I only found out about this recently and rushed to join in! The Book Blogger Love-a-Thon is hosted by Alexa Loves Books and the first post is a questionnaire so readers can get to know me a little better.
What’s your name?
Rachel, but people always call me Rach.
Where in the world are you blogging from?
Ireland. Specifically Northern Ireland.
How did you get into blogging in the first place?
I followed beauty blogs when I was about 18, then my sister started one about 2 years ago for her Interior Design interests. I stumbled upon Book Blogs like The Perpetual Page Turner and The Librarian Who Doesn’t Say Shhh! and my sister convinced me to start one. I didn’t know if it would stick, but it’s nearly been a year, and here I am!
How did you come up with your blog name?
I love the idea of Confessions, and I’m regularly called a “geek” (as a term of endearment, I’m sure), I threw it together, et voilà!
What genre do you read and review the most on your blog?
I really do read a little of everything. When I ran out of reading material as a kid I used to read the instructions and ingredients on beauty products and other things lying around. I wish I was kidding. I think the genres I read the most though are YA Contemporaries and I’ve really gotten into Fantasy in 2014.
What other types of posts do you do on your blog, apart from reviews?
I do Top Ten Tuesday posts, posts about Bookish Deals and Discounts I stumble across (because I LOVE a bargain!), monthly Stacking the Shelves posts where I also combine a monthly wrap-up, and when I’m lucky I get to do Author Interviews or host Guest Posts. I also do Awards, Tags and Surveys from time-to-time and host Giveaways.
I created a feature called Bloggy Love where I talk about others I follow, created (S)he Said with Joey where a male and female blogger come together to discuss bookish related topics with two gender perspectives, and my most recent collaboration is Babes with Books where myself, Brandie and Stef do joint, conversational reviews about books we’ve read together. Phew!
Best blogging experience so far?
There have been so, so many. Reaching 500 subscribers this month was amazing, and so was getting to interview one of my favourite authors, Diane Chamberlain.
Favorite thing about the blogging community?
The people. Without a doubt. I’ve been doing this for almost a year, and the community is so supportive, welcoming and friendly. In the past couple of months I’ve felt “real-life” friendships developing with some bloggers too, and that’s been pretty awesome.
Name the 5 books you’re most excited for this 2015!
Off the top of my head – Confess by Colleen Hoover, Never Never Part 2 (and 3 if it’s out this year) by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher, A Court of Thorns and Roses and Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas, and I’ve seen so many good reviews for I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios that I’m pretty excited for it too.
What’s an underrated book or series that you think everyone should read?
If you love YA contemporaries I’d definitely recommend How (Not) To Fall in Love, Adult fiction weepies go for Before I Go, for some non-fiction to make you think try Bad Feminist and for a New Adult read Come Back To Me.
Which book boy or girl would be your book BFF?
Apart from reading, what are your other hobbies or interests?
Blogging, movies and TV shows are up there. I love going out with my friends too on nights out. And as boring as it sounds, a “hobby” of mine is self-development – I love doing different courses and gaining qualifications, I’m a bit of a career-person.
Apart from book shopping, what else do you like shopping for?
I’m not fussy, I just like shopping! Household items, clothes, stationary… the list is endless.
At a party, the DJ suddenly changes the song – and it’s your song. What song would be playing?
There are SO many. As of right now, it’s this:
Pick out either a book you want turned into a film/TV show, or a film/TV show you want turned into a book.
I’d LOVE for the Throne of Glass series to be developed into a movie or a TV show, but they’d have to get it right!
Are you taking part in the Book Blogger Love-A-Thon? Link me up to your questionnaire in the comments!
Confessions of a Book Geek 
Glad you could make it for #LoveAThon! I would love for Hermione to be my BFF too! She’s appearing in so many lists, yea? 🙂 I’ve been dying to read Bad Feminist but my library doesn’t have it even after I made a purchase request 😦 I’ll probably purchase the book soon.
LikeLike
Thanks, Jessica! Bad Feminist is definitely worth a purchase, I know I’ll be revisiting parts of it again and again! R x
LikeLike
🙂 Any other feminism-/gender relations-related book to recommend? I’ve really been interested in this kind of books recently.
