the Future, Ever After, Leap Year, Do You Believe… I should probably stop now. TV Shows: Boy Meets World (Girl Meets World not so much), Full House (not my favorite-favorite, but it never gets old), GILMORE GIRLS, When Calls the Heart, and Heartland. I’d like to start watching Once Upon a Time next. 🙂 Meet an author (say… J.K. Rowling or another big-name author you’ve never met before) OR meet an online friend? (like meeee!) 

Brooke: This is such a hard question! Well, meeting J.K.Rowling or Rick Riordan would be awesome, but I would have to choose an online friend. What are the names of all your different pets? (I struggle to keep them straight)

Emily: No biggie. I struggled for months to keep your family straight. XD Okay, here goes. Two cats: Mittens (male) and Maisy (female.) One dog: Beasley (male – we’ve had him for three months, love him so much!) Three turtles (yellow-belly slider turtles): Squirt (mine), Tutu and Zoom (my sister’s). And then four fish: Alpha (Beta fish  – HAHAHA GET IT. Alpha and Beta are the first two letters of the Greek alphabet… heehee), Gil, Speedy, and Flo. And a snail, Gary. (Like Spongebob’s snail.) 😉

Brooke, would you tell me a bit more about getting to meet Kiera Cass and Marissa Meyer??

Brooke: I met Kiera Cass back in May when she was touring for The Heir. The book signing was three or four hours away from where I lived so we decided to make a day out of it. We went shopping before hand and arrives at the bookstore a few hours befor hand and ate a café next door. Then we had to wait a little longer. I sat in the second row cause the front row was to intimidating. Listening to her talk was great. And she personalized my books, which was great. Back in November I went to see Marissa Meyer. I was so excited. I had bought the tickets a few months before hand. The atmosphere was so much differnt then the Kiera signing. There were a ton of people dressed up and the staff was great. When the doors opened my dad and I made our way to a table which was near a podium. We had no idea where she was going to be speaking so we didn’t know where to sit. While waiting for it to start I made a button and walked around. They had the costume contest next and introduced Marissa. It turned out we had sat in the perfect spot! She spoke a few feet away from me. She was so cool. It was so fun. I was number 29 in line. When it was my turn I was so nervous. I had a lot of books so we got to talk for a bit. I commented on Winter. She talked to me about my Harry Potter shirt, and it turns out we are from the same house! She asked me about the Cinder necklace I was wearing and how I made it. And then I took my photos with her and was on my way! It was the best.

Now for the questions from you guys on the Goodreads!

From Izel: if you could spend a whole 24 hours with each other, where would you meet and what would you do? 🙂 Emily: We’ve talked about this one. (Very good question though!) I feel like when we meet, it will either be months planned in advance or a last-minute thing, like “My family’s driving through, let’s meet!” BUT if I had absolutely any choice I’d love to meet Brooke at an author-signing or big book convention! Then I’d be soooo hyped. Meeting an author AND Brooke?! OH YEAH. Also, having a sleepover sometime would be amazing. 

Brooke: That is such a great question Izel! I would love to meet her at a young adult book festival (such as y’all fest) or an author signing. It would be so mugh fun. And then afterwards we could have a sleepover and talk about the event. But I would also love to just go to a bookstore and browse, chat, and shop. And afterwards get tea at starbucks. Doing anything with Emily would be fun :).

From Stormsiren99: awesome! Ok here’s a question: What is your favorite childhood book? 🙂 🙂 🙂 Emily: The Boxcar Children or Nancy Drew series were the first “chapter books” I got into around 7-8 years old, and The American Girl books and The Mother/Daughter Book Club were ones I got into a little bit later. 🙂 Although the EARLIEST would have to be If You Give a Pig a Pancake or Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? 😉 

Brooke: Thanks for the question Stormsiren99. American Girl was one of my first chapter books. I got into those when I was about 8 or so. And then for my 9th birthday I got the first book in the Harry Potter series. I fell in love with it. It really fueled my love for fantasy, And the rest is history :).

From Olivia: Do you think “once upon a time” is cliche/overused or do you like it? Emily: I think it’s kind of a classic, at this point. I haven’t read many books that start with it, but I feel like if I began a book with those lines it would probably end up being a more sarcastic, dry humor-type book (think the narrator of The Series of Unfortunate Events or The Book Thief) than a fairy tale if that makes sense. (?) Does it…? I don’t know if that does or not. Not even sure if that was the answer you were looking for… oops. 🙂

Brooke: Awesome question Olivia! Once upon a time is so cliché but when used the right way it can really add to the story.

From Trisha: What are your two bookish pet peeves? Emily: I hate hate hate not finishing books. (Otherwise known as DNF – Did Not Finish.) It makes me feel so unsettled. (Even though I used to be the QUEEN of DNFing in elementary school.) And watching the movie before the book. Ask my parents. I get so mad when they watch the movie without reading the book. *sigh*

Brooke: When people dog ear pages and only watch the movie are two major pet peeves of mine. I have a ton though. ;p

From Trisha: If you could go anywhere in the world, where and why? Emily: Either Germany because my grandmother’s side of the family dates back to coming to America in the 1500s after agreeing with Martin Luther during the Protestant Reformation. Their castles – The Funderburk castles, or pronounced in German something like “Vonderburgh” are still there! Also Bath, England: because Jane Austen’s house, duh.

Brooke: I would go to England. Because as I mentioned earlier I’m a big Harry Potter fan so I would love to visit all of the HP sights. And of course it would be awesome to see all of the historical monuments.

i really hope you all enjoyed this post! let me know in the comments below if you have any more questions for us, we’d be happy to answer them! and answer some of the questions from above in the comments! 🙂