Week Two for OUR favorites, Day Four: Blogs and Bloggers, Next up "Marieke Nijkamp" @ DiversifYA*+ Ellen Oh's Prophecy/Warrior & Sarwat Chadda's The Savage Fortress/The City of Death giveaway!

We don't know if there was one book in particular that have truly inspired us fellow book bloggers to start our book blog. Maybe it was the promise of free books? Or was it the chance to connect with other book lovers like yourselves. 

For us it was a blog. A called DiversifYA. 

I'm sure we talk about this ALL the time. Too much maybe. But when we started our book blog, we were really frustrated that there weren't a lot of blogs that highlighted diverse books, writers and stories. DiversifYA isn't really a book blog per say. It's more of a blog that tries to shed some light on some interesting topics, themes and interviews you often see missing from book discussions:

Diversity in books.

DiversifYA is run by Marieke Nijkamp, who describes herself as a storyteller, dreamer, globe-trotter, and proud-to-be-geek. We just describe her as TOTALLY DOPE!

(Check us out, we actually got the chance to meet her at this years BookCon via the #weneeddiversebooks presentation.)

Marieke Nijkamp is extremely dedicated to the cause of Diverse Books and wants to be your Pitch Wars mentor. Isn't that awesome?

Blogs like DiversifYA are a total gem and we always learn something new peeking through it's blog posts. Trying to be a writer that incorporates diversity? Afraid of getting it wrong?

 Marieke's blog is the right place to start to read about different people's experiences so you know some things to avoid!

Blogoversary Celebration Day 10: All the great places disabled characters can go with Kayla @ Disability in Kidlit!+15.00 Amazon Giveaway & bonus 10.00 Amazon Giveaway!!!

So We've decided to do a little something different for Day 10. 

Characters with disabilities always seems to be the last thing writers or readers seem to include in terms of diversity. We ourselves, don't get a WHOLE lot of requests to review books that include disabled protagonists and finding the few YA, Fantasy, MG, or Sci-Fi books that are out there and capture disabled people in a multi-faceted, 3-Dimensional, Flattering light is very few and far between. There are a ton of amazing blogs out there that are dedicated to dismantling the negative connotations that are usually associated with disabled people. Today we're happy to be sitting down with another one of them!!! 

We got in touch with Kayla @ "Disability in Kidlit", a diversity blog dedicated to exploring disabilities in books particularly YA, MG and Children's Lit. Not only was she was really interested in hopping onboard, she was very patient and understanding of what kind of message we were trying to get across with this particular post.

So much goes into what not to do with disabled characters in novels, that "Disability in Kidlit" could go on forever about the do-nots! Instead she's chosen to give us, and others where the future of disabled characters can and should go!

I can't say this isn't beneficial. I've learned so much about the stigma behind disabled characters just through these highlights alone. Some of the best and memorable characters in SF/F are disabled(check the best ones out!)

At Disability in Kidlit, we spend a lot of time dissecting disability tropes. We outline what they are and why they’re harmful, and there’s immense value in that. It’s important to acknowledge what NOT to do. But sometimes it’s fun (and helpful) to talk about what we would like to see in terms of disability and representation—what TO do. 

I’m going to forego including things like “more and better representation” because obviously I want that. (Go ahead and assume I only want what’s listed if it’s executed well.) Instead, I want to be more specific about what I’d love to see, what books I would LOVE to read. Of course, I speak for only myself. Everyone’s going to have a different list of wants, but here’s mine:

Blogoversary Celebration Day 5: A Cruise with Katie from "Space Crip" + 15.00 Amazon Giftcard giveaway+Bonus 10.00 Amazon giftcard Giveaway!!!

Diversity blogs seem so hard to come by. Add in diversity blogs that cater to geeks of Sci-fi, Fantasy, Horror, Speculative Fiction and Action, and they're even harder to find. It's very disappointing that of all the blogs we've found highlighting disabled/differently abled characters are so few and far between. That's why this blog is so amazing. Space Crip analyzes and highlights disabled characters in the SFF world. And shouldn't there be more? I mean according to the Census Bureau Reports, nearly 1 in 5 Americans have a disability. And that just in the United States. It's about time we started seeing that represented more in our media. But until then, Space Crip is doing that and more!

Blogoversary Celebration Day 3: Are you Diversifying your YA? DiversifYA's Marieke Nijkamp + $15 Amazon giftcard giveaway

Since my sister and I started blogging, DiversifYa has become one of our go to blogs!We check in every new post and I'm pretty sure they were one of the first blogs we really started following religiously. DiversifYA features up and coming authors, aspiring writers and much needed discussions about all things diversity. So we're happy to invite the creator of the site, Marieke Nijkamp on our blog today!!!

1. Why don't spend the next moment describing yourself in 20 words or less :)

How about...  "Writer. Reader. Traveler. Dreamer. Geek. Lover of life." That's eight. Twenty if you include my humming and hawing.

2. No, we didn't forget we're talking blogs :) Why don't you talk a little about your blog and it's mission!

Blogoversary Celebration Day 2: Interview with the lovely Italian book blogger of Offbeat YA +15.00 amazon gift card giveaway

As you know the world wide web makes the blogoverse seem so small!

We're able to connect with other all over the globe.While we @Twinja Book Reviews follow many "International" book blogs, our favorite to date is a blogger by the name of Roberta, who blogs @ Offbeat YA. Other than being from the beautiful "Italia",what's cool about her book blog is that she seems to have an insane, unhealthy obsession with Christopher Pike and makes a conscious effort yo review books outside of the "mainstream"realm. 

It's refreshing to read a blog that reviews books that aren't so popular. Some book blogs tend to look the same after a while, so this is why we chose to highlight Roberta for our Blogoversary celebration! Sit back and get to know this lovely Italian blogger!

Yayyyyy!Our Blogoversary Celebration begins! First up, Fangs for the Fantasy+15.00 amazon giveaway!

Didn't we tell you we were going surprise you with some awesome blogs???

We "sat" with about a dozen great book blogs that we consider sister sites to us @ Twinja Book Reviews. Some talk more about LGBTQ and sexuality, others focus on POC in books and a few tackle a sub-culture that seems to be forgotten when we talk about diversity, people with disabilities.

Either way, they're all amazing blogs my sister and I are huge fans of and hope to show our support to these blogs in any way we can!

Jacqueline Koyanagi sits down with Twinja Book Reviews! Pardon as we blush!

 Her book has given us the biggest book boner! Black woman, dark skin, natural hair? AND sci-fi in one shot? We just had to learn about the author. She was more than happy to sit down and discuss with us, and it's a good thing. She needs to be seen! She has a unique perspective, and interviewing her has been awesome!

1. I am completely in awe of you! Ever since I saw your book, I've kept tabs on you and finally bought your novel "Ascension: A Tangled Axon", but for those first meeting you, why don't you tell us more about yourself.