193. Let the Swoon Continue: An Interview with Lia from Lia’s Bookish Obsession

[music]

Sarah Wendell:  Hello, and welcome to episode number 193 of Smart Podcast, Trashy Books.  I’m Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, and with me today is Lia from Lia’s Bookish Obsession.  I met Lia at RT in Las Vegas when she came to the RT Book Blogger conference, and she told me the most amazing stories, so here’s what you’re going to hear in this episode:  

The Worst Librarian Story Ever

The Best Husband Story Ever

The Second Best Husband Story Ever

The Third Best Husband Story Ever, and

The Most Adorable Book Blogging Story Ever.

Really, you will not want to miss any of these.  Lia also talks about library rush, book squee, the emotional connection that readers have with the books that they love, and of course, what books she’s reading that she wants everyone to know about.  Plus, as a special treat, she sent me pictures of her husband, who reads some of the books that she recommends, and they’re very funny, so you don’t want to miss them.  They’re going to be at sb-tb.com/podcast.

This podcast is being brought to you by Loveswept, publishers of Sugar Daddy by bestselling author Sawyer Bennett.  Vengeance is sweet, but seduction is to die for.  Sela Halstead has spent years trying to forget a terrible night, even while wondering about the identities of the monsters who hurt her, until a telltale tattoo flashes across her TV screen.  The incriminating ink belongs to Jonathon Townsend, the millionaire founder of The Sugar Bowl, a website that matches rich older men with impressionable young women.  Obsessed with revenge, Sela infiltrates Townsend’s world, only to come face to face with a tantalizing complication:  Beckett North, his charismatic business partner.  Beckett is the tech mastermind behind The Sugar Bowl and always gets what he wants, in business and in bed.  He opens up to her in ways he’s never done before, so why does he get the feeling that she’s hiding something?  In a world with pleasure and power, the shocking truth could turn them against each other or bind them forever.  You can find Sugar Daddy by Sawyer Bennett anywhere eBooks are sold.

The podcast transcript for this episode is being brought to you by Everything Under the Heavens, book one of Silk And Song by Dana Stabenow.  Johanna flees her homicidal stepmother in Khanbaliq, the storied city of Kublai Khan, and sets out on the Silk Road with companions Jaufre and Shasha in search of her fabled grandfather Marco Polo.  This book is now free on Amazon, Kobo, and iTunes and 99 cents on Barnes and Noble, and you can check the podcast entry for links to the books that we talk about and the books that are sponsoring this episode and the transcript.

Speaking of the transcript, if you are a regular listener or reader of the transcripts and you’d like to support the show, please have a look at our Patreon campaign at Patreon.com/SmartBitches.  Listeners who wish to contribute can make monthly pledges starting with $1, and you’ll be helping me reach goals like commissioning transcripts for all the episodes that don’t have one yet.  You can see the rewards and the options at Patreon.com/SmartBitches, and to everyone who has already sponsored the show, thank you so much!  I have rewards coming in the outro – which, by the way, if my husband is listening, outro is totally a legitimate word – so if you would like to hear some of the rewards that are options for sponsoring the show, don’t miss the silliness after the interview.  I’m having a really good time putting these together.

Our music, as always, is courtesy of Sassy Outwater.  You can find her on Twitter @SassyOutwater.  I will have information at the end of the episode as to who this is.

And now, without any further delay, on with the podcast!

[music]

Sarah:  Tell us how you got to be a book blogger, because you told me it was due to a terrible librarian.

Lia:  Yes!  That is still true.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Oh, I’ve, I’m, I still, you have already told me this story, and I still can’t believe it.

Lia:  Okay.  So, my name is Lia, I am twenty-six years old, and I am the creator and blogger of Lia’s Bookish Obsession.  It is my little baby.  It’s only been started since last year December 26, and it was a gift/curse/now becoming a hilarious story.  So I live in North Dakota, and my, what is it, my library is very small.  It’s a very small library, it’s the base library.  Probably the panel that we went to, like, the panels room, was probably the size of our library.  And they were –

Sarah:  That is very small.

Lia:  Yes, it is, you could probably do one twirl and hit every bookcase at the same time, so it’s very small, and because it’s a military library, most of them are, like, military books, but they do have some YA, some romance, just very small amount.  So when I would go to the library and I’d see there was a YA book or romance book that was popular and it somehow stumbled onto our shelves, I’d be like, yes, please!  Okay, I want to go pick it up, and I’ll go pick it up, you know, and they’ll say, hi, how are you?  They’ll check it out, and they’ll give you a plastic bag.  You know, thank you for being at the library, but by the time I get to the car and, you know, it’s just that instinct to just check to make sure you have your keys, your phone, your wallet, I’ll look in the bag, and whatever book I checked out has been swapped for what the librarian though I should be reading.

Sarah:  So you would check out a book, and she would not give you that book –

Lia:  No.

Sarah:  – and put something else in your bag.

Lia:  Yes.  So it kind of got really confusing, ‘cause I’m thinking, well, maybe I picked up too many, maybe my bag got swapped with someone else’s, but then I started noticing it happening hell of a lot more often.  Eventually I confronted; I was like, hey, I tried to pick up Christopher Moore, and now I have Jodi Picoult.  Is there, like, did you, did you give me the wrong bag?  And she’d be like, no.  I really don’t think you need to be reading that.  I don’t think you should be reading YA.  It’s not for you; you’re too old.  You need to be reading something of your own age bracket.  And I’m like –

Sarah:  Oh, my God.  Do you hear that?  That is the sound of librarians’ heads exploding all over the world.

Lia:  [Laughs] And I –

Sarah:  Like, seriously?  That’s horrible!

Lia:  It, I think, and I was like, are you, are you kidding?  And I think I realized the more attention, I think when a Rick Riordan book came out and I desperately wanted it, ‘cause I needed it, and I was the first one to, like, sign up for the list to get it, and the librarians were like, you know, there are children who really do need this book, who want to read it, and I think you could probably just go and buy it.  You don’t actually need to request it from the library.  And I was like, OMG, this is, this is crazy.  I’m so done.  So eventually I told my husband, and, you know, like, he’s deployed a lot, so he, he would just hear bits of stories as time went by, and I would just tell him these books that I really wanted, they’re popular on Amazon, they’re popular in Goodreads, I just want it!

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  And I wouldn’t – [laughs] – and I can’t read them!  But eventually, unbeknownst to me, he was taking lists of all these books.

Sarah:  Aw!

Lia:  Yeah, he was taking lists of all these books, and you know, I always keep, like, our Amazon, like, our things, like, our websites, like, like, wish lists open, so every book that I checked out, I couldn’t get, I just added to, like, this pathetic, ever-growing, not even TBR list, but oh, my God, maybe one day I’ll get it list?  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Right.

Lia:  And then my husband actually, he, I think what happened is he decided that he needed the spare bedroom, and I was like, okay.  You know, it was a, it’s a two-bedroom plus den, you know, two-bathroom house, and we just didn’t, we didn’t even know which room was the den, so we just –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  – left it blank, ‘cause we just don’t –

Sarah:  Is this the, is this your on-base housing?

Lia:  Yeah, on base!  We just didn’t know what – to this day, we moved out, and nobody could tell us which room was the den!

[Laughter]

Lia:  So –

Sarah:  This house has a mystery den.

Lia:  Yes!  So we made one room the baby’s room, but, you know, in quick recession, in case someone’s like, oh, no, this is actually the den; no one’s supposed to live here.  So, you know, so he picked a room and, you know, he’s like, I need this room, and I’m like, okay, private time, awkward, #dontwanttoknow.

[Laughter]

Lia:  And then what ended up happening is, when he opens it, you know, I can respect privacy, so after a while I notice packages coming in and out, he telling me not to touch, and I’m like, all right, weird.  And then eventually, by October, which is our, the month that we met in school, our school registration, he met me in line, so we always do special things for, like, the month that we – he remembers the moment he first saw me.  I don’t.  [Laughs] He gifted me the library full of all the books I’ve ever wanted to read from the year of being in the library, and he’s like, look, I got you your own library!  And –

Sarah:  Oh, my gosh!

Lia:  I felt like Belle!

[Laughter]

Lia:  Like, you know, when, like, Belle sees the library, then she’s like, you know what, I’m okay with bestiality.  [Laughs] I can love beasts.  I felt like, oh, my God.  You, he, three bookshelves, five feet tall, like, books, shelf to shelf books!

