What?! I Have a Blog?

Wow! I cannot believe it. I have my very own blog! I never dreamed of reviewing or having a blog. Initially, the thought of putting my thoughts and feelings about a book into writing scared me. What if I was incorrect in my thinking? What if no one agreed with my views? As a people-pleaser, these questions weighed heavily on my mind. Because my mind is always racing one hundred miles a minute, I then switched gears to authors. Man! If I worry over people reading and trusting my reviews, how much more do authors worry over people liking their books, their babies?

I equate my reason for writing reviews to shopping. Ah, now I have your attention! I love a bargain. In fact, it must be a great deal for me to spend my money on it, as my husband’s frugality has truly rubbed off on me over the years. But I digress. When you find an amazing sale or a coupon scenario that will get you a free product, what do you do? You call, text, FB, or tweet your closest friends, letting them in on this amazing deal, too. Or at least that is what my friends and I do. The same logic applies to books. If I read an amazing page-turner I cannot put down, I want to share it with all of my friends, letting everyone know why I enjoyed the book. The same holds true with receiving terrible customer service and a poorly written book; you want to let your friends know to stay away. But ultimately, the decision to take advantage of the sale or avoid the terrible customer service is up to them.

When reviewing, I strive to capture the various thoughts and emotions that go through my head while reading so other readers can take that information, process it against what they feel makes an interesting story, and decide for themselves whether this particular book should be added to their TBR pile. I hope you find my reviews insightful and trustworthy. I look forward to sharing my love of books with you, and hearing your thoughts in return.

With all of that said, I want to take a moment to thank the amazing friends who have offered much needed support and encouragement. Without them, my reviews and this blog would be somewhere with leprechauns, unicorns, and those imaginary friends one has as a child. My first and biggest thanks go to Mary Simonsen. If it was not for her, I would not be writing any reviews. Mary took time to explain to me how important reviews are to authors. As a result, I figured if authors can provide me with hours of delightful diversions, then the least I can do is write a review in return. And so it began! Over the last year, not only has Mary become a great mentor to my writing, but also a dear friend.

Next up is Angie Kroll. I hate, that’s right, HATE technology. If I could be like Judge Judy and not know what an iPhone does, how to tweet or what kind of purpose a blog serves, my life would be grand! Unfortunately, I am not old enough to get by with Judge Judy’s ignorance of social media and devices. Angie is a technology smarty pants and has offered much needed help and suggestions.

Finally, since many of you have already stopped reading this post two paragraphs ago (as I have recently been diagnosed with logorrhea), I will wrap up with saying a big thank you to the following people for the invaluable support, encouragement and friendship: Candy Morton, Monica Perry, Erica McFarland, and Meredith Esparza!