tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79033191867372968552024-03-13T23:50:23.723-07:00Gemini PerspectiveKalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08715789352855159519noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7903319186737296855.post-48080408127186480882017-12-22T22:32:00.004-08:002017-12-22T22:36:50.918-08:00Eliza and Her Monsters, by Fracesca Zappia<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #e06666;">“I don't want to be the girl who freezes when confronted with new
friends, or the outside world, or the smallest shred of intimacy. I
don't want to be alone in a room all the time. I don't want to feel
alone in a room all the time, even when there are other people around.”</span>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rshS-Z9XSUM/WROblGeBH8I/AAAAAAAAA2c/iq77kvpVugEQi6Tqq99-hRDsBLZaKv9vACLcB/s1600/gray-divider.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="40" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rshS-Z9XSUM/WROblGeBH8I/AAAAAAAAA2c/iq77kvpVugEQi6Tqq99-hRDsBLZaKv9vACLcB/s640/gray-divider.png" width="640" /></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c-qH9qwP8LY/USpp8gT-enI/AAAAAAAAIDc/kYZbnK-K-L4/s1600/ink.JPG" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #d6b7a3; float: left; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="31931941" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1476994065l/31931941.jpg" width="211" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b>Title</b>: Eliza and Her Monsters</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b>Author:</b> Francesca Zappia<br /><b>Genre:</b> Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance<br /><b>Publisher:</b></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"> Greenwillow Books</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Release Date:</b> May 30th, 2017</span><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Format:</b> Kindle Edition</span><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Source:</b> Library</span><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Rating:<i> </i></b>5 Stars</span></span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText13393447744476800436">In the real world,
Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s
LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic <i>Monstrous Sea</i>. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.<br /><br />Then Wallace Warland, <i>Monstrous Sea</i>’s
biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks
Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she
begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.<br /><br />But when
Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s
built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her
sanity—begins to fall apart.</span></blockquote>
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">Wow.... I can honestly say that I have never encountered a book that resonated with me so deeply. <i>Eliza and Her Monsters</i> is a true gem in the steadily growing wasteland that is YA literature. </span></span><br />
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">Zappia managed to tell the story of a young girl suffering from depression/anxiety in the most raw, relatable way. I suffered heavily from social anxiety, depression, and panic attacks for the majority of my life and to see something I deal with every single day (though not necessarily to such an extreme) portrayed so realistically, is such a breath of fresh air. And the author didn't feel the need to explain her behavior away either. There were no meaningless platitudes like "Oh, well it gets better!" or "You just have to put your mind to it!" or even worse, "It's all in your head". It took Eliza months of struggle to come to terms with her anxiety, and even then, she still has times where she regresses. She lashes out, pushes people away, isolates herself from the ones she loves, and even contemplates suicide. Zappia does not shy away from portraying the ugly side of mental disorders and for this, I am so grateful.</span></span><br />
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">As for the plot itself, this book will forever be right up there with <i>Fangirl</i> in terms of nostalgia for me. Eliza is the creator of a wildly popular web comic, <i>Monstrous Sea</i>, and her love interest, Wallace, writes the most popular fanfiction in the fandom. Let me tell you, this was my shit in high school. My best friend and I used to RPG our own Zelda characters (good times).</span></span><br />
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661"></span><span id="freeTextreview1250794661"></span><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">I read fanfiction. </span></span><br />
<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">I collected merch.</span></span><br />
<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">I attended cons. </span></span><br />
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">To an extent, I did all the things these characters do and that's why I loved them so much. Reading about Eliza and Wallace was like looking back in time. To some degree, I even understood Eliza's struggle in trying to produce the best work you possibly can, while simultaneously pleasing everyone around you. Fans can be vultures and I feel for well known authors and artists who are constantly hounded to push out new material, regardless of what may be going on in their personal live</span></span>s.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #e06666;">“Creating art is a lonely task, which is why we introverts revel in it, but when we have fans looming over us, it becomes loneliness of a different sort. We become cage animals watched by zoo-goers, expected to perform lest the crowd grow bored or angry. It's not always bad. Sometimes we do well, and the cage feels more like a pedestal.”</span></div>
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My sophomore year, I wrote a fairly popular Naruto fanfic (don't judge), wh<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">ich lasted for two years. I had a modest following with a handful of <i>really</i> persistent fans. My grandma was diagnosed with cancer and passed away when I was seventeen. I lost the motivation to continue and eventually deleted the story. People were <i>pissed</i> and even eight years later, I will log in to my old email on a whim and still see messages asking if I ever plan on bringing it back. Like Eliza, I learned that just because you create something, doesn't mean you owe it to anyone but yourself to finish what you started. You can quit or push through, but ultimately you have to choose to do it for yourself. </span></span><br />
