Armchair BEA Day 1 - Who Am I? An Introduction

Hi, there, Armchair BEA folks!  Thanks for stopping by Starting the Next Chapter!  This is my first year participating in Armchair BEA and I'm looking forward to learning whatever information is on author and getting to know some new bloggers.  This is going to be a crazy week for me, but I hope to make my rounds of the participating blogs in the evenings.  I return to classes this week and have surgery on Thursday, so if I disappear from time-to-time, that's why.  I will definitely do my best to return all visits, though! 

I picked 5 of the questions posed by Armchair BEA to answer as part of my introduction.  Since I'm running out of things to say at this point, why don't we get this show on the road?

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?  My name is Marla and, in a nutshell, I'm a reader, writer, and all-around bibliophile from Tennessee.  I've been blogging under this blog for 1 year and 3 months, although I've been blogging in other capacities since 2002.  I opened this blog because, at the time, I didn't have many people to discuss books with in real life.  Thanks to my blog, however, that problem has been rectified.  I have since met some awesome bloggers and am even co-admin of the Ruta Sepetys Official Fan Website alongside Hannah from The Book Vortex.  The site is still in its infancy, but we hope to turn it into a great online gathering point for other fans.
2. What is your favorite feature on your blog (i.e. author interviews, memes, something specific to your blog)?  My favorite feature is my new monthly author spotlight called Owl's Eye View.  In fact, my second one just posted today!  The gist is that every month I feature an author who has a book hitting the shelves.  So far, I've had the pleasure of interviewing Kathleen Peacock and Myra McEntire!
3. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?  If I could have dinner with any author, I would choose Ruta Sepetys.  She is one of my favorite authors and just so happens to be semi-local to me when she's not on tour.  I've met her twice now and have found her to be a kind, funny person.  It would be a real treat to have dinner and talk books with her.
4. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?  They certainly have!  I was re-introduced to YA last year and, unaware of all of the fantastic things coming out in that category, fell head over heels for some wonderful titles and characters.  Now, I can't get enough of it and have discovered some wonderful genres I had never tried before as a result (i.e. steampunk and dystopia).
5. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?  I am currently reading Call of the Sea by Rebecca Hart, which will be released on June 21, 2012, and for which I am part of a blog tour.  I'm not the type to have one favorite anything, really, but I can name my top 5 favorite books so far this year!  They are: The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges; Incarnate by Jodi Meadows; Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen; Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers; and Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo.