The Girl Behind the Blog (an Armchair BEA introduction)

Hello there! Welcome to Beneath Shining Stars, I Read--yes, this is an official sort of "hello." To my followers, thank you so much for following my blog and to my visitors, well, welcome!

You might be wondering, "Is that a picture of you, Kristin?" The answer, of course, is "Yes!" Please forgive the open closet behind me. Yes, it looks like one that you could use to get into Narnia,--but alas, I've tried (as a kid) and it doesn't seem to work. But enough of my minor ramble! Now I shall question myself in a sort of mock interview--feel free to use my questions if, like me, you're sort of stuck when it comes to introduction posts.

Why did you name your blog Beneath Shining Stars, I Read?
Admittedly there are three reasons why my blog ended up being named "Beneath Shining Stars, I Read." I read at night, I have an (slight--wait, who am I kidding?) obsession with stars (the sort in the sky), and I live close to Los Angeles (and as such, do tend to have star sightings from time to time).

Why did you start blogging?
I found GoodReads in August of 2010 and I quickly began organizing a "TBR" list while reading reviews on there. At the same time, I found that some people linked to their blogs from their review posts and I began reading The Story Siren's reviews. From there, I began to play around with the idea of making a blog and reviewing on it and two months later, Beneath Shining Stars, I Read was created.

Who are you?
My name is Kristin, I live in a small, quiet city situated between Long Beach and Los Angeles, and I'm twenty-one years old. Also, I'm an English Literature major--who probably shouldn't have taken a break right after high school, but we all make silly decisions at times, right? Ah, and if you were wondering, I'm half Thai and half Caucasian--which as it stands, means that I don't burn when I go out into the sun but I don't exactly tan either. Naturally, I'm shy and I'm not exactly the partying type. Yes, I've been a bookworm all my life. Have I mentioned that I'm a Nerdfighter? Or that I seriously love Harry Potter (both the movies and the book series) as well as Pirates of the Caribbean (yes, I'm a Johnny Depp fan-girl)? Huh, I probably should've mentioned that earlier.

What are your other hobbies?
Reading is hobby number one. Other hobbies include writing, singing, swimming, shopping, hanging out with friends, watching movies, singing along with musicals, listening to music and being a dork. Well, being a dork isn't really a hobby, it's a fact of life.

What do you like to watch?
Musicals, Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother, Doctor Who (admittedly I find myself falling for the charms of Matt Smith), Gossip Girl, True Blood (Alexander Skarsgard, yum!), Doctor Horrible, Coraline, Pirates of the Caribbean, and well, there's many more but off the top of my head, that's what I love to watch.

Do you have a favorite book series?
Every time I see this question or when I get asked it, I freeze. There have been many series that I can claim are favorites. They're books that I can re-read without losing interest in and well, there's so many that I don't know what to tell you! My default answers are always Karen Marie Moning's Fever series and of course J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter.

What do you usually read?
I read mainly YA--like most of the bloggers that I follow--and sometimes it feels like the teens hanging around the YA section of my local bookstore know I'm not one of them. You know, that "Why is there an adult in the YA section?" look. But it's my guilty pleasure and I don't think I'll be giving it up anytime soon. As for genres, I read a bit of everything (yes, it's true).

But when it comes to genres that I really love then it has to be: dystopian, paranormal, historical fiction, and romance. Although I have been reading a bit more contemporary lately and it's been a nice change. Paranormal has always been my favorite genre though and I've loved it for as long as I can remember--which does indeed mean before Twilight was released. It was probably the fourth grade or so when I really began reading it--and a bit of R.L. Stine--and I've yet to grow tired of it. ;)

What are you looking forward to most for Armchair BEA?
Everything! Seriously, everything. But if you forced me to pick something then I'd tell you that I'm really looking forward to learning more about my fellow bloggers and reading lots and lots of posts!

Lastly, thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I'll be doing my best to keep up with everything going on for Armchair BEA this week, so I'll be hopping around from blog to blog visiting as many of my fellow Armchair BEA participants as I can manage. Happy reading!

P.S. I can also be found on Twitter (@EloquentLace) and GoodReads.