Sarah:  Ohhh!

Lia:  All mine!  I, like, lay on the floor crying.  He’s like, what’s wrong?  I’m like, [tearfully] you gave me my own library!  Suck it, librarian!  Ohhh!

[Laughter]

Lia:  I was just so elated, and that’s eventually how I ended up becoming a book blogger, because I would read these books, and I wanted someone to talk to!  And it would just be like me, the husband, and, you know, the baby, who’s not talking, and I’m like, oh, my gosh!  This scene and this character!  He’s like –

Sarah:  Uh-huh.

Lia:  – baby, I haven’t read that far yet, and I’m like, oh, okay.  So then I would read so much so fast that he’s like, you know, maybe you should write reviews, and I was like, he’s like, maybe you should just write ‘em down, and when I get to that part, you know, you write your thoughts down.  When I come back from tour, you know, I can read what you have to say, and I can respond to you.

Sarah:  Hmm!

Lia:  And I was like, nobody does that.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Okay, that’s just adorable.  Like, does he move around a lot and then you stay on base, and then he comes home?

Lia:  Yes.  He is a, he goes to the missile fields, ‘cause we’re in Minot, North Dakota.  He’s an active duty member.  He goes to the missile fields, which, they just scatter them all over in, like, Montana to North Dakota.  They go to the missile fields.  He’s a chef, which means he cooks, but he also does, like, weekly deployments.  So he’s gone, like, say, four days out of a week –

Sarah:  Mm-hmm.

Lia:  – and sometimes he’ll be home for five days with two days having to go back on base or to go into the office or the main building, which means, and then he’ll have, like, a volunteer day.  They, like, mandatory volunteer you – [laughs] – so he might only have two physical days home, and then there’re days where he does back to backs, where he, four days gone, two days home, four days gone, two days home, and he’ll do that in a month.  So –

Sarah:  Whoa!

Lia:  Yeah!  So by the time you, you know, so by the time you see him in the house, he’s like a ghost.  Like, oh!  Oh, I didn’t know you were home today!  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Wow.

Lia:  Yep.

Sarah:  So, have you ever reported this librarian or told anyone how horrible she is, ‘cause this is –

Lia:  Oh, my God!  I have, and they will, she still works there, and she has her master’s in librarian misery, and –

Sarah:  [Laughs] Oh, my goodness!

Lia:  – they will not impeach her.  Like, oh, my gosh, so many people have quit working that library ‘cause of her attitude, and, like, I stopped, I used – oh, my gosh.  They had an event one time.  Like, every summer they have this reading, like, who reads the most by hours, and I’ve won two years in a row, and she would not give me, like, I had to, like, fight for my little $50 gift card, ‘cause she’s like, I don’t really think you read that much, and I’m like, I am a lonely woman.  I can read a lot.

Sarah:  [Laughs] Oh, no!

Lia:  So she’s still there.  She’s going to, she’s been there since 1989.  I don’t think she’s, I think she’s embedded in the damn floor.

[Laughter]

Lia:  She’s not going.

Sarah:  That’s horrible!

Lia:  It’s why I moved downtown, ‘cause the other librarians downtown at the physical Minot Library do not mind if I just get a YA book.  They’re like, oh, good!  Check it out!  I’m like, oh, thank you!  Thank you, my liege!

Sarah:  Oh, my gosh.  I’m horrified for you.  That’s just, that’s terrible!

Lia:  Yep.  And what makes it worse is, she’s like, oh, you have any suggestions for the library?  And I’m like –

Sarah:  Yeah, I’ve got many!  [Laughs]

Lia:  – every book you never let me check out!  How ‘bout that?

Sarah:  I cannot believe that she would just not give you the book you checked out and then tell you that you shouldn’t be borrowing the books you want to read!

Lia:  Oh, that was not even the case.  There’d be times when she would call – I think there was a time I picked out, I think it was All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness, and she called my husband  –

Sarah:  [Gasp!]

Lia:  – to say that I was reading an adult romance book, and –

Sarah:  How old does she think you are?  Well, you’re either too old or, or too young?

Lia:  No!  She, I am, I, they’ve seen my ID.  They know my age, but she just would call, she’d just – you know, some people just get in your cheesecake – [laughs] – like, they get in your cheesecake, like, they get in your zone, and you’re like, no.  This is my Golden Girls moment.

Sarah:  Yes?

Lia:  She would do that.  She would just get on the phone, and she’ll call my husband, and she’s like, oh, your wife requested, you know, Virginia Woolf.  I really don’t think that’s – that’s a different – it was to the point where she knew where I went through a reading spell.  Like, I would go through paranormal romance to, let’s say, YA to suspense, and she would call my husband and be like, is there something wrong?  [Laughs] And I’m like –

Sarah:  [Gasps] Okay.  That’s so not cool.

Lia:  Yep.  So, I moved off base, got my own library.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Life is good.

Lia:  Life is awesome!  No one ever denies my checking out my own books.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  I, I cannot, I still cannot believe that somebody just sits there and does that.  So tell me how your blog came to be.

Lia:  Okay, funny story.  After the librarian –

Sarah:  No, I, I don’t believe you tell funny stories; I’m sorry.

Lia:  No, I’m just a dry story teller.

Sarah:  You’re very, very dry, yes, it’s true.

[Laughter]

Lia:  So, after having a year, no, this is a solid two years now I’ve been fighting the librarian, and I’m just like, I’m done, honey, I’m done!  He’s like, no, you’re not!  I was reading, what was it, I was reading the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout –

Sarah:  Mm-hmm.

Lia:  – and there was a character named Kat, or her name was Katherine, they called her Katy, I think, and she had a book blog, and I had paused the book, like, literally, I just dog-leafed, just left it, and I walked away, and I think my husband, he had to, ‘cause he un-dog-leafed it, and he saw the book, and he was like, oh, there’re book bloggers!  And I was like, yeah, this character, she book blogs.  I have no idea what that is.  I think it’s kind of Goodreads, kind of not, kind of professional.

Sarah:  Right.

Lia:  And he’s like, oh!  He’s like, do you like her character?  And I was like, well, yeah, it’s a character, I love it, she has, like, the epic romance adventure where, you know, I just have the baby?  And he’s like, oh, okay.  And he just left it like that, and I’ve never heard it brought up again, and I was like, so strange!

[Laughter]

Lia:  So, it’s an odd question to ask.

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  So, it’s Christmas, and it’s too cold to do anything for Christmas.  It’s negative.  You know, North Dakota, it’s nothing.  So I’m like, baby, please don’t give me nothing for Christmas.  It’s too cold.  I, I got one tree one time for Christmas, and I think it was up ‘til July I was still trying to get rid of the little pine leaves?

Sarah:  Mm-hmm.

Lia:  So I was like, we’re doing nothing for Christmas!  Baby’s too young!  We’re just going to, you know, slump it.  So here it is, December 26th, my husband goes out to the BX, and he comes back with a box, and find out it’s a Macintosh, where I’m like, [gasps] baby, what’s going on?

[Laughter]

Lia:  Where did you get this money?  Who died?  And he’s like, just give me ‘til this evening.  And I’m like, okay, ‘cause I’m thinking, he’s going to return that by this evening for sure!  [Laughs] And by this evening, he opens up the Mac, he sets it up, and there’s a website domain, all the information and the receipts, I’m getting emails, you know, and I’m like, the hell is going on?  I’ve been hacked!  And I rushed to him, I’m like, babe, I’ve been hacked.  Someone stole my bad credit card and used it.

Sarah:  Oh, no!

Lia:  [Laughs] What is happening?  And he created a book, he created a website with Lia’s Bookish Obsession based off of Katy’s, I think it was Katy’s Krazy – I forget what the website was, but it was like Katy’s Krazy Obsession.  He made a Lia’s Bookish Obsession, and he’s like, you know, I know you had a hard time with the librarian.  Noted.

Sarah:  You, you don’t say.

Lia:  [Laughs] And he’s like, I know you have tons of books to read – and we used to pass this little notebook between, like, I would fill the notebook and put it in his military bag so when he had time he would read it –

Sarah:  Aw!

Lia:  – and he’s like, he’s like, I don’t have time sometimes at work to, to read it, because sometimes leadership comes, we have pop-up inspections sometimes, the site will get overcrowded.  He’s like, sometimes I just don’t have time to read it, he said, but I created this website, Lia’s Bookish Obsession, from Katy’s Krazy Obsession from the Lux series.  He’s like, I know you like, you know, the idea of her having a book blog, so I made one for you, so that way you can read as many books as you want, post whatever you want to say about them, and I can easily just go on the website and, site, and I can update, I can keep updated with you, and I can keep connected with you.  And I was like –

Sarah:  Ohhh!

