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2017; it’s a wrap
It’s the end of the year, and I have managed to post a discussion post every month! It may not seem like much, but after last year, this is quite the accomplishment for me. My traffic and stats might not be as impressive as other bloggers, but I have seen an improvement, and more importantly? I’ve made loads of good friends in the blogging community. (Where are my #CroneBloggers at?) Let’s see, I recieved my first few approvals for eARCs this year, but with things going the way they are with NetGalley and GoodReads for international bloggers, that may not happen again. Still, it was an honour and a privilege.…
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books & a cuppa;
Most of us like to have a glass of something when we read. For me, usually, that glass of something is a hot drink. Coffee, tea, sometimes a chocolate drink, like a Nutella hot chocolate. I choose my drinks based on my moods, and more often than not, my moods are linked to the book I am reading. What I’m saying, of course, is that I categorise my drinks by the type of books I am reading. There are just certain stories and genres that pair well with certain drinks. Chocolate; Fantasy It can be anywhere between overly sweet and dark bitterness. For me, hot chocolate pairs well with a…
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SPOTLIGHT; #cronebloggers
We interrupt our regular schedule to bring you this post. I’m going to be honest, I meant to write this post a while ago, but I’ve been out of town, and then the daughter was ill, so I’m only getting around it it now. For full information, check out Jenn @ a page of Jenniely‘s page on #CroneBloggers here. In brief, #CroneBloggers are a group of book bloggers that are older than the target audience for the Young Adult novels we read. Yes, anybody can read anything they want, etcetra etcetra, but being surrounded by young teenagers was – shall we say – making us feel our ages? So Jenn…
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;reading starter kit
I’ve been complaining to anyone who sits still long enough to listen that coming up with new and interesting blog posts ideas is so difficult. This has been largely due to the fact that I have been stuck trying to come up with something different and fun to post. A conversation with a new friend, one who is not an avid reader, but wants to get back into reading for fun, gave me this one. We were discussing something I’ve been planning (something she’s gotten excited about, and made me more excited to be doing!) when she suggested I put together a reading starter kit for her and others like…
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BLOG TOUR; The Red Beach Hut by Lynn Michell ft. Guest Post by The Author
This is my first ever blog tour post, so I’m going to admit to being a little anxious writing out this post. I keep telling myself it doesn’t have to be perfect, but I can’t help myself! The number of times I have backtracked this little paragraph is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Especially because I am so grateful and honoured to have Lynn Michell, the author of The Red Beach Hut herself, writing a guest post for my little corner of the internet! The Red Beach Hut by Lynn Michell “Their eyes met and locked. Pulling his hand from his pocket, Neville waved. Once.” Eight year old Neville is the first…
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ten things I hate about first person point of view;
I’ve always been told hate is a very strong word. Growing up, my parents preferred that my sisters and I say we strongly disliked something over hate. Frankly, they’re still that way. And for the most part, I agree. I don’t use hate very much, though sometimes I do use it as hyperbole. (A little bit of that is the case of the title, I will admit.) First person point of view is a very hit or miss with me. I was not fond of it for a very long time, and I still have issues with it. I find myself shying away from a lot of novels with first…
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press play;
“If music be the food of love, play on.” – Duke Orsino; Twelfth Night, Act 1 Scene 1 For a few years now, I’ve caught myself thinking about books when listening to music. Sometimes a lyric reminds me of a character, or a plot arc, or a relationship in a novel I have read or am reading and I find myself either listening to that song on repeat as I read, or sitting down and making a playlist. Playlists are a fun way of telling a story. While listening to the songs, you get the sense of the characters, get a sense of what the novel has put them through.…
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SPOTLIGHT; hashtag bookstagram challenges
We interrupt our regular schedule to bring you this post. I recently got back into bookstagram. I have been trying to keep to a schedule (Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday posts, which are a lot less than other bookstagram accounts) but things have been going a bit haywire since I came across the challenges people post. Challenges when it comes to bookstagram are not so much competitions. They are more goals for the month. I was confused the first time I came across the term before I realised that it was much like the memes over on tumblr. Last month, a couple of the bookstagram accounts I follow were hosting a…
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the art of poetry;
I was never much of a poetry girl growing up. I mean, I liked them well enough, I suppose, but they never evoked that sense of wonder or roused my emotions the way getting lost in novels did. Until recently, that is. Tumblr has made being exposed to different styles of poetry much easier. The first few ‘proper’ poems I had read were Shakespearean and the more classic types taught in my English Literature classes. Tumblr has taught me that poetry can be pretty much anything. From a story, to rhyming words, to a protest (of sorts), or to – whatever this is. I have not had the chance to…
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SPOTLIGHT; food for thought & the Young Adult genre
We interrupt our regular schedule to bring you this post. A friend recently linked me to this article, and I’ve had it open on my phone for a while. Just to go back to and read because the first time I read it, I realised something – I agree with most of these points. I mean, I love YA books. I pretty much only read YA books. Almost all the reviews on this blog are of YA books. But when I look at the audience reading these books, we are (almost) all in our twenties or older. Or in our late teens. We read these books for escapism, for the…