Good morning Sharon and welcome. Can I start, as always, by asking you a little about yourself?
Thank you for having me Jo. I’m Sharon, 46 and have lived in Salisbury for the last 20+ years. My dad was in the army so we lived in Northern Ireland and Germany before moving to Wiltshire.
Sadly I’ve never married or had kids which is one of my biggest regrets but fortunately I live vicariously through my friends and their kids so get the best of both worlds, enjoy spending time together but then can go home for peace and quiet 🙂
I’ve been in the same job since I left school at 18 which is working in a technical department in the Life & Pensions Insurance industry. My job was under the threat of redundancy for quite some time, almost 4 years, but we’ve recently moved into a smaller office so seems a bit more stable… for now! Although it’s no longer the job I once loved, it pays the mortgage/bills and we have flexible working I can finish work early and travel to book events.
When did you decide to start a blog and what prompted that decision?
Every time I get asked this question it makes me realise how long I have been blogging as it feels like only yesterday I set it up but was actually back in October 2011.. so almost 5.5 years!
I was going through some issues at the time so a friend recommend I set up the blog as something for me to distract myself as she knew how much I loved reading, and also a way to keep a record of the books I read. I started out just reviewing books I’d bought or won in Goodreads or Twitter giveaways but over time I’ve been fortunate to have been contacted by publishers and authors alike offering me a variety of fantastic books to review.
What type of read do you enjoy best?
If you’d asked me this question 12-18 months ago I would have said that I mainly read romcom, contemporary or historical sagas, but my reading tastes are definitely veering more to the dark side nowadays as most of my current reading TBR is psychological thrillers or crime fiction.
Have you ever been tempted to write a novel?
No, I know my limitations. I struggle enough writing 500 words reviews that I think readers might be interested in reading let alone the thought (or discipline) of writing a 100,000 novel.
Believe or not I actually failed my English Language ‘O’ Level the first time, although I did pass English Literature, which everyone always thinks strange because I’ve always been a reader and bookworm. But as much as I enjoy reading other people’s words I’ve always had a problem articulating into words what I felt about books.
Who are your favourite authors?
Aaargh… that’s like asking a parent who their favourite child is I wouldn’t want to offend
anyone.
I have many go-to authors whose books I add to my reading piles no matter how books I already have and have no idea when I’ll get to read them… JoJo Moyes, Jill Mansell, Milly Johnson, Paige Toon, Diane Chamberlain, Jodi Picoult, Linda Castillo, Sheila O’Flanagan, Zoe Miller, and Emma Hannigan to name just a few. But as I’ve been bitten by the crime bug recently I have just added the back catalogues of Jane Casey, Kate Rhodes and Mari Hannah to my TBR…. so just need to magic up another 24 hours in a day to read them all!
And lastly, you have been selected to take part in ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here. Who would be your ideal fellow contestants and why?
Well top of the list would have to be Idris Elba, well you have to have someone nice to look at 🙂
I think we’d also need to have a comedian or two to make us laugh so how about Eddie Izzard and Sarah Millican.
And finally we’d need a chef to teach us how to cook with the basics so how about Gino D’Acampo.
CATCH UP WITH SHARON ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Blog: http://shazsbookblog.blogspot.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShazsBookBlog
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JO LAMBERT 
Love the ‘Celebrity’ campmates – I might have to come too!