Why have I changed how I review?

Hey guys, it feels like it's been a while! 

Recently, you may have noticed that my review styles have changed from what they used to be. After finishing a book, I would sit down at my desk and write long-winded, lengthy reviews that detailed each element I felt I needed to talk about. Now, for some reviewers that works wonderfully for them, but over time I felt that I couldn't fully commit to writing full reviews on the books I had read - especially if I had received books from publishers in exchange for honest reviews. Honestly, it was tiring, and I started to feel as if I was failing as a book blogger...

I felt like I was letting people down. Not just the publishers, or my readers, but also myself. Then, work started getting in the way...

It's no mystery that blogging becomes more than just a hobby or passion for some people - it's almost a part-time job! For those of you who weren't aware, I'm a teacher by trade, so therefore a lot of my time is spent either in the classroom educating the young minds of tomorrow, or it is spent marking and assessing and assessing and planning, not to mention all of the other behind the scenes things teachers do that people don't see, or seem to understand. Yes, we do get lengthy breaks in the Summer and at Easter, but by darn do we work hard for those breaks!

Unfortunately, being a teacher full-time severely impacts on my blogging time, as well as my reading time in general. At times, it really does feel like I just can't continue to blog and review as I used too. But you know what, that is completely okay! I'll just have to change it up.

So to do this, my reviews (which I still intend to post when I get round to finishing the books I read) are going to become smaller, and more to the point. My aspiration has always been to have been quoted in a book I've reviewed, and when this came about in 2015 with my review of Simon Vs the Homosapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, I couldn't have been happier, or more proud of my little blog. Therefore, I am going to be reviewing books with one or two short quotes which I feel really summarise my thoughts and opinions on them, and these will be published in the form of images. Now, this changing of reviewing does certainly not diminish the thoughts that go into each review. With these briefer reviewers, I'm going to need to choose my words carefully - especially if I'm aiming for my reviews to be published in any more novels!

Below are two of my most recent examples of my quotation reviews, courtesy of Radio Silence and I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman. As you can see, I thoroughly enjoyed each book and have them glowing reviews!

I hope you will understand and appreciate the new style of reviews from me until further notice. This allows me to access my more creative side, whilst still staying true to my feelings on a book. Let me know what you think of these new mini-reviews in the comments below!