What Pam from Florida wants, Pam from Florida gets – hehe! Here are my responses to the fun questions you put to me a couple of weeks ago. Hoping I don’t put you to sleep!

Thanks for your care and interest – you are the best readers in the history of book blogging!!

And thank you Pam for suggesting the idea.

Over to you…and…ahem, me!

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Richard: Why in the world have you chosen to be a book blogger?

It happened  by accident, Richard! I began writing a few reviews for my local Christian bookstore and started Relz Reviewz simply as a place to record them, so my mum and sister could read them! I stumbled across the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and began reviewing books for blog tours and subsequently publishers, publicists and authors. As I wrote my first review for the bookstore – Siri Mitchell’s Chateau of Echoes, I never dreamed I would have the wonderful, devoted readers I have now. It’s still mind-blowing after nine years of blogging.

Rachel: Do you have an all time favourite book? Is that too hard a question 

Ha! You know the answer to that already, Rach ~ yes, too hard in many ways. But if you had to press me, I’d probably say it’s a toss up between Chaim Potok’s The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev and Gloria Goldreich’s Lori, a novel published in 1979 about a 16 year old American girl, sent to live in Israel for 18 months. As a teen I fell in love with Lori’s story, and it probably birthed my fascination with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unfortunately, I never owned a copy, but borrowed it multiple times from the library. I can picture the cover in my mind but have been unable to find a picture of it online to show you. Potok’s books profoundly affected my view of literature in my late teens.

Sylvia: You said one time that you loan books to your friends and your collection has become a library of Christian fiction. Do you actually have your books cataloged and keep track of who has what book at a time?

Yes, Sylvia, I absolutely do! I keep track of my books and borrowings with Collectorz.com. I’d be lost without it. It keeps a record of who has borrowed which books so I don’t give people the same books over and over! Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like for you, although you can’t see where I record borrowings as I scroll down the screen for that information. When I add a book it automatically adds all the books details, cover art, etc.

A screen shot of my Book Collectorz program

Sylvia: I know you are a personal assistant to various authors. Do you work directly for them or does their agency or publisher hire you? Is it a tough job?

I work directly with a number of authors and it is fulfilling a long held dream of mine to support writers who have brought me so much joy and blessing over the years since I learned to read. The admiration I have for them is immense – walking along side writers in this way I see the blood, sweat, and tears that go into writing a book. And then putting it out in the public eye for critique? And keep up with social media. And promote their new releases. Worry over sale figures, the next story, their personal obligations and commitments. If I can ease just a little of those pressures, them I thrilled. It’s a job with its unique challenges, like any other job, but I love it! And I adore my authors – they truly are the very best kind of people!

Sylvia: Do you ever run into cultural differences while reading North American Christian fiction? Do some things just not make sense? I’m ashamed to admit that I tend to think of Australia as being one large country and not the continent that it is. Do you have any good recommendations for novels set in various parts of Australia (are they states, provinces, shires?) that would give us Americans a good idea of the different cultures and people groups of Australia? I know that Christian fiction is on the rise there and more people are starting to write it.

There are plenty of cultural differences, Sylvia, but I think you would notice them more than we do. Australians are exposed to a great deal of American television, movies, and the like. Due to being so distant from most other Western countries, I’d venture to say we know a lot more about you than you know about us, as we have historically always wanted to know what the UK, Europe, and America are up to! An easy example is that we are well aware of your celebratory holidays – Thanksgiving, Halloween, Independence Day – but I’m guessing you  don’t really know much about Australia Day, Melbourne Cup Day, or the Queen’s Birthday holiday. Australians also travel a lot and are not afraid to hop on a plane for the long distance haul to the US or the UK. Our nightly news is likely to have at least one news item from the US every day so we are exposed to your culture a lot more than you are to ours.

We are a pretty laid back people, masters of the understatement, can’t abide people big noting themselves, even if they are justified, and have this things called ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’ going on. You can google it 😉 We are told by visitors that we are generally warm, welcoming, and friendly.

As far as cultural differences go, here’s one that applies to reading. Of course, this is a generalisation, but we aren’t always fans of stories being tied up in a neat bow, we don’t mind things being messy and authentic which means we can find a good percentage of Christian fiction frustrating! I can say this with some insight as a very dear friend of mine belongs to my book club and she represents the Americans well being a good Southern girl raised in Alabama! We always have a good laugh at our differences.

A little bit of Aussie info. We have 6 states and 2 territories so quite different to your 50 states given our countries have a fairly similar land mass. We have a Prime Minister not a President, we always call them by their first names as we eschew titles, and we are a melting pot of migrants from all around the world, alongside our indigenous Aborigines.

As for Australian authors, here’s a few to check out! Ian Acheson and his international speculative thriller, Angelguard, Andrea Grigg and her contemporary romance, Too Pretty, and Mary Hawkins and Narelle Atkins, who pen contemporary romance novellas and category romance novels. And I have another brilliant author to share with you soon…just you wait!

