Reviews and criteria

So I just stood in front of my bookshelf (which is HUGE and overflowing and was made by my dad as a grad present) with a notebook and pen and wrote down every book I'd like to do a review of. Oh yes, this is going to be one of those reviewing blogs!

The list is long. Most of them I've already read, but many will require re-reads and a few I haven't read yet. So it'll take me a while to do all the ones I want to! But without a doubt shiny new books will prance before me and I'll be unable to resist whipping off a quick review and bumping some other title from the list. It happens.

I'll most be reviewing YA, but I read a lot of adult books as well, so a couple will sneak in. The books I review will not just be my favourites. I'm going to review everything from my top-shelf favourites to my scourge-of-the-earth under-the-bed books. And it's going to be so fun!

I also spent a few minutes deciding on the criteria by which I'll review. I really like Jordyn from Ten Cent Notes' review rubric, so I kind of adapted it based on what I look for in a good book.

Hook: This is the premise, the reason I was intrigued by the book. The schtick.

Characters: Y'know, the reason we read the books. The people we get to know over the course of a few hundred pages.

Originality: What sets the book apart from the others.

Obsessability: Whether or not this book has me hooked like crack.

Romance/character spark: If the book has a romantic angle, this is whether or not the romance is the all-consuming stuff of fantasy or falling flat. If there's not romance, it's character relationships.

Setting: Where and when the book takes place, and how awesome it is.

Plot: How good the plot is. Duh.

Relatability: Whether or not I, or the average reader, could relate to the characters.

X-Factor: Basically, whether or not the book would make a kick-ass movie. Whether or not it jumps off the page and into the imagination.

Ending: Whether or not it had a satisfactory ending that tied things up all nicely.

Each item will be marked out of ten, for a total of 100. Wooo! So expect the first one tomorrow, or tonight, even. But since probably no one is reading this, whatever. Haha.

An introduction, and the mission

Heya. Let me introduce myself. As previously stated, I am Nerd Girl. My real name is Becca. NOT Becky. You have been warned. I am a college student, 18 years of age. I am an obsessive reader, since even before I knew how to read. I made my mother go blind from reading to me before I could read myself. (Not really, but that'd be pretty badass).

As well as a reader, I am a writer. I wrote my first story at the age of six. It was called "Lost Sheep, Come to Me," and it was about a girl with a pet sheep who got lost and ended up being hit by a car. The girl was sad for like five minutes and then got a pony. I still write really sad, tragic things. I wrote my first original novel at age 13, but prior to that had written a few novel-length works of Harry Potter fanfiction. As of now, I've written eight novels and am working on a ninth. None are published, and only three of those eight could EVER be good enough to be published. So I'm working on that, and you'll probably hear about it here.

In addition to writing and reading, I enjoy movies, reading Tarot cards, messing around with a Ouija board, and generally being weird. I live in a small town and have enjoyed fading into obscurity since I graduated high school.

Now that that's out of the way, let's get to the good stuff.

I've always wanted to have a serious book blog, because I'm such a fan of so many of them, but never really had the guts until a couple days ago when I was like "ahh what the hell" and started this one. I am fully aware that probably no one will read this, but I'll keep at it anyway because I need somewhere I can dish and unload about all the crap I read and write.

I'm going to try my best at posting really regularly, too, because I always get really sad when my favourite bloggers don't post for weeks. I will NOT be one of those people! I am making a commitment, here.

So, here goes nothing.

First Post!

So I don't really know why I started this blog. I love reading other peoples' YA literature blogs, and I've kind of always wanted to have my own, but every time I've made a tiny attempt I've given up after one or two entries. I'm better at personal journaling for sure. But I love reading, and I love writing, so it would make sense to combine the two! Probably no one else besides me will want to read anything I post here xD but that's okay. I need somewhere to express all my opinions on all the books I read, anyway. So here's to a new blog, and a promise to try to post here often! Whooooo.