It's Monday and OUaT is Back!

Hey everyone! We hope everyone had a nice winter break and that your holidays were great.

It was really nice to have 2 weeks off from almost everything which included the site, work stuff and just other things going on in my life. I needed the breather. I didn't get as much reading as I hope I would but the reading I did get in was good. I read some new books for 2014 and some old books I had sitting on my shelf.

The site kept going thanks to my awesome team but an extra thank you to Leydy for keeping post going almost like normal. She pretty much rocked it and I'm not sure if you guys have been following Deitre's Saturday postings, its quite the treat and now I'm always waiting for Saturday to arrive to see what Dee has to talk about. This past Saturday Dee shared that she started a review site which would be a safe site for kids, teachers and parents to visit to know which books are safe for that young person to read. So if you have been looking for a site like that then you will want to bookmark Dee's new site called A Leisure Moment.

So its 2014 and this year OUaT will turn 4 in March, I still can't fathom being here 4 years later. I honestly thought that no one would care what I would have to say about a book but they did and we grew and this site is my family now, I can't see myself without it even when it bugs me some days. LOL! But like every year things change in a good or bad way I guess depends how one looks at it. And during this break I had tons of time to reflect on the site.

One thing I did come to finally admitting is that I didn't feel the same love and desire to read, review and post as the years before. So I sat there wondering why. So after I figured out why, it was time to figure out how to get back to the way things were before. This past year became very robotic to me and that's where I lost my drive. So 2014 I plan to get it back, I will have to accept that I can't tell everyone Yes or that I will be able to read everything even if I want too. The whole reason this site began was because of how much I fell in love with reading again after reading Twilight and was introduced to YA books. So to have lost that in 2013, it really makes me sad. I got to the point where I didn't even feel like reading and forced myself so I could get that review out by deadline, then I ended up reading the book already with bad taste and my reviews sucked because of that. I want to be able to look at my pile of books and just pick one up for whatever reason not because I HAVE to and I want to be able to write my reviews again like if I were chatting with a friend about the book I just finished.

I know that in the book review world, to get books from publishers and authors you have to agree to several things and I get it and I am thankful for everything in the past. But I'm ok if I stop receiving books or emails queries. I don't want to feel pressured anymore and I don't want to pressure my team either. With that being said we just will have a realistic outlook. Sadly book reviewing is not a full-time paid job and many of us have real job or carriers we manage everyday plus families and a whole bunch of other things that do come first. So if we can, we will but if we can't it will be ok. No harm done.

So in 2014 my resolution is to fall in love again with reading. 

Should you be worried? I hope not. This just means I won't be taking on everything that gets sent my way personally, someone on my team might or we just might pass in general. We will continue to bring you all sorts of reviews and of course everything else we have done before. But just know that when you do read one of my reviews, it was done with a happy heart.

So what is your New Years resolution?