Dreamland Book Blog: Blogger of the Month

Sunday, February 14, 2016 5 comments

Happy February!

This is the second month after the re-launching of this feature and I have to admit, I am having a fantastic time with it! Not only I get to reach out to my fellow blogger friends and get to know them better, I also have something to look forward to every month! This feature has been one of my personal favourites because it is simply so fun to do. The bloggers that I had contacted were all so friendly and warm, so, thank you guys for all the support. ♥

So what is Blogger of the Month all about?

Every month, I will invite a favourite blogger friend of mine to do a guest post or any topics that includes anything, and everything random.
This feature will run for the entire month.
Feel free to ask any questions - remember this is an interactive post!
If you have any interesting topics you would want the blogger to discuss about, feel free to leave a comment down below or send me a private email at natshane94aa@gmail.com.

For the month of February, I am proud to feature a fellow blogger friend who has the most humble heart! I've known her about a month back when she just started her first Stacking the Shelves post, and that was when I started visiting her blog regularly. Her reviews were so well written and well thought of, she made me want to check out a book that even has low ratings! Furthermore, I often look forward to her STS post as she featured some great and interesting hauls! Without further ado, Dreamland Teenage Fantasy's "Blogger of the Month" for the month of February is:

My name is Carole and as you may have guessed I love to read. If I have any free time, there is a really good chance that I will have a book in my hand. I read a little bit of everything and will probably fall in love with any book that makes me feel something or surprises me. I just love a surprise! I tend to mostly read anything fiction including YA novels, romance, urban fiction, mysteries, and whatever else looks good at the moment.

When I am not reading, I enjoy spending time with my family. I am happily married and have two daughters who also enjoy reading. My college age daughter tends to pick up the classics when she is in the mood to read while I haven't read a classic since my college days. My youngest daughter is in high school and she likes to read the more popular YA novels but actually asks me for recommendations from time to time. I have tried but I can't seem to get my husband to pick up a book - he is stubborn like that.

I love music and would much rather go to a concert or a baseball game than any kind of fancy event. I love to laugh and have fun. I am a homebody and can stay home for weeks at time if my schedule would allow it (too bad I work full time). I don't watch a lot of TV unless The Walking Dead is on I can't get enough of that show. But really, who needs a lot of hobbies when you have a gigantic pile of books to read?

About my blog:

Carole’s Random Life is where I post all things books including reviews, new releases, and the occasional giveaway. I read a little bit of everything so that is what you will find on my blog.

Tuesday, February 02, 2016 3 comments

Friday, January 01, 2016 4 comments

Hi guys!

2015 will be a different year for me and I am determined to be more active in blogging as part of my Blogger's New Years Resolutions. Instead of the usual reading and reviewing, I decided to come up with my own features to make my blog more interactive and fun!

So what is Blogger of the Month all about?

Every month, I will invite a favourite blogger friend of mine to do a guest post about a topic that includes everything under the sun!
This feature will run for the entire month.
Feel free to ask any questions - remember this is an interactive post!
If you have any interesting topics you would want the blogger to discuss about, feel free to leave a comment down below or send me a private email at natshane94aa@gmail.com.

For the month of March, I am so excited to have a fellow blogger who I enjoyed working with. She organized the best blog tours I had ever participated in, and she is so very efficient! (Okay, I admire this trait). Conversing with her through emails have been fun and lovely!

I'm an avid reader and I've been in love with the printed page since I was child. My devotion has only increased as I've gotten older. My reading frenzy began with my Grandmother and her collection of vintage Nancy Drew books. I now have my own almost-complete set of hardcover books and about 75% of the Nancy Drew Files paperbacks. I love a good mystery.

