What Books Have Taught Me: 2020 Edition

I was inspired by Kelly’s post to keep track of things books have taught me during 2020… So the next time someone dares to ask me why I read fiction and how it’s not useful, I shove this post under their noses haha. I confess that with all the COVID-19 madness, I have been REALLY bad at keeping track after March/April, but I still wanted to share those facts I did manage to gather. Fiction can indeed teach us new things every day! Wonder what were some of the little facts I learned/was reminded of this year? Let’s get this party started!

Romance Recs: what to read if it isn’t your favorite genre

❤ ❤ Happy Valentine’s Day!! ❤ ❤

Wait, what?! A romance post on It’s All About Books?! I know, I know, I think most of you are already aware of the fact I’m not a big romance fan, and I normally tend to stay well away from the genre… Especially if there are steamy/sexy scenes involved and most definitely if the book involves one or more shirtless dudes on the cover. BUT. There have been exceptions in the past where I really enjoyed and even loved a romance story. There are a select few authors that have made me fall in love with a genre that is normally not for me, and I thought today would be a perfect excuse to share some of those books and authors with you… And maybe help fellow allergic-to-romance reader find a title they might enjoy too.

The books below belong to a selection of different subgenres, but all have romance as an essential part of the plot. I’ve decided to stick with adult titles only this time around; some light on the romance while others are definitely more steamy, but all books that have received at least a 4 star rating from me. Ready to see my recommendations? Click on the links to go to my full reviews of each title!

It’s All About Books goes light during 2020

It’s not the first time I’m writing one of these posts, but sadly I’ve had to make the decision to take a little step back from the blogging world and focus on self care and the simple joy of reading in the next eleven months of 2020. I’ve been struggling with a blogging slump for a long time now, and I’ve tried all kinds of tricks to overcome it, but none seemed to work properly and keeping up with all things blogging has increasingly become a chore instead of a hobby. That’s why I have decided to go ‘light’ during 2020 and limit my time blogging and using bookish social media… Although it’s not the only reason.

I’ve also decided to take a step back to focus on my health again. Most of you don’t know, but I have the Hashimoto disease, which basically means my thyroid hormones are under constant attack from antibodies, leaving me without sufficient thyroid hormones for my body to function properly. I’m medicated, but antibodies can flare up and it’s kind of a vicious circle… And with an already slow metabolism, Hashimoto (a form of hypothyroidism) makes it even harder to keep that weight in check. The thing is… I’ve been neglecting aka ignoring my health in recent years and it has really come up to the point that I have to kick myself and do something about it. I finally started about two weeks ago, changed my eating habit to mostly fruits and vegetables and doing exercise for 1-3 hours a day… This time has to come from somewhere, and I’ve been having even less time to blog and read.

So: what will this whole going light mean for It’s All About Books?

# I will still post quite frequently thanks to the magic of scheduling posts, although I probably won’t be posting daily anymore…

# I will still join a select few blog tours and still read a limited amount of ARCs, but only of books I’m superexcited about and would read anyway as soon as they come out. This means I will only accept a select few ARC review requests for the rest of the year.

# Instead of ARC obligations, I will be mostly reading my own titles and I hope to rediscover the joy of reading just for myself again. Backlist and new releases alike, but without obligations that can take the fun out of reading.

# I’m going to try and bloghop and answer comments 1-2 times a week (or more if I can), but not stress out if I can’t because I don’t have time. Real life and self care comes first in 2020!

# Social media time will be severly restricted. I don’t think I will be active on my bookstagram account much, as it simply takes up to much time… Likewise, I have been and will be less active on Twitter, although I will probably still be there lurking around at least once a day.

I will miss being around more, but I hope taking this step back will have me fully refreshed and healthy again by 2021. A huge thanks to everyone in the book community for being so fabulous!! ❤ ❤ ❤

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

Blogging Break for It’s All About Books!

I’ve mentioned it already in the last two weeks, but I’ve decided to take a break from blogging in November as the blogging slump has been killing me. I’ve been struggling with a blogging and social media slump for months now, and even going light for the Winter season didn’t give me my blogging mojo back… So I’ve decided to go on a full blogging and social media break during the rest of the month (with the exception of two blog tour reviews which will go up on the 16th and 26th). I will also most likely cut back on blogging in December as well, hoping that this way I will be able to start 2020 refreshed and ready to read and review all the books again.

