Is it peculiar that my earliest memory of Katie D. on Twitter is during a live tweet out of Eurovision where she found a European embassy where she could watch it as it didn’t air on any USian TV. I remember thinking two things. 1. This librarian chick totally rocks! and 2. How is it that this hugely populated country doesn’t air Eurovision!!! (I’m Australia and just a tad obsessed with the competition). Despite this being one of my first memories of Katie D, I had been following her for a while and that is because she is one of the sun-starry gems of a librarian who also reads romance. Birds of a feather!

Katie D.

@younglibrarian

Librarian/romance author (under an alter ego that I only divulge in private/in person communications)

Can you describe yourself?

My Twitter bio says “Librarian. Writer. Knitter. Kook.” Which is all true. I’d also add in award-winning cook/baker and publishing nerd.

What is your main reading medium (books, blogs, games, news, etc) and how much time do you spend reading a week?

Books, print and ebooks, are my main reading medium. I honestly have no clue how much time I spend reading because a significant part of my job is actually reading/skimming books in order to annotate them for the library service I work for, let alone all of the leisure reading I do. I would say, minimum, 30 hours per week.

What or who is your joyful reading (guilty or otherwise) pleasure?

Ohhhh!!! I *love* the term “joyful reading” because I don’t think your preferred reading should be considered “guilty”. I grew up with queens of Irish Catholic guilt trips as grandmothers, and I always rejected that behavior control technique. ANYWAY, romance all the way, baby! I’ve been a fan of the genre since I identified it as the storyline I loved most about THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND by Elizabeth George Speare when I read it at age 12. I will branch out to mystery as I

consider that my secondary genre of choice, but I really do prefer  there to be a romance subplot in any fiction I read.

Do you have a favourite storyline or plot? And do you have one you will not read?

I think this was the hardest question to answer, and I still don’t have an answer. I paid attention to the discussion of tropes you love/hate that happened on Twitter this past week, but for the most part I’ll read pretty much anything. I do gravitate to spies, but I end up DNF’ing them more often than not. I blame that particular predilection on the Robert Ludlum phase I went through in high school/college. I also tend to avoid Christian romances mainly because I’m not religious and I find in many of them, the religious element is applied in a heavy-handed manner that harms the storytelling.

Why do you/don’t you use a public library?

I work for a US federal library, but work around the corner from the branch of the local public library. I tend to use it more for research/nonfiction or media. They historically have not been a good source for my leisure reading because they don’t tend to carry the books I want to read. You can only hit your head against a brick wall so long. And, yes, I used to routinely send in requests for purchase. I did recently get a card for a neighboring system that we have reciprocal borrowing privileges with, and I know for a fact they’re a bit more romance-friendly an institution, so I’m going to check out their ebook collection.

Do you RUI*. If so, what?

I actually don’t. Unless you count friends squeeing about a book as influence 😉 And that’s usually only if it’s friends who I know I share some existing book love with.

Do you have a favourite reading spot?

Right now, it’s my bed, but that’s because I had to get rid of my couch for reasons back in October. The replacement recliner chair is to be delivered tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to putting it through its paces!

Toilet reading:

I have no shame in admitting this because I’ve been doing it since I was a kid:

c) Anything goes – library books, friends books, cornflake packets.

Romance fiction of the Happily Ever After (not the love tragedy) kind are you a Lover or a Hater and why?

GOD, YES!!! LOVER! I require the HEA, or an HFN at the very least. Alter ego usually goes for HFNs in her shorter works anyway. That happy resolution is why I read the genre, especially for the last 18 months.

What would you give up reading for**?

Nothing. Seriously, you’ll pry my ereader from my cold, dead hands. Actually, I may have to leave instructions to bury it with me.

Can a romance/crime/super/etc hero be the driver of a hatchback?

Yes. The good ones can work with anything 😉