Lesley from My Keeper Shelf (Celebrating British Bloggers)

Welcome to another Saturday which means only one thing - another interview with a lovely British book blogger!

Today, I have the great pleasure to introduce Lesley from My Keeper Shelf! I've been following My Keeper Shelf for awhile now and I really love the mixture of romance and YA on her Lesley's blog. If you don't already follow Lesley, please do so now:

My Keeper Shelf ... My Keeper Shelf on Facebook ... Lesley on Goodreads ... Lesley on Twitter 

First, can you tell me something about yourself and your blog?

My name is Lesley and my blog is called My keeper shelf. I review a mixture of contemporary romance, paranormal romance, Urban Fantasy and Young Adult books. I’m partial to a giveaway or two and post a new book boyfriend every Wednesday.

How did you begin being a book blogger?

I’ve always been a reader but I’d never actually reviewed a book until I joined Goodreads. From there I joined in with the girls at UK Book Swop, squeeeing about books and authors that we loved. A few of the ladies started up their own blogs (Donna and Jess from Book Passion for Life and Kayleigh at K-Books) I loved what they were doing so decided to have a go myself. I knew NOTHING about running a blog and I’ve sort of made it up as I went along!

When you're not reading or blogging, what do you do with yourself?

I work full time and have 2 daughters (Kate is 14 and Erin is 7), a sports obsessed husband and a Bearded Collie called Harry so most of my free time involves being an unpaid taxi driver for my daughter’s very busy social life or wandering round my local park in the pouring rain with Harry. When I get a spare half hour I catch up on my family tree research (I’ve traced back to the 1730’s) catch up with friends over cocktails and I’ve recently started baking, with very mixed results so far I have to admit.

What was the first book you reviewed on your blog?

It was River Marked by Patricia Briggs on the 17th of March 2011. It’s not the worst written review in the world but I think my reviewing style has kind of evolved since then. I don’t think reviewing comes naturally to me; I’m definitely a reader rather than a writer. It takes me ages to write a review and I redraft like crazy. I actually blogged recently about my review writing agony (I think I was feeling a bit melodramatic that day!)

What has been the best experience of being a book blogger so far?

I love when fellow readers and bloggers tell me they picked up a book after reading one of my reviews or book boyfriend posts. It makes all the hard work worth it. I’ve also had authors commenting on my posts and thanking me for my reviews which still makes me a little bit giddy!

You can do it, what is your absolute favourite book?

Eeeek I’m not sure I can! I’m a serial list writer and have list of my top 10 YA books, top 10 contemporary romance books, top 10 paranormal romance books etc., so I find it very difficult to narrow it down to one book, honestly!

Last year I fell in love with Aussie YA in a big way. I loved On The Jellicoe Road and Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta both books made my heart hurt but in a good way.

If you could be best friends with any fictional character, who would you choose?

Ed (Shadow) from Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley I want to swoop in and give him a big hug!

Name your top 5 UK book bloggers!

OK, present company excluded of course! I love Mel’s Random Reviews, Nocturnal book reviews and Book Chick City they are probably my favourites. I always check in with Book Passion for Life and The Sweet Bookshelf too.

If you could meet your favourite author, who would you like to meet?

Just one? I love husband and wife team Ilona Andrews they write my favourite Urban Fantasy series Kate Daniels. Their blog not only has book snippets but they also write about being the parents to teenage daughters and having tonnes of pets and they always make me laugh. I wish more people read their books!

What would you like to see more of or less of in YA?

Instant love. It drives me insane.

And finally, who is your ultimate book crush?

I have a new book boyfriend every Wednesday, I can’t keep track of them all! My favourite YA book crush would either be Four from Veronica Roth’s Divergent or Logan Quinn from Jennifer Estep’s Mythos Academy series.


Thank you so much for those brilliant answers, Lesley! Saving Francesca is one of my favourite books as well!  

What do you think? Do you fancy Four? Would you like to be best friends with Ed from Grafitti Moon? Does insta-love drive you crazy?  Is Saving Francesca one of your favourite books? Let Lesley and I know in comments!