News
Go here to listen to a phone interview that Chelsea from The Page Flipper did with me earlier today! Be warned- it is pretty long, like half an hour. It's all about my thoughts on reviewing, my favorite books and TV shows, and lots of other ramblings. One of my favorite lines comes from when Chelsea asked me about trends in YA literature and I mention a topic you never see as a big trend (or, maybe you do, but not recently).


Interview with Lauren from Shooting Stars Magazine
1) How do you write your reviews? Do you write them right away while the book is fresh in your mind, or do you wait a few days to let the book simmer and your thoughts gather before sitting down to put your thoughts on the screen?

I try and write the reviews as soon as I can, but that usually ends up being a few days after I finish the book. This is a good and bad thing...good if I think of more things to say and I'm able to really think about the book, but bad if things about the novel start to leave my mind and I forget to mention them. Overall, I think it works well.


2) Do you find it difficult to write a bad review? If you didn't like a book, do you just skip over it and not review it, or do you feel an obligation to review it, no matter what your thoughts on the book may be?

If I said I would review the book, then I do, but I try and focus on the good and the bad. I mean, no book is completely horrible. My motto from the beginning was always "Our Reviews are Just Our Views" anyway, so you have to take it with a grain of salt. I do my best to be as diplomatic as possible

3) What qualities do you aim for when writing your reviews? Is there any set criteria of things that you have to go over in each review, or does it vary book-to-book?

I don't have a set criteria like characters, setting, etc. I tend to focus on various aspects depending on the book. I DO love to add pictures to the review post or find a song that reminded me of the book just to make it more fun and unique but I'm not always able too.

4) How did you find my book blog, as well as any others that you frequent?

I had a myspace page in the beginning before I had a blog, so I found your myspace as well as other blogs through there.

5) What book blogs, if any, inspired you to start your own book blog? (Side note: And no, you don't have to include me in this answer just because it's my blogiversary; just be honest!)

I didn't start out as a book blog, so I'm a bit different in this regard....I started the zine for music and then found a bunch of book blogs and figured I'd add in all sources of entertainment and now I focus on books, movies, music, and more. The first few blogs that I saw books on though? I honestly can't really remember. You were probably one of the first...Chelsea from The Page Flipper too. She was one of the first people I started talking too definitely.

6) Do you have any advice or thoughts on how authors should handle mediocre or bad reviews, or their expectations when sending a book out for review?

If you send a book for review, it's probably best not to stress on what the blogger or reviewer will say. I know it's probably hard, but try! I mean, like I said..."Our Reviews are Just Our Views" so it's one person. Try and think of it as "any publicity is good publicity" and at least they are spreading the word about the book for you. After all, most reviews aren't tearing your book apart and that's the main thing...and if they ARE, then they aren't be respectful and it's their problem, not the authors.


Guest Blog from Harmony at Harmony's Book Reviews
I guess you could say Book Chic was the first person to inspire me to start my blog. It was sometime in December of 2007 or January of 2008 and I was spending all of my time hanging out at the Meg Cabot Message Boards (MCMB) in the Teen Books section. All the members were chatting about whatever teen books were popular at the time...until someone mentioned book blogs. Until that point, I had no clue that book blogs even existed but once the idea was planted in my head, I ran with it. Of course, I had a thousand and one questions and who do you think answered them? BC, of course!
 
So after that, I started my blog and then, a few weeks later, my Myspace to go along with it. I started building contacts with other reviewers and added a reviewer called Book Chic. Somehow, we got to talking and MCMB came up. Until that point, it hadn't dawned on me that this reviewer who had an enormous friendslist and an endless amount of reviews could be the same person who gave me all the advice to start my own blog. Except it was! 
 
After that, we started talking quite a bit and still do sometimes. He's introduced me to some pretty awesome authors and books (such as The Straight Road to Kylie) and he's still my go-to person when I'm unsure about something related to my blog. He's fun, knows what he's talking about and usually doesn't seem to mind my "What am I supposed to do?!" moments. If you're new to his blog, you'd better stick around but if you're a long time reader, you know what I'm talking about.
 
Congrats on the two years and I can't wait to stick around for your third blogiversary.