Sunday Serenade Is Back! Ashley from Nose Graze

Sunday Serenade is The Novel Life feature that highlights and “serenades” a special blog. This is probably my favoritest thing in the world to do on my blog – learn about other bloggers, what inspires, desires and specialness these incredible individuals have.

Today I am featuring Ashley from Nose Graze, a blog dedicated to Young Adult & New Adult book reviews and wonderfully useful Blogging Tips.  Ashley is an American student studying in London, has her own blog design business at Creative Whim, reads, blogs, and has time for her boyfriend.  Join me in serenading Ashley!

How do you carve out time for blogging, reading, school, work and life?

Right now I spend most of my time reading during my commute.  I have to take a 50 minute train ride to university almost every day, so if you include the return journey, that gives me 100 minutes of guaranteed reading time every day (unless I’m on the 7:45am train, in which case I usually sleep! LOL!).  Although the commute does suck, it is nice to have some “scheduled” reading time.  I think it helps a lot.

 Plus it allows me to do other things during the rest of the day (work on blog posts, freelance projects, etc.).

I like that “dedicated reading time.”  I’m such a procrastinator and would probably end up doing homework that entire 50 minute ride!  So Ashley, if your house caught on fire and you could only grab three books on your way out the door, which books would you save?

I would grab: my ARC of A Game of Thrones (I hated the book but I think the actual, physical book itself is so cool), my signed copy of Throne of Glass, and my signed copy of Divergent.  I would pick Throne of Glass because it’s just a freaking awesome book and I love Sarah J. Maas.  And I would choose Divergent because it’s one of the books that first got me involved in book blogging!

That sounds like a story ~ Divergent getting you into book blogging! I’m guessing we can read more about that on your blog?  Describe your favorite place to read and why you love it so much.

Do I have to choose just one??  I love reading in bed.. but more specifically, I love the little setup my boyfriend and I have.  I read in bed, he plays video games a few feet away.  Not only is the bed comfortable, but I just love reading while my boyfriend is close by.  It’s comforting!  I love how we can each do our own thing, but share the moment together.  Another place I love reading is by the fireplace at my parents’ house.  I love snuggling up there with some blankets, my cat, a roaring fire, and usually my mom is there as well!  It’s such a cozy atmosphere, and there’s usually hot chocolate involved.  Perfect for winter reading!  And this spot gets even better during Christmastime when we have our tree right next to the sofa there.

Ha! Typically the “do I have to choose just” response is for the books!  That’s fantastic you have so many great reading spots to choose from ~ my favorite being the picture of you in the pool reading!  Well, and in front of the fireplace ~ that one sounds pretty hard to beat!  With the quite interesting & very full life you lead, can you sum it up in a book or a movie? (ex: “Mission Impossible”, Great Expectations)

I would say Starcrossed.  I don’t think this phrase necessarily describes my whole life, but I would say it describes the current stage of my life and a lot of the things I’ve been having to deal with and figure out.  A lot of it has to do with my boyfriend and our future together.  We met when we lived in different countries, which is where it started.  But it seems like every time we take a step forward, the world throws up something against us.  Right now the hurdle we have to overcome is the fact that my UK student visa is expiring next year, and the UK eliminated the “post study work visa” I was planning on getting, so now I have to figure out how I’m going to stay in the country.. darn politics coming between love!

Ahh, politics!  Those do get in the way of quite a few things!  You are so resourceful I imagine its all going to work out just fine.  Sending you positive thoughts and energy!  Last question:  If you could speed date any author who would it be? What questions would you ask or topics you’d want to discuss.

I would love to speed date Kasie West!  Honestly I’d want it more to be like a sit down, have a hot chocolate, and chat session.  She just seems so incredibly sweet from the times I’ve spoken to her on Twitter.  and, naturally, I’d want to grill her all about Split Second, which I’m dyyyying to read!  I think I’d also want to chat to her about The Distance Between Us and where her inspiration for that book came from.  I’d be curious about whether or not some of her ideas for that book came from real experiences.
Authors are making themselves so accessible with Twitter and Facebook now.  I too find it so neat to be able to chat it up with an author I admire.  Now you mentioned hot chocolate a couple of times ~ I’m guessing that’s a favorite drink of yours! Thank you Ashley for your time and I’m thrilled to serenade you on the blog!  I thoroughly enjoy reading about your adventures in London, your thorough yet succinct reviews, and the blog tips you share so freely and frequently.  You have quickly become one of my favorite bloggers {even thought I don’t read as much YA or NA!}.  Cheers to hot chocolate, fireplaces and great reading! Visit Ashley at Nose Graze where you can read how her blog name came about, catch a few good blog tips, and see the latest YA novels to hit the shelves!