Blog Spotlight #4 - Reviews By Tammy & Kim and Giveaway

Today meet Tammy, Kim & Rachel from Reviews By Tammy & Kim and enter the rafflecopter to win an E-copy of A Cry For Hope!

Ps. I will no longer think of a Hot Pocket as one of those handy little frozen sandwiches that you stick in the microwave...keep reading you'll see why! LOL

Tell everyone a little about your blog and how it was formed

Kim:  Tammy and I had been discussing books and buddy reading for a while. One day Tammy had this idea to start a book blog, so she pmed and asked if I would help  her.  The initial name she chose was Confessions of an Overstuffed Bookshelf: Reviews by Tammy and Kim. That got to be too much to type out, so we shortened it to Reviews by Tammy and Kim. It blew up bigger than we ever imagined and kind of took over our online lives, and we have met so many wonderful authors, bloggers, and readers along the way. We brought on Rachel to help since Tammy is busy in school, so she joined the madness and is a vital part of the blog and does a lot of the reviewing along with me. But we did not want to have to deal with another name change. So we just added her to the headers and avatar when we redid our graphics recently, but kept the same name.

What was the very first book that you've read that made you realize your love of books?

Tammy: Ramona the Pest- Beverly Cleary

Kim: I remember loving Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume. I loved going to the library when I was a kid.

Rachel: I can think of a couple along my reading path. As a child, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell is the first book I remember reading over and over (and owning several copies of). As an adult I am not sure it was a specific title that reminded me how much I loved reading, it was more about picking up the habit again and remembering how much I loved the hobby. If I were to try to list authors or titles, the list would be huge.

Do you remember the very first book you reviewed?

Tammy: Undeniable by Madeline Sheehan. Before the blog I didn’t really review much, if I did it wasn’t more than a line or two.

Kim: The first one I ever posted on the blog was Golden Dynasty by Kristen Ashley. But I think my first on Goodreads was Mystery Man by Kristen Ashley. 

Rachel: My first review for the blog was Villere House by Leslie Fear and C.D. Hussey.

How many books on average do you read in a month?

Tammy:  3-4 if I am lucky.

Kim:  I read a book every day or every other day usually. So probably about 25 at least.

Rachel: For the last year and a half I have been averaging a book a day. It started as a way to keep my mind busy instead of being a zombie in front of the tv, and after a couple of months I noticed how many I was reading and decided to challenge myself to read 365 that year. That was 2013 and I read 395. This year I tried to scale back my pace, but that hasn’t worked so well and I’m still at a little more than a book a day.

If you could be trapped on an island for one whole day with any book boyfriend who would it be?

Tammy: Um, do I really only get to pick one? Hmm…Kellan Kyle or Kane “Tack” Allen. I am a major Kellan girl, but I am thinking Tack. Not sure I can make this decision, I mean how can I leave Kellan behind…ugh, it’s too hard to decide.

Kim: Oh wow. So many. I think my first alpha male love goes to Cabe “Hawk” Delgado from Mystery Man by Kristen Ashley. And he could protect me. But so many have come after him that I do not think I can choose.

Rachel: I’m not sure I can pick just one. Decision-making has always been a challenge for me.

Do you prefer paperbacks or e-books?

Tammy: I don’t mind either or.

Kim: Ebooks are so much faster and easier to read for me especially since I often read at night. **Pssstttt ** don’t let Tammy fool you, she is a paperback whore. She loves to collect her faves. J

Rachel: I love the portability of ebooks and the ease of access, but there is still something about looking at a shelf of books that I love. I browse(and buy from) regular bookstores and my library, but the majority of my books are ebooks.

Boy next door or Bad boy?

Tammy: Most definitely the Bad boy.

Kim: Bad boy with a hidden vulnerable interior.

Rachel: I love reading both. But I married a boy next door.

Which female character from which book to do find that you most relate to?

Tammy: Samantha Matthews from Brutally Beautiful: Christine Zolendez

Kim: I am blanking on specific characters, but I like and appreciate more when the female characters are more real and curvy… not little perfect Barbie stick figures, and are also sassy and sarcastic.

All-time favorite book quote?

Tammy: "It's killing me baby because I don't want you to go another day without knowing how I feel about you. And I'm not ready to tell you I'm in love with you, because I'm not. Not yet. But whatever this is I'm feeling--it's so much more than just like. It's so much more. And for the past few weeks I've been trying to figure it out. I've been trying to figure out why there isn't some other word to describe it. I want to tell you exactly how I feel but there isn't a single goddamned word in the entire dictionary that can describe this point between liking you and loving you, but I need that word. I need it because I need you to hear me say it."

