Q12):  From C.L Parker:  Your all-time favorite book that you could read over and over again, and do? Do you have a favorite author? 

Chelle:  Now I know how the authors feel when we ask this, this is almost an impossible question!  My favorite author is Dean Koontz, but after that there are just WAY too many to list.

Fave book… Gah, this is so hard because there are SOOOO many books I love and have re-read, but if I had to pick just one that I know I’ve read at least 3 times or more, it’d probably be Stephen King’s The Eyes of the Dragon.  I also re-read the entire Jim Butcher-Dresden, JR Ward Black Dagger Brotherhood, Gena Showalter Lords of the Underworld, Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark-Hunter, Alexandra Ivy-Guardians of Eternity, Lara Adrian-Midnight Breed, Jean Johnson-Sons of Destiny, Maggie Shayne-Wings in the Night, Bianca D’Arc-Dragon Knights, Dean Koontz-Frankenstein & Odd Thomas, James Patterson-Alex Cross & Women’s Murder Club & Jeffrey Deaver-Lincoln Rhyme series multiple times along with the Twilight Saga and Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons, & the Davinci Code.

Carla:   OMG CL!!!  These questions!  There is no way I can pick a favorite book there are way to many so I will name a few books and series that  I have read over and over again and these are also some of my favorite authors.  The first and all time favorite is Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward, that series is amazing and I never get tired of it.  The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyers was the first paranormal romance books I had ever read and turned me into the Book Monster.  J  Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld, Atlantis and Extraordinary Girl series I love to read over and over.  Guardians of Eternity by Alexandra Ivy, Dark Crescent Sisterhood by Anna Windsor, Elemental Witch series by Anya Bast, Midnight Breed by Lara Adrian, Dark Sword series by Donna Grant, Nightwalkers by Jacquelyn Frank, Primal Instinct series by Rhyannon Byrd…OK, I'm gonna stop now cuz I can keep on going.

Q13):  From C.L Parker:  Favorite...position? And you know what type of position to which I'm referring, so don't be funny *narrows eyes because I'm on to you.* I just know you're trying to think of a way to answer this without actually answering it. 

Chelle:  No, I love football, why would I not answer this??  Definitely Wide Receiver!  ;-)  Oh, alright, but I’m super boring… on the side, one leg thrown over.  What? It works for me! J 

Carla:   I like baseball so I'd have to say short stop.    Oh come on CL!  We aren't gonna make this easy for you.  Ok, I guess I'd have to say doggie style although I hate the name lol.

Q14):  From C.L Parker:  Most outrageous place you've ever had that ass tapped? 

Chelle:  50 yard line of a football field.

Carla:   In the park

Q15):  From C.L Parker:  Chelle, Imma' need an honest answer here...When you met Joe, what did he smell like? Was he bulging south of the border? Did you touch the fingers, and with what body part? 

Chelle:  He smelled like delicious musk and man with an undertone of Calvin Clein.  Yes, he was definitely bulging south of the border and even with his flannel untucked you couldn’t miss it because those jeans fit like nobody’s business!  I absolutely touched the fingers, there were numerous handshakes involved, and he touched ME with those fingers on my shoulder, lower back, and accidentally on the boob while trying to set up the picture to point at my True Blood Weres Run Hot t-shirt. J

Q16):  From C.L Parker:  Mustard or ketchup? Mayo or Miracle Whip? Spit or swallow? <---snuck that one in on ya', didn't I? 

Chelle:  I don’t like ketchup and will only eat it every once and great while on a Bratwurst.  I eat ranch dressing or mayo on my fries, I prefer miracle whip on my sandwiches unless it’s a sub, and  swallow.

Carla:   I usually eat everything plain but if I have to put something on it, Ketchup.  I only like regular Mayo (HATE Miracle Whip) and ummmm swallow.

Q17):  From C.L Parker:  Bill or Eric? Edward or Jacob? 

Chelle:  Eric, Edward (unless Jacob’s shirtless), and I’ll raise you 2… Damon (Vampire Diaries) and Dean (Supernatural)! J

Carla:   Eric without a doubt!!!  Edward (to bad Edward can't have Jacob's body, that would be perfect) and I have to agree with Michelle about Damon and Dean .  Although I do like me some Sam too!!

