Pink Polka Dot Books: Alone in Paris Guest Post-- Ashley Earley's 10 Obsessions & GIVEAWAY

Alone in Paris

by Ashley Earley

Publisher: CreatSpace

Release Date: April 1, 2017

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Breathe, Taylor.

Taylor Clay's family isn't exactly perfect. They may look the part with the nice, big house and her dad's fancy job, but that's what's tearing them apart. That, and her dad's sudden recurring drinking problem. Though her family is close to falling apart, she never wished for something like this to happen. She never wished for her father to drive off a bridge. Especially not while they were on vacation; especially not when her and her mom were in the car with him at the time.

Breathe.
She's devastated after the fact. And it isn't helping that the papers are gossiping about how the pristine lawyer could have driven off the bridge on purpose. And just when she thinks nothing could possibly make things worse, she realizes she's left alone with no relatives to care for her. So she's alone. Her parents are dead. And she's stuck in the country her family was visiting for their vacation. She's alone in Paris.

Just breathe.

Then Nathan walks into the picture. Funny, snarky, persistent, and sometimes, just flat out rude, he annoys Taylor to no end. He won't leave her alone, but Taylor doesn't know whether or not she should push him away.

Since I love to obsess over things (see my OBSESSIONS posts), I decided to ask Ashley what her 10 biggest obsessions are. As it turns out-- she's a big Shadowhunters fan!! And it's nice to find someone else who is morbidly fascinated with True Crime.
Without further ado, here are:

I have many obsessions, but it was rather difficult to think of 10. I thought I had several more things that I’m obsessed with and get super-excited about, but I found it difficult to put the most important ones down on paper (digital paper that is). I hope you enjoy hearing about my obsessions. Be warned, some of them are a little weird.

1. Cassandra Clare’s books. She is one of the only authors that I can buy a book by without reading the blurb. If she comes out with a new book, I go to the bookstore and buy the book, and then come home and start reading it immediately. Her story is amazing, gripping and exhilarating. Her writing is fantastic and sucks me in without fail. Her characters feel so real and they’re all so wonderful (yes, even the bad guys. You can’t help but love them too.)

2. Jem Carstairs from The Infernal Devices. He has one of the kindest souls and he’s just so adorable. Also, one minute he is so weak and seems so fragile, but if someone he cares about is in danger, he does a complete turn-around and slays anything and everything in his path. Even if he is in pain, he will do everything he can to protect those he loves.

He’s my fictional boyfriend.

3. I am absolutely OBSESSED with mini M&M's!!! I always have a bag stuffed in my desk, which makes it easily accessible when I’m writing. Like now. As I write this. *CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH* Mmmmmm chocolate!

I also hide other snacks in the same drawer I use to protect my mini M&M's. Mostly snacks that contain chocolate in one way, or another. I’m always eating something out of said drawer when I’m writing, editing, or doing homework. I know it’s a terrible habit, but there is nothing I can do about it and I am 100% okay with that.

Bag that I often have stuffed in my drawer 

4. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE true-crime stories! I love discovering crime stories that I’ve never heard about and reading about homicide cases. I know it’s a really weird thing to like, but my mom is the same way and a really good friend of mine is just as obsessed with true-crime stories. We read about serial killers and exchange ones that we need to look up and read about. It’s pretty disturbing, but still an interesting topic to read about. If you’re interested in stuff like this too, I would recommend subscribing to Rob Dyke.

5. Aside from true-crime stories, I also like creepy stories in general—whether they are true, untrue or claim to be true. Paranormal stories are just as interesting to me as true-crime cases. I listen to YouTube videos that talk about creepy stories and true-crime. My favorites are Mr. Nightmare, LoeyLane and Rob Dyke. I usually listen to these paranormal stories before I go to bed. I should probably break that habit because I usually get pretty freaked out - HAHA!

6. I’m very attached to Instagram – even though I don’t post selfies. I’ve been trying to break my habit of posting every day because I did a research project on myself for my college English class and found that I’m on it way more than I should be. I did it on social media because it overwhelms me sometimes. After writing that paper, I decided to limit my use and it’s been working out well for me so far! Instagram will always be my most obsessed social media network, but I’m limiting my posts. By the way, my Instagram is @ashley_earley.

7. Having perfect books. I have a huge problem with my books being torn, dented or bent. To keep my books from having cracked spines, I don’t open the book all the way. Everyone makes fun of me about this, but it’s an obsession/habit of mine that I can’t break. I like it when my books look pretty! I also have to have my books organized on my shelf in a certain way. Re-arranging my bookshelves takes a lot of time for me because I don’t do it often and it has to be pretty perfect. You can judge. It’s weird and pretty OCD.

8. I love Ed Sheeran. I purchase his albums without listening to all of the songs and end up loving them all! There is really only one song that I don’t really enjoy as much as the others, and that is Lego House. He has a wonderful voice and I often listen to his songs while I write and read.

9. Fanart! While I read a book, or after, I often start looking through fanart to see how other people visualized the characters from the book. I find it really interesting to look at sketches, paintings and other things like that. Plus, sometimes I change my desktop background to match my current read. (BOOKGEEK ALERT!) One day, I hope people will love my books enough to bring it to life with fanart.

10. The color black. My friends often make fun of me because I wear black often. It’s not because I’m a depressed person, I just happen to find a lot of black clothing that I like. Dresses, shoes, shirts, and the like. After I introduced them to Mean Girls and the movies most known quote “We wear pink on Wednesdays,” my friends started to tease me by saying, “We only wear black on Wednesdays.”

By the way, I’m totally not wearing a black t-shirt right now…

Ashley Earley is a 20-year-old author that is working toward her B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. When she’s not writing, she’s posting on her blog, reading, obsessing over a book character, or spending time with friends. Her obsession with books started at the age of twelve, before developing into a love for writing at the age of fourteen, when she wrote her first novel.

Her Thriller/Suspense short story, Chasing Hair of Gold, won first place in the 2016 Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards.

You can visit her at www.ashleyearley.com.