Lia:  [Squeak] Really?  And he got me a Mac, he got me, he transferred, you know, the web domain, he – everything.  I mean, even the website design.  You know, he’s like, I’ll even help you if you want to go big and get a logo or – he’s like, whatever it takes.  He’s like, I know you love books, I know you love reading, I know you had a hard time with the librarian.  He’s like, this way you can read whatever you want, say whatever you want, and I’ll be right there to support you.  I was like, oh, mi amor!

[Laughter]

Lia:  So, and that is how Lia’s Bookish Obsession came to be.  It was a gift from my husband through the ill-wills of a librarian.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  So a horrible librarian caused your husband to build you a library and then build you a book blog.

Lia:  And then send me to RT!  And that’s –

Sarah:  So he’s, he booked your RT tickets and didn’t –

Lia:  Yes.

Sarah:  – tell – please tell me about this.

Lia:  So I – so, here it is, I’m a new book blogger.  I have no idea what I’m doing.  I’m talking to people on Goodreads, asking for advice, but you know, sometimes advice written isn’t received as, you know, actually physically, you know, talking to someone and asking.

Sarah:  Totally!

Lia:  So he’s like, you know, he’s like, I really – and, now, my husband is such a, you can do it!  Like, you can do it!  That’s his whole attitude, like, I know you can do it!  I’m like, no, we can’t.  It’s not possible.  He’s like, no, I believe!  That’s him in every book everywhere.  Optimism to the tenth power!

Sarah:  Aw!

Lia:  So he’s like, I believe, he’s like, I believe your book blog can be more than just me, your mom, and a couple of my friends.  ‘Cause it got to the point that not only I had issues with the librarian, but other coworkers had issues, so they would come to the book blog to look to see what I’m reading or – you know, so it was just kind of like a local, like, okay, ten people kind of thing.  And he’s like, you know, I think you should go and you should see if you can talk to other people about book blogging, and I was like, there is no such thing, honey.

Sarah:  [Laughs] Little did you know!

Lia:  [Laughs] Little did I know.  So he Googles two seconds, and he sees RT.  Now let me just say this:  the website for RT wasn’t 100%.  All we knew was it was in Las Vegas, and there were events coming.  That was all that the website told us.  But he’s like –

Sarah:  Oh, my goodness.

Lia:  – he’s like, okay.  He’s like, so there’s this convention, it’s called RT.  I think it stands for Reading Together.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  That’s – yeah, total, totally.

Lia:  Totally!

Sarah:  Very close.

Lia:  Very close.  He’s like –

Sarah:  Almost there.

Lia:  Right.  He’s like, you know what, you’ve been on base, at this point it’s been three years.  He’s like, I think you need a vacation, you, you know.  He’s like, I’m going to take time off from work.  He’s like, I have leave.  I’ll take time off for two weeks, and I’m going to send you to Las Vegas.  You’re going to have fun, and they have a book blogging conference.  He said, I already paid for it.  He said, just let it, you know, he just, go have fun.  He’s like, you can talk to people.  He said, it looks really good.  He said, you know, he was like, what – he’s like, it’s a great opportunity.  He’s like, the – he’s like, look at this website.  He’s like, Trashy Smart Bitches.  This is great.  He’s like, I want to go.

[Laughter]

Lia:  And I was like –

Sarah:  I think your husband is amazing.

Lia:  I know!  I was like, what good can come from this?  And he was like, he was like, hey, I mean, with this domain name, I’m kind of jealous that I didn’t think of it.  I was like, okay, fine.  So he booked the ticket, he booked the hotel, he got the events, he – you know, every, every time someone was announced that they were going to be there he just would go to my bookcase and see, like, he would go like, see?  They’re going to be there!  They’re going to be there!  You have to go!  And I’m like, okay, fine, I’m going.  So he booked the ticket, I went, and then when I finally got to RT and realized it was not Reading Together – [laughs]

Sarah:  Uh, no.  No, but it was very much your jam.

Lia:  It was!  I told him, I was like, honey, RT does not mean Reading Together.  It is a romantic-themed book convention, and he was like, let the swoon continue!

[Laughter]

Sarah:  Let the swoon continue.  Oh, my gosh.

Lia:  He was like, he just sent me these texts saying, go find your book boyfriends, tell them how much you love them.  [Laughs] So, it was just so much fun.  I had so much fun!  It was, I, I have to say, like, when I came home, he just had this smirk on his face like –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  I TOLD YOU!

Sarah:  Told you.

Lia:  He’s like, I told you I found your people.

Sarah:  Oh, my gosh.  Seriously.  This is amazing.

Lia:  Oh, man, you should see what he did yesterday.  He actually drove me – [laughs] – me, the baby, and the dog to Grand Forks, which is like three and a half hours, to see Katie McGarry, ‘cause she had a book signing.

Sarah:  [Gasps]

Lia:  He was like – yeah, seriously, look at the Twitter feed.  He did it.

Sarah:  That’s adorable!

Lia:  He was like, there’s a book signing?  You met her at RT?  He’s like, everyone get in the car.  Let’s do this.

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  He’s like, you’ve got to make it.

Sarah:  That is amazing.  So he totally loves and supports everything that you read.  He gets you the books that the librarian won’t let you have –

Lia:  Yep.

Sarah:  – builds you a library in your house, and sets you up with a book blog.

Lia:  Yes.  And drives three hours to go meet someone at, in the state perimeter that he can – ‘cause he’s not allowed to go only, like, I think, two hours?  So –

Sarah:  Right, ‘cause he might, he might be on call.

Lia:  Right, so he, like, drove – wink, wink, state troopers, please don’t listen –

[Laughter]

Lia:  – drove just in time for us to do it.  But yeah, he’s super, super Mr. Supportive.

Sarah:  So do you like book blogging?

Lia:  Oh, my God, yes!  Especially ‘cause at first I thought, like, it’s just me, my dog, and my mom are going to read this, and then when I wrote, what was it, I read a book, Julie Murphy, Dumplin’: Go Big or Go Home, and I think that was the first post I made that blew up, ‘cause I thought my account, automatically, I think everything gets hacked, ‘cause I was like, there’s a hundred comments coming out of nowhere.  I think it’s Spam.  And my husband’s like –

Sarah:  Nope!

Lia:  My husband’s like, nope!  You’ve made it!  You’ve got this!  He’s like, look at you; people love what they have to say.  I noticed links were being shared.  I was like, oh, my gosh!  It’s just a really great feeling, especially being, at the time, at a remote military base where I would read a book that I think is amazing, but everyone’s like, no, it’s not, it’s not really that great.  So it’s like being connected to, like, having the whole book community hug me through my website.  Just like, mm, come on, let’s hug each other.  Let’s, let’s connect.  Let’s share all of our bookish loves and trashy books and smut together and not be judged.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  That is adorable.  So what are some of the favorite, your favorite books that you’ve read recently that you could not wait to tell everybody about?

Lia:  Well, I was really trying hard not to give away The Rose & the Dagger, ‘cause I got the great opportunity of snagging that book at the big sale, so when I came home and I showed my husband that, he just looked at me, and he was like, ah, don’t you dare tell me anything!  And I was like –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  I was like, I might not say nothing, but my face will give reactions.  He was like –

Sarah:  Okay, that’s amazing.

Lia:  Yeah, so, that was definitely one of the books that I was excited for.  A lot of YA authors I was excited for, and then one of the books that I really wanted to tell were a lot of the indie authors, ‘cause they didn’t have a lot of publication?  Like, they didn’t get a lot of promotion, so I got to meet a lot of indie or hybrid authors that I’ve never heard of, and I have, oh, my gosh, I have my twenty-seven books staring at me that I need to read, that I’m just like, I need to talk about these!  They need love!  They need more fandom!  So.

Sarah:  So it’s more fun for you to read knowing that afterward you’re going to be able to talk to people about the book that you loved, ‘cause there’s no one around you that reads the same things.

Lia:  No.  No.  It’s so hard.  I have a hard time explaining to people that my dog named Alcide from True Blood is not Alice.  That’s how remote it is, because when I took my dog, ‘cause I love Joe Manganiello.  He doesn’t know this, but we are an item.