Q18):  From Pam Roberts:  Was it love at first sight? I meant did you click right away. 

Chelle:  Yeah we did.  Completely!  J 

Carla:   Absoloutely, yes!!!

Q19):  From Pam Roberts:  How old were you when you became a ADDICT. And how did and does your family deal with your addiction. 

Chelle:  I saw my first horror film (amityville/psycho drive-in double feature) at the age of 7 or 8, and that’s when it started.  I read my first Stephen King immediately after and haven’t looked back since.  My family has been great about it.  My mom has always helped me treat Halloween like my Christmas and to this day supports that profusely.  My step-mom is an avid reader herself, and my boyfriend doesn’t mind (er, DIDN’T mind, until I started spending every waking minute with L.A stuff!!  Oops…), but he lets me gush and talk to him about it.m 

Q20):  From Pam Roberts:  Was the change from human to Monster painful or did you like the pain or not. 

Carla:   LOL Pam!  It was definitely not painful.  It's funny though because my whole life I HATED reading.  Never sat down and read an entire book until my mom said "You have to try the Twilight books.  I really think you'll like them".  I was about 28.  And that's how the monster was born.  I have not stopped since and I'm still going strong.

Q21):  From Pam Roberts:  Is the Addict supplying the Monster or is the Monster supplying the Addict? Or are you both doing a equal exchange? 

Chelle:  Oh, it’s totally an equal exchange!  I think we’d honestly go crazy (completely, batshit, nutball, berserkerage crazy!) if we didn’t have each other to even out the work and keep each other grounded and organized.

Carla:   LOL!!  We are a team, so it's an equal exchange.   We are always telling each other how grateful we are for the other.  I would go crazy without Michelle, although I think she keeps me more sane.  I'm the totally disorganized, scatterbrain with the NY potty mouth!!  ;-)

Q22):  From Pam Roberts:  Has there ever been author you booked that made you so excited that you peed your pants? 

Chelle:  Well maybe not THAT excited LOL, but I’ve done my share of “squee’ing” for both authors I’ve booked and those that Carla’s booked.  We both focus on our own personal favorites trying to book them (A LOT of them we duplicated efforts on of course & it was just pure timing and chance who ended up getting the ‘confirmation’), but I’ve been pretty excited for just about everyone that we’ve had!  The few that I was slightly more excited about, just because I honestly didn’t think we’d ever get them were:  Gena Showalter, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Maggie Shayne, Laurell K Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Kelley Armstrong, Jocelynn Drake, Larissa Ione, Alexandra Ivy, & Keri Arthur, but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t others that I was/am ecstatic about!

Carla:   LMAO!  Even when we got all those authors above plus some other favs like  Jacquelyn Frank, Pamela Palmer and Rhyannon Byrd  we didn’t pee our pants.  BUT…..if we can land J.R. Ward, Kresley Cole, Maya Banks, Shelly Laurenston and Lora Leigh too….I can't make any promises.  I might seriously need me some depends. 

Q23):  From Pam Roberts:  And have you ever done a chat that you laughed so hard tea came out your nose? 

Chelle:  Nope.  Though I was on a chat where I think someone laughed pepsi out their nose (or maybe it was tea??).  There have been 3 that were really good ab work outs though!

Carla:   NO, but CL always has me cracking up.  That lady sure knows how to make me laugh.  :-D

Q24):  From Pam Roberts:  Have you ever fell asleep during a chat, interview or anything that required your attention? 

Chelle:  Never during, but we were SO busy for the first 2 months that I pulled numerous all nighters doing what needed to be done and then fell asleep at work the next day!

Carla:   No, but like Michelle I have fallen asleep the next day at work.

Q25):  From Pam Roberts:  What is your real hair color and does family remember it? 

Chelle:  I’m a cool, level 5, medium brown (though these days it’s more grey than brown) and no… if the back of my hair wasn’t my natural color, my family totally wouldn’t remember what color ‘should’ be.

Carla:   Just plain brown…err dark brown.  I don’t dye my hair any crazy colors.

Q26):  From Pam Roberts:  What is the thing that scares you the most? Excluding bad things happening to people close to you. 

Chelle:  I don’t scare easily.  Unfortunately (I’m always looking for that thrill).  I freaking HATE spiders, even though they intrigue me.  Weird, I know.

