I’m a 30-year-old currently living in Texas, and I love books! I’m lucky enough to live in a city that hosts a LOT of YA author events, so even though I don’t work in the industry, I still feel very connected to it. I have an amazing husband and an adorable three-legged cat, who make me feel loved on a daily basis. I am always excited about coffee, color, cookies, cups, and cute things.
How long have you been blogging? What made you want to start a book blog?
I’ve been blogging for as long as I can remember, it seems, but I started my book blog a little over a year ago. I’d been getting more and more in YA thanks to my sister’s ARC library and all the author events where I live, and one day I just decided I wanted to start a book blog. At the time, I had no idea what to blog about, so I started out with some reviews and went from there.
What do you do when you’re not blogging or reading?
There are a million things I *want* to do, but my time is rather limited, so… in the little free time I do have, I can usually be found sleeping, playing video games, baking, working out, watching Netflix, or working on some crafty project.
What is your favorite part about blogging? Least favorite?
My favorite part about blogging is the community! Everybody says this, but it’s so true. I love how generally friendly and welcoming people are in the book blogging community; if it wasn’t for you guys, I would have lost interest in my blog a long time ago! My least favorite part is probably just… how much time it all takes. My life is so busy that I just never have enough time to keep up with my blog, answer comments, and visit all the other blogs that I follow! So I guess that’s more a complaint about time than it is about blogging.
Where did you come up with the name for your blog?
I’m part of a book club with some RL friends and somehow we ended up calling our club A Novel Read. Each time we meet about a book, we vote whether we thought the book was a novel read (as in, a unique experience) or a novel read (as in, just another book). I liked the name so much that I decided to use a slightly modified version for my blog.
Do you have any specific book bloggers that inspire you?
Kristilyn at
Reading in Winter was the first book blogger I met, really, and she was a big inspiration for me to start my own blog. It’s so nice to be a newcomer and have veterans that welcome and kind of usher you in. And in the past year I’ve met so many more great bloggers! Asti at
A Bookish Heart is a big inspiration for me; her blog is always so full of personality and interesting things! Leanne at
Literary Excursion is another inspiration; she and I are constantly sending each other inspirational/motivation creative emails and tweets and stuff.
What do you look for in a blog when following? What are your pet peeves?
I look for personality and interesting content. I love discussion posts, so if those are abundant on a blog, then I’m definitely interested. If all I see is memes, blog tours, and reviews, I’m not as likely to follow that blog. A good blog design is important, too. If a blog is cluttered or painful to look at, I probably won’t come back.
What’s your favorite book(s)?
Oh man. I think I have a lot. I guess most prominently would be Cinder, The Rithmatist, and The Child Thief. I have more tagged in my
all-time-favorites and
ya-favorites shelves on Goodreads, though!
Another hard one to pin down! But I’m sure most people who know me, know the ones I talk about most: Laini Taylor and Brandon Sanderson are probably the two biggest. I’ll buy anything they write! Also: Marissa Meyer, Victoria Schwab, and Meagan Spooner!
What is the biggest turn off for you when you’re reading a book?
Hmm, this is a tough one. Well, bad grammar/writing is certainly a turn-off. Also, things that don’t make sense. I can deal with a character making a bad decision if I can understand WHY they did it, but if they’re just acting crazy, it gets frustrating for me.
What first draws you to a book to make you want to read it?
Well it comes down to three things: the cover, the title, and the synopsis. I think most of us are first drawn by the cover. If all I’m seeing a title, that might draw my interest as well and make me look further into the book. And then if the synopsis is interesting, it’s going on my wishlist!
Describe yourself in 3 words.
Oh my gosh.
Name a random fact about yourself.
I have a *thing* for vanilla cupcakes. Wherever I go, if there is one on the menu, I must try it!
Do you have a job? If so, what do you do?
Oh yes. I work full-time in the GIS (geographic information systems) industry; making maps, working with data, troubleshooting… I’m also the graphic designer & website admin for my employer. I do a lot. :)
What did you want to be when you were little? Has that changed?
I wanted to be a doctor or a vet, but that has definitely changed now. I’m much too creative and squeamish to want to work in the medical field.
Thanks again for featuring me today, Jessi! :)
Yay an interview with one of my favorite people of all time! Pretty serendipitous that this post went live on her birthday, too. ;)
I love Kelley’s blog. Another Novel Read is one of the first book blogs I started to follow. She always has great posts.
[…] and something else super cool? On Tuesday (my birthday!) I was featured in the Undersea Spotlight over at Auntie Spinelli Reads. Thanks again for featuring me, Jessi! […]
Yay, even though I only got to know Kelley recently, I already love her blog =)
Do you ever do any archaeology based stuff with GIS, Kelley?