… "Live. If you mix the letters up in the words like and love, you get live. You can use that word." ~Hopeless Colleen Hoover

Kim: I love that from Hopeless too. Hhhmmm…I cannot really think of any at the moment. But I am a sucker for the big declarations of love especially from the males who have a hard time saying it. I tend to go crazy highlighting quotes in my kindle. I cannot seem to stop myself. 

If you could have an author write a book using any male celebrity as their muse, who would it be?

Tammy:  Although I have seen him used quite a few times, I would have to say, Ian Somerhalder.

Kim: Chris Hemsworth is often the hero in my head. And sometimes Josh Duhamel.

What is your biggest turn-off in a romance novel?

Tammy: Instalove and runners

Kim: Super fast die hard mushy gushy insta-love (Although I handle it better than Tammy does), runners, plot holes, characters acting against their nature, when the first time characters have sex he decides anal needs to be involved, and cliffhangers when they are supposed to be stand-alones. The more beta reading I do, the more I seem to look at plot issues more. And another little tidbit is that Tammy really dislikes a lot of heroines. Most of the time they annoy her to no end. J

Rachel: Characters who suddenly do things that don’t fit with their previous actions/personality.

Are there any topics that you haven't seen in a book that you would like to read about?

Kim: Not that I can think of off the top of my head. But I will say that I like how some authors can reach out there and add characters with special challenges (Mental, psychological, or physical challenges)  and give them a voice and make people fall in love with them and see that not everyone is perfect but they are worthy of love and understanding.

For your book boyfriends… Do you prefer them covered in tattoos and piercings or clean cut?

Tammy: The more tats and piercing the better!!

Kim: I can go either way.

Rachel: I like to mix and match!

Do you judge a book by its cover?

Tammy: Absolutely. If the cover doesn’t appeal to my attention I will skip right past it.

Kim: Most definitely. But if it is one of my known authors I am more forgiving of a less appealing cover.

Rachel: Often. It’s hard not to do.

What’s your trigger word (a word that you stumble upon in a book that makes you stop and say, ”Did I really just read that correctly?” I come across a lot of these during sex scenes)

Tammy: I read a book not too long ago where the hero referred to the heroine’s vagina as a hot pocket as well as a muffin. Uh yeah. Was definitely not my cup of tea.

Kim: LOL! This is such a pet peeve of Tammy’s. She hates it when they name body parts funky things. Lol. I get tired of hearing pussy and cunt over and over especially when they have to add adjectives to it for description. But I am also not a fan of special weird names for body parts either. And I get really sick of the fact that in almost every book, at least once he has to say how hot, tight, and wet she is. Lol.

Rachel: My memory banishes these shortly after I read them, so off the top of my head I’m drawing a blank. Though I can think of one scene where the character took it far outside the kink level that other scenes had gone, and beyond where it seemed natural for the characters — that one definitely shocked me.

 When it comes to sex scenes are you:

a. Hand me a fan, I can’t take my eyes off the pages of this book!

b. Ahhhh they're so in love, I’d like to hear about some of the details.

c. Close the door I know what they're doing but I could use my own imagination, thank you very much!

Tammy: A little of each option, it all depends on my mood, the book and the writer.

Kim: A little of each, but I do need some plot with my sex scenes.

Rachel: Depends on my mood. I love all three.

  If you could have one book turned into a movie and you could pick the actors to play the parts, which book would it be and which actors would you choose?

Tammy: The Beyond Series by Kit Rocha. No clue on actors.

Kim: I am excited about the possibility of the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout that have been optioned. Not sure who would be the characters since I am so used to her cover models. I would love to see Kristen Ashley’s Dream Man series or Rock Chick series as romantic suspense movies. But no clue who could play those dreamy alphas. But movies do not often manage to surpass the books. Although I was recently pleased with The Fault in Our Stars and think The Hunger Games have done well.

Rachel: I hesitate to pick. I am rarely as pleased with movie adaptations as I am the actual book and my own imagination.

And last but not least, totally not book related but just something I always like to ask people...What’s your favorite Disney movie

Tammy: Tangled

Kim: Beauty and The Beast

Rachel: Beauty and the Beast and Brave.

Thanks to Beth Rinyu for having us. It was fun answering these questions and I have enjoyed all of Beth’s books that I have read ~Kim


Thank you ladies for allowing everyone to get to know all of you better and be sure to follow these girls and keep up to date on all of their latest reads, recommendations, sales and giveaways:

REVIEWS BY TAMMY & KIM FB PAGE

And last but not least.....here's a chance to win an E-copy of A Cry For Hope - Kim's Favorite Beth Rinyu Read:

a Rafflecopter giveaway