The funny part of this blogging slump is that I still enjoy reading, but I’m currently dreading actually finishing books because it means I have to write review afterwards. I’ve been considerably struggling with my reviews for a while now, not being able to write them straight away as usual and not wanting to read just so I wouldn’t have any new books to review. I’m hoping this break will give me my blogging mojo and review writing inspiration back! Right now, blogging has been feeling like a chore instead of a hobby; the sheer pressure of deadlines and posting every day driving me away instead of making me love blogging again. I’m sure you have noticed I’ve been around less these past few months, bloghopping and answering comments a lot less than usual… That’s 200% the slump talking, as somehow I’m finding it impossible to find that motivation to blog. I’m hoping that this break will help me fall in love with blogging again!

So that’s why It’s All About Books will be mostly silent during the month of November… If you need me for anything, your best bet would be Twitter as I’ll probably still be lurking around there. Thanks for taking the time to read my rambles and I hope you will all have a wonderful month!!  ❤ ❤ ❤

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

It’s All About Books is going light for the season

With the start of a new season, I thought it was a good time to make a personal announcement. I’ve been struggling with this for a while now… And it has come to the point that I have to do something about it. The thing is… I’ve been dealing with a blogging and social media slump for months now. With my blog stats plummeting, my attempt to grow my Instagram account a total failure and a general lack of motivation working against me, I’ve been seriously considering an unlimited hiatus. Blogging has been feeling like a chore instead of a hobby, the sheer pressure of deadlines and posting every day driving me away instead of making me love blogging again… I feel like I’m standing at a bifurcation in the road, and the future of It’s All About Books depends on what decision I will make.

I don’t want to do anything drastic yet and I know I would miss the book blogging community too much so I’m not going on a full hiatus… Instead I’m meeting myself in the middle and I’ve decided to go ‘light’ for the duration of this new season. What do I mean with that? Well, I’ve been working hard to get through my ARCs in the last few months, and I managed to mostly clear my schedule. I still have a few left (and a couple will appear soon; I’m looking at you Bookouture!), and also two blog tours in the next months, but mostly the rest of June, July, August and part of September will be all about reading my own books again. I’m hoping that the absense of pressure of deadlines and writing longer reviews will help me relax and get my blogging mojo back.

I’m also looking forward to participating in the Magical Readathon N.E.W.T.s edition again in August, and I hope a month of all fun and almost no blogging obligations will help do the trick. Likewise, I’m going to make myself stop trying to post every day and only post when I feel like it. The same goes for social media… I’ve been doing this basically already, but for the next couple of months I’m only going to post on Instagram whenever I feel inspired to take photos and I’ll probably not be as active on Twitter either. I need some time to focus on myself and make myself love blogging again… And I hope I’ll be ready to make a fresh start by the time the next season is around the corner.

So that’s why you will probably see less of me and It’s All About Books this season, but I will still be here and I will still be reading. Thanks for taking the time to read my rambles and I hope you will all have a wonderful Summer (or Winter like me)!! ❤ ❤ ❤

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

Bookstagram And Me

Let’s do something different today… It’s something I’ve been working on recently after playing the procrastinating game for months. What do I want to ramble about today then? Bookstagram. While I’ve been lurking the bookish Instagram community for a long time, it has been only two years since I started posting on my own account. Mostly kindle shots featuring my garden, and nothing fancy at all… Things progressed over time, but I’ve always felt like a complete failure compared to all those gorgeous photos out there. I admit I wasn’t all that bothered by it as I thought I would be, mostly because I was having fun taking those ‘lousy’ shots anyway… But recently I’ve been thinking I should pull my act together and try something different.

So what does that something different mean? Well, one thing I’ve been seeing in all those gorgeous and successful accounts is that (other than having those stunning photos) they all seem to have a theme; something that makes the photos connect and makes their feed look great as a whole. Confession: my feed was a total and complete mess, me just taking those photos in whatever way I felt like at that moment and not thinking about if they would look good with the previous ones. I thought it was a safe bet that if I wanted to improve my bookstagram account and stats, I should probably do something about that.

