My favourite fictional items❤️

Welcome back to my blog! I’m doing something slightly different today and I’m writing about my favourite fictional items❤️ so without further introduction here they are!

1. Wands. I mean who would not love to have a wand, the possibilities are endless with a wand!
2. Time Turner. We all wish we had a bit more time sometimes and that’s exactly what this was made for.
3. The cupboard to Narnia. HELLO, it literally opens a door into a brand new world!
4. A Lightsaber. They are literally made of pure plasma, cuts through anything AND glows in a variety of colours, what is not to love?
5. Neuralyzer. There are so many situations this would be useable in, I need 100…

I had so much fun writing this post, it made me feel very wishful that these things actually existed in the real world!

Anyway, those are my top 5 fictional items, are any of them yours? Let me know in the comments!

Em xxx

[Discussion Post] 📚Ways to get out of a reading slump📚

“A reading slump is a time in which an avid or hobby reader fails to read and enjoy a book as much as they would like”.

Aloha and welcome to my blooooooog! I am writing today about the best ways I’ve found to get myself out of a reading slump – something I’m sure we’ve all experienced at some point.

1 – I write instead. Sometimes we can be in a slump because of something in our personal life and writing about that (you don’t have to publish it ovbs) can help you get your thoughts and feelings in order which can clear your mind.

2 – Reorganise your bookshelf. Clutter makes me so mad, and to see my books all untidy, stacked up on the bedside table, the bookcase and other random places really doesn’t look inviting. So I sort them out! Often I’ll find a book that I’ve been meaning to read for ages and crack it open with a brew once I’m tidied up.

3 – Check out new blogs or blogs I already follow. Okay, I admit, I go full stalker mode sometimes and I’ll be a year deep into someone’s blog making a list of books I’ve seen that they’ve reviewed that I want to read.

4 – Re-read an old favourite. Soz but HP isn’t included in my reading slump, I will read these books even when I’m dead and they are my go-to books. So whenever I’m feeling a bit meh about reading I grab my HP collection and crack on.

5 – Ride the slump out! It sounds hard, and when you’ve got ARC to review and an overflowing TBR list it can seem daunting to just go with it, but sometimes that’s the best thing to do. You’re usually in a reading slump for a reason and just like your body needs a rest from exercise it needs a break from other things too and that’s okay❤️

What are your best ways to get out of a reading slump? Let me know in the comments below!

Em xxx

[Discussion Post] 📚Fictional Bucket List📚

Hey guys and welcome back to my blog (hello if you’re new, hope you’re ready to join the crazy train!)

ANYWAY today I’ve decided to write my fictional bucket list, which I’m fully aware will never be ticked off but I fancied a bit of fun for my evening.

1 – To go to Hogwarts. This is a literal lifelong dream of mine.

2 – To be sorted properly by the Sorting Hat. I’m Ravenclaw on Pottermore and I imagine that’s what I would be at Hogwarts but ya girl needs to know for real.

3 – To go on an adventure with Percy Jackson and Co. I reckon this would be scary but AMAZING.

4 – To visit Mount Olympus and the Gods. HELLO MR D GOD OF WINE😍 are you looking for a wife?!

5 – To visit Narnia. I have always loved The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe so getting to Narnia would be a big deal for me.

6 – To interview Dr Hannibal Lecter. I mean how amazing would this be? The man is a sociopath in it’s purest form and it would make for an amazing case study.

7 – To visit the Capitol. I do (now I’m older) struggle with The Hunger Games, I find it quite problematic but I would love to visit the Capitol, it has so much fanfare and craziness.

I am fully aware these things will never happen but your girl can dream!!! What would be on your fictional bucket list? Let me know!

Em xxx

[Discussion Post] 📚Why do I read fanfiction?📚

Good morning my lovely followers! I’m here again with a discussion post and this time I want to discuss Fan Fiction!

A bit of back story to this particular choice… I’m in a Harry Potter group on Facebook and someone put a post up asking if people read Fan Fiction or not, I decided not to comment as it was getting a bit heated, but it got me thinking… 

I love Fan Fiction, particularly Harry Potter (I literally do not read any other kind lmao) and sometimes I will prefer to read FF to a proper book.