Along the way I discovered my absolute love for anything vampire, which then lead to dragons, demons, ghosts, and other paranormal entities. I thank my sister for introducing me to Charlaine Harris, J.R. Ward, and Stephanie Meyer. Some of my other favorite authors are Katie MacAlister, P.C. Cast (House of Night rocks!), Richelle Mead (Vampire Academy also rocks!), and Barbara Bretton (Sugar Maple series rocks!), and Jana Oliver. Do you see a theme here? I've searched and found other authors like Merrie Destefano, Kerrelyn Sparks, Christine Warren, Kim Harrison, Tracey O'Hara, and Amber Scott and I can't wait to get lost in their stories.

Saturday, March 28, 2015 5 comments

Hi guys!

So what is Blogger of the Month all about?

Every month, I will invite a favourite blogger friend of mine to do a guest post about a topic that includes everything under the sun!
This feature will run for the entire month.
Feel free to ask any questions - remember this is an interactive post!
If you have any interesting topics you would want the blogger to discuss about, feel free to leave a comment down below or send me a private email at natshane94aa@gmail.com.

For the month of February, I proudly present a fellow blogger who has been nothing but kind and friendly since the first day I got to know her, and I'm a regular follower of her blog too! - she writes the most amazing posts -

I am Lola, I am 24 years old and I live in the Netherlands. I have my bachelor’s degree in psychology and my master’s degree in economic and consumer psychology. I love reading books and writing reviews about them, hence the reason I started this blog. I am a bit of a critical reader and like to point out what I did and didn’t like about a book in my reviews. Before I started my own blog I was a co-blogger at K-books.

I spend my days blogging and running my own blog tour business, called Lola’s Blog Tours. I organize blog tours, cover reveals, book blitzes and review opportunities for fiction books. I love spreading the word about awesome books!

Hi Everyone! I am Lola and Natasha invited me to do a guest post on her wonderful blog! I am really excited to be here today, thanks so much Natasha for having me on your blog here today!

You can read Lola's full About Me here.

Hi Everyone! I am Lola and Natasha invited me to do a guest post on her wonderful blog!

I am really excited to be here today, thanks so much Natasha for having me on your blog here today!

I am going to talk a bit about what I think makes a good blog and blogger. And as it's February, the month of romance, Natasha asked me two questions about romance as well. At the end there are some quickfire questions. Okay first a little bit about me, I am Lola. I blog over at Lola's Reviews and I have my own tour organizing company called Lola's Blog Tours. Online you can recognize me because of my green skinned pony avatar. I live in the Netherlands and have 3 cute pet rats called Smarties, Snickers and Pita. I love reading, blogging and cooking. You can mostly find me behind my computer, either working or blogging, or in the kitchen cooking or baking something.

In general I don't think there really is a good or wrong way to blog, as long as you put your heart into it and have fun I think you're doing it right. So I decided to reword the topic a bit and talk about things I like to see on a blog or when it comes to blogger behaviour.

Blog for yourself. I think it's very important to blog for yourself first and for your audience second. If you blog for yourself and with what you like in mind first you probably will enjoy blogging more and your followers will see that. If you like to talk about a certain topic on your blog go for it. Even if it isn't directly related to the topic you're bloggin about. I recently started a food feature on my blog, called Lola's Kitchen and while I was a bit hesitant at first I love writing the posts for that feature and my followers like the posts as well!

Calm design. I don't like blogs that have a busy design or are very chaotic with moving widgets or a sidebar cramped with too many things trying to get your attention. I like blogs with a calm design, so I feel at ease when I visit them. Like this blog for example, there are widgets in the sidebar, but it isn't overwhelming and the white and subtle colours make for a nice and calm blog design. If you have a pretty blog design that's always a plus, but I find it more important that you don't have a too busy blog design.

