Sunday Spotlight - Book Chick City

Hello! Welcome to the second Spotlight this weekend. Today, I'm featuring a fun UK chickie who wants you to share what her blog is all about! Enjoy. :)

Name: Carolyn
Blog name: Book Chick City
Blog URL: http://www.bookchickcity.com


Tell me a bit about yourself.
Well, I live in the UK and I have been an avid reader since I was tiny. My mum was really the one who got me into books as she used to read to me all the time, and introduced me to the classics, which I love. I read about four books a week and am always looking for new ones even though my tbr pile is HUGE! I don't have many friends who read, my hubby reads but it's usually something scientific, so it's really nice to chat with like minded people. I'm also a bit of a shopaholic, which isn't really good when you love books! I also love going to the gym and I play golf, mainly with my hubby.

When and why did you start your blog?
I initially began my blog with the view of it being an online book club, but since then it has evolved into a full blown book blog, with reviews and author interviews. I started at the beginning of July this year and have worked really hard at getting a lot of content up quickly so I looked more established. I think it has worked as I am now getting emails from publishers and authors that like my blog and want to be interviewed or have their books reviewed, so I am really thrilled that it has started off so well. I have also met some really wonderful people and you book bloggers are just so friendly! At the beginning when I was feeling a bit lost I sent a few emails to J. Kaye's Book Blog who helped me out. Just so nice. I'm so pleased that I am part of this community - I just love it!

What is your blog all about? Any cool features you want to share?
I love buying books and reading books - it's my passion and a bit of an obsession - so that's what you will find when you visit Book Chick City. I have book reviews, author interviews, a weekly featured author and I participate in a couple of weekly meme's. I am just starting my new feature 'Celebrate the Classics' where I focus on an author from the past. All this keeps me pretty busy and any spare time I have left I read like mad!

Do you have a review system? If you do, would you like to explain it for us?
Writing reviews for my blog was the first time I had ever written a review. I've always had thoughts about the books I read but have never written them down, so I didn't really have a system. After looking around at other book blogs, I have now started to get an idea of how I would like to review the books I read, but it's still not perfected yet, but hopefully I will begin to sort that out with the next few reviews.

Any tips or advice for those starting or thinking about starting a blog?

I have actually received a few emails from new book bloggers asking me how I managed to get so many books from publishers and authors for interviews. At first I didn't know this side of blogging existed but once I did I knew that I wanted to review books and include interviews, so I researched on the internet and sent a few emails to various publishers and just put myself out there. It paid off and I'm just so excited with how things are going, I just hope it continues. So my advice is, if you want publishers to send you books etc, then just do your research, send out a few emails and make sure to include your blog URL so they can take a look. I have also seen lots of great book blog that just review the books they buy or get from the library too. The other thing I did was to get as much up on my blog as quickly as possible, I think this helped get a bit more traffic to my blog and I participate in a few weekly meme's, which I think are really fun. There are so many fantastic blogs out there, I took a lot of encouragement (and ideas) from them.

What are some of your favorite genres and/or books currently?
My favourite genre would have to be horror, urban fantasy and paranormal romance with a little bit of crime thrown in. I love all genre really but I tend to like these kind of books more. My favourite authors are Stephen King, Laurell K. Hamilton, Dean Koontz, Anne Rice, Kathy Reichs... ahhh there's so many. I'm just reading my first book by Richelle Mead and loving it! My favourite books of all time would have to be Dracula by Bram Stoker and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

Contest Alert!
Carolyn is currently holding a contest for a copy of Thorn Queen by Richelle Mead - open internationally. It ends September 1st, so enter now!


Thanks to Carolyn for sharing her blog with us today! Now, go and give the girl a visit! Her blog is super cute and deserves your attention!


Are you a new blogger too? Or just getting back into the swing of blogging? Do you want to be featured on my blog? Shoot me an email at bittahsweetharmony@yahoo.com.

The Neverending Shelf is doing a similar type of spiel over at her website. So check it out to find out about a different blogger!