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  Just doesn’t, he doesn’t know it.

Sarah:  Oh, goodness.

Lia:  – totally, he’s totally, like, he’s mine.  There’re just things that people just don’t really want to hear about.  If I go outside and say free tractor or let’s go hunting or mutton, people are excited.  When I say, oh, my gosh, you guys, there’s a new paranormal romance! they’re like, ew, that’s Twilight.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Oh, man, so you have the internet to help you –

Lia:  Yes.

Sarah:  – find the things that you want to read.

Lia:  Yep.  Internet, Goodreads, sometimes my, my best friend, Latoya, from the out worlds of Ohio, she’ll say, CC, you have to, you know, you’ll have to do this.  She’s be like – ‘cause she calls me CC from, like, when we were in college.  I was, it’s just, it’s just a name that she constantly sticks.  She’s like, CC, and I’m like, huh, Lia’s much quicker.

[Laughter]

Lia:  She’ll send me a list of books that we have to read and have to talk about, so when I got a book blog she’s like, oh, good, I can save on stationery and emails.

[Laughter]

Lia:  And it’s a good way for her to make sure that I’m honest to God reading the books she requests, ‘cause let me tell you, that little button that says Currently Reading has saved my friendship.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Oh, no.

Lia:  She’s like, are you reading this?  Are you –

Sarah:  And she’s far away, right?

Lia:  Oh, yeah.  Right now, she’s in Ohio.

Sarah:  And is she military too, so she moves around?

Lia:  Oh, no, she doesn’t stay in one spot.  She just moves about.  Like, she just loves to move.  I think, I think I told her, she just needs to have wheels.  Like, replace her legs with some sort of supersonic X-men wheels so she just goes around, ‘cause now she’s thinking about moving to New Orleans just because!

Sarah:  Just because.  Well –

Lia:  Just because!

Sarah:  – some people have wanderlust.  It’s really hard to cure ‘em.

Lia:  That, that is what she has, and I think the postman is getting tired.  [Laughs] So, she’s just great that way.  And my mom, she, oh, my gosh, my mom.  I think that too is why I love reading, ‘cause we used to live in the Bahamas in Eleuthera where it was even worse.  There wasn’t a McDonald’s or a KFC or anything, it was just you, the beach, and family, and she used to have this giant cabinet full of books that no one was allowed to touch.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Ohhh!

Lia:  So I get a lot of reading recommendations from my mom, which tend to be in the form of letters sneaked into recipes, so it’ll –

Sarah:  Oh!

Lia:  – so it’ll be like, one cup of butter, two tablespoons of sugar, Lia, have you read that book by Outlander yet?  I gave it to you three times, come on –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  – and then stir, you know, stir for three minutes.  You know, she’ll just insert it.  Like, how she thinks is just the way it’s written.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  So is she still in the, in Eleuthera?

Lia:  No, she’s in Seattle right now.  She’s getting her papers!  She’s being a citizen!  Whooo!

Sarah:  Wow, that’s awesome!

Lia:  So she’s doing that right now, and still sending me books in the form of food.  She’ll send me food packages with books, so.

Sarah:  This is a good parent.

Lia:  [Laughs] Yeah.

Sarah:  Like, do you look at your child and think, I am going to be this way some day?  Get ready.

Lia:  Well, it’s kind of funny.  My daughter’s only one, and she already has a library.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Well, of course she does!  It’s totally normal.  [Laughs]

Lia:  She has a library, and my mom sent all of my old books from the Bahamas to my daughter Zoe, and then I’ve gotten books, and it’s kind of funny because she, she’s, she’s at that stage where she mimics us, so –

Sarah:  Mm-hmm.

Lia:  – she’ll come into the library, and she does this thing, but I didn’t notice until my husband pointed it out, but I used to play the piano, and so I have those little piano fingers that wiggle right before you play?  And she’ll come into the library and she’ll sigh, and she’ll go to the lower shelves, and she’ll hover her fingers over the books like a piano?

Sarah:  And wiggle her fingers back and forth?

Lia:  And she’ll pull a book, and she’ll go into the room, her room, and she’ll sit there and flip the pages, even though there’re no pictures, nothing but words.  She sees me do it all the time, and she’ll pick up a book, and you’ll hear her sigh and say, oh, yes!  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Oh, my gosh, that’s adorable.

Lia:  So, she, she’s won twice for reading, for checking out the most books, and she’ll sit down in the library – she gets to check out the books she wants.

Sarah:  I was going to say, the librarian probably does not give her trouble.

Lia:  No, she sits there, and she reads her book, and she’ll say, oh, yes.  Like, when she found a book that she feels is to her a delight at one, she’ll say, oh, yes.  [Laughs]  So I think I’m halfway there to be my mom in the book world.

Sarah:  Well, she’s, you’ve already taught her that, like, books are, are worth anticipating and getting excited about.

Lia:  Oh, yeah, she’ll say yay for a book, especially when we go to Barnes and Noble.  Like, she already connects this is Mommy’s happy time, ‘cause soon as we pass the threshold of Barnes and Noble, you’ll just hear this, YAY!

[Laughter]

Lia:  And I have to explain, sorry, we love the smell of books.  That’s who we are.

Sarah:  It’s a thing.  That is so adorable.  I do have a book recommendation for you.

Lia:  Yay!  ‘Cause you know I love me some!

Sarah:  Okay, it’s called Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton.

Lia:  Oh, already on my TBR!

Sarah:  I read the sample, and I have the book queued up, and it, it is, it is so sticky.  Like, you read the first chapter or two, and it’s like [whooshing noise], and you’re gone.

Lia:  Oh, my gosh, there’s, like, I’ve seen that cover everywhere, and my eyes just kind of go lusty for it.

Sarah:  Ooh.

Lia:  Kind of like when you see that doughnut, and it’s the one that you want at the shop, but you’re hoping –

Sarah:  Yep.

Lia:  – by the time I get to that line, nobody better order that.

Sarah:  That’s, yeah, nobody better touch my doughnut.

Lia:  Oh, my gosh, I’m so excited.  I’m so excited for all these, like, Middle Eastern/retelling of Arabian Nights, ‘cause Aladdin was my life.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  So you read the Aladdin retelling.

Lia:  The Forbidden Wish?

Sarah:  Yes!  Thank you!

Lia:  Oh, not only have I read this, I already preordered.  I read it as a sample on NetGalley, then I ordered it, preordered it, and then I, because I am me, I, like, went and had the, like, the, what was it, the preorder gift of the map where Jessica Khoury, like, she signed it?  Oh, yeah, I have completely framed, ‘cause I’m just that nerdy.

Sarah:  You know what I loved about that book?

Lia:  Hmm.

Sarah:  I loved that, okay, so, the jinni was the heroine, she was female –

Lia:  Yes!  Yes!

Sarah:  – but she was very, very, very chill and very accepting of herself and of her mistakes, and that she was bisexual, and it didn’t give her any hang-ups.

Lia:  I love the fact that the, how she wrote it was just so calm.  I love how it was, it just, it kind of made me feel like I was drinking tea.  Like, it was just calm, I loved it, and I loved the relationship, that Aladdin wasn’t – ‘cause when you think of Aladdin, we always kind of have this idea of him being this heroine, like, not heroine but the hero –

Sarah:  Yep.

Lia:  – so the fact that he wasn’t the hero, it was a heroine, and he made mistakes, and he was a coward –

Sarah:  Every time he drank, I wanted to hit him upside the head.  That boy cannot hold his liquor –

Lia:  Yes!

Sarah:  – and then he would sit down with a bunch of dangerous people and start drinking, and I’m like, what’s wrong with you?

Lia:  He had, like, he was a coward, but he was carefree at the same time.  Like, he didn’t have any responsibilities.  He just didn’t care!  And I was like, seriously, are you kidding me, sir?  Women!  Dangerous!  Fighting!

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  This is just 101!  Like – oh, I just, I just loved the way she created the world.  Like, that jewel, like, how she described – I think I read that passage over and over when the jinni was talking about the Jewel Garden.  I just –

Sarah:  Yes.

Lia:  I was, could not, like, every time I read it, I kept imagining how beautiful that must be, how wonderful it must be, and how absolutely dangerous it would be if you tripped.

Sarah:  You, you would have to end up with a lot of cuts, like on the back of your hand or, you know, like when you reach into a pricker bush to get something from under it, and you just get a million little scratches?  Like, I feel like being under a bunch of cut gems would, would be the same thing.

