2nd Blogiversary: Shout Outs, Favourite Posts // brace yourselves for the theatrics

Having been blogging since exactly 2 years now, I almost feel ancient.

But then I remember I still can’t design aesthetics which will actually be acceptable to the human eye. Or write deeply informative and helpful posts. (borderline weird seems to be my trademark) Or stick to a posting schedule instead of popping up like a jack-in-the-box every now and then. And then I feel like a newbie again.

The effect cancels out, people. In the end I am just me.

Ooookay. I totally do not know where I was going with that. Oh and all those failures listed up there? Not me. Someone hacked into my account and wrote all that. (brutally honest, you have to give it to them) We do not believe that right? Rachel is a flawless, all-knowing, genius angel.

Alexa, play Dazed & Confused.

So. Before we got all carried away (*glares at the hacker*) what were we on about? Angelic properties in certain human beings? Oh no, that’s for another day. I think.

*someone from the audience raises their hand* Ohh that’s right, my lil blog over here turns 2 today! Can we have a round of applause please?

*exactly 1 person claps their hand. including me.* Wow aren’t we all very enthusiastic today?

(see a few months of drama club at school was certainly not wasted on me)

Theatrics aside, I am pretty excited on the occasion! Sure, there’s been ups and downs but you know what my favourite part about this has been? YOU. (ok that came out a little creepy i guess) The people. The cozy little community we have built here. And other synonyms.

Seriously, though I have always been shouting anything vaguely bookish at the void, this blog was the first place where the void answered back. To be honest, I would have given up blogging a long time ago if it hadn’t been for the friends I made here, the genuine connections forged through screens, that kept me going. Every interaction with you guys, in or out of the blogosphere, makes my day. Since you all have given me so much, I figured a vote of thanks was due. So… shout outs to some of the special people I’ve met on here who keep me smiling everyday! (i have not used their blog names on purpose because I think of them as actual people by now and not just screens)

Shout-Outs!

April thank you for being my bestie and partner in crime in a lot of bookish adventures! They say internet friends don’t last for more than a couple of months but we’re still going strong after more than a year! I feel like I can talk to you about anything (and i do lol) and I absolutely love our weird conversations and of course our buddy reads are awesome!!
Anoushka thank you for being my first ever writing buddy, i’m constantly in awe of your talent. I love your posts (you should post more often just saying) and you are a fabulous person to talk to.
Naemi you have such a sweet and genuine personality omg! Your comments are always so encouraging, I love every interaction I have with you. And your posts ooze creativity!!
Kaya I’m in awe of your consistent posting schedule and such great content every time too! I enjoy chatting with you, you’re always fun to talk to!
Suhani we’ve become friends only recently but I feel like I know you since much longer! I love how casual and familiar we have become!!
Ahaana and Cherelle thank you for being among my first followers and helping newbie-Rachel out in everything!! (I know you’re both inactive on your blogs right now, I’m waiting for you to make a re-appearance haha!)
Aarushi we haven’t talked for a while (and you haven’t been active on the blogosphere too!) but you were always the first one to hype up my writing on twitter so thank you!
Maddie thank you for including me into your march madness idea, it was tons of fun!
Prutha and Janhavi we don’t talk much on a regular basis but I really enjoyed our respective buddy reads! Here’s to more in the future :))
Phoenix hii I haven’t seen you in a while but I used to enjoy chatting with you in the comments!
Ash and Booksy we’ve become acquainted only recently but I’d love to talk to you more and make you book besties too! and i LOVE both your blogs so much like-
Cherry, Jan and Ritz I enjoy all you guys’ content, looking forward to chatting with you in the comments again like we used to earlier!

Favourite Posts

Regardless of what an extremely incompetent hacker said in the beginning of the post, I have grown as a blogger during this past year, just as much as I did in my first year of blogging. Soo a section where I can brag about a few of my posts that I’m proud of and are extremely close to my heart! Feel free to check out any which catch your eye!!

We Hunt The Flame Quotes As Real Life Moments in which I draw comparisons between quotes from one of my favourite fantasy duologies and my own life! Ok yeah it’s a stretch but whatever.

Recommending Books Based On Disney Movies Part 2 which is a 2-part series where we scream about DISNEY MOVIES and BOOKS which is a perfect combination really.

Books I’d Use As Weapons in which I select books I’d throw at Jesper if I were David. I can’t promise it will make more sense in the post either.

The Year 2021 Divided Into My Bookish Phases in which there’s lots of love to mood reading.

