Rhonda Alford is the night supervisor of McCabe Library. When she’s not fighting sleep, you can find her at a convention or two, playing with her cat, or cooking up a new culinary creation in her kitchen.

What are you reading these days? I am currently reading a book called Love and Other Wicked Things by Philline Harms. It takes place in a town called Oakriver and follows the love story of two witches, Valerie and Rhiannon. I originally read it as a webcomic, but discovered the book's existence shortly after. As an avid fall lover, it's a cozy read, especially during these cold winter months, which transports me back to better weather.

Is there a book you've read multiple times? There are a few, such as Children of Blood and Bone and House in the Cerulean Sea. While I genuinely love both books, the biggest reason I've re-read them is that I often wait too long before the next book in the series comes out, and I need a refresher. This happens, unfortunately, A LOT for me.

What's the latest book you could not finish even though you thought you should? Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab. I've picked this book up and placed it down quite a bit over the years. I struggle with putting myself first, and this book creates such raw emotion in me that it has been on my DNF list for too long. One day, I will do the work, no matter how uncomfortable it is.

What literary character would you most like to be friends with? Temple Finn and his magical house from Slayers of Old by Jim C. Hines. He is a ninety-nine-year-old wizard whose love language is food. His house is not only sentient, but it doubles as a bookshop and has its own crew of warrior mice. That sounds like a match made in heaven to me.

What is your favorite reading genre? I have multiple, such as horror, fantasy, YA, graphic novels, paranormal, and realistic fiction, to name a few.

What book do you recommend most often? A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck. I read this last year, and the impact it left on me is still powerful. The thought of books, something I love immensely, being transformed into a near-endless, monotonous, suffocating hell, shook me in a way I never experienced. It is horrifying, as it is beautiful and elegant, the way Peck writes about someone going insane for so long that they become sane again.

What's the best movie adaptation of a book you've read? The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

What author would you like to meet, and what would you ask them? Junji Ito. I'd love to know how he can sleep at night after creating such horrific monsters for his stories.  After that, we'd just hang out and talk about cats.

What is one lesson you learned from a book that you think everyone should know? It's a quote from The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. "You need to stop clinging to the notion that there is only one right path. You'll waste half your time panicking you're not on it, and the rest backtracking to find it."