But how to decide on just one theme? I struggled more with this than I thought, but in the end I decided to go with what I love myself. Which is basically a black & white background and if I want one or more color splashes popping up to contrast that; always making sure to maintain a minimalist feel. I love my black & white decoration and clothes, so finding suiting backgrounds wouldn’t be too difficult… And with the (rainbow) paper roses I made as a DIY project recently, I had lots of props ready to use. (I LOVE the rainbow roses by the way; they are so pretty! ❤ )

So below my recent feed after I decided to finally stick to a theme!

Now my question to you is: what do you think of my decision to change my feed and stick to a genre? Should I continue with it? Do something different? Honest opinions are more than welcome as I have no clue as to whether I’m doing things right here. xD

Also, if you have a bookstagram account feel free to leave me your username so I can follow you! My details are below. 🙂

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.

It’s My Birthday!! Recent BD #bookhaul

It’s March 19th today, which means I’m now officially one year older and have reached the ripe age of thirty plus one… Not sure when that happened. xD I confess I have nothing special planned today but there definitely will be fudgy brownies and books involved. 😉

So I completely forgot to share my recent Book Depository hauls on my blog and I thought, why not celebrate by showing what is new on my shelves? I actually have a birthday order on its way right now, but it won’t get here for another week or two so I’ll leave those for next time. 😉

So what did I get?

I’m Baaaaack!!

Hello everyone! This is just a short message to tell you all It’s All About Books and me are now officially back from the Europe trip hiatus and back in action! Those who follow me on Twitter or Goodreads might have already seen it, but we actually came back from Europe a few days ago and the trip was absolutely fantastic. I promise I’ll give more details soon in a couple of Europe-related posts I’m planning to write. And yes, those include a physical copies book haul post and a lot of photos in general. 😉

In the mean time, please bear with me while I’m trying to get back on track, get everything organized, posts scheduled, reviews written etc etc. It might be a little longer before I can answer comments/emails, but I promise I’ll try to do so soon!

For now, it feels great to be back again. I’ve missed you all!! ❤ ❤ ❤

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You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram.  Facebook. Bloglovin’.

European Wanderlust

In a way I thought the day would never arrive, but time has also been going way too fast. It’s April 23rd today, which means as of today It’s All About Books will be going on a Europe trip hiatus! But not before I finish this ‘European wanderlust’ inspired bookish/movie post. Oh yes, what better way to prepare for a trip than looking up books and/or movies set in the countries we are going to visit?

So, below you can find my google map of the countries/cities we’ll be going to visit in the next month and also the countries we will be visiting in this post. It will be one intense trip with lots of different countries and cities in a limited amount of time (fact: there are so many amazing sounding places to visit in Europe, and it’s SO hard to limit them down!!), but hopefully this plan won’t be too crazy. *fingers crossed*

In short, we’ll be visiting The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic and Germany. They will be visited in a counterclock-wise movement, starting with The Netherlands, then Belgium etc etc. Why? Let’s just say we started looking up things that way and it kind of worked out. Or maybe I’ve been craving those Belgium waffles and chocolate way too much and wanted to go there first. Who knows? 😉 Either way, that’s the way our bookish/movie travels will go today as well.

Ready to start?!

Before we go to the different countries, I’m going to explain a little my choices below. I’ve decided to only name books I’ve actually read and movies I’ve actually seen. Otherwise it would kind of be cheating right? Also, I was surprised just how hard it was to find titles for some countries! I really thought it would be easier… But one country ended up with less than the three book/movie titles in total I wanted to mention and did’nt have a single book (Belgium, I’m looking at you!). I need to step up my international setting game!! xD

Upcoming Eurotrip Hiatus

Oh yes, it’s now official… We are going on a month-long backpacking trip through (Northern) Europe! I’m over the moon to be country hopping again along with my favorite human being A.K.A. my hubby. ❤ ❤ ❤

NOTE: It does mean It’s All About Books will go on an Eurotrip hiatus from April 23rd to June 1st and I won’t be accepting new requests until after that date.