Here we are in day four of the September feature. It seems people are loving finding out what book reviewers think. To be honest i am not surprised – we are after all an opinionated bunch!

Today is the turn of Sharon from Shaz’s Book Blog. Lets see what she had to say;

Tell us a little about Shaz.

Hmmm let me have a think, is there anything interesting about me?!
I was an army brat so lived in Northern Ireland and Germany before we eventually moved to England when I was ten and have lived here ever since.

I’m a forty-something book addict who reads for a bit of escapism from her humdrum life. My day job currently involves working in the technical department of an Insurance company head office but that’s going to be changing as I’m being made redundant next year when the office relocates. At first I was upset about this as i’ve worked there all my adult life, will be 24.5 years by the time I leave, but now I’m looking at this as a good opportunity to do something different, maybe even book related.

Reading your twitter profile was like reading about myself, do you find you would read above all else?

Given the chance… yes! My reading day normally includes a sneaky chapter or two before work, reading during lunch break at work, read a chapter or two before tea and normally at least an hour in bed at night… you can tell I’m single and don’t have a family!
I’d love to be able to afford to not work and stay at home and read all day but sadly with a mortgage and bills to pay that’s not possible. But who knows what the future might bring, I might win the lottery or meet a millionaire who’ll fund my lady of leisure lifestyle, I can but dream….
My current thinking next year when I’m made redundant is to have some time off and travel, with plenty of reading of course. With my aunt and cousins in Northern Ireland and my brother in Dubai, it would be the perfect opportunity to catch up with them but I might wobble and decide that I need to start looking for a new job straight away.

Last week my husband took my ereader out of my hand when I was cooking dinner, are there any inappropriate times that you have caught yourself reading?

Not really an inappropriate time as such but was reading at my desk during my lunch break when our company CEO walked past but he actually stopped and asked what I was reading LOL

Have you ever heard a song that you immediately thought –“that should be the soundtrack for ______ book”

Sadly not, I have to honest I don’t listen to much music or watch much telly these days so wouldn’t have a clue about current music. I’ll stick to the music of my teens, the 80s LOL, I’m sure if I thought about it long enough I could find a song from that era that could be suitable but that’d mean digging into the deep recesses of my memory!!

Do you prefer contemporary romance or something with a bit of steam?

I don’t mind a bit of steam but think those days are long gone for me so tend to stick more to contemporary these days…

Paranormal – yay or nay?

Big nay for me, can’t stand them. Not read any of the Twilight books and have no plans to do so

Do you have a book that you can label your absolute number 1? Or do you have several?

One of my favourite books that I read in my teens was Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and it’s a book I’ve read time and time again.

Do you find that on the whole authors are appreciative of reviewers?

Yes, on the whole the majority of authors do appreciate reviewers as we’re helping to get their stories out there. I think you get what you give, if you show them respect you’ll get respect back. I can count on one hand the amount of negative dealings I’ve had and they weren’t with established authors.

As a reviewer do you have a pet hate?

Yes, I hate rudeness and disrespect. Due to my current backlog of reviews, I’ve had to turn down a lot of unsolicited review requests including some from genres that I don’t review, and clearly state on the blog I don’t review. I always try and decline these as politely as possible and quite often offer them a different feature on the blog i.e. debut spotlight, interview etc.
Most are lovely and understanding but one was so rude in her response that it really upset me for a while. Most people who know the real me know that I’m a big softie and would do anything for anyone if I could, so to be attacked, albeit verbally by email, really got to me.

If you had to choose between Facebook and Twitter which would it be?
I do like Facebook and use it a lot but there’s definitely a lot more interaction on Twitter although the 140 characters can be a bit frustrating at times.

Have you ever thought of writing a book?

No, I tried to write a short story for my blog’s Christmas feature last year and it was absolute tosh, I’m definitely a reader not a writer 😉

Do you prefer digital or paperback?

I’m a traditionalist at heart and love nothing more than curling up with a book but since setting up the Blog, and since being given a Kindle for my 40th birthday, I’m definitely reading a lot more eBooks.

Tell us one book that we absolutely have to read.

This year, one of my favourite books has to be By My Side by Alice Peterson.

What is the last book that made you shed a tear?

As question above, By My Side by Alice Peterson but they were tears of joy. I loved reading about the relationship between Cass and her helper dog Ticket.

What is the last book that got you mad?

Not sure if this counts as getting me mad, it was more disbelief that this actually happened in real life, was reading about the forced sterialisation program in Diane Chamberlain’s latest book Necessary Lies.

What is the last book that got you a bit hot under the collar?

That would have to be Killer Heels by the Queen of Bonkbusters Rebecca Chance. I have her latest book, Killer Queens, in my TBR pile.