Better Know A Blogger - Jade - Ink Scratchers

I have another blogger to introduce you to today as part of the Ultimate Reviewer's Challenge festivities! Meet Jade.....

Introduce yourself! Hi! My name is Jade, I'm an eighteen year old from Ye Olde Englande. I'm probably one of the most boring people ever, so I like to make alternative personas up for myself to make myself seem more interesting, but I shall tell you about the real me. I'm currently studying to become an Earth Scientist (See I told you I was boring), I specifically want to work with the weather, (yep, basically I aspire to be a glorified storm chaser!). I spam the exclamation point and bracket buttons too much, as anyone that has ever received an email from me will testify for! (See, I just did it there... and here are the brackets! Ugh!) and most of the time I don't put punctuation in the right place. I'm scared of big dogs and am a secret (though not so secret anymore) fan of asian music and 90's boybands.

Karen: LOL - and you think you're boring?? That's the best introduction ever!! As you can see, I am also a punctuation abuser, mainly with !!!!!! points! You sound pretty fascinating to me.

What is the name of your blog? How did you pick your blog’s name? My blog is called Ink Scratchers. The road to that name was a funny one. When I set up the blog I did originally want to call it Eternal Escapism, but realised quickly that if I called it that nobody would be able to spell it. Also, looking back, it was pretty cheesy. The next option was something along the lines of HPLUVA93, because I loved Harry Potter... and was born in 1993... Yeah, lets just forget that I ever admitted that. After that, I sort of stared blankly at the screen, knowing that I wanted Ink in the name, then my cat starts digging his claws into me... that, my friend, is when I had the epiphany! Ink Scratchers was born!

Karen: Again I wonder why you don't think you're interesting. Awesome answer!

How long have you been blogging? About two years... I had a few failures, where I made a blog then forgot it existed, or forgot to update it. I made Ink Scratchers last July, then forgot about it, a few months later, I updated it, but then got too lazy. I've been blogging properly since around March time and I'm pretty much addicted to my blog nowadays!

How do you measure blogging success? Is it strictly number of followers or something more? While I love having lots of minions... I mean followers, I feel that as a reviewer and one that receives a lot of review copies from publishers and authors, it is my 'duty' to share my feelings, give an honest review and help get the word out. Because of that, I also measure my blogs success on how many comments I get on my reviews. If each post gets a comment, I feel like that post has been succesfull, especially if the comments are meaningful and tell me how my review has influenced them.

What genres/subgenres do you review, and what do you like best about those genres? I review mainly young adult titles, though occasionally I read middle grade or adult titles. While I read pretty much any YA, mostly I read fantasy, paranormal and urban fantasy. I also love a bit (or a lot) of romance. I suppose I read them because I like how they can deal with mature issues and be relatable whilst also helping the reader escape. It's like realistic escapism... I tried adult paranormal once, but I'm not really a fan of a lot of sex in books, I don't mind a little if it's done tactfully but I found that in some of the books I was reading it was every second or third page...

What are you reading right now? Currently I'm just finishing The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa and I'm in the middle of The Marked Son by Shea Berkley. I usually have at least two books on the go; one eBook and one print based, so I can take the print one anywhere and read the eBook in bed.

Do you use social media to promote your blog or discuss reading/blogging? I attempt to use Twitter. I was struggling to keep up but now I use it more often. I post links to (some) of my reviews but usually use it to talk to author and blogging friends. My Goodreads account is usually just for keeping track of my books and getting some extra users to my blog. I also use Facebook, but thats more personal, though I talk to blogger friends on there. I use all three to follow other people, meet new friends as well as enter giveaways ;).

Where is your favorite place to read? Without a doubt the bath. If I struggle to get into a book, or I'm just starting a new one, the bath is the place to be. I think it's so relaxing and so easy to get absorbed into the book. My bath time is my me time, and I have a two hour bath usually every night. Either that or in the corner of my living room, on the nice soft chair with the lamp above me, the cat on me and a mug of hot chocolate beside me.

What are your ideal reading conditions? It has to be quiet or I can't get into it, once I'm absorbed into a book you could bash pans over my head and I wouldn't notice but it has to be quiet or I won't get into it. It also has to be the right temperature, if it's cold I have to be under a duvet and if it's hot I have to be in the garden.

What are the top 5 books in your TBR (To Be read) pile? (In no particular order) Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott, Impossible by Nancy Werlin, Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore, Forbidden by Jana Oliver and Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck.

Obligatory controversial question: Love triangles! Love ‘em or hate ‘em, and why? J I love them if they are original (best friend gets the girl, bad boy ends up lonely), but I really hate them if it's the same old formula (nice guy - main female character - bad guy with 'hidden depths'), they're so predictable, the bad guy with 'hidden depths' is usually a faerie/werewolf/vampire/ghost and he always gets the girl. I like a bit of surprise in my books!

What has been the best thing about blogging and reviewing books? I've met some amazing people, received books before they come out, found out about new releases... there really are so many perks to choose from. I'd probably choose the meeting people, I've met people from all around the world who share my love for reading and have been there to listen to me rant about books! <3

Karen: Friends to rant with is my favorite part too! And it's amazing how you can now become friends with people that live so far away and yet have similar interests and deep discussions without having ever met them.

Thanks for stopping by Jade. That was a really fun interview!

Keeping linking those reviews for the month of August and more Better Know A Bloggers are coming up!