2021 Wrap Up: Stats, Charts and Reflections + 2022 Goals in which there are NUMBERS and CHARTS and GOALS we will never follow through.

Fictional Characters I’d Take Along For A Heist in which we have gone all bad and assemble our very own heist crew comprised of fictional characters fitting several archetypes!

Thoughts While Watching Heartstopper in which we enter the chaotic place that is my brain and fangirl over heartstopper.

Do you think internet friends can be just as close (if not closer) than irl ones? Which are YOUR favourite posts of mine (if you can remember any?) Here’s to many more years of blogging!!

~ Rachel

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I Started A Bookstagram! // first post and general excitement

NOBODY TOUCH ME BECAUSE IN MY CURRENT EXCITED STATE I MIGHT SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST.

Do I have a tiny snowflake-worth of aesthetic sense? Nope. (i am pretty sure my brain sees in black and white.) Can I take photos half as good as the average person? No sir. (believe me I have never used a filter in my life.) Did that stop me from creating an Instagram account? You bet not!

But since we are not here to talk about my many inabilities and backward technological skills, let’s focus on how I overcame (more like ignored-and-will-later-regret-it) these challenges and did what they said I could never do. (and they were right)

I STARTED A BOOKSTAGRAM! Yes I am aware the title of the post gave it away and regrettably stole the thunder of my announcement but play along, will you?

Soo my very first post went up earlier today and it was an appreciation post for one of my favourite authors from this year so far! No it doesn’t get any better than that. Take a look at it below!

In case you aren’t able to see the embedded post, my username is abookwyrmsparadise, go check it out on my profile!

Knowing myself, its going to be super hard to stick to a theme – but for the time being I have decided to keep pastel peaches and pinks as the backgrounds for my posts.

I plan to do mini-reviews, book features, recommendation lists and my trademark weird posts so all the bases are covered I think!

I also look forward to seeing all your bookstagram content as well so if you have an account, PLEASE tell me in the comments, I’d love to follow you!! And considering my aforementioned technological challenges, I wouldn’t mind if you guys shower me with tips and tricks!

Do you have a bookstagram?? When did you start? Any photo editing tips for me?? Let me know in the comments!

~ Rachel

Blogger Interview with Rachel!

Hello guys! Go check out my interview with Riddhi on her blog!

Whispering Stories

Hey guys! Welcome or welcome back to my blog!

Today I will be interviewing a blogger whose posts I very much like, and I am stoked to have her here! It’s Rachel from A Bookworm’s Paradise! Do give her a follow since her posts are super entertaining and fun to read!

Without further ado, let’s get started!

Me – Tell my readers a bit about yourself and your blog. Why do you blog about the topic you blog about?

R – Umm hi (*awkward hand wave*) I amRacheland I am an alien. Kidding. (my introduction skills are sub-standard at best) I am just another teen – Asian by ethnicity, ISTJ by personality, Aries by zodiac and book lover by nature. My hobbies apart from parentheses-ising(yes, as a verb) are reading (duh), watching TV, playing badminton, doing math etc etc. Soo, I run a book blog and it’s…

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25 thoughts I had while watching Lord Of The Rings #1

People talk about Harry Potter. I say (in quite a condescending tone sometimes), “Yeah, I had read all the eight books AND watched all the movies 4 years back.” People talk about Percy Jackson. I say, “Yeah, I read the series and have seen the movie too. No big deal.” People talk about Lord of the Rings. I say, “Uhh sorry I’ll get back to you.” (which translates to – I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about but I am too embarrassed to admit that I haven’t seen OR read LOTR when everybody else in the world seems to have read and re-read it and then watched and re-watched it)

It was this embarrassment (+a little pushing from one of my relatives who is a fan) which compelled me to pick up my remote and start watching the first movie in the LOTR trilogy – The Fellowship Of The Ring. (and what better time to watch “one of the greatest fantasy books/movies ever made” than the month of Wyrd & Wonder, a celebration of all things fantasy?)

So since I really don’t do movie reviews, I have put down my thoughts while watching the movie here. Hope you enjoy!

