I haven’t been posting much this year. Not only has life been hectic, but reading-wise, it has been a disappointment. Book after book, I found uninspired stories and characters. Most have been such a letdown that it made me stay away from blogging altogether. Nothing has truly made me want to write a review.
Something that keeps surprising me as a blogger is when authors contact me and offer me their books for review. Me, a little spot on the community, receive and review your work? Truly amazing… and also nerve-wracking.
How do I say no?
Do I write a nice review to show I’m grateful?
Am I being rude if I rate it poorly?
As a small and fairly new blogger, I thought nobody would care to send me a copy of their book. To my surprise, I’ve received a fair amount of requests and, in the process, I’ve learned a thing or two about what to do when authors approach us. I am not an expert by any means, but if you are starting out as a book blogger, this might help you out a little.
I’ll tell you how I respond to review requests and what I do when I don’t like the books. Hopefully, you won’t be as lost as I was.
Continue reading “When authors approach you”
I’m back! Maybe you noticed I was gone, maybe you didn’t, but if you’re wondering what happened, here you go: I packed two suitcases, left all my books behind, and moved to another country. Finding a new home and a job while getting used to having winter—among a bunch of other things new to me—takes time, so I decided to put a hold on blogging. But time has passed, life is finally getting back to ‘normal’, and I’ve missed blogging!
Ahh, the beginning of a new year. The time when resolutions, goals, and dreams come together as a to-do list. For some readers, this is the time when challenges emerge, TBR books get organized, and classics are dusted off, all to accomplish an end goal.
And the list can go on and on. Of course, that’s just one side of the book community. The other simple receives the new year as a new date and continues reading whatever they want, whenever they want it.
Why is it some people love setting reading goals for themselves while others hate it? Do reading goals actually suck the life out of reading? I’ve seen myself siding with both types of readers at one point or another, so I thought it would be an interesting discussion topic for today. Continue reading “Do reading goals suck?”
I know how important, fun, and interesting it is to reread a book. I truly do. I used to reread Harry Potter all the time, always finding new little details or seeing things differently after a while. It showed how I’d grown or how my perspective had changed. But… I don’t feel like I can do it anymore.
The last time I reread a novel was last year and it was for a challenge I participated in. I reread a book from childhood, Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, and it was fascinating to compare how differently I saw the whole story and the characters. Other than that and a few poetry collections I’ve reread this year, I just don’t feel up to it any longer. But, before you say how bad I am for not giving it a chance, let me explain my reasons!
Another day, another installment of my Genre Exploration series, where I discuss genres and anything interesting I find about them.
Since I joined the online book community I’ve noticed that not many pay attention to written plays. Of course, this all changed this year, when most hurried to bookstores and got one they couldn’t wait to read and discuss with other readers – Harry Potter & the Cursed Child.
Seeing everyone reading that got me very excited because I love reading plays and I thought that people were going to start paying more attention to that genre. Sadly, it didn’t really mean that, as it was a one time thing for many. A Potter exception. Still, as part of this series I wanted to discuss a little what the pros of reading plays vs. watching them are. I’m not exactly trying to convince you to read plays… but I totally am. So let’s go!
Continue reading “Genre Exploration: Reading vs. Watching Plays”
You know those books you can’t figure out how to rate? The ones that aren’t bad, but didn’t make you fall in love with them either? I call them “meh” books. I have the hardest time with these books because it takes a while for me to figure out how I feel about them.
I haven’t done a discussion post in such a long time and this has been something that I keep thinking about, so I thought it would be perfect for that! So today, I’ll talk about what are “meh” books for me, why reviewing them is so hard, and if we should recommend them or not.
Continue reading ““Meh” books: Hard to review, impossible to recommend?”
Thank you Alice for the opportunity of having this guest post on your amazing blog and feature ❤
Hi everyone! Today, we’re here with another new-ish book blogger! If you don’t know, WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD is a feature on my blog in which I introduce new bloggers through interviews and guest posts as well as a few giveaways! You can find more information here.
View original post 857 more words
It’s no secret that pretty much everyone dislikes insta-love in novels. Two characters that just by looking at each other are instantly smitten makes us roll our eyes. There are cases when we can tolerate it or even sort of like it, but that doesn’t happen often. There are endless posts and articles out there talking about this trope and why people find it annoying, yet authors still use it in their books. Whenever I encounter it, I think to myself:
Don’t they know that the book community rejects it with a passion?! Are they writing it on purpose or are they oblivious to the fact that they used it?
No matter how much hate it receives, this controversial trope still makes appearances in many many books. It is especially evident in Young Adult novels, but Contemporary and New Adult books do not fall far behind. So today I thought I would ramble a bit on my thoughts on it and why I think authors still go for it.
Welcome to another installment of my Genre Exploration series, where I discuss genres I don’t normally pick up, define them, talk about their classics and new releases, recommend books and authors, and much more.
I had left this feature a little unattended, but it’s finally back. Today I want to have a little discussion on non-fiction books, mention my favorite subgenres and give out some recommendations. Most readers I know pick up very few non-fiction books during the year. Some don’t even read this genre at all. I also have a hard time reaching out for this genre and veer more towards fiction. So it left me wondering: are we afraid of non-fiction?
Continue reading “Genre Exploration: Afraid of non-fiction?”
Chapter Adventures 