Lia:  Could you imagine, like, when you go to a park, you’re like, oh, there’s a leaf in your hair?  Oh, sorry, sir.  Let me just get that ruby.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Yeah, sorry, hang on.  The thing I loved was that she appears to the queen, and she’s like, I can give you wishes for whatever you want, and the queen’s like, I already have everything.  There’s nothing I need, and, and the one thing she needed was for someone to be her friend?  Oh, I loved that.

Lia:  The sisterly love in that book –

Sarah:  Yes!  That, and –

Lia:  I called, I called my sisters, I’m like, I love you!  They’re like –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  They’re like, okay, bye.  [Tearfully] Bye!

Sarah:  Just, the idea that there was the sisterly love, and then there was this very, very subtle hint of romantic love, and – God, I love that book!  Just the portrayal of the women.

Lia:  Yes!  And there was –

Sarah:  So good.

Lia:  – there was no weak woman.  There were no weak characters, but I love how the women were strong, because in reality, tend, women tend to have more their stuff together in terms of, like, this is what I want to do, this is my focus, this is what I have to do, and I love how the men, to me, were very realistic of, yeah, I’m not really sure about my next plans, but right now, this seems like a good idea.  So, I just love how smart the women were and how the guys were like, yeah, I’m just enjoying this moment, ‘cause that tends to be how guys are, especially in that age that they were in, it’s like they were just enjoying the moment.  Oh, this really cute girl wants me to show her where all the dangerous, you know, creatures are in glass bottles?  I’m drunk enough to okay with this.  Let’s do this!  Anybody else would have –

Sarah:  Yeah.

Lia:  Anybody else would be like, uh, playa!  [Laughs] 101 Sabotage!

[Laughter]

Lia:  So.

Sarah:  So, what did you really like about RT?  What were some of your favorite things that you did?  And are you going to go back next year?

Lia:  Oh, Hotlanta is already booked.  I’m really –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  – blissing.  I already told my husband, you’re coming.  You have to meet Sarah.  She’s going to love you.  In fact –

Sarah:  Aw!

Lia:  – I’ve told so many –

Sarah:  I can’t wait to meet him!

Lia:  Oh, my gosh.  I told, I didn’t know, I was telling some of the bloggers how I met him, and they’re, like, half swoon crazy over him?

Sarah:  Yep.

Lia:  So I, I love, I just have to go back.  It was so much fun!  It just, oh, my gosh, I’m already packing my bags mentally.  What I love is the fact that – ‘cause someone asked me this when we were at the book, the big book sale, they’re like, is it worth really spending all that money for, like, seven days?  And I was like, hell, yeah, it is worth it because you get to interact with authors and bloggers and readers in a, in a way that, it’s social, it’s fun, you’re having panels, contests, and it has, like, a, a, just, a room of awe.  You know, you’re not –

Sarah:  Mm-hmm.

Lia:  – always trying to market and trying to be fancy.  You know, you have times where you can meet, have parties, socialize, exchange business cards and ideas, and then there’s time where, for example, YA Pictionary, when I’m yelling at Mary E. Pearson, trying to tell her, that cannot be Harry Potter because it looks like a stick figure riding an exploding cigar!  Like –

[Laughter]

Lia:  You know, you get to just, you know, kind of, like, go from the, oh, my God, that’s a real person! to hey, we’re friends, we’re having connections, we’re, you know, experiencing things, and you have so many opportunities to – like, for me, I have social anxiety, like, I had a panic attack a couple times –

Sarah:  Oh –

Lia:  – I was there, ‘cause the rooms were so big, and I did not make that briefing – [laughs] – how big the, the convention was, but I loved that I had opportunities over and over to say, hi, my name’s Lia, your book changed my life.  Wanted to let you know.  Hugsies.  I just love –

Sarah:  Aw!

Lia:  I think my, like I told my husband, my favorite moment out of everything was, I think, I forget what day it was, but at the end of the day, ‘cause you, there’s so much walking!  Oh, my Lord!  The walking.

Sarah:  Oh, my gosh, I had, I have a pedometer on my watch, and I made my step goal by 11 a.m. every freaking day.

Lia:  Yes!  I made my –

Sarah:  It was so much walking, and then the week after I got back, I got this little summary email?

Lia:  [Laughs]

Sarah:  And the, and the little, you know, the little Withings app was like, hey, you really exceeded your, your walking goals last week!  Keep it up!  And I’m like, hell, no!  I’m tired!

Lia:  [Laughs] I had a Fitbit, and I have a Fitbit Alta, so it vibrated and gave me this little conf-, digital confetti celebration, and –

Sarah:  Yeah, at, like, 9 a.m.  [Laughs]

Lia:  Right!  [Laughs] And my husband’s like, you’ve beat me!  And I’m like, in what capacity?  And he’s like, you walked over 20,000 steps, and I’m like, oh, that must be why my knee is swollen.

Sarah:  Yeah, because the convention center and the hotel were, like, a mile apart.

Lia:  It was like, you know, when I took photos at the convention, it claimed that I was at the hotel.

Sarah:  Yep!

Lia:  It, it claimed that it wasn’t at the hotel.  It said that I was in an airport, that’s how off I was.

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia: Looking through my photos, and it’s like, I took this at the hotel.  Why is it telling me that I was at the airport?  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Oh, my gosh.

Lia:  I think my most memorable and favorite moment is, it was the end of the day, I couldn’t stay at RT, I had to go, my legs were, my legs were telling me no.  I was like the Little Mermaid, the little wobbly legs, like, she has legs!  I couldn’t, I couldn’t stand no more, so I just went into my room, and I fell asleep for two hours, and I’m, I woke up in a panic thinking, oh, my God, I missed all these panels!  But I had a good sleep, though.  And I was –

Sarah:  Sleep is important; otherwise, you get conference crud.

Lia:  Oh, my gosh, right?  So, I’m going to –

Sarah:  Super sick.

Lia:  Yeah.  So, I’m in line, and I’m just thinking to myself, okay, I have to go home, I’m going to have to, oh, and I had to ship stuff.  You know, I’m thinking of all things that I have to do, and as I’m, you know, looking to see how long the line is, I see this really tall lady, and she’s wearing this nice jean jacket and dress, and she has a few people around her, and my mind starts registering who this person could be, and I said it out loud.  It was meant to be a mental, hey, but I said it out loud, and I was like, hey, is that, is that Julia Murphy?  And the lady turns back, she’s like, oh, yeah!  And I’m like –

Sarah:  [Gasps]

Lia:  – is that really her?  Like, as if this is a mirage that we’re all seeing.

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  And she’s like, yeah, that’s really her.  She’s like, she won an award for RT, she, you know, she was at the signing, and I’m like –

Sarah:  [Fangirl noise]

Lia:  – oh, my God, I really want to talk to her, but I just don’t want to, like, pop up on her, ‘cause you know –

Sarah:  Surprise, I have to tell you all of these wonderful things, bah!

Lia:  [Laughs] Right –

Sarah:  Yeah, you, you want to avoid that.

Lia:  – but I, they were like, go do it!  They were like, they were like, I’ll hold your spot; go do it!  And I was like, okay.  I did some sort of, like, half running man, half okay-I-got-this jitter, and I approached her, and I said, you know what?  I am really sorry to bombard you, but I just have to let you know.  I read Dumplin’, and I made a post on, on my blog.  It, you know, just kind of, like, my mom, my cat, my husband watch.  It blew up, but more importantly, when I read Dumplin’, it felt like this was a book that I needed my entire life, because no matter how many times I work out, how many times I can run, I told her, I can run five miles for cheesecake or five miles for exercise, I will always have thick thighs.  I will always have a, you know, fluffy stomach, and I will always have the lopsided boob that everyone ignores.  [Laughs]

Sarah:  You are no different than anyone else.

Lia:  Right, and I said, and my husband’s in the military, and they are very weight conscious.  They have to do a body-fat scale.  They measure your waist and –

Sarah:  Oy.

Lia:  So, yeah, so, weight has always been something in our house, but when my husband read Dumplin’, and I read Dumplin’, I teared up.  I was like, this is the book that I always wanted.  It just helped me.  I told her, I know it’s a YA book, and you know, I may be too old, and she was like, I wrote that book for everybody.  I was like, I tried to hold back my tears, but it came out like some sort of Celine Dion ballad.  It just came out full force.  I told her, I just love the –

Sarah:  [Laughs] Celine Dion ballad!