LikeLike
Same here. I haven’t read these yet, but they’re high on my list because I’ve heard such great things – Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21251323-everyday-sexism) and We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22738563-we-should-all-be-feminists?ac=1) – she’s also done some great videos for TED Talks (http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg3umXU_qWc (which was quoted in a Beyonce song…) R x
LikeLike
Wow! Thanks so much, Rachel! 🙂 Gonna add them to my TBR and TBW!
LikeLike
No problem, Jessica! Let me know what you think of them! R x
LikeLike
I used to read the instructions and ingredients in beauty products too! Trying to sound out the long chemical names was a lot of fun. Then I took chemistry in high school, and those long chemical names seemed less daunting…
LikeLike
Haha!! I’m glad I’m not the only one who did that! I learned a lot though which landed me a beauty specialist job when I was at university. R x
LikeLike
What part of Northern Ireland do you recommend?
LikeLike
Tough question, Alex! If you’re into the City experience then Belfast is a must – lots of great things to see – old architecture, buildings of historical relevance, the dock that held the Titanic etc. If you’re more into the sight-seeing there’s castles (Belfast and Carrickfergus), the Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-a-rede rope bridge etc. It’s a pretty small place so you could tour all the main attractions in no time! An Irish pub for a Guinness and some “craic” is always a must! R x
LikeLike
Hi, hope you’re enjoying #LoveAThon as much as me. It’s been great to hear more about you. My fav thing about blogging is the same as yours – the people.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Amanda.
LikeLike
Thanks, Amanda! I wish I could have taken part more, but the weekend was super busy and I only found out about it on launch day! R x
LikeLike
Great questionnaire! I’ve been seeing a lot of these today and it’s made me sure that I need to take part in this myself, it sounds like such a positive a-thon to take part in. I read Never Never and am desperate for book two, that book has me so confused!!! I really enjoyed book 1 but it left me confused and not sure whether I love it or not. I need to know more, especially how they lost their memories because if it doesn’t make sense, then it will ruin it for me.
LikeLike
I wish I could have taken part in more of the mini-challenges, but I had a really busy weekend, my camera skills aren’t up to scratch and my books are all over the place, so it didn’t happen! It was great to see so many blogs I follow take part though. I’m really looking forward to the rest of Never Never, but I’m so anxious about it too, because I agree, if the story doesn’t make sense it’ll ruin the whole thing. I thought part 1 was pretty impressive considering it was 150 pages, but there are so many questions! I recently read The Fever, and it was similar in the sense that you don’t know what’s going on until the end (it was about hysteria) but I felt it was disappointing at the end, and I’m hoping Never Never doesn’t go the same way! I need to trust the Hoover. R x
LikeLike
AM I ALLOWED TO FANGIRL FOR A SEC THAT YOU ARE FROM IRELAND? I seriously have wanted to visit Ireland since I was a freshman in high school, and obsessed with Westlife… (Still obsessed with Westlife, by the way.) Ahem. Anyway, I also love, love, love that you are a fan of the Throne of Glass series! Anyone who loves that series is a friend to me 🙂
Thanks for joining the Love-a-Thon!
LikeLike
Lol! I didn’t know that being from Ireland got you fangirling! Excellent! Haha I saw Westlife when they were still called Westside, in a very small park in the middle of Belfast as part of the annual Fleadh (a music/beer festival type thing pronounced Fla) and tickets were £5!! Thanks for commenting 😀 R x
LikeLike
DON’T NEGLECT YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD TO CODDLE YOUR NEWBORN, “R”.
LikeLike
It took me a while to figure this one out… Do you mean (S)he Said and Babes and Books??!! LOL R x
LikeLike
Aww, I this is fun! I missed out on this yesterday…bummer. 😦
I love that song too!!
LikeLike
Dude. Throne of Glass would be an amazing TV show if they could do it right. I would like it as a movie, but they’d have to cut out way too much. With a TV show, they could put everything in. Hopefully.
LikeLike
They’d need to get the casting right, and if it was a TV show there’d be no excuse to leave anything out. I think it could be really immense! R x
LikeLiked by 1 person
But it could also go on forever and that would be pretty awesome. 🙂
LikeLike
[…] I also shared some great bookish deals and discounts, took part in the Loony Literate Tag and the Book Blogger Love-A-Thon questionnaire, signed up to the 2015 Discussion Challenge, posted a (S)He Said post on Sex in Erotic Fiction, […]
LikeLike