Theresa is an Associate Editor for Entangled Publishing, mom and step-mom to five boys, and coffee addict. When she isn't working, learning, or taxiing the boys around, she's lost between the pages of a paranormal novel. You can learn more about her on the About Me page. Feel free to email her at Theresa (at) fadeintofantasy (dot) com! *If you are looking to submit a book for review, please read the Review Policy page first.*
11-21-2011: Never to be forgotten! Today is the day that Ian Somerhalder responded to me on facebook! Hey, that may not be a big deal for you, but for me.. HUGE. *swoon*
Conversation copied from FB:
ME: Finally! After an hour of searching facebook, I find the REAL you. Hi Ian!
Ian Somerhalder: Thank you.Nice to meet you
ME: My pleasure! Thank you for taking the time to notice. :)
Ian Somerhalder: you're welcome
Ian Somerhalder: I try not to disappoint my fans!
ME: Well, you're doing a wonderful job. :) It's nice (and a bit scary) to talk to someone like you!
ME: lol... (I'm secretly freaking out cuz I got to talk to Ian! *sigh*)
Ian Somerhalder: Thank you Theresa!
ME: lol... you're welcome! Just do me a favor and don't knock when you invade my dreams tonight. The husband probably wouldn't like that. hehe!
Ian Somerhalder: well I will not:)
ME: Perfect! Thanks. LOL
Being True To Myself
Happy Saturday, lovely people! I hope everyone is having a marvelous day 
I know that I don’t normally post on Saturday, but I’ve been thinking about a couple of different things and I’ve come to a decision that I would like to share.
When I decided to start blogging daily, I did it because I enjoy sharing what I love with other people. I want to spread the word about different things far and wide. As I started getting more and more into the book blogging scene, I realized that most book bloggers are reviewing tons of books, whether they enjoyed them or not. I started getting wrapped up into the whole “I need to review everything I can get my hands on” idea and you know what? It started to not be fun anymore.
There are some kinds of books that I simply do not like. If I don’t like them, then it is EXTREMELY hard for me to read the entire thing without my eyes crossing and head spinning. If I am successful in reading the entire thing, I usually don’t remember much of it because it didn’t interest me. The nagging thought of reading a book that I don’t like for a review really drives me crazy. It’s like knowing you have to take a statistics test after you skipped class a dozen times. (Not that I’ve done that, though.. lol)
Anyway… I was visiting some of the book blogger blogs that I follow, and there were a few comments made that really got me thinking. Someone commented about how they review books because they ENJOY it… another person said that they give a book the “100 page test”, meaning that if it didn’t grab her and reel her in within the first 100 pages, then she didn’t read any further. The last comment that really got me thinking was when someone mentioned that they chose to do a “book recommendation” blog rather than a “book review” blog because she would rather not spend time on a book that she doesn’t enjoy.
All of these comments spoke straight to my heart. I don’t know how many times I have told someone “don’t do it if you don’t enjoy it”, and there I was… trying to get my hands on books that I knew I may not enjoy just because I thought that’s what it meant to be a book reviewer. I WAS WRONG.
I started reviewing because I love reading and want to tell the world when I find a book that I enjoy! Because of this, I am changing my reviewing policies a bit.
There will no longer be any rating below 3 cups. If I don’t like a book enough to give it 3 cups, then I’m not going to force myself to finish it.
I will be reviewing whatever book I happen to pick up for my own enjoyment. A lot of these will be first in the series books due to the fact that I am just getting back into my reading and I have to start at the beginning.
I will still gladly take a look at any books that publishers/authors/etc would like me to review, but I’m not going to review it if I don’t think I will like it.
All in all, I realized that I started this because I enjoyed it, and I’m going to make sure that is why I continue to do it.
I know I was kinda long winded today, and I truly appreciate you all listening to my heart felt ramble. LOL Have a great weekend, everyone!
Theresa
Blogging should definitely be an enjoyable experience! If it's not fun, then there's so much missing. I agree with your decision to not read anything that doesn't get a high enough rating, since otherwise, it would just be a drag.
Thanks so much, GE. I was really hoping that people would understand
Great post! If you aren't enjoying yourself, it is time to change things up. Life is way too short to waste your time forcing yourself to read something you don't like. It takes so much time to run a blog, but if you aren't having any fun, there isn't much point in doing it.
I agree with you 100% Theresa. When I first started I was accepting every request just because I thought that is what I needed to do. It got pretty overwhelming. I've learned to accept only books I think I will like and let them know that it may take awhile. I work full time, have kids and I am able to read when I get the chance. I'm still behind in my reading, but I don't feel as bad now know I was honest with myself and others up front. Kudos to you for being true to yourself!
Thanks so much, Lou! It's so easy to get wrapped up in the whole thing. Especially if it is all new to ya. I started blogging before I really even explored other blogs, so it felt like I was in this frantic rush to catch up to everyone else. Something else I just recently discovered is that it's perfectly ok to review books from years ago. There are other people out there just like me, who are just starting the series and need to hear a little more about the first books in order to make a decision.
Anyway, it sounds like you and I have quite a bit in common, and I truly appreciate you taking the time to comment. Makes me feel better about my decision when I have bloggers that I admire agreeing with me
Yes we sure do. I am so behind in series reading and most of the blogs I see are on 3, 4, or 5 of the series already that I have just heard of. I look forward to new reviews from you
Thank you for your thoughts! I agree to a large degree but haven't expressed myself so well! I tended to avoid reviewing the books I didn't want to finish until I got a book for free to review and felt compelled to finish it and review it and be professional. Was a learning experience! I'm now a follower of yours! I'm looking forward to what you write next!
I agree. I actually have a 10% rule. If I can't make it through the first 10% of the book, then I don't continue and the book does not get reviewed. This helps ensure that my time is spent optimizing both my reader enjoyment and the coverage for those writers who have asked me for a review.