I usually read non-canon FF, so stories about characters that should have died, or relationships that never happened in the books, etc. For me, it’s my way of exploring the Harry Potter world even more.

I’m perfectly able to separate FF from the books themselves, and if I was to pick up HP for another re-read I would have no issues in settling back into Ron and Hermione and not Hermione and X.

I personally just find it another way to explore the Wizarding World!

Do you read Fan Fiction? Let me know what you think in the comments, Em xx

[Discussion Post] 📚How do I write my reviews?📚

Hey guys, welcome back to my blog! I thought I’d do something different today and have a bit of a discussion, so I’ve got my cup of tea next to me and I’m ready to discuss…

How do I write my reviews?

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for a while, more so to give an insight into how I actually read and review books, aside from the simple “read the pages, type the review” which is how it seems when a glossy, nicely typed review comes out of my blog.

ANYWAY, I digress… 

I am terrible for hoarding reviews, I will start by admitting that, I’m Emily and I’m a review hoarder. At the moment, I have 5 book reviews sitting in my draft folder, that are complete and ready to be shared.

To write my reviews I have a lil process in my head!

1 – I will finish reading a book and quickly grab my phone pull up a draft on WordPress and jot down how I’m feeling, my thoughts about it and any comments that I want to expand upon when I write a full review. Think scrappy bit of paper with random notes! 

2 – I give it an overall rating based on how I feel at that time.

3 – After a couple of days to digest the book I’ll log into WordPress on my laptop and start to make the random notes into some form of sentences and something that might make sense to other people.

4 – If I need to make changes to the star rating I will, depending on how I feel after a couple of days and once I’ve digested it.

5 – I type it up all neat, add my graphics and tags, tidy up the title and then save it to my draft folder for well over a week :)))

7 – Eventually I share it with you guys, after I’ve read the book about 6 weeks prior to sharing it – OOPS. 

I very much like to get down what I’m thinking straight away and then come back to it once I’ve settled down, I don’t often change my overall star rating but sometimes I do think I’ve been a bit harsh and adjust it.

I’m curious to know what your reviewing process is, are you methodical and organised or do you like to get your ideas out and then craft the review after? Let me know!!! Em xx

[Discussion Post] 📚Do you re-read books?📚

Aloha, and welcome to another discussion post on What Em’s Reading! Today I want to know, do you re-read books? 

I do! I’m terrible for it, sometimes I have to physically hide books that I’ve already read from my bookshelf so that I’ll pick up something new instead. (Harry Potter is the exception to this- did u really expect anything less lmao).

I will only review the book once, but for instance, their releasing a Dr Sleep film and I would love to re-read the book before I see the film to refresh my memory, as I haven’t reviewed the book I’ll do that too, but if I had I would just read it again and be on my merry way.

Do you re-read books? Let me know in the comments! Em xx

[Discussion Post] 📚Why I stopped using Instagram for my books📚

Hello my lovely followers! This is something a bit different to my usual posts, but it’s something that I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time… Why I no longer use Instagram for my books and to support my blog. 

Until about a month ago I had an Instagram account for this blog, it linked back to my page, everything I shared on there (related to my blog) had a little plug in the caption to come visit my page. I was really excited to finally be part of the Bookstagram community, I felt like it would help my blog and I’d get to interact with people more.

How wrong I was… 

I set everything up, started following fellow accounts, started commenting and liking their pictures (people would always comment back which was lovely) but it felt like a full-time job because of Instagram algorithms.

I already have a full time job, and I like to blog alongside that, have a social life and I’m also getting to be quite a keen runner. None of these other things outside of work took up time like Instagram did. 

And I’m not going to lie, I’m not the most creative person in the world, so I couldn’t do all these fancy setups that others were doing, meaning my interaction was dropping because I wasn’t standing out and my posts weren’t getting seen. It just felt like a smack in the face when I was putting in hard work. 

I eventually made the decision to shut down my Instagram and I feel so much better for it, I’m much happier to focus on my blog where I can word vomit my feelings on a book out – good or bad. 

Did you or do you use Instagram to promote your blog? Let me know what you think of it in the comments. Em xx