Day: June 29, 2018

Tag: Secret Life of a Book Blogger

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I was tagged by Bibi for the Secret Life of a Book Blogger tag! Bibi is one of the friendliest book bloggers I’ve ever met, so please go check out her blog when you get a chance! 💜

1. How long have you been blogging?
There are two answers to this question! (Maybe three, actually.) In general, I’ve been shouting out my feelings on the internet since like 2004, when I made a really cringey, really emo Livejournal account. Let’s just not talk about that, though. 😳 I started this blog specifically on Tumblr in 2013, and then I moved it here in March of this year. (Best decision I’ve made, honestly.)

2. At what point do you think you’ll stop blogging?
I suppose I’ll stop blogging if I stop enjoying it or if it gets too stressful, but I don’t really see that happening any time soon.

3. What is the best thing about blogging?
Making new friends who love books as much as I do! Every comment, message, friend request, tag, like, new follower notification… it all makes my day, so thank you!

4. What is the worst thing? What do you do to make it okay?
Honestly, I think the worst thing is hating a book that I wanted to love. What makes it okay is being able to channel my rage into a really good review of what exactly I disliked.

5. How long does it take you to find make/find pictures to use?
I don’t really use that many pictures. I mean, sometimes I’ll throw a gif in a review, but that’s pretty rare and it’ll only be because I already knew the specific one that I wanted to use. I don’t make book aesthetics or anything. I guess I make a lot of header images for tags, but I use Canva for that, so it only takes a couple minutes!

6. Who is your book crush?
Who isn’t my book crush? I said before that I fall a little bit in love with almost every character I ever read about. And even if it’s not swoony love, it’s like “let me hug you and adopt you and keep you safe from all of the evil in the world” love. But anyway, some book crushes:

7. What author would you like to have on your blog?
Just the idea of having an author on my blog is enough to give me some palpitations, but let’s see.

  • Christina Lauren
  • Jenn Bennett
  • R.S. Grey
  • Sally Thorne

I would honestly be honored to have any author on my blog! I wouldn’t even know where to start, but it would make me feel very cool, that’s for sure. 🙂

8. What do you wear when you write your blog posts?
Haha, is this like an obscene phone call? Should I be worried? I’m going to steal Bibi’s terminology for a second here and say that I don’t have a “blogger uniform” that I change into to get ready to write a post. I just wear whatever I’m already wearing. If I’m sneaking in a quick review before work (or on my lunch break, on the off chance that I actually get one) I’m probably wearing scrubs. If it’s a day like today when I’m off, I’m probably wearing jeans and a t-shirt. If I’m being 100% honest, though, I write most posts in my pajamas because I like being comfy. 😊

9. How long does it take you to prepare?
Well, I’m the biggest planner you’ll ever meet, so… kind of a long time. When I first started blogging, I overcommitted myself a lot, so I devised this very sophisticated system of planning. 🙂 I put a sticker on each day of the month when I already have a post scheduled or planned, and then I make a checklist for myself on the weekly view so I can make sure I actually finish everything I’ve started. Also, I like how my planner is literally telling me to “CHILLLL OUT” next week. I always need that reminder.

I also keep a list of thoughts and quotes and things that I might want to include in a review while I’m reading, so the actual review usually only takes me 10-15 minutes (unless it’s one of my novel-length rants, which take a little longer).

10. How do you feel about the book blogging community?
I love it! Everyone is so supportive and friendly and I can’t say enough about it. I’ll be shouting from the rooftops about how much I love the book blogging community for as long as I can. 💕

11. What do you think one should do to get a successful blog?
There are a few different ways to take this question.

Are we talking successful like “I can quit my job and live off of my blog?” Because if that’s the case, go ask someone else, I have no idea, I’m just here responding to comments while my boss isn’t looking.

Are we talking successful like “I have a steadily increasing number of followers and regular interactions on my blog?” Because in that case, I also really don’t know. My stats have definitely been increasing lately, but I’m not really sure what I’m doing to make that happen. All I can figure is that I’ve been really bored at my job lately (we still don’t have a doctor so there’s not a ton of stuff for me, the biller, to do!!) and I’ve been spending a lot of time on the WordPress app liking and commenting and finding new blogs to follow. I guess the more I put myself out there, the more traffic I get on my blog. And, obviously, the more traffic I get, the more likes/comments/etc.