Carla:   I would have to say cancer.  It has taken so many people I love and is hurting many I love and care about.  Other than that I would say bugs.  I HATE BUGS!!!!

Q27):  From Sandy Stoops:  How serious is your addiction, how many books do you own total (electronic, paper, etc,)? 

Chelle:  It’s SERIOUS!  I have 4 ultra large Tupperware totes in the garage full of books, shelves in my spare and office stacked 2-3 rows deep, and my Kindle has 18 pages of Collections on its home page (182 items) and there are 320 additional items in my Kindle’s archives that aren’t on the home page.

Carla:   I stopped counting lol.  I know I have over 1000 paperbacks.  My husband wants to kill me.  I have over 500 books on my Kindle also.

Q28):  From Sandy Stoops:  What book character do you fantasize the most about? If it is more than one, the more the merrier, please elaborate. 

Chelle:  Dude Sandy, these are hard!!  LOL.  My fantasies keep changing, but…  Bones (Night Huntress), Harry (Dresden Files) and Kynan (Alpha Pack) are always at the top of my list.  Some other prominent figures are Rhage (BDB), Chase (Midnight Breed), Acheron (Dark-Hunter), Wraith (Demonica), Paris and Strider (LOTU), Sebastian Wroth (IAD), Dante (Guardians of Eternity), Rydan (Sons of Destiny), Vlad (Wings in the Night), Nicky (Mark of the Vampire), Hunter (Crimson Moon), Devyn & Dallas (Alien Huntress), Dante (Maker’s Song), Gwenvael (Dragonkin), Donovan (Dragonfire), Nico (Dragon Knights) Davin (Resonance Mates) and Declan (Demons).  I could TOTALLY keep going but these should tide you over!?  J

Carla:   Aeron (Lord of the Underworld), Zsadist & Rehvenge (BDB), Lucian (Mark of the Vampire), Broc (Dark Sword), Alaric (Warriors of Poseidon), Hunter (Midnight Breed)

Q29):  From Sandy Stoops:  How many book series do you actively follow? As in you have read all the books start to finish. 

Chelle:  You just keep them coming don’t you!?  :-P  Well, the last time that I tried to compile a ‘Best Series’ list for someone in the group I listed 150 different ones that I’ve read personally, though that didn’t include my Mystery, Thriller, Horror, and other series that I follow as well (which after a quick, off the top of my head count, is at least another 23).  It also didn’t include the new ones that I’ve started since.  So, though I’m sure there are probably more, at least 180…

Carla:   OMG!!!  You really want me to count them ALL???  I never made a list like Michelle so I'm not sure, but I'd have to say it's probably close to Michelle's number of 150 since that does not include Mystery, Thriller and Horror.

Q30):  From Sandy Stoops:  Do you rate your series, which would be your top ones (as in top 10 or 20)? 

Chelle:  I try, but again, it’s hard.  The list I mentioned in the answer above was supposed to be a top 10 list.  By the time I had just gotten into it, it was 150 and there were a bunch I left off.  I hate doing this because I feel like I’m not giving due props to some amazing series out there, but if I was forced to list my top group I’d have to say these (though ranking these is impossible, because they’re all about the same ‘greatness’ for me, and I left a bunch of amazing ones off too):

·         Black Dagger Brotherhood – JR Ward (her Fallen Angels series is great too)

·         Dark-Hunter – Sherrilyn Kenyon (I love her League series too)

·         Lords of the Underworld – Gena Showalter (and every one of her other series too!!)

·         Immortals After Dark – Kresley Cole

·         Guardians of Eternity – Alexandra Ivy

·         Midnight Breed – Lara Adrian

·         Sons of Destiny – Jean Johnson

·         Dragon Knights – Bianca D’Arc (as well as her Brotherhood of Blood, Resonance Mates, & Tales of the Were series)

·         Demonica – Larissa Ione (as well as her Lords of Deliverance)

·         Crimson Moon – L.A Banks (as well as her Night Huntress Legends)

