I’m so thrilled and thankful to Jill at Jill’s Book Cafe, Jen at Jenmedsbookreviews, Kristin at KristinNovelCafe, Jo at Josbookblog, and Emma at EmmaBookishCorner for nominating me for the Blogger Recognition. This means so much to me as I’m fairly new to this wonderful blogging community. These are all blogs I make sure to visit daily for their new posts so please stop by each of them, they’re fantastic!
Rules of this award:
Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog
Write a post to show your award
Give a brief story of how your blog started
Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers
Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to
Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide a link to the post you have created
How I Got Started
I had been wanting to start a blog for over 2 years but being pretty tech-challenged I always felt like I wouldn’t be able to figure out how to get started. Finally, in the fall, at the encouragement of my book club I signed up for WordPress and got to work setting up Its Book Talk . I had the intention of putting my reviews and recommendations into the world and hoping someone would find them helpful and at the same time maybe I’d be able to connect with a few people to discuss books. I quickly discovered an entire community of like minded readers who all love to talk about books!! I had absolutely no idea this type of blogging community existed and it’s been the best surprise ever! I have met so many wonderful bloggers from all over the world and I feel honored to call many of them my friends.
Advice
Everyone has their own method of reviewing, but something I always try to think about before sitting down to write is to be honest. I try to convey the different parts of a story and how well they worked or didn’t work in my opinion. I always picture the author possibly reading my review so if there are things that may not have worked for me I make sure to convey that in a respectful manner.
Try to interact as much as possible with other bloggers by commenting on posts and reviews. For me, what has made this whole blogging experience so fun is chatting with others in the blogging community. I appreciate each and every time someone has taken the time to leave a comment!!
In addition to the awesome ladies above who nominated me (thank you again:) , I’d like to nominate 15 fantastic blogs, each one providing their own unique spin on blogging. I love visiting these blogs for their variety of posts and reviews so please make sure to check them out!!
Amy at Novel Gossip
Annie at The Misstery
Janel at Keeper of Pages
Danielle at Books Vertigo and Tea
Sam at Clues and Reviews
Ann Marie at Lit Wit Wine and Dine
Abby at Crime By the Book
Rebecca at Boofsbooks
Donna at Chocolate N Waffles
Chelsea at The Suspense is Thrilling Me
Victor at My Poor TBR
Diana at A Haven for Booklovers
Fictionfan at Fiction Fan
Megan at Bookslayerreads
Wendy at Little Booknesslane
Happy Reading to all and thank you for visiting and supporting my blog!
Congratulations lovely xx
Thanks so much Kate!
Oh wow thank you so much!!! I’d popped by to say congratulations, wasn’t expecting to see my own name *blushes* 😊 Really appreciate it, thank you.
You’re welcome! I’m glad you came on board with TBT and I discovered your blog:) Love the new graphics by the way
Do you? Thanks, I’ve been playing around and waiting to see if I still like this one 😊
I do like both to be honest so either way you decide to go it will look awesome!!
Aw, thank you for nominating me! It’s hard to believe you’re a relative newcomer to blogworld – feels like you’ve been part of the community for ages! I totally agree that it’s getting out there and chatting with other bloggers that makes the whole thing fun. What I especially like about the book blogosphere is that even when we disagree we’re always respectful of other people’s opinions – a real rarity in online life! I already follow most of your nominees, but I’m off now to visit the few that I haven’t met before… 😀
You’re welcome! I agree with what you said, I didn’t have much of an online life before my blog and I’m feeling that the book blogging is probably unique in the level of respectfulness everyone gives each other…it’s just the best!
Congratulations on your deserved recognition Renee – enjoy it. Off to investigate some on our list that are new to me. Have a great week. xx
Thank you Jill! I hope your weekend is going well and you get in some relaxing reading time…xx
I’m just about to attempt to write up my mammoth acquisitions list and attempt some reviews, so I might be welded to the keyboard for quite a while – keeps me quiet and out of trouble though 🙂
I need to do that today too Jill, although we’re getting crazy warm sunny weather here today which is unheard of for Feb so I will have to head out and walk at the park at some point:) I’ve gotten a little snowed under in terms of reviews needing written and books needing read…
You’ve got a fantastic blog filled with honest and brilliant reviews, it’s always a pleasure to read your posts so I’m glad you got the award!! Your advice is the best, I mean, on top of writing for the sake of the books and to empty our heads and hearts a bit, chatting and getting involved in the community is the best!