  1. I like history, but can someone please tell me where exactly this is going?
  2. Oh man, so we do have a Voldemort here too, and the ring is just a Horcrux kinda thingy.
  3. So does Gandalf mean grandfather or something?
  4. Wait, the entire village is calling him Gandalf. So that definitely can’t be the word for grandfather. (though imagine if it was!) Maybe that’s his name. Whatever.
  5. I am beginning to have serious doubts about this Gandalf. Is he good or bad or somewhere in between?
  6. Aww Frodo is too small and cute to have this kind of responsibility (namely, safekeeping an ancient evil and supposedly alive ring who WANTS to be returned to its evil master). Shame on you, Gandalf.
  7. Sam seems like a nice fellow, doesn’t he? He is taking his responsibility of serving as traveling companion to Frodo seriously.
  8. My doubts have been cleared. Gandalf is one of the good guys (bad guys don’t get beaten up until the end😃)
  9. Where is Strider when you need him?
  10. Oh there he comes!! That will show you, evil black-veiled-thingies (I forgot what they are called😅)
  11. Too close, too close! Faster, elf lady!!
  12. Is this going to be one of those moments when somebody is about to die and the person holding them cries and a tear falls and heals the dying person?
  13. I am having a bad feeling about this. Whenever a large troupe like this Fellowship of the ring (9 of them!) set out on a dangerous quest, atleast one dies. I don’t want any of them to die…
  14. WHAT? How’s that possible? He was just stabbed deep in the chest by a creature 20 times bigger than him, and he is saying he’s alright?
  15. Ohh yes, the suit.
  16. So Gandalf is going to sacrifice himself so the others can get away? Very noble.
  17. Okay no, he is running away with them too.
  18. Okay yes, he just did. Sacrifice himself, I mean. 9 little boys going on a quest, one fell down, probably for the best. 8 little boys going on a quest…(yeah I actually made that up while watching the movie😜)
  19. Is Boromir one of the bad guys? ‘Cause he is looking away and is sweating when the sorceress lady is reading his mind.
  20. Oh I was wrong, that was because of something else.
  21. Wait, what? Is she talking about Legolas?? Pity. I kinda liked him.
  22. I never cared much about Pippins and Merry, but now suddenly I love them.
  23. no, NO!! Not Boromir too! What’s the point if everyone dies?!
  24. Okay, I hereby declare that I will NOT accept any more deaths of the members of the Fellowship.
  25. Huh, okay. *starts watching the next LOTR movie*

Have you seen the LOTR movies? How did you like them? Chat with me in the comments!

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Bertman || Mini-review, some art, and a little “book scavenger” game of my own!

I am so sorry guys, I forgot to include the ‘name’ blank in my Form! It is updated now, but for those who had already filled the form, would you mind putting a message in the comments section please?

A Bookworm's Paradise

Hello you guys!! Hope you’re having an amazing day so far!

Today’s post is going to be all about Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, which is a (brilliant, if I do say so myself) middle grade fantasy that I read last week. I didn’t want to write a full review on it because I have no idea what to write so I decided to just to a mash-up kind of thing, which, as the title suggests, includes a mini-review, a Book Scavenger-inspired piece of art, and a fun game at the end! Let’s get on with it, shall we?

Book Scavenger (Book Scavenger, #1)

A hidden book. A found cipher. A game begins . . . .

Twelve-year-old Emily is on the move again. Her family is relocating to San Francisco, home of her literary idol: Garrison Griswold, creator of the online sensation Book Scavenger, a game where books are hidden all over the…

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We are now a family of 100!! 🎉 + Introducing a proper posting schedule (finally!)

Hello you guys! I am not sure what to say without sounding extremely soppy. Let me just say it straight. This blog now has 100 followers! Yes I know, I couldn’t believe it either. Thank you so much all of you for all the love and support you have shown this little piece of the internet which is so close to my heart 🥺. I love each and every one of you for showing your appreciation for my content through likes and comments, and even for simply taking the time to read through my posts🥰.

Since a lot of you have been with me for quite some time, I would like some honest feedback about my blog from you all. Even if you are a relatively new follower, your feedback would be much welcomed. To keep everything more organized, I have created a Google Form for the same, so please do fill it out, I would really appreciate it. I am linking the Form below!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVbNV5zrqc9fXt2gud74QqzyW8RrEENWDzkvNcBHFpsRFT8w/viewform?usp=sf_link

Please let me know in the comments if you’ve filled the form, so I can check!


Another thing I wanted you all to know is that I am working towards making my blog more organized (like that’s ever going to happen😏), so I have decided that from now on, I will not be posting whenever I like. Instead, I will be posting twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I will be following this schedule for atleast this month of April, then I might change the days. Let’s see how it goes.


That is all I wanted to say. Thank you once again for being the reason I have reached this important milestone of 100 followers! And don’t forget to fill the form! See you in my next post on Wednesday!!