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">I could honestly keep going on about this book, but this review is beginning to drag on, so I will simply end it here. If her future works are anything like <i>Eliza and Her Monsters</i>, I cannot wait to see what Zappia has in store for us.</span></span>Kalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08715789352855159519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7903319186737296855.post-45915812021732383702017-05-10T18:44:00.000-07:002017-05-10T18:44:28.314-07:00Side Effects May Vary, by Julie Murphy<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">“</span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span id="freeText3874479069587443558">What if you'd been living your life as if you were dying—only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you?"</span></span></span></span></div>
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rshS-Z9XSUM/WROblGeBH8I/AAAAAAAAA2c/iq77kvpVugEQi6Tqq99-hRDsBLZaKv9vACLcB/s1600/gray-divider.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="40" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rshS-Z9XSUM/WROblGeBH8I/AAAAAAAAA2c/iq77kvpVugEQi6Tqq99-hRDsBLZaKv9vACLcB/s640/gray-divider.png" width="640" /></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c-qH9qwP8LY/USpp8gT-enI/AAAAAAAAIDc/kYZbnK-K-L4/s1600/ink.JPG" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #d6b7a3; float: left; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="15728577" height="320" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1371749688l/15728577.jpg" width="216" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b>Title</b>: Side Effects May Vary</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b>Author:</b> Julie Murphy<br /><b>Genre:</b> Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance<br /><b>Publisher:</b></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"> HarperCollins/ Balzer+Bray </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Release Date:</b> March 18th, 2014</span><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Format:</b> Kindle Edition</span><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Source:</b> Amazon</span><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Rating:<i> </i></b>4 Stars</span></span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span id="freeText3874479069587443558">When sixteen-year-old
Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the
time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting
wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, who she
knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket
list that's as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and
getting back at her arch-nemesis) as it is about hope (doing something
unexpectedly kind for a stranger). But just when Alice's scores are
settled, she goes into remission.<br /><br />Now Alice is forced to face the
consequences of all that she's said and done, as well as her true
feelings for Harvey. But has she caused irreparable damage to the people
around her—and to the one person who matters most?</span></blockquote>
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">It comes as no surprise to me that so many people hated this book. After all, the protagonist is <b>awful</b>. She's scheming, manipulative, and all around just a <b>terrible little bitch</b>. <br /><br />... And I loved it. <br /><br />Honestly,
say what you want about Alice's characterization, but I thought it was
absolute perfection. I mean, let's be real for a second: if I was in her
shoes, I probably would have done the same thing. Call me a bitch, but
it's true. If I knew I had an "expiration date", I would do all of the
petty things I never had the guts to do while I was healthy. And believe
me, I have a laundry list.<br /><br />I also know what it's like to want to
distance yourself from those around you when your time is limited,
because I've experienced it by proxy. I had a best friend growing up
that was terminally ill. Every time he would slip back into that
uncertain, unhealthy stage, he would sabotage. <b>Everyone and everything</b>.
Once he fell into that place where living wasn't a guarantee (and that
happened quite a few times), he didn't care. It was easier to push
everyone away than to try and maintain relationships with people who
would only hurt once he was gone.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666;"><span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661"> </span></span>“My whole body finally connected the dots, and I realized that even if
we were never together, she’d ruined me and I’d never feel that way
about anyone again.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1250794661">Alice and Harvey's relationship, while painful and toxic, was
completely realistic and almost too much for me to read. I empathized
with Harvey's point-of-view because I've been in his shoes. I've been
that person for someone, which simultaneously made this book so amazing
and so terrible. Many people say Harvey is a pushover, but I saw it
differently. When you love someone, regardless of how awful they become,
you would still give them your heart, even if it meant you had to bleed
to death in the process. <br /><br />So I completely understand why Alice and Harvey made the decisions they did throughout <b>Side Effects May Vary</b>. I certainly didn't <i>like</i> them, but I <i>understood</i> them, which made all the difference while reading this book.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>Kalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08715789352855159519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7903319186737296855.post-74204542323409345272014-06-18T19:59:00.002-07:002017-05-10T17:02:48.178-07:00Vessel, by Sarah Beth Durst<div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">“You do not say no to the girl with the deities.”</span></span><br /><span style="color: #0a0a0a;"><b></b></span></span></div>
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rshS-Z9XSUM/WROblGeBH8I/AAAAAAAAA2c/iq77kvpVugEQi6Tqq99-hRDsBLZaKv9vACLcB/s1600/gray-divider.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="40" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rshS-Z9XSUM/WROblGeBH8I/AAAAAAAAA2c/iq77kvpVugEQi6Tqq99-hRDsBLZaKv9vACLcB/s640/gray-divider.png" width="640" /></a><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c-qH9qwP8LY/USpp8gT-enI/AAAAAAAAIDc/kYZbnK-K-L4/s1600/ink.JPG" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #d6b7a3; float: left; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="Vessel" height="320" src="https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333623382l/13056868.jpg" width="211" /></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b>Title</b>: Vessel</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b>Author:</b> Sarah Beth Durst<br /><b>Genre:</b> Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance<br /><b>Publisher:</b> Margaret K. McElderry </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 11, 2012</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"> </span><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Format:</b> Hardback</span><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Source:</b> Barnes and Noble</span><br /><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>Rating:<i> </i></b>3 Stars</span></span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Liyana has trained her entire life to be the vessel of a goddess. She will dance and summon her tribe's deity, who will inhabit Liyana's body and use magic to bring rain to the desert. But when the dance ends, Liyana is still there. Her tribe is furious--and sure that it is Liyana's fault. Abandoned by her tribe, Liyana expects to die in the desert. Until a boy walks out of the dust in search of her.