Behind the Blog: The Story Siren

Behind the Blog: Reviewer Speak Week

-

It's Day Three of our whirlwind tour of the bestest, kick-buttingest book review bloggers on the web. FYI, I will be putting together a list of all the books our bloggers recommend as read-or-die so that we can worship at the shrine of their wisdom, and a compilation of their advice. Remind me I promised this when I lose any semblance of a social life.

-

Today we're hanging with...

-

Kristi

AKA The Story Siren

www.thestorysiren.com

-

Kristi has not only a gorgeous, informative site, but a unique BFF tone with her reviews. Apart from the reviewing, Kristi features regular "Author Tales" (guest blogs by YA authors) that rock, in addition to a bazillion simultaneous contests. I'm so thrilled she could join us!

--

INN: Why did you start reviewing books online?

-

Kristi: I sort of fell into the whole reviewing thing. Like most reviewers, I love to read, obviously. I was always asked "what are you reading now," "what do you think about (insert title here)," "have you read (insert title here)" so I just decided to put my thoughts down, and so my blog was born.

-

Now when I started reviewing, I had no idea there was something called an ARC, I would have never thought to email an author, and the whole free books thing, who knew?! I started reviewing books I had bought and books I checked out at the library and my blog just sort of grew from there. I never expected to have people besides my friends and family visit.

-

INN: Can you predict any runaway bestsellers from this fall's lineup of YA books? or at least, any super amazing ones?

-

Kristi: There are some super amazing books I’m really excited to read this fall!

Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. I’ve been waiting for this one forever! I just hope that it lives up to my expectations! Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz. Blue Bloods is one of my favorite vampire series’. I can’t wait to read this installment! I love de la Cruz’s take on the vampire myth, very ingenious!

-

Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by Maggie Stiefvater. This is Maggie’s debut novel, so I don’t know much about her writing style, but the premise of this book has me in eager anticipation!

-

INN: Why did you pick The Story Siren for your blog title?

-

Kristi: Well, one day I was at the beach reading a novel and out of nowhere..... j/k! I don’t have a funny story or inspiring lightbulb moment of how I came up with the title of my blog. I was just brainstorming and it came to me. Another plus was that it wasn’t taken on Blogger yet! I have my creative moments every once in awhile. I’ve really come to appreciate how my title has became a theme for my blog!

-

INN: When you were in elementary school, what was your absolutely favorite book? Has the author written anything else?

-

Kristi: I was big reader in elementary school too, believe it or not! So, I didn’t exactly have an absolute favorite book. It’s hard to remember the books I was even reading. I do remember The Velveteen Rabbit, Wind in the Willows, The Mitten,.... I loved the Amelia Bedelia books, I think I read everyone of those! Babysitter’s Club, Goosebumps, The Boxcar Children, Red Badge of Courage, Castle in the Attic. I think you got the picture.

-

I have no idea if these authors have written anything else, I’d have to look up most of them to even see who they were written by!

-

INN: What's one thing other reviewers can do to make their reviews more interesting?

-

Kristi: I always try to write what I would want to know about a book. Try to decide who you want to write for: do you want to be professional or more casual? I like to write a review like I’m talking to my best friend or my sister.

-

Everyone has a different writing style and I think that is interesting! I’m not the best writer so, I try to make my reviews more interesting by using theme icons and a rating system. You just have to find a niche that fits your style and go from there. I don’t think anyone can really tell you what that is.

-

Thank you so much, Kristi!

-

Tomorrow we go Behind the Blog with four guys from Guys Lit Wire.

It'll be a testosterone-filled day.