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Let's Talk Bookish; Writing & Posting Book Reviews

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It's Friday, which means it's probably time for another Let's Talk Bookish post courtesy of  Book Nook Bits  and  Dinipanda Reads . Today's topic was writing and posting book reviews. Here's the further prompts for today's discussion. Writing book reviews is a huge part of running a book blog. Do book reviews make up a big part of your blog content? Do you prefer to write long or short reviews? How does reviewing advance copies (ARCs) and working directly with authors and publishers change your approach to writing the reviews? Do you post on platforms other than your blog (i.e. Goodreads, The Storygraph, social media) and do those reviews differ from what you share on your blog? After I switched things a bit around on this book blog and decided focusing on horor and paranormal books, I've actually reduced the number of book reviews on this blog. When it comes down to the length of my reviews, they all depend on how much I've got to say about the book - ...

Top Ten Tuesday; Books That Feature Vampires

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It's Tuesday, and thus perhaps time for another Top Ten Tuesday post courtesy of  That Artsy Reader Girl  and as this week's theme was books that include/feature, I decided writing a list of books that feature vampires. Here's my ten (somewhat) spooky picks. Blood Cruise by Mats Strandberg Description from Goodreads On the Baltic Sea, no one can hear you scream. Tonight, twelve hundred expectant passengers have joined the booze-cruise between Sweden and Finland. The creaking old ship travels this same route, back and forth, every day of the year. But this trip is going to be different. In the middle of the night the ferry is suddenly cut off from the outside world. There is nowhere to escape. There is no way to contact the mainland. And no one knows who they can trust. Welcome aboard the Baltic Charisma. Blood Born by Renee Lake Description from Goodreads Maddie is excited about the new adventures college life will bring. She dreams of rallies, weird roommates and exciting...

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge; A Book I'm Nervous To Read

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It's Wednesday, which means it's time for another Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge post courtesy of  Long and Short Reviews  and today's topic is a book I'm nervous to read and why. For me, it's Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, easily. Why? It's honestly a bit scary getting into his head and his thought process, and reading his opinions on various topics. It's one of those cases of I want to find out what the hell he was thinking, but on the other hand, nope, I don't want to find out. I suspect I'm not the only one who's a bit reluctant to say it the least, on the thought of reading that book, as he was after all an arsehole to put it mildly.

Let's Talk Bookish; How Many Books Do You Read in a Year?

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It's Friday yet again, which means it's probably time for another Let's Talk Bookish post courtesy of  Book Nook Bits  and  Dinipanda Reads . Today's topic was how many books do you read in a year? Here's the further prompts for today's discussion. How many books do you typically read in a year? Do you always track your reading? Does keeping track of the books you read motivate you, or stress you out? How do you keep track of the books you read? Do you have a 2025 reading goal? It sometimes varies a bit how many books I read in a year, but the last few years it's been roughly 100 books. I keep track on Goodreads how many books I've read, and it enables me to be on track or preferably be a little bit ahead, just in case something should happen (like me getting sick or having a reading slump). That said, I don't stress or panic if I fall behind, as it's not a competition. This year though, I'm putting the petal to the metal a little bit and I...

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge; Favourite Hobby and Why

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It's Wednesday, and thus perhaps it's time for another Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge post courtesy of  Long and Short Reviews . This week's topic was favourite hobby and why. Aside from reading, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered writing this blog, my favourite hobbies are cooking and baking. Somehow I relax while in the kitchen, making food and trying new-to-me recipes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, as I love both books and cooking, I have quite a collection of cookbooks and quite a while ago, I decided I wanted to cook my way through my cookbooks, trying the recipes that caught my eye and I found interesting. At first, I "only" documented it on  Instagram  and created a specific hashtag for it, but I more recently also started  a blog  for it, even though I can admit I haven't been too good at updating the latter at times. Some other benefits are that I can try new-to-me cuisines without going to restaurants and I improve my skills in the kitchen. As I ...

Top Ten Tuesday; Books Set in Another Time

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It's Tuesday and perhaps time for another Top Ten Tuesday post courtesy of  That Artsy Reader Girl  and the theme of the week is books set in another time. Here's my ten spooky picks. The Skintaker by Frazer Lee Description from Goodreads YOU HAVE WHAT HE WANTS! Reclusive nineteen-year-old Rosie Shields hopes for a new lease of life that will free her from the stigma of her debilitating skin condition. Making a pilgrimage to the Amazon rainforest, Rosie experiences a new world beyond her wildest dreams among the mysterious Myahueneca tribe. But Rosie's dreams soon turn to nightmares when she embarks on a ritual vision quest that takes her to the very heart of darkness. Trapped between murderous hunters and raging forest fires, Rosie will be thrust into a fight for survival, a struggle that awakens an ancient evil stirring in the shadows...the demonic deity known as The Skintaker. The Voivod: A Ghost Story by Dominic Selwood Description from Goodreads London, 1897. An elder...

Top Ten Tuesday; Books I Never Reviewed

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It's Tuesday and perhaps it's time for another Top Ten Tuesday post courtesy of  That Artsy Reader Girl  and the topic of the week is books I've never reviewed. As I'm mainly focusing on horror and paranormal books on this blog, I decided writing a list of non-horror/paranormal books that I've read and enjoyed, but not reviewed on this blog. Here's my ten picks. Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah Description from Goodreads Born in East Africa, Yusuf has few qualms about the journey he is to make. It never occurs to him to ask why he is accompanying Uncle Aziz or why the trip has been organised so suddenly, and he does not think to ask when he will be returning. But the truth is that his 'uncle' is a rich and powerful merchant and Yusuf has been pawned to him to pay his father's debts, Paradise is a rich tapestry of myth, dreams and Biblical and Koranic tradition, the story of a young boy's coming of age against the backdrop of an Africa increasingly ...