Hello all! I feel like i’m spoiling you all by highlighting all these amazing bloggers & panellists and I’m even more excited to be working with them on BBNYA! Today’s blogger is Flora who blogs at Flora’s Musings. Flora posts some awesome reviews and does some great spotlight posts. Be sure to go and give her blog some love.

To start off with tell us a little about you

Hello Becky and thank you for inviting me to your fabulous blog.

OK, I guess it’s no secret that I’m a menopausal woman in my late 40’s, with an eclectic range of interests and a love of reading. I wish I was more green-fingered (plants that I buy have to be pretty hardy and survive some serious lack of attention on my part 😉), I love being in my garden but you’ll usually find me with my nose buried in my Kindle or a paperback rather than actually tending to it. 😉 My favourite reading genre is adult Paranormal Romance (especially when written about vampires) but I also enjoy reading adult urban fantasy books and paranormal cozy mysteries.

When did you start blogging and what made you decide to start your blog?

When I first started out, I created a blogger and tumblr account in 2013 to share anything that caught my fancy with family and friends and although I haven’t deleted either of them, I don’t access those sites anymore. Is anyone still even using tumblr? 😉 I’ve always loved reading and joined Goodreads in 2014 to keep track of all my books and started writing reviews and sharing them on my blogger and tumblr accounts. Over time, the book reviews became my main posts and I started taking part in book blogs and getting ARCS. I moved to WordPress in 2017 and have been with them ever since. Flora’s Musings… is now solely a book blog and I love blogging about my passion.

Do you have any fun bookish memories?

Now this could be embarrassing. I used to love The Garden Gang books by Jayne Fisher and one year, my Mum made me a Penelope Strawberry papier mache costume to wear at our summer village fete 🍓 – I thought I looked the bees-knees. 😉

Name a few of your favourites: Books/ Authors/ Characters/ Movies/ TV Shows etc.

My top favourite authors are; Felicity Heaton 💜, Teresa Gabelman 💜, Dianne Duvall 💜, Victoria DeLuis 💜 and Holly Bell 💜 – I love ALL their books and drop them into conversations and memes whenever I can. I love all the Marvel Universe films and have a soft spot for Loki, 😉 during the recent pandemic, we’ve been watching all of them again. TV and Netflix is also a big part of family life, Hubby and I have got our teenage girls into Death in Paradise and Midsomer Murders 😉 and Hubby and I loved watching shows like the remakes of Lethal Weapon and Magnum PI and White Collar. I’m really enjoying Limitless at the moment and reruns of Miranda and The Vicar of Dibley

Where did you first hear about BBNYA and what made you decide to join?

I follow the wonderful Dave @The_WriteReads on Twitter, and last year he tweeted about a mysterious reveal that had the book blogging community waiting with anticipation. We were all chomping at the bit to find out more! 😉  When it was announced that there was going to be an annual competition to find the best self-published book that was going to be judged by book bloggers, I couldn’t wait to find out more and get involved. My blog was already packed full of indie authors and I desperately wanted to add the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award to my schedule. I applied to be on the judging panel, not really expecting to be accepted, but wanted to use my blog, Flora’s Musings, as a platform to promote the competition and help spread awareness. I’m still slightly flabbergasted that I was chosen to join the team of 100 bloggers that will judge the entries. 🥳 The entries are open at the moment but authors have only got until 10th May to submit their book for the competition.

What are some of your favourite indie/self-published books and why?

I love indie authors and most of the books I read are self-published, that’s not to say there aren’t people out there who should stick with their day job,😉 but I still admire that they’re following their dreams without the financial backing of the big publishing houses. I’m in awe of indie author’s dedication and gumption and, when I find one that ticks all of my boxes, try to promote their books as often as I can. All of my favourite authors whom I listed above are indies. I’ve also loved the Elemental Paladins by Montana Ash, The Fae Chronicles by Amelia Hutchins and The Warrior Chronicles by K.F. Breene to name but a few. I could recommend lots more, just check out my blog if you don’t believe me. 😉

I love being a book blogger and have made so many wonderful friends in the book community. I think the BBNYA is a fantastic idea and I’m so proud to play my part and open up the world of the smaller publication companies and authors who self-publish their work.   

Here’s where you can find me:

Flora’s Musings blog: – https://florasmusings.com/my-latest-ramblings/

Twitter: – https://twitter.com/FloraFornica69

Instagram: – https://instagram.com/floras_musings/

Facebook Page: – https://facebook.com/FlorasMusings/