Showing posts with label Top Ten Tuesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Top Ten Tuesday. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: How My Blog Has Changed

It's Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is... Ways in Which My Blogging/Review Style Has Changed Over Time. I think, though, that I'm going to go with more of a general how my blog has (and hasn't) changed over the years.

This one is my first Top Ten Tuesday in a long time and it feels like this one's kind of tough! There's a lot I could say here, but we'll see if I can come up with ten things. Okay, let's go!
  1. 13 year hiatus: Just what it sounds like, my blog took a very long hiatus and I decided earlier this year that I would come back to it and start blogging again. But, things have changed in that time. Lots of the blogs I used to follow don't exist anymore. May of the old blog memes I enjoyed, they don't exist anymore and while I've considered starting one of them back up, I don't really get enough blog traffic to actually pull it off. 
  2. More organized: One thing that's different now than before is that I'm a little bit more organized. I'm still a little bit of a mood blogger, but I try to keep it a bit organized now. 
  3. Less rambling: My reviews used to be a big longer and more rambly than they are now. I've streamlined it down and got a format I like.
  4. Same format: Something that hasn't changed is that my general blog review format is still the same. Maybe a little more streamlined, but still generally the same. 
  5. The old memes: There were so many old memes I really enjoyed, but I'm enjoying taking part in the new blog memes too! This one included.
  6. Still focused on romance: Since this blog was created in 2011, most of my reading has been romance. There's the occasional fantasy or other type of book, but almost everything I read is romance and this blog reflects that.
  7. Cleaner blog theme: I had a really cute blogger theme with buttons and everything that I put together myself and while I enjoyed it, it was really busy! I'm definitely more of a minimalist as I get older, at least on my blog (real life... well, not so much). I love the clean style I'm rocking with now. Also something I created.  For reference, check out the old theme...
  8. Personal posts: I only post personal stuff in my Sunday posts now. Where I used to post personal stuff more frequently, I've definitely focused the blog down to more specifically book related stuff now. Sunday Post is the exception, I share a little bit about my week on Sundays.
  9. More aesthetically pleasing: My posts are, in general, more aesthetically pleasing now than they used to be. They were a bit more messy back when I started this blog. I have more tools and more know-how, so the posts come out a bit better than they used to. 
  10. Reflects a different place in life: I'm generally in a different place in my life than when I started this blog. Back when I started book blogging, I was a grad student. So, my life was hectic and my blog kind of looks a little hectic to match. Now, I'm in a much more settled place, I'm older, and I'm more able to devote time and resources to my blog. 
  11. Bonus: I have a Bookstagram account. So, if you're on Bookstagram (Instagram) I'd love to be friends.
Looks like I was able to come up with ten things. If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me through my reminiscing. I can't wait to visit around and see what everyone else did with this week's theme. 

If you've stopped in, please leave me a comment so I can drop by and visit you, too! 



Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Spring Reading List

 

It's Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books on My Spring 2025 to-Read List.

Oh my! My TBR is so out of control, there are way more than ten books on my spring to-read list. Let's see if I can narrow it down to just the ten I most want to read this spring. Most of my books will be dark romance/dark romantasy because that's what I'm into right now. Here they are...

  1. Wish by Sara Flanagan
  2. Feathers so Vicious by Liv Zander
  3. Shadows so Cruel by Liv Zander
  4. Haunting Adeline by HD Carlton
  5. Hunting Adeline by HD Carlton
  6. Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas
  7. The Book of Azrael by Amber V. Nicole
  8. The Coven by Harper L Woods
  9. The Cursed by Harper L Woods
  10. The Sacrifice by Shantel Tessier

Okay, so maybe all of them are dark romances! I'm actually reading Feathers so Vicious right now, but all these books are right at the top of my TBR for this Spring's reads. I really wanted to be able to take this another way and post all fun, cute romances and romcoms for spring, but that's not really where I am right now. So this springs reads will be dark romances and I'll probably sprinkle some fun beachy-reads in there to break up the heaviness of all these dark stories because girls needs a palate cleanser. 

Have you read any of these books? They're pretty popular right now. All of them made it to my TBR from booktok and bookstagram. I've love for you to leave me a comment so I can visit you back! 


Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Include Vampires!

 

It's Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Books that Include/Feature... vampires! 

I chose this trope because I absolutely love vampire stories. I ran across another blog this week that featured vampire stories and thought it was so fun, I wanted to take the opportunity to share my favorite vampire stories. And honestly, who doesn't love a good vampire story?

  1. Dracula by Bram Stoker
  2. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
  3. The Vampyre by John Polidori
  4. The Blood of the Vampire by Florence Marryat
  5. Varney the Vampire by James Malcom Rymer
  6. Interview with a Vampire by Ann Rice
  7. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse #1)
  8. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (Twilight Saga #1)
  9. Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton (Anita Blake #1)
  10. Court of the Vampire Queen by Katee Robert (TBR)
This is particularly fun for me because I wrote my Masters thesis over the Gothic and one of the sources I used for that comparative analysis was Twilight. So vampires are right up my alley! 

Oh and in 2007, so a looooooong time ago, I actually met Laurell K Hamilton. I used to be a huge LKH reader, before her books turned to hardcore erotica, and hubs took me to meet her in Dallas. 
Your turn! What's your favorite vampire book or story? Leave me a comment below with a link back to your Top Ten Tuesday, I'd love to visit you!



Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set in Another Time

It's my first Top Ten Tuesday! Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by the lovely Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week she choose a new theme to play along with. This week's theme is.... Books set in another time!

This one was both easy and not so easy because I read a lot of regency romance. There are soooooo many titles I enjoyed, it was hard to choose just ten. Not gonna lie, I was so tempted to fill this whole list with Bridgerton because I just loved it that much. I managed to avoid that... mostly. 😉

  1. The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
  2. The Viscount who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
  3. An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn
  4. Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
  5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  6. The Heart of a Scoundrel by Christi Caldwell
  7. Forever Betrothed, Never the Bride by Christi Caldwell
  8. Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
  9. Ten Ways to be Adored When Landing a Lord by Sarah MacLean
  10. Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart by Sarah MacLean
This is just a short list of the regency romances I recommend and none of them are new books. While most of them are not on KU, my Christ Caldwell recommendations are on Kindle Unlimited if you'd like to check them out! 

What about you, do you enjoy regency romances? I'd love to hear about your favorite books set in another time!