Saturday 6 October 2012

The Seawitch! - Reviewer and well, witch!

Okay, so she's not really a witch (or if she is, that didn't come up in the interview). The Seawitch has a blog where she reviews books and talks about her life. I was lucky enough to cross paths with her during the POW bloghop in September. Your reviews are interspersed with much of your daily life. What is your family's response to your blog? I'm thinking specifically of the younger people that appear in some photos.

My kids like to see themselves on my blog, my youngest gel Maddy (9) thinks she's famous now. My oldest, Stephanie (27) is a contributer and known as Gel Friday is also in a lot of my posts as we are always on the lookout for a husband for her. In fact, let me continue my head hunting here.

I might be wrong, but this is Stephanie.
Stephanie is 27, a graduate of West Virginia University majoring in Environmental Protection (tree-hugger) with a minor in Native American Studies. She went back to school to work on her Wildlife Biology but is taking a break. She loves animals and nature. She was working at AutoZone in RI until recently when she quit and moved back to West Virginia. She is about 5'3" or 4" and about 115 lbs. Quite lovely and loves to read and bake. She would like to meet an Irishman or Scotsman with the sexy accent please.


The boys don't care too much and my husband grins and bears it, but I think it makes him happy on the inside.

I guess my blog is not the average book review blog as we also do recipes and incorporate a bit of our life too. But I hope my friends and followers enjoy my piece of the world.

I'm sure they do. And Stephanie, I'm an environmental consultant, and we are a hot commodity. I see good things in your future. throws Tarot cards out the window I feel weird asking this after the post above, but are there any areas of home life that are 'off-limits'?

Usually what goes on in my bedroom is off limits, only to be hinted at at times. I haven't come across anything else yet but I would probably add any serious disagreements I have with my DH to that list.

I bet my husband wishes I followed that rule. I just mix enough fiction in with the truth that no one can know what we do and don't do. wink I've seen a few Friday recipes. Are these usually something new that catches your eye, or something you've made hundreds of times before?

Mmmm Scones.
Sometimes it is something that has caught my eye from Recipes.com and more of them are recipe from Stephanie - Gel Friday- she loves to bake and loves to try out new recipes especially foreign ones. She does try out recipes if someone asks her for a specific recipe, she'll find one, try it out on our family and then we let everyone know what we thought. I do have some favorites but I have only put a few on the blog.

Makes note to check for meatloaf recipes. How do you find books for review? Do you review what you pick up by chance or are you given ARCs from authors?

Mostly the books I review I have bought for myself, I have only been sent about 5 books by Authors for review. A few I have won from other blog sites both before and after I started my blog, I do love to read. I mostly read historical and really love my highlanders, they are my absolute favorites.

Incidentally, good reader, she didn't win a copy of Blue Moon House, more's the pity. So, I gave her a copy to review. I don't rig these things, honest! Have you ever turned down a review copy? Why?

Seawitch on land, behind the ash dropping engine
I haven't turned one down yet, but I have replied to a request that I'm not sure the book would be a good fit for me. I let the author know my concerns and leave it up to them as to whether or not they want to take a chance that I may not care for a book. Since most authors prefer good reviews, I give them that choice because I only give honest reviews and will say what I disliked about a story. But I'm not cruel, books can be like an author's baby, so if I were to ever really not like a story I would say that and also remind everyone that just because I didn't like a story doesn't mean they won't. After all I enjoy reading some very erotic stories but most of my followers on my blog do not so I always put a warning on erotic posts to warn them so they aren't blindsided.

And yes, I was so warned. However, I'll take another honest review over no review at all. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions. If you have any questions for the Seawitch (or you want to leave your email for Stephanie to find you) please comment!