Easy to find review policy, social media sites and contact info. This one comes forth from visiting lots of blogs and when I like a blog I often want to connect on social media as well. So I like it hwne a blogger displays their social media sites somewhere at the top of their blog so I can easily find them. Like on this blog, you only have to look left and there in the sidebar you can find all Natasha her social media sites. I know some bloggers have a page were they list their social media info, but I think this should be in your sidebar or header, so no mater where on their site you are you can easily find that info. The review policy one comes from my work as a marketing assistant, you would be surprised how many people don't have a review policy on their blog or no contact info. I understand not wanting to get loads of e-mails, but I think it's nice to have a review policy at least where you mention whether you accept review requests or not and how you prefer to be contacted. Really this makes the job of an author and/or marketing assistant much easier.

Commenting on other blogs. I think commenting on other blogs is an integral part of blogging, you don't have to spent hours commenting on other blogs each day, but I think it's nice if you comment on other blogs now and then. I think comments are what makes bloggers feel like part of the community. When I first started blogging I didn't comment at all and often felt like I didn't really was part of the community. Then I started commenting more on other blogs and I found out how much I loved it and how it made me feel connected with other bloggers.

Commenting back and/or replying to comments on their own blog. I prefer it if a blog either replies to comments others leave on their blog or even comments back on the blogs of those who left a comment. I think this is a bit of common courtesy and thanking those who commented on your blog by replying or commenting back. I always love getting replies to my comment and it's nice knowing the blogger has read your comment and appreciated it.

Be polite. This is more a general thing. I think it's important to be polite, to other bloggers, to authors and anyone else you meet online. Sure you can state your own opinion and shouldn't be afraid to do so, but often you can do so in a polite way. Even if you don't agree with a blogger you can still say it nicely.

Easily recognizable/ branding. I like it when bloggers use the same avatar/ profile pic on most sites so I can easily recognize them. I have had a few instances on for example goodreads or facebook that I didn't recognize someone until I took a look at their bio. But as long as your bio mentions your blog it's still good. But overall I myself prefer to use the same avatar everywhere, it's easy to recognize and it's good for branding.

Find your own voice. I like blogs that have their own unique voice. A good example of this is Cait over at Paperfury and Anna at Herding Cats and Burning Soup. Both are two of my favourite blogs and I like how they each have their unique voice. When you're on their blog you know you can expect their unique voice to shine through in all their posts. It's a combination of writing style, how their blog looks and how they format their posts. I like it when bloggers let heir own voice shine through in their posts.

Variety. I think it's important to have some variety on your blog, I think most bloggers do this. I like blogs where there are different kinds of content, not only reviews or only memes for example, but a mix of different type of posts. I don't think there's something wrong with posting a lot of memes or reviews, if that's what you like doing, but I do like seeing some other content now and then. I have some blogs whom I only follow for for example their discussion posts or their fun reviews and I think having some variety in what you post makes your blog more enjoyable for more people as everyone's looking for something else in a blog.

Easily readable. One of the things I find most important things on a blog is that I can easily read your blog. I have seen some blogs with such light text that it's hard to read or a pet peeve of mine the light text on a dark or black background. It makes my eyes hurt and is so difficult to read.

I love a good romance story and prefer my books to at least have some degree of romance in them. I prefer romances that are slow building and built on honesty. I think that honesty and being open with each other is one of the most important things in a relationship, as long as you can talk about something you can solve so many problems and issues. I read quite some books were a couple keeps secrets from each other and those secrets always come to light later on and the other finds out and it's never good. While of they had been honest with each other from the beginning that whole problem wouldn't exist. So don't keep secrets or if you don't want to tell something just be honest about it and say you can't or don't want to talk about it now/yet, but will let the other know when. I guess if all romances in books were like that there would be much less drama, but I still would love to read books like that.

Dawn or twilight?

twillight

Dogs or cats?

rats

Rich or famous?

rich

Immortality or mind reading?

neither

The beach or the pool?

the pool

Horror or action?

action

Blonde or brunette?

brunette

Long or short hair?

long hair

Young or new adult?

both

Rock or pop music?

rock

Okay that's it for my guest visit here! Thanks again for having me here on your blog Natasha!

Thank you for stopping by, and thank you Lola for the great guest post! :D

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