Danni & Ell have an amazing Bookstagram account that they have created and run together: @two_lil_bookworms. Their feed is so beautiful to look at and they have amazing book reviews and recommendations. You can see from their feed how passionate they both are about reading, and their fun personality shines through their posts and stories. Ell also does amazing illustrations, so if you are interested in these for your Booksta feed or profile pic, definitely check Ell's work out, she's fab! I was very excited to speak to Ell & Danni about their passion for all things bookstagram and reading, and they are always so fun to talk to. Hello to you both! Thank you for taking the time to speak to us. Firstly, would you be able to tell us a little bit about yourselves? Ell: I’m 24 years YOUNG and I recently finished University where I was studying Graphic Communication Design - I’m job hunting now whilst doing my driving lessons! Danni: I’m 23, a trainee accountant, and have loved reading from a young age. We’re both obsessed with a good cuppa, a mighty stack of American pancakes and a chinese, but not all at the same time We love that you started your Bookstagram journey together. How did you make the decision to start as a joint account? Lockdown was the perfect time to finally set up something we’ve been debating for years. We’ve been reading for most of our teenage and adult lives but never had a place to share our thoughts except for with each other, so we thought ‘why not create a Bookstagram and find fellow book lovers?’ Who would you say are your “go to authors?” COLLEEN HOOVER baby! Also Fredrik Backman, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Penelope Douglas, Leigh Bardugo and Christina Lauren. Ell, you currently do illustrations, which are amazing. Where did the idea come from to start doing these? Thank you so much!! When we started this account I illustrated our profile photo and was being asked to do them for other people aswell, so since I only work part time I’m able to spend time on them when they’re requested and I bloody love it.
How long is your tbr list ?
Ell: I currently have 31 books on my physical TBR which I got down from 67 at the start of 2021. The goal is to have just 10 books on my TBR at all times so no books get left for years and years ever again
Danni: 50. The ratio of how much I read compared to how much I buy is out of control so my goal this year is to read as much of my physical TBR as possible before buying anymore books!!
What would you say to anybody who is looking to start up a bookstagram account, or is looking for ideas/inspiration for their own page?
JUST DO IT! You’ll be welcomed to the community instantly and conversations will happen naturally, meaning connections form pretty quickly. You’ll wonder how you ever used to click onto Instagram without the presence of books - it’ll be your new happy place.
Have your reading preferences changed or altered at all since creating your account?
100% We used to love romantic comedies and YA books, which we still do, but sometimes we find them a little boring and predictable. In the past year we’ve started reading more dark romances and would definitely say we prefer these to your standard chick lit style. Ell now reads more domestic fiction too which has become one of her favourite genres.
What three books would you say are your must reads? The first one that always comes to mind is A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It’s a must read for everyone no matter the genre you enjoy; how could you not connect with this book?! Beartown by Fredrik Backman is one of our favourite books EVER, another must read for sure, and Daisy Jones & The Six is one that never gets old. Daisy feels like a real life icon. Who is your all-time favourite character from a book? Damon Torrance from The Devils Night series by Penelope Douglas. I think we can both agree that Damon is by far our favourite Horseman! He grows on you with each book and has the most intense character arc you’ll experience. We‘d love to meet that sexy piece of ass. I know both of you are really into your Colleen Hoover books, which one of her books would you say is your favourite? That’s a very hard question as pretty much all the Colleen Hoover books we’ve read so far have been 5 stars so let’s go with our top 3:
Heart Bones
It Ends With Us (read the TW’s)!!
Reminders of Him
Do you have a rating system for your reviews? I think we just KNOW when a book is a 5 star, you can usually tell early on, but it has to be close to faultless (in our opinion) to feel like a 5 star. We use a half rating system as well, like 4.5 and 3.5, so if we ever rate a book below 3 then we usually don’t think much of it at all. In terms of a system we’d say it’s all just about vibes. What was your favourite read from January? Ell: Heart Bones by, of course, Colleen Hoover. It was a re-read and it just hit so differently the second time around, I could re-read it again and again forever! Danni: Reminders of Him by, you guessed it, Colleen Hoover. A huge thank you to Danni & Ell for speaking to us today. If you're on the look out for a beautiful, fun page with some excellent book recommendations then go and give them a follow! @two_lil_bookworms. Bec Interviewer @readwith_bb
Pictures sent by @two_lil_bookworms
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