Blogging is a weird experience. It’s amazing and fun and creative and… well, fun. At least, for me. I usually find myself on the subway, on my way to work, furiously writing down on my phone’s notepad, a post that has just occurred to me. Or taking note of topics for new posts, every 5 minutes. Whenever I’m bored or have nothing to do, I start thinking about what I can write for the blog. I watch movies and read books differently now. It’s not like I’ve become obsessed (though that’s almost my default mode), but I think that, in blogging, I’ve found a sort of creative and productive way to channel my fandoms.
And that’s not the only reason. 99% of the fun comes from “meeting” like-minded people. I love talking to other fans on Twitter, Facebook or on the comments section. I find that just a simple tweet, from a fellow fan from across the world, someone I will most surely never meet, can brighten my day. Because you talk about things that you like, that make you happy. I believe that I’ve maintained some fandoms for so long, because I love the fans from that fandom and I love talking to them. So the constant feedback keeps bringing me back to the fandom. Otherwise, I might have already abandoned some of them.
Another perk of blogging and being active on Social Media is that you get to have some sort of “close encounters” with the people you fangirl over: actors, directors, musicians, writers, etc. Some may re-tweet you, mark as favorite your comments or downright answer you. When that happens, you just have to take a moment to flail all over the place. At least, that’s what I do.
Ok, all this intro is because of this: the other day I posted my review for the book ““. And, believe it or not, Christina Hobbs actually tweeted me about it. Let me take a minute to grin like an idiot again. Ok, moving on. Here’s our little convo (for those who need to see to believe):
Let me say one thing first: I’m not going to change my review just because of this. I still just “like” the book. It didn’t drive me crazy like Beautiful Player did, but it was ok. I had fun reading it, I liked the characters, I would recommend it to anyone who asks about it and I will read the other books in the series. After all… Ansel and Mia just “liked” each other, right?
But what Christina said and the link she sent me got me thinking. (Here’s the . You just have to read this scene from Ansel’s POV). I was reading “Sweet Filthy Boy” expecting it to be Beautiful Player when it’s not. It could never be that. And I’m saying this in the most positive way ever. They are totally different series, with different characters, different rhythms and structures. If I stop to think about it, I liked Mia and I liked Ansel a great deal. I may not have fallen for Ansel, but he is cute and he is sweet and he is goofy and he is charming. And Mia still has the quality I appreciate most in Christina Lauren’s writing: I don’t want to strangle her. I actually like her. I can see myself being her friend.
The interview on the link also made me see the reason behind not including Ansel’s POV. And… it does make sense. I think I read the book wanting the guy’s POV because that’s what I like. Because every single book is always written from the girl’s perspective and I find Christina Lauren’s male perspective so original and refreshing. Those are the chapters I love the most, the one’s I find more romantic and more funny. So I wanted to be inside the guy’s head. But what the writers say it’s true. If I put myself in Mia’s shoes for like 5 minutes, Ansel would be “pretty disingenuous and hard to forgive”, if all along I knew he was keeping things from Mia.
So there you have it. I was rightly put in my place and I loved it. Now I can see the book in a different light and accept it. Though… I kinda did go all “aaaawwww” and fell a little for Ansel reading the scene from his POV. I’m sorry!!! That’s just who I am.
