Book Blogger Feature: The Girls in Plaid Skirts

This month, I have a feature that will last until July.  I'll be featuring several different bloggers.  Last post, y'all got to know Kayla of A Wonderland of Reading a little bit better.  Now it's time for...

About the Girls

"We are three best friends--JB, Julianne, and Rachel--on a mission to encourage and connect with readers (and non-readers) through our blog. We became The Girls in Plaid Skirts after a very exciting photo-bombing by our favorite author, Ally Carter, and have been blogging since March 2013. Sometimes we pretend we’re spies (even though we’re 22), and we frequently dress up as our favorite characters. The official snack of The Girls in Plaid Skirts is peanut butter. "

Emma: What would you say is your favorite part of the book blogging community?

Girls: Firstly, we love how it serves as an incredible way to make connections with other bibliophiles/nerds/bookies/fans that otherwise would have never been even slightly possible.  As bloggers, we also have opportunities that, just over a year ago, I would have thought "That's crazy, that isn't going to happen."  I mean our first interview is with a best-selling author of national acclaim (and superb fashion sense!), yeah, that would've never happened... Also, having a blog has also changed us as readers. 

Jules: I'm not just reading cover to cover for funzies; I have become more sensitive to the various aspects of the craft and construction of the story. We've become analytic readers, of sorts. We are reading for ourselves as well as our readers.   

Emma: What's your favorite YA subgenre?

Girls: This is a kind of hard one... Even though there are three of us, we have very similar tastes in books, and most of those books have similar themes or settings. (We like historical romance.) But because of question #3, we had a hard time actually defining the books we loved by a specific genre.  (Spy fiction has a special place in our hearts.)  So, we created a mash-up-genre: RomAction

Emma: What's your favorite book within that genre?

Girls: Our roots are in I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You, from the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter, about a top-secret girls-only school for spies. Action. Friendship. Spies. Romance. Schemes. hehe!

Of course we have loved many books since then, especially The Selection series by Kiera Cass, the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer, and Pivot Point by Kasie West.

Emma: Signature question time: What's your favorite fairytale?

(without a breath of hesitation)

JB: Beauty and the Beast

Rae: Cinderella (Followed by Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Three Billy Goats Gruff :) )

(Mine took a little more thought; I actually dug way back into the dark recesses of my memory for an old classic.)

Julianne: The Brave Tin Soilder    [http://hca.gilead.org.il/tin_sold.html]

Emma: What has been the best moment of your blogging career?

Girls: Although it's tempting to say "That one time we got photobombed by Ally Carter!", we weren't actually bloggers yet, so it doesn't really count. Since we've been blogging, we have to say our first interview with Marissa Meyer.  That was pretty marvelous.  Not only was it great to meet her in person but I think it gave us a huge boost in morale, like "Hey, that was awesome, let's keep being awesome!"    

Emma: What do you see as the next big trend in YA (like vampires, dystopian, mermaids, angels, etc.)?

Girls: Hmmmm... the elusive NBT... Well we've been seeing a few more spy books hit the shelves (much to our delight), as well as a rise in books that feature technology.  These days, what was once "futuristic" is more reality.  Also, while they've been around a while, dragons seem to be gaining momentum.

Emma: What's the YA trope that irritates you the most and why?

Girls: Oh, this is an easy one...  Dystopians and retellings, especially dystopian retellings... 

JB: And TRILOGIES!!!! omgoodness!  give me a full series, dualogies, stand-alones, give me liberty, give me death!!  ... but that's a post for another day.. :)   

Also, flimsy, pointless secondary characters and mean girls!  And, although they are a bit of a guilty pleasure, we've had enough love triangles for a while. 

Rae: Basically, these are all over done. Once something is done for a while, it feels unoriginal, like the author is trying to make publishers happy or make money. I like it when authors write something from the heart, not just to jump on a bandwagon 

Emma: Any upcoming books you're highly anticipating?

Girls: Well of course!  Jennifer Lynn Barnes has Killer Instincts, Book 2 in her series The Naturals coming out Nov. 4 (spy action! woohoo!). Marissa Meyer is working on Heartless, to come out after Winter, Book 4 of The Lunar Chronicles, both of which we are really looking forward to but must test the strength of our patience.  Ally Carter will be launching a new series, Embassy Row, next year but the first book is yet to be titled. Also, debut author Ella Martin will be releasing Will The Real Prince Charming Please Stand Up early July and, well, we're always down for some Prince Charming action!  

Emma: Ahhhhhh, I'm looking forward to most of those!

Emma, thank you so much for having us, it has been a delight! Can't wait to see responses from other bloggers!

Emma: You're very welcome!  Thanks for letting me feature y'all!  Don't forget to check out The Girls in Plaid Skirts at their blog here and follow them on Twitter!