It's Book Blogger Appreciation Week ! AKA BBAW - September 12-15. Book bloggers everywhere are sharing their love of books and blogging with each other and their followers, but, as an author, I wanted to share my love of book bloggers in my own way. Why? Because I wouldn't be where I am without them. Seriously.

Several book bloggers have helped spread the word about my books to each other and readers with their reviews and by hosting me with guest posts, interviews and giveaways. There's no way to know for sure how many sales they brought, but I do know that thousands of people would have never heard of my books if not for book bloggers.

So this week, I'm featuring a handful who have really made a difference in my writing career. I've turned the tables by interviewing them with those same tough questions they give me. Haha! And they've come back with fantastic answers! So without further ado, let's get to our first one.

Jessica at Confessions of a Bookaholic and I have a fun story with how we met. I was just starting to spread the word of my then upcoming debut novel, Promise. As I was figuring out which bloggers seemed to have the best fit, Jessica contacted me, asking if she could review my book. Her blog was only a few months old and she had maybe a couple hundred followers. As someone who was also just getting started, I thought it was perfect. The big blogs scared me at the time. LOL But I was concerned because her blog focused on YA and I wasn't sure she'd like my book. She told me that she enjoyed adult books, too, so I took a leap of faith and sent her the ARC.

Jessica read Promise (in one night, I believe), loved it and wrote an awesome review. (WHEW! I was so relieved.) And a friendship was born. Now we've both "grown up" - she currently has over 3,400 followers and one of the best blogs on the web.

Since she's one of my best and earliest book-bloggy friends, it's only fitting to start the week with Jessica. So, let's get to know her:


KC: Tell us about yourself in 10 words.
J: Mother, wife, reader, blogger, quiet, shy, procrastinator,student, sensitive, determined
KC: If you tweeted a general message about your blog, what wouldit say (140 characters or less)?
J: A YA book blog featuring my favorite books and authors witha hope to share my love for reading and inspire that same passion in others.
KC: What's your favorite genre to read?
J: My first love was paranormal but I have moved on to includea lot of contemporary as well. Plus, I never expected to enjoy so manydistopian novels but they never fail to amaze me.
KC: What are you favorite blogs to follow?
J: My best blogging buddy Lisa at A Life Bound By Books, Mundie Moms,and Eleni at La Femme Readers. Plusthere are several others I skim each day to keep up with news and events. Ifollow a lot of author blogs too (like you my dear!).
KC: Have any bloggers inspired you or your blog?
J: I think the first blog I ever visited was Fantastic BookReview. I had no idea how large theblogging community was at the time but I loved her blog and from there Istarted visiting other blogs she had links to. I remember thinking there was noway I could figure out how to do a blog like that. :)
KC: How did you get started blogging?
J: During the time I started visiting a few blogs I had reallystarted to pick up reading again. One of the first authors I looked up wasJennifer Echols after I fell in love with her book Going Too Far. I posted  acomment on her blog and was SHOCKED when she responded. That made me think "areauthors REAL people?!" Then for my birthday I got a kindle and wrote JeriSmith-Ready after reading Shade anddeciding to jump into blogging as a birthday gift to myself. She was so kindand on my blogoversary even commented on how she loved my blog…which was prettymuch the best gift ever!
KC: What is your favorite part about being a blogger?
J: The community. As cheesy as it may sound, I love that we arelike a group. Authors and bloggers working together to promote reading.Everyone is always so willing to help out and that is really what makesblogging fun. You never have a feeling of working alone. Plus, there is nothinglike being able to talk to some of your favorite authors on a daily basis.
KC: What's the hardest part of being a blogger?
J: Time! Time has been my enemy lately. I am a graduate studentand I have a 3 year old. Recently my husband has been working from 8am-11pm athis new job so I pretty much feel like a single parent and it's hard to findthe time, and energy, to do blog work. I used to have a schedule but thatdoesn't seem to be working out as well as it did. Plus, I think it's natural tohave a time where you may not feel as inspired to blog. Sometimes I get intoreading slumps and I focus more on blog work, and other times I read more andslack with blogging. I've had to learn to never force blogging because thattakes the fun out of it. But, sometimes it's hard to find a nice balance.
KC: What do you do when a book you agreed to review just isn'tworking for you?
J: Maybe this is wrong but if I can't finish it, or would giveit a 1 or 2 star (which I've never came to this point while blogging) I wouldcontact the publisher/author and tell them the book just wasn't for me.Luckily, mainly due to the research I do on books beforehand, I typically likeeverything I read. Before blogging, I had several books that were so terrible Ihad to force myself to finish them. Now, I check out reviews, Goodreads, andthe summary before taking on a review book. I don't think any publisher/authorwants to force a review and sometimes a book just doesn't work for a person. Itdoesn't necessarily mean the book is horrible, so I would feel bad tearing itapart if it just wasn't my type of story.
KC: Do you ever get reviewer's block or in a reading slump?
J: Oh YES (as I happened to mention above). It is a commonoccurrence for me. Especially with reviews! I try to make them special but it'sjust so hard to explain feelings about a book sometimes. Oddly enough, I havean easier time picking out what I disliked about a book. I sometimes feel Ican't explain how much I enjoyed a book or I feel that my words don't do itjustice. That all leads to me procrastinating big time with reviews. Readingslumps are more rare but they do happen. Usually it happens if I'm forcingmyself to read something because a review is needed. It doesn't mean I don'twant to read the book, but just that maybe it's not what I need at that time.I've realized that when this happens I need to put that book away and pick upsomething I really want to read. I always go back to the original book and canusually really enjoy it later. Example: I can't read too many "deep" books atone time. I have to break it up with something lighter or it gets a littledepressing :)
KC: How can we connect with you?
J:I blog (http://www.totalbookaholic.com/)I tweet (http://twitter.com/#!/TotalBookaholic)I goodread (http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3734744-jessica)
Go check out Confessions of a Bookaholic. You will love Jessica's reviews. They are some of my favorites because you can tell she puts a lot of thought and heart into them.
Thank you, Jessica, for joining us here! And thank you so freakin' much for all the time, blood, sweat and tears you put into your blog and for everything you do for readers and authors.
Do you have a question for Jessica? Ask away!