·         Anita Blake (and Meredith Gentry) – Laurell K Hamilton

·         Night Huntress – Jeanniene Frost

·         Riley Jensen – Keri Arthur

·         Dragonfire – Deborah Cooke

·         The Hallows – Kim Harrison

·         Women of the Otherworld – Kelley Armstrong

·         Dark Days – Jocelynn Drake

·         Mayfair Witches (and Vampire Chronicles) – Anne Rice

·         Dresden Files – Jim Butcher

·         Nightwalkers – Jacquelyn Frank

·         Southern Vampire – Charlaine Harris

·         Morganville Vampires – Rachel Caine

·         Georgina Kincaid – Richelle Mead

·         Dead End Dating – Kimberly Raye

·         Brotherhood of the Blood – Kathryn Smith

Carla:   Oh lord!  Another killer question.  These are my top favorite series and I really can't say they are in # order except for #1 so….Here goes….

#1 - All Time Favorite series is Black Dagger Brotherhood  - JR Ward

•   Lord of the Underworld - Gena Showalter
• Atlantas series - Gena Showalter
• Nightwalkers - Jacquelyn Frank
• Guardians of Eternity - Alexandra Ivy
• Wariors of Poseidon - Alyssa Day
• Dark Sword - Donna Grant
• Primal Instinct - Rhyannon Byrd
• Wing Slayer Hunters - Jennifer Lyon
• Mark of the Vampire - Laura Wright
• Offspring - Jaime Rush
• Feral Warriors - Pamela Palmer
• Westfield Wolves/Regency Vampires - Lyida Dare
• Dark Hunters - Sherrilyn Kenyon
• Elder Races - Thea Harrison
• Midnight Breed - Lara Adrian
• Dark Crescent Sisterhood - Anna Windsor
• Elemental Witches - Anya Bast
• Immortals after Dark - Kresley Cole
• Sons of Destiny - Jean Johnson
• Sourthern Vamprie series (Sookie Stackhouse) - Charlaine Harris
• Seals and Black Ops series - Lora Leigh
• KGI - Maya Banks
• Bullet Catchers and Guardian Angelinos - Roxanne St. Claire
• Fire Fighters of Station Five - Jo Davis
• Twilight Saga - Stepenie Meyer

OK,  I seriously need to stop now or I'll be here for hours lol

Q31):  What character in a series most represents your inner you and why?

Chelle: Wow, good question. I’m gonna have to go with a mix of Miranda Grey from Dianne Sylvan’s Shadow World, Riley Poe from Elle Jasper’s Dark Ink Chronicles and Madeline Black from Christina Henry’s series.

Carla: Hmmmm, that is a great question and I totally can't answer that lol.  I'd really have to think on that one.

Q32): From Sandy Stoops: Have you ever had to hide your addiction? As in you were supposed to be doing something else but you actually were off feeding your addict?

Chelle: Never had to hide the act itself, but have had to hide the feeding of the addiction (i.e all of the purchases).

Carla:  Same as Chelle.  I have to hide my books when I get home otherwise the hubby has a breakdown.  He says I have enough books to open a library.

Q33):  From Sandy Stoops:  What paranormal creature gets your heart pumping the most? What species do you see being your down fall in the end if it showed up at your door? 

Chelle:  They all do!  I’m a paranormal junkie.  Period.  I love different things about them all (have a special soft spot for vamps, big cat shifters and fallen angels/demons), though if a mix of werepanther and sorcerer showed up at my door like J.D Tyler created for the Alpha Pack series, I’d be done for….  *swoon*.  Seriously!?  A big cat shifter with magickal powers…Yeah…done!

Carla:  That is a tough one.  I love all the paranormal creatures.  If I had to pick I'd say half vamp/half wolf shifter.  I can't decide between the 2 so might as well make them 1/2 n 1/2 lol.

Q34):  From Sandy Stoops:  Have you ever tried to emulate an, umh, "scene" from one of the books out of fun? 

Chelle:  No.  And I don’t think I ever would.  I’d rather read about other people doing it, add ‘real life’ to the mix and it’s just not as exciting for me.  I guess that’s probably why I’m not keen on reading normal romance without the paranormal factors.  It’s too ‘real’.

Carla:    Um, No. LOL.  I love to read about it but to actually act it out..not so much.  Unless there was a hot vamp/shifter on my doorstep.  Then we can act it out all he wants.  J

Q35):  Anything interesting about yourself that you think your fellow Book Monsters and Literal Addicts might like to know that they don’t already?