Or are we talking successful like “this blog makes me really happy and I get a sense of accomplishment when I think about it?” Because that’s something I can definitely address! I’m really happy with my blog right now because it’s the way that I want it to be. I’ve kind of stopped worrying about “what will people think if I post ____” and just started doing it. I have a lot of thoughts and opinions about books and just being able to share them with people who actually care makes me feel successful. 🙂

 

I tag: Daniel | Becky | Maddie | Graham | Ginny

As always, no pressure! Let me know if you like being tagged and also if you hate it.

Book review: Introductions by C.L. Stone

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Introductions by C.L. Stone
Series: The Ghost Bird #1
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Links: Amazon • Goodreads
Publication Date: December 23, 2012
Source: Kindle freebie

With an agoraphobic mother and a barely-there father, Sang abhors the isolation keeping her in the shadows. The only thing Sang craves is a fresh start and to be accepted as ordinary by her peers, because for her being different meant being cast out alone.

When her family moves to a new school district, Sang infiltrates a group of boys nearly perfect in every way. Grateful for an influence outside of her parents’ negativity, she quickly bonds with the boys, hoping to blend in and learn from them what it means to have a natural relationship with friends.

Only the boys have secrets of their own and they’ll do anything to keep her safe from the knowledge of the mysterious Academy that they’ve sworn allegiance to. Bit by bit, Sang discovers that her friends are far from the normalcy she expected. Will her loyalty change when she’s forced to remain in the dark, or will she accept that she’s traded one house of secrets for another?

Meet Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke and North in a story about differences and loyalty, truth and mystery, friendships and heart-throbbing intimacy.

The Academy, ever vigilant.

I don’t even remember where I saw this book or why I decided to download it, but it’s a thing that happened and now here we are. Three months later. Trying to decimate my TBR by marathoning one book after another. It’s been a bad month for this.

MAYBE MINOR SPOILERS BELOW.

I’m not really sure what the point of this book is. It’s a girl who meets a new boy in every chapter. Every boy is amazing. So perfect. They’re all fifteen years old, but they look like models, are built like professional athletes, and wave around their black AmEx cards to purchase their custom Armani suits.

I’m not sure that any of the characters understand the concept of time, because everything happens in approximately thirteen seconds.

“I make a halfway decent friend if you give me a chance.”

Okay, I mean, so do I, but I also don’t invite random strangers into my house four seconds after meeting them for “hot cocoa” and to “clean their wounds” because I’M NOT A MURDERER. Sang is, to her credit, at least a little bit worried about being raped and/or kidnapped, but she figures that rapists and would-be kidnappers wouldn’t go through the hassle of making her hot cocoa first. She’s clearly highly intelligent.

“We’re friends now, aren’t we?”

Well, you just met three minutes ago, but okay. Every boy in this book is about to lay his life down for Sang the second he meets her. I’m not sure what’s so special about her, but just wait… it’s coming…

“You’re not like other girls, Sang.”
“You’re far from normal.”
“I mean different.”
“It’s not a bad thing.”

Maybe stop talking, Silas. Or just keep digging yourself in deeper, whatever works. I figured this scene was coming because of course it was, but somehow I’m still disappointed. Just once I’d like to read a YA book that doesn’t use the “not like other girls” trope.

Also, everything is green. Green poncho. Green shirt. Green eyes. Green tie. Mr. Green. Is there some significance here that I’m missing? And one of these fifteen-year-old boys is taking particle physics, so that’s really interesting too. It ends with a cliffhanger that’s some real nonsense, but I honestly don’t care enough to find out what happens next.

Somehow this book has a 4.12 average on Goodreads, so it’s possible that I’m just cranky today or that I just didn’t get it, but yikes. This was a mess. At least it didn’t even take two hours to read it.

#killingthetbr: 3 months on shelf