Lia:  [Laughs] I tried, it just came out like – [sings] – ahhh!  I told her, I just love it!  I just love the book, I love what you wrote, I love the message behind it, and it felt like a book throughout my entire childhood of being, you know, short and stubby and solid and thick and active, but still kind of, hahaha, dough-boy-y.  I told her, I just love it, and this makes my, my whole house, my husband, we all love it, and we just can’t thank you enough for being confident and writing it.  And she just –

Sarah:  Aw!

Lia:  – hugged me, ‘cause I was totally crying on that jean jacket, let me tell you right now.

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  Lord have mercy, thank God she wasn’t wearing nothing fancy, ‘cause I would have to pay for dry cleaning.  I was tearing up on that jacket.  My photo of her is me with puffy eyes.  It just meant the world to me, and I sent it, and, you know, and I’m trying to toughen up, you know?

Sarah:  Mm-hmm.

Lia:  Walk back to this line, you know, wiping off my tears.  She’s told me, don’t cry, you’re fine, thank you!  She said, you know, I wrote that book for everyone, just not, it’s just not for YA, it’s for anyone who’s ever – and I was, like, telling her thank you, and I try to wipe off my tears and walk back to this line –

Sarah:  Mm-hmm.

Lia:  – with confidence like, you know, I did the damn thing.

Sarah:  Yep.

Lia:  I went to the line, the lady looked at me, and she was like, did you cry?  [Sobs]

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  I cried, like, for a good 15 minutes again.  I was like, oh, my God, I got to meet her!  And then of course she remembered me as crying, because when I passed her in the hall again, she’s like, did you stop crying?  Yep, stopped crying!  I got it!  [Sniffles] And it –

Sarah:  Ohhh!

Lia:  So that was something that – ‘cause you know, I never real-, ‘cause you know, when you, like I said, remote military base, you’re fighting for your books in the library, you’re trying to tell people this is a good book, read it, and then you meet someone who wrote this book, and, you know, and you can express, hey, thank you so much!  And to have that, you know, openness and be like, oh, you’re welcome, to me, that was RT.  RT’s like a big family reunion of you wrote this, and I appreciate you, or you are a blogger, and I appreciate you, ‘cause even when I was at the teen party and I was hanging, I was chilling with Katie McGarry, she said it, she’s like, I love and appreciate you bloggers.  She said, she said, there might be bloggers now, but you guys were the original, you guys were the promoters, you guys were the ones that let people know:  this is a good book, read it, support it.  She said, I appreciate you!  She said, I just – and when she said that, I, like, clutched my heart –

Sarah:  Aw!

Lia:  – like I was from Sanford and Son.  I was like, oh!  That makes the pay for the domain name so worth it.

Sarah:  Ohhh!

Lia:  So it’s just a giant appreciation, ‘cause like I said, when you live in a remote area and people, you tell people I’m a book blogger, they look at you like –

Sarah:  Wha-?

Lia:  Right!  Go get a real job!  [Laughs]

Sarah:  Well, I’ll, I’ll be honest with you.  I don’t live in a remote area, and people still look at me that way when I try to explain what it is that I do, so it’s not just the remoteness.  It’s just the idea that wanting to talk to other people all day about books on a website is still very strange to many people.

Lia:  That’s true.  But I just, I just love those opportunities to just be like, oh, my gosh!  Book blogger connect, wink, wink.  So.  [Laughs] We should have an assembly sign; it should be like a library card.

[Laughter]

Sarah:  Have a little group, a, a secret society?

Lia:  Yeah!  And –

Sarah:  A secret society of book bloggers.

Lia:  [Laughs] Hmm.  This can happen, this can work.  Like the bat signal, but, like –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  Ooh, it should be like a discount card.  Like –

Sarah:  Totally should!

Lia:  [Laughs] Ooh, we should make this happen!

Sarah:  Oh, yes.  So when you went home from RT, was it, like, an enormous culture shock and you were just like, oh, my God, get me out of here?

Lia:  When I got home from RT, it was such a different experience.  One, nobody laughs, like, nobody gets my jokes like, like Las Vegas did?  Nobody –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  So when I came out the airport, mind you, we came off a plane of only, like, five people, mind you.

Sarah:  What, you mean there’s not a lot of people flying to Minot?

Lia:  Oh, God, ‘cause you know, this is the happening spot!  I don’t know why people –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  – why you want to go to anywhere when you can go to Minot.  Man, when I got, it wasn’t even a culture shock, it was a weather change, ‘cause when I got back it was snow.

Sarah:  Oh, God.

Lia:  Las Vegas was super hot, not going to lie, wasn’t even wearing panties, I was so uncomfortable, and when I got –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  So when I got to Minnesota, and they said that it was 23 degrees, I had to call my husband, which was probably one o’clock in the morning, telling him, I mailed my clothes.

[Laughter]

Lia:  I told him, I’m not wearing nothing but, like, a, like, a Marvel jumper and sweatpants.  I’m not wearing underwear.  Please go unpack my jacket.  So that was one, and then when I got out of the plane and I saw my husband and my daughter, I, like, always wanted to do this, and I did it.  I, like, raised up my arms, and I said, hello, darling, I am your Auntie Mame!

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  Nobody got it.  Nobody got it but my husband, thank the Lord, but nobody got it.  Everybody stared.  I was like, really?  Nobody knows this movie.

Sarah:  Oh, no.

Lia:  So it was just like a big not only culture shock but, like, pop reference, ‘cause even the, like, what was it, even the security guard, Bill, from RT, when he was like, he saw me crying after Julie Murphy, he was like, what happened?  I was like, I had an emotional, like, moment.  He was like, on a scale of emotions, how, like, how emotional?  And I think I told him, like, the end scene from Imitation of Life emotional, and he was like, dang, that is emotional!  And I’m like, oh, my God, he got it.  He got the j-, he got the reference.  Oh, yay!  And then of course I had to explain to my complex, ‘cause they’re like, what’s your job?  I’m like, I’m a book blogger!  And explaining to them why I had about, like, thirty pound books mailed to the complex, ‘cause they could-, they didn’t believe it was books, and my husband’s like, oh, it’s books.

Sarah:  Oh, no, no question that’s books.

Lia:  It’s books.  So he took a picture of, like, the library and – oh, my poor library is busting from the seams!  My husband told me we’re going to get six new bookcases.  [Happy sigh] He gave me the biggest, he gave me the bigger of the two of the bedrooms so I could have more wall space.  And he goes –

Sarah:  Oh, my gosh!

Lia:  Yes!  Like, it’s really bad.  [Laughs] So he, like, when we were gone, ‘cause we were moving while I was at RT –

Sarah:  Oh, my gosh, that’s a lot of work!

Lia:  Yeah!  So we were moving, and on top of that, he, he moved, and he had his supervisors help move, and the move was super simple, except when he got to the fifteen book boxes and –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  – and the, they were so sure that this could not be boxes of books, they were like, these are not boxes of books, these are bodies!

[Laughter]

Lia:  And my husband had to open one of the books and, like, one of the boxes, and it was, like, books from corner to corner, and they were like, no way, and I was like, yeah.  He’s like, that’s my wife, and that’s kind of like when I met him in college.  He was the only guy willing to move my wooden bookcase, which we still have.  [Laughs] He moved it, so a lot of books, lot of people trying to understand what I do, and then getting excited about books, and people being like, yeah, I just want to watch the movie.

Sarah:  So you went home with a lot of books.

Lia:  Mm-hmm.  I came, just on the plane itself, I had twenty-seven books, and those were the ones that were autographed.  I was not letting anyone touch them but me.

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  And, like, when I said, okay, on a scale of books and responsibility, I mailed my clothes back to North Dakota so I could have room for my luggage for books, and then I, like, my carry-on was an RT bag full of books, and I felt like as I walked through the – like, I think TSA, they were so shocked.  They were like, what’s in the bag?  I was like, books.  They were like, no, seriously.  No, I’m serious.  These are books, and they all have my name, so don’t try to take nothing.  They – [laughs] – it was just crazy.

Sarah:  It, it is amazing to me when you sort of reintroduce the RT culture to other people who are outside that culture, because there’s always this moment of sort of wide-eyed, I know you just spoke words, and they’re supposed to make sense, but they don’t make sense, and I don’t – what?  Like, there’s, they’re completely baffled.  Yes, I went to a five-day conference that was all about books.

