Hello Interwebs. *waves*
My name is Alyssia and I wanted to thank you so much for taking the time to visit my little blog and also click on the ‘about me’ section. I didn’t think to take much time investing into this section as I, for one, don’t like talking about myself much and didn’t think anyone cared but just in case they did, here we are.
I am currently 22 years old and have been blogging on and off for the last 6 years or so. I started out on Tumblr and it was the best decision I had ever made in a long time. I am currently in college right now, studying English (haha), but am actually on a semester break to get my bearings financially and also to just have a break in general because if you didn’t know – college is hard as hell. I was a Mechanical Engineer for two years before I realized, “Hey my parents don’t pay for school and I actually don’t want to be an engineer anymore,” so I switched to the most opposite major possible because 1. I like books and 2. I loved writing, so why not study the major that has both. However, ask any English major about how much they read outside of school and how much they love reading now. Not that I hate reading, but all my courses involved me reading so much that I hardly had the time to read anything outside of the course material. Also, there is a lot of British Literature I went through and it gets pretty boring that when you do have time to read, you don’t want to. Also, sleep. You lose a lot in college.
Other than school, I used to work at a bookstore (believe it or not) and my second job is a barista at a small pie shop in my town. I now work primarily at the shop and love it. I get free pie and coffee on the clock and I can’t tell you how many new pies I have invested my stomach in since landing this job. I also now rely on coffee like I have never had, despite being a student for four years. I now have more time to read and if you are friends with me on Goodreads, you’ll see that I am currently on my 12th book of the year because I am trying my best to get back into reading and also reviewing. I am an owner of about 350 physical books or and have a few hundred more between a few e-readers I still own. I used to own way more but my little apartment couldn’t take it all so I have donated about 100+ to my small hometown library and if you haven’t donated to a small library that needs book, please do it, as some don’t get the funding they deserve and I can’t tell you how great I felt knowing the books were going to a great place and the librarian was so grateful.
Other than reading, you’ll likely find me browsing bookstores like I have money to buy anything or playing video games – a new hobby that I am currently enjoying and learning not to acquire anger issues over. I like the color blue, Iron Man is my favorite super hero, my current favorite drink is a London Fog (Earl Grey tea, steamed milk and vanilla syrup!), and my go to karaoke song is ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley.
Why do I review books?
Thank you for not really asking but I’ll answer anyways (:
I was 15 and looking for some way to word vomit how I felt about the books I was reading where people who listened to them or read them, would understand, because my sister didn’t care for my rant about the whole Edward and Jacob debate at the time. I also started because it blended both my passions together – books and writing.
Reviewing books also made me feel important, like I was doing something good for other readers and that I could possibly be an inspiration to others after me as I looked up to other bloggers. It was also a safe haven for me. A place where I could talk about books with other people and who understood me and my emotions and with me being 15 at the time, there was nothing better than to be understood. My family wasn’t into reading and there was no one around me at home or at school to vent about certain books and look into depth on characters and world building and like my sister, there was only so much my mom could take of me yapping in her ear.
After a while though, reviewing felt like a job rather than a fun hobby as I was starting to feel like the books I was reading had to be reviewed and I was getting asked to review more and review books outside of my comfort zone. The attention wasn’t bad but I was bad at saying no. I was also bad about being truthful. I had an author message me personally and talked about how I should change my review and how I didn’t have the right to review her book as I did. The part that annoyed me was that I have her book 4 stars instead of 5 when in reality I should have given it 1 because I hated the book but wanted to be seen as a good reviewer. But heads up guys, a good reviewer is honest about their opinions. There is no need to bash a book or author but your opinions are just that – YOUR opinion. Slowly, I started to become a more truthful writer with my reviews and my opinions became my own and with that, writing became more fun and it became something I liked to so, simply because I could write what I wanted to write and not what I thought others would want to hear.
College became a huge distraction when I started. I had little to no time for anything other than school work and again, blogging became like a job I dreaded to do because of time constraints and I wasn’t reading like I wanted to. However, with this break and a new year and new decade, my resolution is to fall back in love with reading, read more fantasy, and try to write reviews on most of the books I read. Or at least the physical ones since I fly by my e-books for some reason. But here I am and ready to go. Ready to read all the books and ready to give my most honest opinion but have fun while doing it.
I hope you guys enjoy the content you see on here and follow for more to come. Thank you for checking my blog out again and don’t forget to check out my other social medias as well!
Over and out.
A Book Fanatic Obsession 