Chelle:  Hmmm, some of you may already know some of this, but…

·         I was in several bands after high school—A heavy metal band called Insidious Affliction, a blues band called The Black River Band, and an alternative band called Merge--bass guitar and singer. 

·         I was cheerleading captain for 3 sports Sophomore to Senior years of high school.  I graduated at the top of my class and had enough credits to graduate a year early. 

·         I went to college to be a dental hygienist, but after a bad experience w/ a new Dr decided that’s not what I wanted to do. I’m a Software Quality Assurance Engineer & Business Analyst now & have been for almost 15 years, though as you can probably tell, my heart lies with my artistic talents and I wish I could do that full time! 

·         I modeled/acted for just short of 2 years for Look International and made an independent movie (no, not THAT kind of movie, geez!!) but stopped because I was too short, too flat chested [yet too curvy everywhere else] and couldn’t get decent work. 

·         Michelle Leah is my full first name due to a glitch on my Birth Certificate, I was named after the Beatles song because up until I popped out, my parents thought I was going to be a boy and were going to name me Jeremiah John, and I HATE if anyone tries to call me Shelly. 

·         I’ve died (full code blue) 3 times during surgeries, and have had 3 other near death experiences. 

·         My mom is from a family of 18 – 9 girls and 9 boys, of which, she is the 2^nd youngest. 

·         I have 5 tattoos and 5 more in progress.

·         I LOVE the Green Bay Packers (though I’m also a big fan of Michigan Wolverine college football, North Carolina Tar Heels college hoops (and Miami Hurricanes), and White Sox baseball. 

Carla:   Hmmmmmm, not so much as Chelle.  I am pretty boring LOL.  Let's see…..

·         I was in the Glee Club and band all throughout elementary school

·         I have NO tattoos but I am definitely planning on getting some.

·         I have one sister

·         I'm not really into sports other than baseball.  I LOVE the Yankees.

·         I like to make jewelry when I have time (which is next to never)

·         Michael Meyers from the Halloween movies scares the crappers out of me.

·         I HATE bugs!!!  Except lady bugs and locusts lol

Q36): If you could go on a date with anyone – living or dead, real or fictional, male or female, etc – who would you choose and why?

Chelle: I always said that I wanted to meet Jim Morrison from the Doors—I love The Doors, so that’s probably my ‘alive or dead’ choice. Fictional, I’d want to go to a party with the Lords of the Underworld and the cast of Immortals After Dark… as many of them as I could meet!

Carla:  Well for dead I would go with my grandfather.  I'd give anything to spend just one more day with him and tell him how much I love and miss him.  As for fictional I would say Aeron from LOTU.  LOVE him!!!

Q37): If you were stranded on a deserted island, outside of the basics (food, water, shelter, etc), what would you want with you and why?

Chelle: My Kindle with 3G & unlimited Amazon funds so I could get books whenever I wanted and my iPod with 3G and unlimited iTunes funds so I would always have music.

Carla: My Kindle and my iPod with unlimited amount of funds to buy more books and music. Great minds think alike Chelle!! ;-)

Q38): If you were on death row, what would you want your last meal to be?

Chelle: Mmmm…This is what I’d want, though all of it together sounds absolutely terrible. LOL! I’d want an appetizer of Crab Spinach dip, an Asian salad with mixed greens & raspberry vinaigrette, a main course of my mom’s handmade Pierogis and a medium rare (more on the rare side) filet mignon with a loaded baked potato and fresh baked crescent rolls, and then I’d top it all off with Turtle Brownie Cheesecake and a scoop of German Chocolate cake icecream from Coldstone.

Carla: My homemade Macaroni & Cheese, steak or london broil, a slice of New Park Pizza and strawberry cheesecake. YUM!!

Q39): What are some of your favorite classic movies and old TV Shows?

Chelle: I’m a sucker for the horror classics—Dracula, Bride of Frankenstein, Hell House, Amityville Horror, Psycho, etc, as well as the old dance movies—Footloose, Flashdance, Dirty Dancing, old Tom Cruise Movies—Top Gun, Cocktail, Days of Thunder, and anything old or new from Tim Burton (especially if it has Johnny Depp). Old TV Shows, I loved Dark Shadows, and will watch reruns of Buffy, Angel and Charmed whenever they’re on.