<br /> <br />Korbyn is a god inside his vessel, and a trickster god at that. He tells Liyana that five other gods are missing, and they set off across the desert in search of the other vessels. The desert tribes cannot survive without the magic of their gods. But the journey is dangerous, even with a god’s help. And not everyone is willing to believe the trickster god’s tale.<br /> <br />The closer she grows to Korbyn, the less Liyana wants to disappear to make way for her goddess. But she has no choice--she must die for her tribe to live. Unless a trickster god can help her to trick fate--or a human girl can muster some magic of her own.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><i>Vessel</i> had the potential to be an exceptionally good read. It really, <i>really </i>did. And while I still think it is a beautifully written standalone, there were many places where it just fell flat for me. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b>Durst does a fantastic job at painting a truly vivid picture of living a harsh nomadic life in the desert</b>. As I was reading, I would get the clearest picture of the glass dragons streaking across the sky or the way the bells woven into Liyana's braids would chime as she danced. There are very few authors who have been able to bring their descriptions to life in such a way and I applaud Durst for her ability to get her point across without being overly flowery or poetic. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b>The plot itself was highly original, but fizzled out with no direction or well-developed characters to push it forward.</b><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>I'm not going to lie, the pacing of the book <i>dragged, </i>to the point where I almost DNF-ed. There was very little to keep my interest until the last 100 pages or so, and even then I was quite unimpressed by the 'resolution' we were finally given. The majority of the book is spent travelling across the desert and convincing the vessels from each clan to join Korbyn and Liyana in saving the kidnapped gods. The lengthy descriptions of riding across the desert on horseback were uneventful and entirely unnecessary, if you ask me. </span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #e06666;">“Imagine that it's sugar," Korbyn said. 'You're riding across candy.'</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: inherit;">"Salt can never be sugar," Fennik said.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #e06666; font-family: inherit;">"We should talk about the definition of the word 'imagine'.” </span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">
</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">In fact, the <b>only redeeming quality to the unexplored plotline would be the trickster god, Korbyn</b>. With a sense of humor as sharp as a tack and a wicked streak a mile wide, he reminded me very much of his Norse counterpart, Loki. He managed to keep the dull moments between the action interesting with his jokes and fables (all of which were fascinating in themselves).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><b>The rest of the bunch, Liyana included, felt one dimensional to me.</b> We are given this group of what could have been <i>such</i> a diverse cast of characters, but unfortunately, they all felt like carbon copies of one another. You would think someone who has been told they must die in order for their god/goddess to live would do something other than mildly question their situation once and then ultimately accept their fate with what essentially equates to an emotional shrug, right? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">It isn't until Liyana falls for Korbyn that she even remotely begins to question her existence and whether or not she actually wants to sacrifice herself for her goddess, Bayla. This definitely rubbed me the wrong way because she should have chose to live for her own self and not because some cute boy bats his pretty browns at her. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about <i>Vessel</i>. On one hand, the descriptions and the fables woven into the story were enough to keep my interest until the end. However, the one-dimensional characters and stagnant plot were ultimately what prompted me to give such a lukewarm rating. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #0a0a0a; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>Kalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08715789352855159519noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7903319186737296855.post-87895800555815327112012-07-06T20:43:00.001-07:002017-05-10T18:16:11.462-07:00So Why Am I Here?<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That's the million dollar question.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Once upon a time, I promised myself that I would never start a blog. I, like so many others, was under the impression that I had nothing interesting in my life worth writing about, let alone having other people <i>read. </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When faced with the prospect of blogging, most people I know would typically respond in the same fashion; </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>'What is a blog? Why would anyone care?'</i><i> </i><i> </i> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That's a good question. Why <i>would</i> anyone care? I don't run a business, I'm not particularly crafty or have a kooky love for all things vintage, so why would <i>anyone</i> want to listen to what I have to say?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And after some time as an active reviewer at Goodreads and reader of the blogging community, it finally hit me: <i>I had been going about it all wrong.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Blogging isn't about the follower count or widespread recognition. It's about sharing the things you love with others who love it just as much as you do! It's about making lasting connections with people who you would have never met otherwise. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So with these things in mind, I set out to create a space for myself where I could document my life and my passions in a way that will (hopefully!) motivate and inspire others. (In this case, it's my love for the written word!)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>I challenge you to join me on this endeavor. Tell me, what were your reasons for starting a blog? Are they similar to mine? </b></span></span></div>
Kalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08715789352855159519noreply@blogger.com1