A Note from Melissa :-)

Good morning! It's been awhile, I know... I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season, whether it is preparing for Christmas, partaking in Chanukah festivities, celebrating Kwanzaa, or any number of reasons to celebrate and give thanks!

I just want you all to know that I am not falling off the face of the earth again -- at least, that is not my intention. I have actually been doing quite a bit of reading, even though I haven't been writing reviews lately. I admit I haven't been motivated to blog about what I read, though I have been pretty diligent about documenting everything in Goodreads and providing star ratings there (if you have a Goodreads account, feel free to add me!). It just seems that right now I am more interested in enjoying a good book than putting my thoughts into words.

I don't know if that means I will change the format of my reviews... I have certainly been considering that option. I mean, I do want to share with all of you the books I love because I love the possibility of introducing people to new authors or genres. But I really started to feel like my reviews were getting stale and I wasn't feeling inspired to write them, and I don't think that is the fault of any of the books I've been reading because I have had the good fortune to get my hands on some enjoyable reads in recent weeks!

So, I may do something as simple as what I loved vs. what I didn't, keeping it relatively short and sweet and to the point. I think I may also try to convey my recommendation using the method "if you liked these books/authors, then you'll love this one" or something of that nature. It may be a bullet list type of format, or who knows. I don't think even I will know until I set out to give it a try (which I hope to do very soon). I still plan to use star ratings, as well, because I personally find those to be very helpful, for any type of review.

If there's a book I particularly love, you may get a bit more out of me (I do have my fangirl moments on occasion). In general, however, I want to keep it simple -- something I can throw together quickly and not feel like I have to sit down and write out a long, detailed review. Frankly, I am amazed at so many of you out there who do all that you do and still have time to write and manage such amazing blogs, because that does not seem to be the kind of person I am, haha. And I imagine many of you, my readers, given how many blogs you probably follow, you might not mind something that doesn't take as long to read, either. :-)

What this also likely means is that I won't really be taking any review requests anymore, though if you're an author I've reviewed before and you're willing to accept what may be a much briefer review, I am happy to work with you. Perhaps we can even work out a feature post of some sort, guest posting, etc. At this point, I am really more interested in just reading what I want to, when I want to, without risking overcommitment. I never want this blog to feel like a chore, and I will admit that sometimes it has, which is why you haven't been hearing a whole lot from me lately... That, and I've just been pretty busy these days!

I hope you'll stick around and bear with me through the upcoming changes. It is my hope that by simplifying and shortening my format, I will actually get more reviews posted on a more regular basis again. I welcome any thoughts, and once I get some reviews posted again I'd appreciate any feedback you care to give me!

Thanks for sticking with me over the years, hopefully there will be many more ahead! Happy Reading!