The Secret Life of a Book Blogger Tag

I was not tagged for this. I feel like at this point we can all just assume that I'm never tagged for any tag that I do.

How long have you been a blogger?

I created my blog in 2015 but I didn’t really touch it till 2016 so 4 years!

At what point do you think you will stop?

When I’m no longer finding joy in blogging. I created this blog because it was something I wanted to do, I wanted to talk about the books that I loved and the ones that I didn’t. I don’t want to do this because I have to. The day that I feel like I’m not enjoying this and I’m just doing this because I feel like I have to will be the say that I stop.

What is the best thing?

When I see comments from people, knowing that someone is actually reading what I’m writing and engaging with me about it. It just really makes me happy.

What is the worst thing?

Not being able to think of anything to write. I hate when I haven’t posted in weeks and I just can’t think of anything that I want to write about. I don’t want to be repetitive. Sometimes I feel like that’s all I’m doing so I have to take a step back for a moment. Those times are the worst.

How long does it take you to create/find pictures to use?

It depends. I’m usually pretty basic with the pictures I use so it can take me maybe 5 minutes to find pictures I want to use. If I have something very specific in mind like if I want to add some gifs and add a bit more personality to the post, it can take me up to 30 minutes to do so.

Who’s your book crush?

Pretty much any character named Damon or any variation of Damon. I’m not even kidding. Damon Salvator. Damon Torrance. Daemon Black. All the best characters are named Damon.

Which author would you like to have on your blog?

This makes me nervous. I’m always way too nervous about doing author interviews on my blog which is why I’ve never done one. I just feel like I’m not a great question asker so I don’t want to fuck it up and have a boring interview because I can’t ask questions properly. However, if I do ever decide I can actually do an author interview on my blog without fucking it up I would probably want Colleen Hoover. She is just so funny. I love reading her reviews on Goodreads. They have me cackling.

What do you wear when you write your blog?

Mostly PJs. I always write when I’m lying or sitting in bed, so it has to be comfy. 

How long does it take you to prepare?

Prepare? What is this prepare? I just write when I feel like writing. If I’m feeling particularly ambitious I’ll write multiple posts at once and just schedule them a few days apart or so. Sometimes I’ll write 4 posts at once and then drop off the face of the earth. Time management? I don’t know her.

How do you feel about the book blogger community/culture?

I kinda feel like I’m a bit on the outside of it. Not because they aren’t welcoming or anything like that, I’m just not a very social person, even on the internet. For me, I find that maintaining friendships is especially hard for me to do online because I can so easily just forget to respond or just not leave comments on other people's posts. Having a blog is a bit of a double-edged sword, I love having a blog where I can talk about what I love and I want to be a part of this community but I can’t seem to make myself interact more. Fear of rejection maybe? As for the community itself, I think it's a really helpful place. People share their experiences in the community and it really helps to navigate.

What do you think one should do to have a successful blog?

Considering I have been blogging for 4 years and have maybe 100ish followers, I don’t think I know how to have a successful blog. I’ll tell you guys when I figure it out. Anyway, I'm happy with where my blog is at. I don't need thousands of followers because I know there are still people out there that enjoy reading what I write and that's enough for me. 

Who do you tag?

Like I mentioned before, I'm a bit antisocial so I'm not going to tag anyone.

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10 Book Worlds I Would Love to Live in

I am going to start this off by apologizing. I am Canadian after all. I haven't posted a lot in the past few months. Things have not been funky fresh. Things have not been cash money. I feel like my life has spiralled a little out of control. However, I also really need to put this aside so that I can actually enjoy the things that I do like to do during this crappy period in time. I can't really promise that I will be posting more or that things will be more consistent. I am going to promise to try. Thank you for sticking around if you have. I really appreciate it. 

Onto the actual post. When I say "Worlds" I really mean that symbolically. They aren't all necessarily different planets. This list more consists of maybe different times or different circumstances where maybe magic exists or something. These are worlds that are not necessarily our own. 

10. Hunting Prince Dracula

I want to live in a gothic castle in the middle of Romania during the Victorian Era while solving mysteries. Is that too much to ask? 

9. Kricket Series

I'm not a huge Sci-fi person, but even I have to admit I really want to know more about this world. And in this case, it actually is a different planet. I won't give too much away, but it is a really interesting setting.

8. Paper Princess

Many would argue that this is not a different world. I would argue that it is. I count this as a different world because I don't know if you've noticed but I do not live in the top 1% of U.S. I don't live in the U.S. at all. I especially don't live in the top 1%. It would be nice. For like a day. It would probably be pretty entertaining. 

7. Green Creek Series

I just think it would be neat to be apart of a werewolf pack. Especially this werewolf pack. I love the characters and their stories and I just think it would be fun and action-filled to be part of this magical world of theirs.

6. A Promise of Fire

What can I say? There is a common theme of magical worlds on this list. I just think they're neat. This series was one of my favourites from last year and I would love nothing more than to be part of that world.

5. Shadowhunter Chronicles

I want to be a Shadowhunter. It sounds fun. Dangerous, but fun. Why have a boring ass 9-5 job when you could go out and hunt demons? And have special powers? No contest. I want excitement in my life. 

4. Immortals After Dark

While mostly set on Earth, this is a completely different world from our own. There's the human world and then the world of Immortal beings. In comparison, our world is like a knockoff Louis Vitton handbag that falls apart the moment it rains while the immortal world is that good quality real Louis Vitton handbag.