Guess who’s back?!

That’s right, I am! I finished my last exam (in a while, at least) half an hour back, and now I am back where I belong. Right here with you guys!

I think I had mentioned in the previous post that hectic studies were not my only reason for the hiatus. I was also not feeling like posting regularly. But now that’s changed! Looks like a break was all I needed, because right now I have a million ideas about the posts I want to do (but I haven’t started writing any of them, so don’t expect to see them very soon😉). I really missed interacting with you guys, although I did try my best to read some of your posts whenever I got any free time during my hiatus.

Other news is that I have also designed a new header image for my posts (you will be seeing it from my next post onwards), and this time I plan on sticking to it (you know how difficult that will be for me😜).

Alright, so do wait for my next post, which will be coming up in a couple of hours. Till then, comment below the links some of your posts from last month that you are proud of, so that I can read them in case I missed them. Bye, see you in the comments section!

I have some little things to say!

Um…definitely not my best title. But I couldn’t think of anything else, because today’s post is not about any one topic, it is basically a pile-up of all the different posts I’ve been wanting to do, but had simply no time or energy to do so.

Medieval-a-thon Wrap-Up

I had taken part in this readathon, which ran from 10th January to 10th February. I wanted to do a separate post on this, but as stated earlier, I couldn’t. So I won’t bore you with the details, I’ll just share my bullet journal spread for the readathon, which will pretty much tell you how I fared in this readathon.

Yes I am a princess, bow to me everyone!! And the crow illustration is for Six Of Crows😊

Trope-ical Readathon

I had participated in the previous round of this readathon in August last year and it was a lot of fun. Now there is a new round coming up in March. You can see all the information about it in the host’s blog post here. I don’t know for sure whether I will be participating this time, but you should definitely join this! And please do consider joining Team Non-Fiction/Poetry as it is running low on members.

Hiatus Anouncement

So here it is. The thing I have been delaying since the end of January. You may have noticed that my last post was around 13 days back, and how I keep saying I don’t have time and stuff. I am really facing a big time constraint, what with so many exams coming up in the end of February and most of March too. Plus, Idk why, but I have not been feeling like posting anything lately. I mean, I get ideas, but then I can’t seem to process them and put them down here. I have decided that a hiatus is probably the best thing for me at the moment. I am not sure exactly how long I’ll be away, but most probably, I will be back around the last week of March (I’m looking forward to that birthday post!). But this does not mean I will forget that something called WordPress exists, so I will still read your posts and comment on them as I usually do (unless of course, I drown in the sea of textbooks surrounding me😱).

Goodreads

I am now on Goodreads!! *dramatic bow* Better late than never, right?

So I joined Goodreads in January this year, and I was giving myself a little time to get used to it before I told you. The thing is, given the huge number of people who use Goodreads, I am unable to find any of you there. That’s why I have a request. Can you please add me as a friend on Goodreads? THIS is my profile.

Alright, that was all I wanted to say to you! Don’t forget to add me as a friend on Goodreads! See you next month (hopefully!).

Character Chat #5

Hello readers, and welcome to another Character Chat post! This is a weekly tag in which I will be asking a character-related question here on my blog. All you have to do is answer the question, either in the comments or on your own blog. To know all the details, click here.

Today’s Question –

A non-human (this can be an animal or a thing) character with a unique attitude?

Scratch from The Crooked Sixpence. He is Ivy’s silver bell (yes, you heard me right, bell) and has a speech defect (which is helpful later) because of which he jumbles up all the words in a sentence. But every time he speaks, it is somehow uplifting for Ivy (and me!) and I liked the attachment he made with Ivy.

Now its your turn! Which non-human characters have you liked reading about?

Character Chat #4

Welcome to another Character Chat post! This is a weekly tag in which I will be asking a character-related question here on my blog. All you have to do is answer the question, either in the comments or on your own blog. To know all the details, click here.

Today’s Question –

A side character who you think should have been the main character / A side character you would like to know more about?

Brianna from How To Pack For The End Of The World by Michelle Falkoff. I finished this novel five minutes ago from the time of writing this post, which is why it is all I can think of right now. Anyway, Brianna is the main character’s roommate, who is mentioned in the book, like, only 2-3 times. The first time I was introduced to her she seemed kind of stuck up, with that nose-in-the-air vibe, but later she turned out to be really kind and sensitive, and also described all the problems she had dealt with, which made me curious about her.

Your turn now! Go ahead and rack your brains for side-characters who weren’t given enough attention!