The Blogger Recognition Award

Huge thanks to Lauren @ Wonderless Reviews for the tag! If you haven’t already, go check out her blog and give her a follow. You will not be disappointed! (She just wrote an awesome 3-star review of ACOTAR. Despite my raving 5-star review, I can totally get on board with her opinions.)

Write a post to show your award
Give a brief story of how your blog started.
Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to.

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History of Cuppa ‘n Critiques

A brief history of my blog? Uhhhh…ok, here it is. I got back into reading last summer when I discovered Kindle Unlimited and my coworker and I bonded over our common love for romance novels. As the school year approached, I decided to start reading “more serious” books and started with ACOTAR. I started reading more and writing reviews on Goodreads. I had wanted a place to vent and gush about books, and also been thinking about starting a book blog, but was too chicken. I finally bit the bullet and created one with the encouragement of my friend and coworker. That blog has now become the one you know and love today. 😉

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Advice for New Bloggers

I feel like I’m still fairly new to blogging, as I’ve only had my blog since January, but here is what I have learned.

Be Yourself – One of the most important things you want to do is be yourself. I doubt people will want to read your blog if it’s just like everyone else’s or if your personality comes across as fake. Give people a reason to hit that follow button and want to read your posts. I’m not saying that you can’t do something that everyone else is also doing (i.e. Top Ten Tuesday, Sunday Post, Top Five Wednesday, etc.) because I actually highly recommend it. Just make sure to also do something where you get to share your own voice so people get to know you too. Am I making sense?

INTERACT – I will continue to say this until I’m blue in the face. I cannot stress enough about how important interacting with other bloggers is. We really are nice people, I promise! That’s probably the number one way I’ve gotten my blog out there. An important thing to remember though, is that if you are going to other blogs and leaving comments, make sure they’re thoughtful. For me, I’m more inclined to go visit a blog of someone who’s actually interacting and leaving thoughts that just someone who says, “Great blog, here’s mine!” It creates a curiosity and I want to read more of they’ve written.

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Nominees

Brittany @ Beauty and the Bean Boots

Sam @ The Literary Sam

The Monster @ The Hungry Monster Book Review

Raquel @ Rakioddbooks

Shayla @ The Feathered Reader

Deidra Alexandra

Angie @ Thoughts of a Writer and Avid Reader

Sammie @ Bookshelves & Biros

Carrie @ Carrie’s Book Reviews

Kristen @ The Bookish Introvert

The Pirate Captain @ Captain’s Quarters

Lila @ The Bookkeeper’s Secrets

Giovanna @ Book Coma

Kyleigh @ Coffeehouse Chatter

Ve @ Tiny Box of Imagination

If you’ve already done this or don’t want to, don’t mind me. (:

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