3. Harry Potter

I mean obviously. It's not as high up as it would have been a few years ago, but that doesn't mean that I still wouldn't love to go to Hogwarts. I'm maybe just too old for that now. If I could go back in time and go to a different world this would be the first choice.

2. The Night Circus

I go fucking buck wild for the Night Circus. In the past few years, I've just been romanticizing running away with the circus. It's kind of this weird dream of mine. Add in any type of magic and I'm sold. My favourite part of the Night Circus was the setting. It tied everything together for me. It just wouldn't have been as good of a book as it was if it weren't for the Circus.

1. Practical Magic

If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time you guys know I love witches. I've had an obsession with this book series and the movie ever since I discovered them years and years ago. I want nothing more than to live in a world where I can have that type of magic in my life. That is my dream. The Night Circus is in a very close second, but if I had to choose it would be Practical Magic hands down.

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Chain of Gold Review

Chain of Gold

Cassandra Clare

Spoilers

Synopsis:

Cordelia Carstairs is a Shadowhunter, a warrior trained since childhood to battle demons. When her father is accused of a terrible crime, she and her brother travel to London in hopes of preventing the family’s ruin. Cordelia’s mother wants to marry her off, but Cordelia is determined to be a hero rather than a bride. Soon Cordelia encounters childhood friends James and Lucie Herondale and is drawn into their world of glittering ballrooms, secret assignations, and supernatural salons, where vampires and warlocks mingle with mermaids and magicians. All the while, she must hide her secret love for James, who is sworn to marry someone else.

But Cordelia’s new life is blown apart when a shocking series of demon attacks devastate London. These monsters are nothing like those Shadowhunters have fought before—these demons walk in daylight, strike down the unwary with incurable poison, and seem impossible to kill. London is immediately quarantined. Trapped in the city, Cordelia and her friends discover that their own connection to a dark legacy has gifted them with incredible powers—and forced a brutal choice that will reveal the true cruel price of being a hero.

My Thoughts:

I did receive an ARC, I just haven't done this review till now. This will in no way affect the truthfulness of my review. 

I gave this book 5 stars. Seeing the progress that Cassandra Clare has made as an author since City of Bones is kind of inspiring. These days when I pick up one of her books I know I’m going to love it. 

This story centres around an incredible cast of characters. The two main characters, Cordelia and James, along with the side characters who are just as important. Cassandra Clare has done an amazing job at creating side characters that you love as much as the leads. They all have an equal share in the book. Their storylines are just as important and there isn’t one character that I don’t like (other than the obvious antagonists). 

James Herondale first appears in Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, one of my favourite collections of short stories. I immediately knew that I wanted to read about this character. We only see a few brief scenes with him and Matthew Fairchild, but it was enough to gather interest. In James as a character and in his friendship with Matthew. James has such intriguing abilities where he can turn into a shadow being and transfer over to this shadow world. James,  while not being more important than the rest of the characters in this book, was the reason that the plot moved along in the first place. The conflict in this book was indirectly because of him. This book did an amazing job of creating this tension and longing between him and Cordelia. 

Going into this I knew nothing about Cordelia. She was just a name. I didn’t realize I would adore her quite as much as I did. Cordelia was immediately a very strong-minded character. She had a goal from the very beginning and she showed herself to be very determined. Even in this book, I feel like she evolved so much as a character. We find out information about her that she herself didn't even know before this book and she takes it in stride. It really changes her whole outlook. This book was showing a transition period in Cordelia's life that I appreciate seeing. She is finding out all these family secrets that she never knew. She's coming to realize that she doesn't know her family members as much as she thought she did. It's a really interesting position to be in. Every family has secrets and finding out those secrets for the first time is always so jarring. Cordelia was such a sleek character, she was very put together and she had this perfect mix of grace and sensuality. As far as main characters go, I really liked her. I can't wait to see her become actual parabatai's with Lucie. 

I loved Lucie. Lucie is the younger sister of James and the best friend of Cordelia. She is almost like the conduit of the relationship between James and Cordelia. She is also probably my favourite character from this book. She is so funny and outgoing. She reminds me of a young Will. While we see a lot of James and his powers that he got from his mother, we only get a brief snippet of what Lucie can do. I can see amazing things happening in the future for Lucie. She has so much potential as a character and I really hope they utilize that in the next few books. I'm also really interested in her relationship with Jesse. Whilst reading this book I remembered that for the hardcover edition of I think it might have been Clockwork Princess, the dustjacket has a family tree. This family tree states that Jesse and Lucie were married. I have high hopes.

This book does a great job of showing that even though a character might seem a little antagonistic they aren’t necessarily a villain. Alasdair seems like a pretty antagonistic character right from the start, but as the story continues it is apparent that he isn’t just a flat character. He has a lot of personal turmoil and he isn’t just there to stoke the flames. I didn’t like him in the beginning but by the end of the book, I couldn’t help but wish the best for him. 

The two worst characters in this book were Grace and Charles. While there is a very obvious evil threat, there is an expected badness when it comes to them. When it comes to Grace and Charles, they were just shitty people. The demon is a demon and therefore bad. Grace and Charles are simply invested in their own self-interest. They care about themselves and not the lives of the people who care for them. They are willing to string them along and have them miserable just to have them. When we finally thought James was rid of Grace, she came back with a vengeance. I understand that she was an emotionally abused shut-in, but god she was just such a shitty person. Charles doesn’t even have that as an excuse. He just strung Alasdair on and continued hurting him even though he knew they could never truly be together. He wanted his cake and to eat it too. I hate them both. More than the demon. 

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