Lia:  My sister came with me, like, ‘cause I had issues with the hotel, so my sister, like the big sister she is, came from California to Las Vegas, ‘cause she’s like, if this is what you’re passionate about, then I’m going to help you, and she, like a ninja, swiped her credit card.  We got a hotel, and she was trying to explain to, like, our, like, my other family members what we were doing, and they’re like, they’re like, she’s at a book blogging conference, and they’re like, no, that can’t be it, probably, like, ten people, and my sister’s like, no, it’s crowded, they are real.  She’s like, there are badges everywhere.  She’s like, it is legit!

[Laughter]

Lia:  And she was like, I think on Facebook she made a post to our family and friends.  She was like, my little sister is at a book blogging conference, and I’m so proud of her, but I am completely terrified to stand in the hall, because these people are serious!  And my sister would see me coming, like, in and out of the hotel with bags upon bags upon bags, and her eyes would just get wider and wider and wider, and she’s like, are you allowed to take so many?  I’m like –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  And I’m like, this is what they managed to give me.  You should see the list of refusal!

Sarah:  Oh, my gosh!  [Laughs]

Lia:  She, she was like, this is crazy, so now my mom, she, she’s like, I want to go to Atlanta.  I want to see this.  I want to go!  And, like, ‘cause when I explained to people, like, you know, book blogging or, or RT, they’re like, nah.  Like, you know, like me.  No way!  That’s, that’s not going to happen!  But of course, my husband, being an optimist, he’s like, [sings] I told ya!

Sarah:  Well, one last question for you.

Lia:  Already?

Sarah:  What one book do you wish more people knew about that you could talk about forever?  Is it Dumplin’, or is it another book that you’re totally enjoying right now?

Lia:  Okay, you know, what’s bad is I have to physically turn around and look at my bookcase?

Sarah:  You are not alone in that.  No, I, people, oh, wait, hang on, I’ve got to go get my Kindle, or I need to go get my phone, or hang on, I’ve got to go to my books.  Like, you, you just, your mind goes blank.  I totally get it.

Lia:  See, I wish you could see this, ‘cause now I’m doing, like, the little, like, finger pause of, hmm, let’s see here.  One book.  Like, one book?

Sarah:  I know, I’m horrible like that.  If you want to do two, that’s fine too.

Lia:  Oh, my goodness.

Sarah:  I’m not going to be that hard.

Lia:  Okay, hold on, I have to meditate.  I have to look at the books and see.  Okay, ‘cause now you’ve made this, ‘cause now I have to, like –

Sarah:  Now it’s a challenge.

Lia:  Right.  I have to figure out which of my children needs to –

Sarah:  [Laughs] Which of my children.

Lia:  That’s what my husband calls my books.  He calls them, like, he, he tells, we have this joke, and, ‘cause he reads my books too, so we’ll make a joke, and I’ll be like, okay, like, look.  Like, I want a truck.  I want a, I want a second car, I want a truck, so he calls it Levi’s truck from Fangirl, so we have these moments where we say we have a friend?

Sarah:  Oh, gosh.

Lia:  That only us, that only we know, ‘cause it’s a character in a book, so –

Sarah:  Of course.

Lia:  – so my mom calls my books passports.  When I was a kid, she calls them passports, because you’re always going to a different place, a different land, a different environment.

Sarah:  It’s so true!

Lia:  And my husband calls them friends.  Like, he calls them, like, like, friends.  He’s like, well, these are your friends, he says, because whenever you reread a book you’re connected with another character, another person, another friend, and he’s like, those moments, those jokes, they just keep going over and over.

Sarah:  It’s true!

Lia:  And then, like, me, I call these my children, because if there’s any one missing –

[Laughter]

Lia:  If any of these go missing or out of place, then there’ll be hell to pay in this house, so.

Sarah:  Oh, my goodness.

Lia:  So let’s see.  Okay, one book.  I think – man, you’re making this hard!

Sarah:  I’m so evil, I know.  What does your husband, by the way, what does your husband think of your, of, of the books that you read that he reads too?  Does he like them as well?

Lia:  Oh, my gosh!  Yes!  There is, I didn’t show you the photo, ‘cause you were like a ninja.  You were there, and then you were gone!

Sarah:  I move very quickly, yes.

Lia:  Yeah, you’re, like, swift like the wind!

Sarah:  [Laughs] That was a long way between the hotel and the conference center, and I needed to haul ass!

Lia:  [Laughs] You really did!  My husband, like, I was telling Rudy this, there’s a photo, and I showed it on Twitter, when my husband read The Wrath & the Dawn.  Well, technically, he was doing the audio book, and we got to the tantalizing part where the plot changes and the romance is revealed, and he got emotional at it –

Sarah:  Aw!

Lia:  – and you could see him teary-eyed, and he does this thing where he clutches his pearls.

[Laughter]

Sarah:  Wait, do you mean, like, he’s pretending to wear a pearl necklace, or he’s clutching his pearls that are, um, betwixt his thighs?

Lia:  No, like, he literally clutches his, like, like, southern pearls of his, like, necklace.

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  Like, he does this hand thing – he’s, he’s from Maryland, so technically he is Southern, but he, like, clutches his pearls literally, and it’s all, like, if you go on my Twitter feed you’ll see it.  I tagged it to Renee, and I was like, that is my husband’s reaction to your book.  Like, he gets really emotional.  Like, just like a girl, like, in a sense.  He gets really emotional, he gets very headstrong, he’ll get really mad, like, WHY did you follow her into the dark abyss?

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  So, all right.  I think I picked one.

Sarah:  Okay.

Lia:  Oh, my gosh.  Okay, so, this actually doesn’t come out until September.  Is that okay?  ‘Cause I read it –

Sarah:  Yeah, it’s okay.  We’ll, we’ll –

Lia:  All right.

Sarah:  – we’ll be all right.

Lia:  I totally – [laughs] – every time I walked through the convention, I kept smiling, like, Zoraida kept smiling at me, and, like, she would recognize me, remember me –

Sarah:  Mm-hm..

Lia:  – and I was like, oh, my God, I feel like a stalker.

[Laughter]

Lia:  ‘Cause I keep saying hi to her to the point of, like, no return.  So she was also in the, what was it, New Adult?

Sarah:  Right.

Lia:  Yeah, diversity?  And I got to talk to her, and she was like my soul sister, I loved her, and I eventually, at the teen party, I actually got a book in my bag, and I was like, oh, thank God, now I’m not really stalking her!  I have a legit reason –

[Laughter]

Lia:  I have a legit reason now!  But she has this wonderful book, and it’s called Labyrinth Lost, and I love it, and I’m kind of heartbroken that I read it too fast, because it doesn’t come out ‘til September, and I’m like, ohhh!  The world needs this in their life!  [Laughs] So, definitely Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova, C-O-R-D-O-V-A.  I’m sure I butchered that name, but definitely this book I would love for people to really get on, because the, YA needs diversity, and I’m glad it’s getting diversity, so now we definitely need to take that change into New Adult and everywhere.  So definitely love her panel, love her book, and I love just talking to her, so when I got a chance to actually get a book in my hand and read it, I was like, ooh, jazz fingers!

And then the second book –

Sarah:  Oh, my gosh.  I just pulled up the cover of Lab-, Labyrinth Lost?

Lia:  Yes!

Sarah:  This cover is amazing!

Lia:  Isn’t it?

Sarah:  Holy smoke, this cover is beautiful.

Lia:  Oh, you should feel it, and when you, the paperback, it, like, the one that I have, it’s, has, like, a velvet texture to it?

Sarah:  Mm!  Oh, my goodness.

Lia:  Can you feel the, just, mm?  Just love it.  It’s, and it’s a gorgeous, like – and every chap-, like, every part of the physical, it has a design in, like, a flower design to it?  Listen, it’s a, one sexy book, let me just say that.  This –

Sarah:  So it, you liked this book, and you recommend it.

Lia:  I recommend it and definitely, I’m not just recommending it, but when, if you get it, it’s one of those books that I will recommend getting in paperback and hardcover, because there’s going to be a chance that you’re going to end up giving this book to someone else.  You know what I mean?  Like, have copies to give out, because it’s one of those where you’re going to let a friend borrow it, and you’ll never see it again.

