#LoveAThon Interview with Nichole from YAReads!

Today is the start of the two-day Book Blogger Love-A-Thon hosted by Alexa (Alexa Loves Books) & Katelyn (Kate’s Tales of Books & Bands)! I’m very excited to share some posts and some book blogger love over these two days. Keep track of all the love on social media via #LoveAThon 🙂 I can’t wait to talk with, meet, & discover some amazing people in the book blogging community!

The first person I had the honor to me via this great event was Nichole from YaReads! She was kind enough to stop by for an interview and it was great learning more about her!

Hey Nichole! (yes, that is weird to say :p)

Thanks for having me!!!

Well….YaReads is just what it sounds like. A place to find out more about books in the YA genre. We do reviews, interviews, guest posts, and lots of other fun things! We do feature some adult paranormal books, but mostly we feature YA.

I have been blogging at YaReads for 2 years now, but we’ve been around since 2009. 

Yes, we do. When I first took over as the reviewer for YaReads, I decided that I wanted to review all of the books that I read. I don’t just read YA; I read adult paranormal, adult contemporary, middle grade, picture books, and New Adult. The Majority of what I read and review is YA, but I try to make YaReads as diverse as possible.

If you look at YaReads as a whole (before and after I started reviewing,) I’m not quite sure what I would say. I know that contemporary used to get reviewed a lot. In the last two years, I would have to say those genres would be paranormal, high fantasy, and new adult. Maybe New adult would get replaced with YA mystery. I love those. 

Hmmm…..my favorite thing about YaReads besides the book reviews is probably the time I spend with the debut authors. We started it last year; we did the 2013 debut author bash in September and the 2014 debut author intros in December. We’ll be doing them again this year. If you’re interested in signing up for the 2014 debut author bash, the sign ups should go live in June. Last year we had about 70 authors sign up.

Other than that, I LOVE when I get the chance to review some of my favorite authors. You can always tell the difference between a standard review and when a review reallyyyy matters to me. I get really fangirlish.

The first time that I got to interview Kelley Armstrong. I will never forget it. 

Don’t let blogging consume your life or stress you out. When I first started blogging, I was a complete control freak. Make sure you read for pleasure; don’t just focus on review books. Join social media sites and talk with other bloggers and your fans. Because you know what…you do have fans. It’s the weirdest things ever. Have fun. I’ve been blogging two years, and I’m JUST starting to adopt that motto. I no longer let blogging stress me out. And don’t freak out if you don’t have something scheduled for a day. There are tons of bloggers who refuse to post anything at least one day a week. Just relax. 

YaReads does have a team, but I’ve been the only active member for the last 2 years. We will be bringing on someone to help me out since I’ll be starting my masters program in the Fall. We’re still sorting through the applications…it’s taken a bit longer than expected. So, I’ve never really experienced working with a team. I’m assuming it will make me a huge control freak lol. It’s going to be nice having someone else around to help fill up the slots, though. 

My road to blogging is probably different than most people’s. Before I ever started blogging, I was an active member of the YaReads forum (Sorry, everyone, that’s not around anymore!) What ended up happening is that the main team members started getting really busy in their every day lives, and I asked Ivy if I could step up and take over. I’m so glad she let me because this has been the best experience ever. What people don’t know is that several years ago, I actually applied for a reviewer position at YaReads and got turned down. That’s when Christina was brought on to be our blogger. So, it just kind of fell in my lap.

If you asked what book sparked my interested in reading, I would say Twilight. 

No brainer. The Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. I don’t usually read standalones, so I don’t know how to answer my favorite book. Maybe Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols? 

Oh, dear, people will hate me. I don’t. I have piles all around my room. My bookshelf is not organized in any way shape or form. Books are just put in there. I do want to organize my books……but that sounds like an awful amount of work.

You know, I’ve never really thought of this before. My favorite color in general is purple, but I can’t really think of a purple book cover. I’m just going to cheat and say that my favorite color is purple lol. 

Twilight. Holy shit, that was a horrible movie. 

14. Hardcover or paperback?

Paperback. I’ll read both, but pbs are easier on my wrists. 

Ok….I’m not the biggest fan of contemporary books. I don’t really think “Valentines Day” and pick up a book lol. I also don’t like to reread books. I just kind of read whatever I’m reading at the time. If I was going to suggest a love story for someone, it would probably be a paranormal series with a huge love thingy to it. I’ll say the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Katy and Daemon are full of love! 

An anti V-Day book? Like….not love? uhm. Hmm……………..go pick up a horror book. Stephen King? I’m sure that won’t make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

I hope you enjoyed learning more about Nichole and YaReads! Go show her some #LoveAThon love by visiting YaReads or giving her a shout out on social media! Here’s her Twitter & Facebook!

Stop by later today for more #LoveAThon posts and don’t forget to share the love to your favorite authors & book bloggers!

Happy #LoveAThon everyone!

As Always,

xo 

NicoleLynn