The Third Annual 2019 Book Blogger Awards

Hello beautiful people!

So thanks to a recent post by Marie and Nyx @ Drizzle & Hurricane Reads, I discovered this EPIC Book Blogger Award shenanigans! Thank you!

I’m not going to lie … I wasn’t going to post this. I love SO MANY of you, so it feels awful that I can’t choose EVERYONE! I started to feel incredibly guilty about not selecting certain people for certain categories. But I feel like this community is SUPER loving and accepting, no matter what. You ALL know I love you all greatly. And I really think it’s important for us to showcase bloggers … especially since A LOT of us do this for free and in the mix of school, work, raising a family and gosh KNOWS what else.

So please, whether you’re nominated in my post or not, please know I truly care for you all in this community.

The Third Annual 2019 Book Blogger Awards

Joce @ Write Through the Night is the original creator, but has retired due to moving onto YouTube! May @ Forever and Everly has taken over the mantel over, so hence forth the 2019 awards! She asked Joce if she could carry it on, to which she agreed. I honestly don’t want all her hard work to go unnoticed, so here we are! Thank you again May for all of your hard work with reviving this!

The awards, voting system and special instructions are in May’s post but the basics are:

• Vote up to 3 people for each category
• You DON’T have to pick someone for each category
• Write the blogger’s name, their blog name and a link to their blog in the post
• Write something small about them and why you chose them
• Use #2019BookBloggerAwards and/or link back to May’s original post

There’s more to it, but those are the basics!

My Personal Guidelines and Voting Methods

THIS WAS A STRUGGLE!! As I mentioned before, I had this tug-o-war going on during this. Thus, I made myself some personal rules and guidelines and methods to follow so I felt the whole experience was more fair:

• Only one person per category with the exception of the Most Importantly section (3 bloggers per prompt)
• All friendship ties set aside (like how friends are on hold in Settlers of Catan games …) in order to nominate fairly
• All individuals selected will be chosen based off of not only how closely aligned they are with the prompt but by experience, outreach and connection with the community, and demonstrating multiple occurrences of demonstrating the prompt
• In an attempt to reach out more, I will not be voting for the SAME person more than ONCE with the EXCEPTION of the Most Importantly, where I may touch upon a blogger already discussed in the previous prompts
• There are a few categories I didn’t include, since I refuse to simply “fill-in-the-blanks” for all the prompts

Alrighty … *the anxiety’s kicking in* … without further ado, here are my nominations!

Best of their Age

Best Pre-Teen/Teen Book Blogger (13-19)

Kelly @ Another Book in the Wall | Kelly’s a HUGE influence in the blogging world, which is apparent on her main WordPress blog and her other social media outlets. It’s been incredible to see her grow throughout this past year. She writes beautiful reviews, has the most intriguing writing prompts, a lovely and well organized website, an incredibly friendly personality and she EVEN made a Teen Influencer Book Blog Directory to showcase young bloggers. She’s almost at the 3K mark for followers as well and it just continues to rise!

Best Adult Book Blogger (20+)

Marie & Nyx @ Drizzle & Hurricane Reads | This blog … is ACTUAL book blogger goals. Seriously, I barely have the words to describe my envy of Marie and Nyx’s blog! They maintain the “rainy” vibe through all the special aesthetics, even the links to their other social media outlets buttons and their incredibly adorable signatures and their post feature images. Beyond the aesthetics, the blog is extremely well organized … making it easy to lose track of time scrolling through their website. Marie, the main owner, is incredibly kind and wonderful; Nyx, the co-creator, is just as lovely! I also love how it’s not only a co-owned blog but that they’re siblings! Book reviews, tags, travel posts, writing updates … this site has it all! They also have over 7,000 followers according to their site … which is QUITE a feat!

Best Genre Bloggers

NOTE: This does NOT mean these bloggers ONLY review this content. However, the nominated genre is a genre that they’ve perfected and appear as an expert on.

Young Adult

Marija @ Inside My Library Mind | This girl KNOWS how to write some epic reviews! But it’s not only that she writes impeccable reviews, but she has actually influenced me to spread my young adult reading horizons (Emma Mills FTW). She knows her audience well and her books even more.

New Adult / General Adult

Shalini @ Shalini’s Books & Reviews | If I need a change from YA, I go to Shalini’s blog. Not only does she review a large number of New Adult and General Adult novels, but they’re diverse in sub-genres. From romance to fantasy to thriller, I know I can find something on her site.