Thanks so much for nominating me along such awesome bloggers! xx
You’re very welcome Donna!! And thanks so much for your kind words:)
Congratulations on your nomination(s), so well deserved!! And I’m very grateful for the mention, such a lovely surprise – thank you! xx
Thank you Wendy and you’re very welcome!
Congratulations! I am so happy you mentioned interaction because to me that is the core of blogging. I wish you many many years of blogging success. 🙂
Thanks so much!!
Well deserved, Renee! I love this post and highly agree with the interaction part. I was so intimidated at first. But I’ve learned that other bloggers are some of the nicest people I have ever met! 😀
Thanks Kristin and I very much agree!!
Congratulations Renee!💁🏻💐🍾
Thanks so much! I appreciate you stopping by
Congrats! I love reading your blog and the award is so well-deserved. When I started book blogging I never expected to get to know so many lovely people, it really is such a great community.
Thank you and I completely agree, it’s been the best part by far!
Thanks Renee! You’re an awesome blogger and I love your insightful and honest reviews. So glad I met you ❤️
You’re so welcome and thank you for all your support!! I’ve had the best time getting to kknow you and chatting and sharing books:) And all things Bachelor🤣Speaking of which did you see The Bachelorette has already been announced??
Yes!! Why would they ruin that?!
reality steve says to drum up media attention and beat the spoilers as well as get more applicants who want to be on her show…it’s weird they spoil their own show though
So weird! I am really excited about her though she’s lovely.
Congrats on the nomination, Renee! I love your book reviews and have found some great recommendations through your blog.
Thank you and I’m so glad! That’s the best feeling when someone finds a book they love because I reviewed or recommended so thank you for visiting and commenting!
Congratulations!!! Amazing job😊
Thanks Kristin:)
Thank you Renee! Two years and you still give to the blog and the community tirelessly <3 That is very impressive. I absolutely love your reviews. This was fun as I always want to know more of the mastermind.
Thanks so much Danielle!!
Thanks for the nomination! I always see so much great advice on these tags! I totally agree with you. Interaction is definitely a MUST!
Ohhh thanks! I remember doing this one a while ago, what you said is completely true, there are some bloggers that I met at first and never commented on anyone’s posts and I think they only wanted to be successful and get ARCs…
You’re welcome! I’ve wondered about that actually and I think those bloggers are missing out on the true fun of blogging which is the interaction with others
Great advice to new (and old!) bloggers 🙂
You should be proud of yourself my friend! Keep doing what you love!
Thank You!! You know your support has been so important, thanks for visiting my blog and reading my “stuff”😀
Great post Renee and I totally agree with you about the interaction with the community. When I first started blogging, I used to be one of those bloggers who didn’t interact with others. I would just post and share my posts on my facebook page. It was a lonely and boring experience lol. The interactions is what makes this so much fun.
Thanks for the nomination and I am happy that I met you <3
You’re welcome Diana and likewise!!
Congratulations on the well-deserved award Renee!!!
I need to work on interacting (and playing well) with others. Sometimes I am so focused on sharing reviews or posts, that I don’t realize that a genuine comment can go a long way. No matter how many of your reviews I share on Pinterest, we can’t forge a meaningful relationship without interacting. Sound advice 🙂
I am humbled by the nomination, thank you.
Thank you Victor and thanks also for sharing my reviews on Pinterest. I wish I was on it but I can only handle so much social media and I’ve got my hands full with Instagram and Twitter!! I appreciate the shares very much and you also deserve the nomination:) I’ve enjoyed your reviews and thanks to your keen observations I can no longer look at the staged instagram photos of the coffee, socks, and books and not think of your words😂Which were so true by the way….no one really reads like that!!
You’re welcome Renee. I just want to clear something up… while I have shared your reviews on Pinterest, when I wrote “your reviews” in my comment, I was using the impersonal ‘your’. I wasn’t specifically addressing you. It was referencing the others that I’m supposed to interact with. Sometimes I balk at leaving a comment because I have little to nothing to say, other than “Nice review”; especially if the review is well written but I’m not interested in reading the book.
I haven’t forgotten that I owe you a staged instagram pic in some cute socks 🙂 I’m still working on borrowing a pet.
Good luck with the pet borrowing:)