Pam: When you need to escape from a truly frazzled day, your favorite escapist author is …?

I don’t have the reading time to choose ‘escape’ reads but if I did, no questions I’d pick up something by Ronie Kendig or Tamara Leigh. I just adore everything about their storytelling, their characters, and prose. They are comfort reads. Whenever borrowers return their books, I find myself opening them up and reading my favourite passages!

Pam: In Philippians 1:3, Paul said, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you” – who is dear to your remembrance?

My family, of course. My movie watching husband and my three gorgeous daughters…and our pooch, the beloved Sherlock!

Pam: What book is dear to your remembrance?

So many, Pam, so many. But I will say Bodie Thoene’s Zion Covenant and Zion Chronicles which I read decades ago and devoured them many times over. They two series are set before and during WWII, in Europe and Palestine. You can see I have a theme going on, right?!

Amy: I’m going to go completely in the opposite direction and ask what is a book you liked the least? Maybe everyone was ‘over the moon’ about it, but you just couldn’t get through it or you couldn’t believe the rave reviews it got based upon your lack of enjoyment. Or maybe you’ve read a book you didn’t like, but gave the author a second chance and really enjoyed their next attempt – or vice versa – you loved their first attempt, but haven’t been able to enjoy their other offerings. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings so if you’d rather not say, I understand. I guess the Daylight Savings Time here in the U.S. is making my grumpiness show by asking the negative side of your reviewer’s life. 

Mmm….that’s a tough one. Let me answer it this way. I tend not to read bestsellers, just because they are bestsellers. I’ve never read The Shack or the Left Behind series. Maybe it’s the Australian in me – see said Tall Poppy Syndrome – LOL! I enjoyed the first few books of Karen Kingsbury’s Baxter Family series, but they just seemed to repeat themselves, and I felt there was too much focus on beautiful, rich, successful people and those tied with a bow happy endings, that just wasn’t for me! I’ve enjoyed her standalone novels better, although she has an Australian character in Fifteen Minutes that I really struggled with as he was more caricature than authentic Australian. I’m delighted that Karen blesses so many readers with her stories, but most aren’t for me these days.

Sherlock

Pam K: I’m wondering if you ever have time to read a book purely for pleasure (not to review or blog about). I’m trying to get better at posting reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and CBD, but I don’t do that for every book I read, nor do I want to. For me, it’s so much easier to read than to write.

Yes, I’m with you, Pam. Reading is more fun than writing but these days, I rarely read for pleasure. That’s not to say I don’t get pleasure from reading books I review, I do. But it is a different experience, for sure. I have bought myself numerous books to read for pleasure but am just not getting to them as I have so many books that require reviewing!

Staci: What is a novel set in Australia that you recommend, preferably one that would help readers better understand the culture, history and/or geography of Australia?

I’m so immersed in the American writing scene, I’m not actually the best person to ask, Staci – that’s bad, isn’t it?! See the authors I mention above, in response to Sylvia’s question but you could also check out Australasian Christian Writers who share a lot about Australian novelists.

Sally: I know what makes me pick up a new book or author, but what attracts you to a new-to-you author, whether they’re debut or not? How big of a role does the cover play in you starting a book?

A cover doesn’t play a huge part for me in picking up a new to me author, unless it’s awkward or quite poorly executed, Sally. If there isn’t a basic standard of quality in the cover, I am prejudiced towards the interior! If it is traditionally published author, then the publisher plays a big part for me. I know my publishers pretty well now so can usually be accurate in guessing the quality of the book, and even a little of its style or slant from who publishes the book. If it is an indie author, then recommendations and high on my radar – who is endorsing their book, who do they ‘hang around’ with online. Quality writers attract quality writers. If Tamara Leigh, Jenny B. Jones, Amy Matayo, or say the delightful Sally Bradley are talking about an indie author, then I’ll take a closer look! Also, if a new name to me pops up and I can’t find a decent and current website, them I’m unlikely to pursue it further. I love highlighting quality indie authors and debut novelists of any kind. I love helping authors get off the ground.

I regularly receive requests to review books from authors I’ve never heard of before. How they approach that request is critical to me. If they don’t use my name, don’t give me links to their website and book, or the standard, “Dear Relz Reviewz, I’ve published a book. Will you review it? Author”…ahem, it’s not going to happen! I’ve recently had a couple of indie authors featured on my blog that I didn’t know previously but who had taken the time to work out my blog was suited to their writing, provided all the information I needed to ‘check them out’, so to speak, and had another author they knew I would recognise recommend them to my blog – the perfect approach.

Sally: Do you finish every book you start?

Pretty much! I’m not an optimist by nature but I am when it comes to books. I keep thinking the bad ones will get better and hold out hope the author will redeem themselves! Also, despite not minding messy endings, I do mind not knowing the ending 😉

Thanks so much, everyone xo