Carla: Dirty Dancing, Footloose, Dracula, Halloween (the original and Rob Zombie versions), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (the original). TV Shows - Charmed, Angel, Ghost Whisperer, I loved Little House on the Prairie when I was a kid

Q40): What’s your guilty pleasure?

Chelle: I have the world’s biggest sweet tooth and eat way too much! As mentioned above, I adore cheesecake. I also love Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked icecream, HD Bailey’s icecream with hot fudge, and DQ Mint Oreo blizzards. Outside of food, I love to pour a first blush (Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur and Chambord on the rocks) and curl up with a good book or my Kindle, even when I know I should be doing other things…

Carla: I love cheesecake of any kind. Mostly strawberry or pumpkin cheesecake. Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, Mounds or coffee ice cream

Q41): What’s your biggest fear or phobia?

Chelle: I’m a gephyrophobiac. I have a fear of bridges, though I have no fear of heights or water. Go figure! When I was younger, it used to be so bad that I once went on a school field trip to a zoo and was so terrified to cross a foot bridge I passed out. I used to throw up if I was in a car and had to cross a bridge. It’s better now. I can do foot bridges with little problem (though if there’s a chance to walk around them I will). If I’m a passenger in a car and know I’ll be crossing one I still take the safe route and just close my eyes. If I’m driving, I have to focus on the bumper of the car in front of me and not look around, and even then I get so tense it takes me hours to relax. If the bridges have no sides or top (basically just a road that happens to be over water) they don’t bother me. If there are sides and especially if there are the beams over the top, those are the ones that freak me the hell out.

Carla: I would have to say being buried alive. I can't even think about being buried when I'm dead it makes me freak out. Think I'll stick to being cremated

Q42): Favorite quote?

Chelle: I have a lot, but 4 of my absolute favorites are: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present” ~Bill Keane. “All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream” ~Edgar Allan Poe, “I am not strange, I am just not normal” ~Salvador Dali and “ Have no fear of perfection – You’ll never reach it” ~Salvador Dali.

Carla: "That which does not kill you makes you stronger". - Neitzsche

Q43): What would you want engraved on your tombstone?

Chelle: “She lived life the way she wanted, and we loved her for it.”

Carla: "I hope you put some books down there with her"

Q44): If you could be a supernatural being, or a mix of them, what would you want to be and why?

Chelle: Huh. Plain and simple I think I’d just want to be an incredibly powerful witch. That way I could spell myself to have the preternatural beauty and enhanced senses of a vamp, still be able to walk in the sun and be warm blooded, be able to shift into whatever animal I wished, and so much more….

Carla: I've always wanted to be a witch that can harness all of the elements

Q45): If they were to make a movie about your life, what do you think it’d be called?

Chelle: Insidious Affliction (J)

Carla: Don't Try This!

Q46): From Kara Lee Lovell: What was the first paranormal romance book you read that turned you on to the genre... or if you prefer Urban Fantasy, Romance etc?

Chelle: Well, I’ve read Stephen King since a very young age. That led me to Anne Rice, Dean Koontz and other horror-thriller authors (Peter Shaub & the like). When Twilight was the ‘big’ thing, I read those, and then on a suggestion from my boss at the time, read the Hendee’s Noble Dead Saga series (sci-fi fantasy—sort of a Lord of the Rings meets vampires and fey). After those, I knew I needed more, so I hit B&N and found L.A Banks’s Night Huntress Legends which were awesome once I got past the slang in the dialogue. That led to the discovery of Raven Hart’s Savannah Vampire series (also very good). As I was finishing up the last of those in the series, I was in line to pay for my lunch when I saw the woman’s paperback sitting there. It was a Lynsay Sands and I ended up reading everything that was available for the Argeneau series next. From there, it became an obsession to find anything and everything out there! My next session was a date with all the available Anita Blake books by Laurell K Hamilton. Those were my first peek into the world of semi-erotica, which led me to Bianca D’Arc, etc, and the rest…as they say…is history.

Carla: It was Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. Then the rest of the Twilight Saga. Then I went on to read the BDB, Nightwalkers and Guardians of Eternity and LOTU.