Romance

Sofia @ Bookish Wanderess | Not only are her reviews detailed, but she even has posts that lay out different kinds of romance so different types of readers will know what’s more their cup of tea. Honestly, it’s a brilliant idea. Sofia also covers a wide range of romance: YA, Adult, LGBTQ+, and different racial/ethnic identities to name a few. She’s my go-to if I’m feeling a good ol’ romance story.

Science Fiction / Fantasy

Bentley @ BookBastion | I’ve been following Bentley’s blog since I started blogging in 2017 … and THIS IS MY GO TO FANTASY AND SCI-FI BLOG! Bentley’s reviews are SO DETAILED, really getting into the pros and cons and expectations for each novel. He also reviews multiple age groups with these genres, which I’m a HUGE fan of.

Mystery / Thriller

Zuky @ BookBum | Honestly, how can you NOT vote for her?! What I love is she relatively STICKS with mystery/crime/thriller novels, so I know what to expect. And this is SUCH a popular genre! A number of my colleagues and friends have already started following her after I showed them some of her reviews. Her reviews are precise, detailed and not overly lengthy … because as much as I like long reviews, sometimes I just have no time for that. I don’t read this genre … AND SHE MAKES ME WANT TO READ THESE BOOKS!

Best of Book Blogging

Best Book Reviews

Chaz @ Life of Chaz | Chaz has this WAY with writing unique reviews … I’ve never really seen a layout like it before. Rather than just listing a bunch of pros and cons, Chaz organizes his thoughts by highlighting key elements and topics that the novel draws upon. They’re also well thought-out and provide great detail without overdoing it!

Best Book Recommendations

Lily @ Sprinkle of Dreams | Lily publishes these REALLY epic and fun recommendation posts. What I find the most UNIQUE about her posts though is they’re not just generic recommendations based off of a genre … they highlight topics such as top of that year, books with good friendships, non-fiction highlights, beautifully written and much more. She also has a specific section in her main menu for recommendations, making this easy to find! Annnnnnd her blog is pretty to look at while reading these, so that’s also a bonus!

Best Discussion Posts

The Orang-utan Librarian | I just love how The Orang-utan Librarian has SO MANY unique topics on their blog. Honestly, they cater to all different kinds of readers out there looking to just talk and talk about books. But it’s just that they’re discussion posts are epic and hilarious and unique, but The Orang-utan Librarian is able to actually keep up with commenting back and engaging with the community. Seriously … HOW DOES THE ORANG-UTAN LIBRARIAN DO IT?! Have you SEEN the number of COMMENTS on their blog posts?! It’s HUGE!

Best Blog Aesthetics

Alex @ Whimsy Pages | Oh my goodness … Alex’s blog is STUNNING! Honestly, it’s flippin’ goals! It’s minimalist but still has this gorgeous flare; this is both with her post layout and the feature images she used (which I’m PRETTY sure she does herself, so extra points). The other great thing? THIS BLOG’S SO ORGANIZED! Like really, people say I’m organized? Not even close when it comes to this site! Her headings are super detailed and make it easy to navigate her blog.

Best Blogging/Writing Voice

Lauren @ Narrative Paradise | Whether it’s a book tag, a review of some sort, or just a game of comment tag … LAUREN MAKES ME LAUGH SO HARD! When you read her posts, they don’t feel over done — there engaging, welcoming and feel as though you’re just sitting around at a coffee shop having a good ol’ time. I love this type of writing, for I feel more connected with the blogger.

Miscellaneous

Most Engaged in the Community

May @ Forever and Everly | I think this goes without saying … SHE’S HOSTING THE EVENT! But it’s beyond this — she’s very engaged with the community, providing lovely discussion posts and interacting with as many people as she can. Seriously, some of her posts have hundreds of comments and she STILL finds the time to respond … and I mean a genuinely interested and not vague response. I don’t know if I can vote for her since she’s hosting … but I don’t care. It’s well deserved.