Sarah:  [Laughs] It’s like the book-lovers version of buy one, get one:  buy one to keep for yourself.  Get one ‘cause you know it’ll go out your door.  [Laughs]

Lia:  Exactly.  And then I guess another book – oh, my gosh, bookcase is just haunting.  I guess one book, I think it is popular, but I know in the library, my little library, it wasn’t popular?  And I think it was, have you seen The Ember into the Ash?  Have you seen that book?

Sarah:  The Ember in the Ash?

Lia:  Yes, so – I’ve got to go pick it up now; it’s on the top shelf.  The Ember in the Ash, it’s, to me, okay, it’s classified as YA, but it s clearly more than just that.  It has more – like, if you love The Wrath & the Dawn and The Rose & the Dagger for its romance, then An Ember in the Ashes is –

Sarah:  Oh, An Ember in the – okay, I was looking at, like, a whole page –

Lia:  [Laughs]

Sarah:  – of books with the word ember and ash in the title, and I was like, there’re, like, nine, ten –

Lia:  An Ember in the Ashes.

Sarah:  – twelve books here.  So this is An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.

Lia:  Yes.  So if you loved the romance, especially since you and I fangirled just a minute ago over the, The Rebel, this one is definitely more like Rome gladiator, action-packed, like – I love romance, like, serious, like, my, I have a knuckle tattoo, and it says romantic, which nobody could see because my hands were flying everywhere, but I am a super romantic person, so I love romance, but when I got this book and I saw the romance, the action, the tension, the plot twist, it’s kind of like watch HBO, like, Caesar mentally, ‘cause you’re reading it, and you’re like, oooo!  Ha!  Or, as my husband would say, clutch my pearls!

[Laughter]

Sarah:  Clutch my pearls.  [Laughs more]

Lia:  I can’t wait for you to meet him.  His mannerisms are just something to behold.  Like, he was raised by his grandma, and I was like, you really picked up the Southern, you know, black lady habits.  He’s like, I know.

[Laughter]

Lia:  He’s like, I know.  But no, definitely, I just really love this book, and it’s, I don’t think it gets, to me, it’s not, it’s, it does get a lot of attention, but I feel like it should be recognized for how action-packed it is, and not just the fact that she created this world where it’s kind of like Rome and the gladiators, but also it has, like, Middle Eastern twists with, like, djinns and genies and, oh, my gosh, and tribal – hoo!  It’s just exciting, and it, the world is so detailed, like, it took me – first time I read it, second time I listened to it on audio book just because I wanted to hear it told to me, and the third time I was like, yeah, I really need that book to come out now.

[Laughter]

Lia:  Especially if you like, what was it, The Forbidden –

Together:  The Forbidden Wish.

Lia:  Yes!  It’s definitely right up there.  I’m so happy to have all these different, you know, themed books with the, like, the Middle Eastern culture, because it’s, it’s just so nice to see it finally coming into play, and it’s showing the variety of it, ‘cause like I was telling my friend, you really don’t know how many things come out of the Arabian Nights, you know A Thousand and One Arabian Nights until you –

Sarah:  Mm-hmm.

Lia:  – attempt to read it.

Sarah:  And how many stories there are that are, that begin there.

Lia:  Yes!  I’m just saying, I, if it were me, I’d have been dead, like, maybe in, like, two weeks.  [Laughs] But she did it for a year, so that’s –

Sarah:  Oh, my goodness.

Lia:  Yeah, so, definitely feel like that should get some more attention for how action-packed it is, not just the fact that, how it’s, has Middle Eastern mythology in it, but also for the action, sword play.  I’m telling you, it – I told the librarian, who didn’t believe me, I was like, this book really should be advertised specially for boys, you know what I mean?  ‘Cause sometimes they’re, like, for my nephew?  He’s like, I don’t want to read, they’re all kind of girly, and I’m like, no, seriously.  People die.  There’s blood.  There’s gore.  You’re going to love it.

Sarah:  Entrails everywhere; it’s going to be awesome.

Lia:  Oh, yes.  Betrayal – it’s so Julius Caesar.  There’re betrayals and murders and mysteries –

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  – and people with strange masks that I’m not quite sure what that’s about, but they’re there.

Sarah:  Of course.

Lia:  Of course, so I’m really excited for this, and my husband read it, and he was just like, oh, my!

[Laughter]

Sarah:  Well, have you let him read [past tense] Labyrinth – let him read [past tense] – let him read [present tense!] Labyrinth Lost?  Has he read that one?

Lia:  He –

Sarah:  ‘Cause I keep staring at this cover like, oh, my God.

Lia:  He has a TBR pile.  Right now, he –

Sarah:  Oh, he’s one of us, isn’t he?

Lia:  That’s what he said last night!  Oh, my gosh, like, no joke.  Last night, his phone restarted by mistake, and he lost his place.  Out of everything on his phone he could be freaked out about, he lost his place on, I think it was, like, Audible?  And he was like, he looked at me in a panic, and I’m thinking, oh, my God, he has to leave.  He has, you know, he has work or something.  He’s like, the phone restarted, and I don’t know what chapter I was on.  And I was like, really, that’s what you’re panicking about?  He’s like, yes, that’s important!

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  He’s like, what happens if I go back too far and, he’s like, what happens if I go back too far and I rehear things, and I realize it’s nothing new, or I go too far ahead and I do a plot reveal?  And I’m looking at him and this panic attack, and I’m thinking, he’s one of us now.

Sarah:  [Laughs]

Lia:  And he looked at me, and he’s like this –

Sarah:  Yes.

Lia:  He’s like, yeah, I’m one of you now.

[music]

Sarah:  And that is all for this week’s episode.  I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.  I was laughing even while editing this episode, so I – [laughs] – I hope you enjoyed it too.  I want to thank Lia for being a guest.  I have links to her blog, and I also have pictures of her husband which you’re not going to want to miss on the website at smartbitchestrashybooks.com/podcast.

This episode was brought to you by Loveswept, publishers of Sugar Daddy by bestselling author Sawyer Bennett.  Vengeance is sweet, but seduction is to die for.  Sela Halstead has spent years trying to forget a terrible night, even while wondering about the identities of the monsters who hurt her, until a telltale tattoo flashes across her TV screen.  The ink belongs to Jonathon Townsend, the millionaire founder of The Sugar Bowl, a website that matches rich older men with impressionable young women.  Obsessed with revenge, Sela infiltrates Townsend’s world, only to come face to face with a tantalizing complication:  Beckett North, his charismatic business partner.  Beck is the tech mastermind behind The Sugar Bowl, and he always gets what he wants.  He opens up to Sela in ways he never has before, but he gets the feeling that she’s hiding something.  In a world of pleasure and power, the shocking truth could turn them against each other or bind them forever.  You can find Sugar Daddy by Sawyer Bennett wherever eBooks are sold.

The transcript for this episode is being brought to you by Everything Under the Heavens, book one of Silk and Song by Dana Stabenow.  Johanna flees her homicidal stepmother in Khanbaliq, the storied city of Kublai Khan, and sets out on the Silk Road with companions Jaufre and Shasha in search of her fabled grandfather, Marco Polo.  This book is free on Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, and 99 cents on Barnes and Noble, and I will have links to both books, as well as all of the books that we discussed.

And now, I have to give some compliments.  This is going to be so fun!  One of the rewards for being a patron of the podcast at Patreon.com/SmartBitches is that you will get a compliment from me at the end of the episode, so today we have five patrons who need a compliment.  Here we go!

Janna, you are incredibly talented at what you do.  Keep doing it!

For Kati, your happiness is contagious in the best way.

For Kristen, your opinions are trusted by many, many people who rely on you for your honesty.

Chinami – and I hope I said your name right – you have lovely taste and make people feel welcome wherever you are.

And LizB, your favorite recipe is delicious, and you should make it more often.

I have more compliments in future episodes, and if you’d like to find out what is going on and what this is about, have a look at Patreon.com/SmartBitches.  If you would like to contribute to help us make the show completely transcribed and to upgrade some of the equipment and do other awesome things, you can pledge as little as $1 a month and help me make the show even better!  And if you can’t, that is totally cool.  The fact that you are listening is an enormous, enormous compliment, so thank you for that.

The music you’re listening to is provided by Sassy Outwater.  You can find her on Twitter @SassyOutwater.  This is a track called “Dragons,” and you probably know why I like it, ‘cause I love all things dragons.  This is by a band called Caravan Palace, and I will have links to this song and their album in the show notes for this episode.

But in the meantime, on behalf of Lia, everyone here, and myself, we wish you the very best of reading.  Have a great weekend!

[awesome music]