Q47): From Kara Lee Lovell: How old were you when you read that first book that you just knew you were going to love forever? What was that book?

Chelle: Wow, I don’t really know. I’ve been reading FOREVER. There are pictures of me reading when I really shouldn’t have been old enough to read, but apparently I was. Unfortunately I don’t have records of exactly ‘when’ I started to read (see description of shitty childhood above; mom never kept those kinds of records and mementos), but I know I was reading Greek Mythology legends in the Encyclopedia Brittanica as soon as I could, and we did Edgar Allan Poe in 6^th grade at school. That was what hooked me on things of that genre. Then, if memory serves, I read either It or Kujo by Stephen King way before it was appropriate. From there it was a lot of smuggling and borrowing of books and closing myself in the basement to escape whatever the new drama was in my household at the time. ;-)

Carla: Same thing…Twilight. I guess I was about 27 or 28?? I HATED to read before that. Nothing ever held my attention until I started reading Paranormal Romance

Q48): From Kara Lee Lovell: How do these steamy books affect your sex life or do they?

Chelle: Well, there was a definite ‘thumbs up’ period during my consumption of the Bianca D’Arc books. So good, in fact, my beau didn’t bat an eyelash at giving me a little extra $$ to put on the Amazon account to find more. J

Carla: What sex life!!!

Q49): From Kara Lee Lovell: How do the men in your life feel about your addictions? Blog, reviews, book buying, all the winners just all you put into it, sex scenes... oh did I ask that? Slipped that one in there.

Chelle: Well, I’m going to be completely honest here, but DON’T read too much into it, O.K!?. Sex life—see answer above. LOL. J The rest: My guy WAS incredibly supportive. He bought me my Kindle as a surprise. He used to give me $$ to buy/download extra books, listen with genuine interest when I’d tell him what I had planned for the club, laugh when I’d tell him something that someone had said, ask to see my changes to the website, give me feedback, etc. When L.A just started to get big in mid-June/early July he was thrilled along with me—gushed at how much I’d accomplished with no help and being all self taught, gave me big hugs and told me how proud he was of me, helped me come up with new ideas, asked questions, etc. Now though, all of the above has stopped & things are just tense. Just yesterday when I tried to share something with him he just cut me off. I was crushed! In his narrow view, I’m giving everything without receiving back. I tried to tell him that I get tons of thanks for everything I do (which makes me feel GREAT!), & that Carla & I do get goodies every now and again from authors where we don’t have to pay for them. I’ve stressed how much I love doing it & how it really makes me happy to give, but from his CPA (read: “checks and balances”) point of view, I’ve sacrificed everything personal because of the obligations we have for L.A, I spend more money on club stuff than I do on my car payment and water bill combined per month, I get so wrapped up in this stuff that I don’t eat like I should & I don’t take care of myself like I used to – getting my hair done regularly, etc (his exact words, “I never thought I’d see it, but you’re actually just letting yourself go!”), and bottom line, he’s a bit jealous. I can only hope that I can find a way to make some $$ to help with costs, and get ahead on things to open up some personal time again, because until then, he’ll continue to be frustrated with everything book related, and pissy with me in general. L

Carla: He complains that he's tired of staring at the back of my head because I'm always blobbing (yes, he calls blogging, BLOBBING LMAO). BUT he does buy me books and even pays for my contests shipments sometimes. Like Michelle said above it's hard because, like Chelle's man, he says I spend to much time doing this and get nothing back. I tell him I do it because I enjoy doing it and I like to make other people happy by sending them prizes and stuff but he will never get it.

Q50): From Kara Lee Lovell: Where and how old were you when you read your first steamy love scene? Did you look around to see if anyone was looking or were you nonchalant about it?

Chelle: I don’t really remember. I never read straight romances before (and barely have now), so it had to be really late in life when I discovered PNR. I was probably in my late 20’s and at home, alone, like I usually am when I read. J

Carla: I actually picked up one of my mom's books about 5 years ago after I read Twilight. I HATED reading bt after I read Twilight I became obsessed!! Anyways, I used to make fun of her and tell her that she was reading porn and she was a dirty lady because Damn!! the book I picked up from her pile was real smutty!! Now I read much worse. ;-)