Best Social Media Influencer

Melanie @ Mel to the Any | Alright now … you have to be living under a ROCK to not know Melanie … pardon my bluntness. Seriously though … I don’t know HOW she manages to balance time between her WordPress blog, Instagram, Twitter and gosh KNOWS what other social media outlets. And it’s NOT just the fact that she uses them all … a lot of us do. It’s the actually ENGAGEMENT! Big posts, diverse topics on each outlet, a high following on them all, her attention to commenting and replying to people on them all without these generic replies … it gives me anxiety THINKING about doing that. Good on yea, love!

Best Personality

Sofii @ A Book. A Thought. | Oh my goodness … this girl has a heart of gold! She’s so polite and hilarious, making her a lovely person to talk with! Her personality shines in the community, for she’s so welcoming and vibrant! When there are so many of us and you see her name commented all the time, you know it’s largely due to how warm and kind she is — she’s just, overall, a caring and supportive blogger … something we should all strive to be. But seriously … this woman’s so funny … she makes me laugh ALL the time with her posts and comments.

Friendliest Member of the Community

Lois @ My Midnight Musing | Back when Bookmark Your Thoughts was this TEENY TINY book blog in this VAST community, Lois reached out and decided to follow me. But she didn’t just “follow” to “follow = gain followers” — she just genuinely wanted to discuss book topics and liked my content. She’s one of those RARE people that I don’t think knows what being MAD or MEAN means ha-ha! Honestly, her blog deserves SO MUCH MORE recognition! Thanks for being such a lovely person, Lois!

Best at Promoting Diverse Books

Kal @ Reader Voracious | I LITERALLY just discovered Kal … AND THANK GOSH FOR YOU PEOPLE SHARING OTHER BLOGGERS’ WEBSITES! I know a lot of us review books with diversity … but have you SEEN the detail Kal has gone into showcasing diversity in literature?! An interaction ARC program … a diversity index … yeah … she deserves this SO MUCH!

Most Importantly

Best Small Book Blogger (under 1,000 followers)

Olivia @ Purely Olivia | Honestly, I was actually shocked that she wasn’t in the 1K+ category! With the wide range of content, her upbeat personality, her outreach initiatives and those LOVELY blog aesthetics … HOW?! Her Instagram account is also incredibly adorable — she uses this cute quote thing as an accent for her posts and writes really great “question of the day” prompts to create lovely bookish conversations.

Alex @ Whimsy Pages | Another HUGE shocker … seriously guys, give her some LOVE! Her reviews are so well-written, her blog’s VERY well organized, she’s a FLIPPIN’ fantastic personal with a grand personality, she really tries to connect with everyone as much as possible on all of her social media outlets … AND SHE HAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL INSTAGRAM!! Some days … I wish her Instagram was mine … it’s so pretty and clean!

Ashley @ Ashes Books & Bobs | And yes … another “how does she not have more followers” shocker … COME ON, PEOPLE! Ashley writes the most lovely reviews, full of great detail yet not overloaded with information that one grows board. She also uses her own photography for her feature images, which I think it just splendid since that takes a lot of extra work! But what I REALLY love is she’s not afraid to say it as it is, discussing topics that many of us are too afraid to discuss. She’s a HUGE supporter of the blogging community while also balancing life by raising a family and being a home school educator!

Best Overall Book Blogger

Melanie @ Mel to the Any | I FEEL as though if you’re a book blogger, you know of Melanie. She has this charisma that we all want … that I don’t have ha-ha! She makes you WANT to be her BFF. Her posts are super organized on all social media platforms, and she’ just so lovely to talk with. The biggest PRO to Melanie as a blogger is her willingness to talk about the THINGS people don’t want to and her strive to discuss diversity on all levels.

Sha & Mandy @ Book Princess Reviews | I’m pretty sure I started following these two within the first few months of creating this blog … I’m OBSESSED with Disney princesses! They’re blog is FULL of fun and interesting topics. They also maintain the “princess” aspect not just through the basic aesthetics but also through their rating system … WHICH IS LIKE NO OTHER!! Seriously, SO FLIPPIN’ creative! I don’t know how people think of these things. They’re also lovely people to talk with!

Marie & Nyx @ Drizzle & Hurricane Reads | The aesthetics of this blog are so unique in comparison to everyone else! EVERYTHING is arranged around the rain concept. Seriously, their signatures are cute cartoons of themselves in rain jackets!! They put JUST as much time and effort into their posts as well, ranging from multiple topics and a wide array of genres they review. They’re also very polite and kind bloggers!

Goodreads | Instagram | Tumblr