Letter from Aestas | Aestas Book Blog

After a decade of reading and reviewing books, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to take a step back from blogging. Running this book blog has been such a huge and wonderful part of my life. I’ve written over 600 book reviews and loved the experience of getting to share my love of reading with so many other readers from around the world.

Blogging was quite an unexpected journey for me though as I never set out to “start” a blog at all. Back in 2011, I simply began reading so much that I wanted a way to remember which books were my most favorites… and that’s when I started writing reviews. At first, my reviews were written more for my own sake than anyone else’s. They began as a way for me to keep track of the books I enjoyed and remember what I loved most about each one.

You see, I was quite picky about the types of books I wanted to read and had a hard time finding anywhere specifically recommending what I was looking for. I was drawn to romantic books that made my heart race, but I also strongly preferred no stupidity powering the storyline or eye-roll-enducing drama, and of course I needed a happy ending as I’ve always been quite allergic to cliffhangers. At that time, there weren’t many romance book review sites out there in general and none that focused on the particular type of books I personally wanted to read so my reviews were a way for me to catalogue the books I’d found that fit within the criteria I was looking for. At first, I really didn’t expect anyone else to read my reviews, but as I began to realize that my reviews were actually helping other readers find books they loved as well, I decided to officially begin blogging and started this website to hold all my reviews. Writing reviews was also quite cathartic for me because, after reading a truly wonderful book, I was often overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings so writing my thoughts down in reviews helped give me closure from a story and highlight/remember what I loved most about a book. I also found that I genuinely loved helping other readers find new books. So my blog began and I continued reading and reviewing books for it for almost a decade.

However, the truth is that in the last while, I found myself falling in love with fewer and fewer books — I don’t know if it’s because I started to feel like I’d basically read every plotline within the types of stories I loved so many times over, or maybe if the other parts out my life just became too busy and I began having less time to read, but, regardless of the reason, I was falling in love with fewer and fewer books. And here’s the thing – this blog has always been a passion project for me so if I genuinely wasn’t falling in love with as many books, I didn’t want to continue to review books just for the sake of reviewing them. That was never what this blog was about so I just felt myself naturally drifting away from reviewing and blogging. A few months ago, I decided to try taking a break from blogging and honestly I have really been enjoying the mental freedom that came from that decision. So, least for the immediate future, I’m going to officially step away from my blog. I may begin reviewing books again one day – and that might be in a month, a year, or never… I can’t say for sure, but that door will always remain open.

My blogging goal was always to put a spotlight on the wonderful books I loved and to share them with other readers. So even though I’m not reviewing new books at this time, I will leave this whole website up in the hope that it will continue to help new readers find new favorite books to fall in love with. I have 630 reviews and recommendations of books I’ve personally loved and would love for other readers to fall in love with too and I can see through my analytics that, even though I’m not actively blogging, readers continue to come to my blog every day and read my older reviews so it makes me happy to know that my reviews are still connecting readers with awesome books.

I also want to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to the thousands of amazing readers who’ve followed my blog over the years, and THANK YOU to the wonderfully talented authors who’ve written the beautiful stories that we’ve all fallen in love with. You’ve all given me so much joy and I’m so very grateful for all of it.

I may return to blogging one day, and I may randomly post a surprise review/recommendation every now and again, but for now I wanted to officially make a statement that explains why my blog hasn’t been updated in a while and why it won’t have new content for the foreseeable future.

If I ever start reviewing again, I will announce it by email, so please subscribe to my email list if you’d like to get a notification should that day come. I will not be sending emails out via that list until then though.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for my top recommendations, here’s a list of my standout favorite books:

1. The Bronze Horseman Trilogy by Paullina Simons (My Review) – this will always and forever by my #1 fav!
2. The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay (My Review) – one of the most powerful endings ever!
3. The Life Intended by Kristin Harmel (My Review) – incredibly unique love story with all the feels!
4. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah (My Review) – this has possibly my favorite epilogue ever!
5. Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan (My Review) – gorgeous, heart-warming romance!
6. Slammed & Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover (My Review) – one of my first reviews, and still a top fav!
7. Devney Perry books: reading list – heart-warming, gorgeous romance perfection every single time!
8. Kristen Ashley books: reading list – badass alpha romance – pure epic, great families, much variety!
9. Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon: reading list – addictive paranormal romance, my fav PNR world!
10. On The Island by Tracey Garvis Graves (My Review) – just a truly beautiful story!
11. The Starcrossed series by Leisa Rayven (My Review) – the best purely angsty romance I’ve read!
12. A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole (My Review) – ugly cry romance perfection!
13. Crossfire series by Sylvia Day (My Review) – hot sexy romance but deeply emotional and addictive!
14. Addicted series by Krista & Becca Ritchie – great romances and one of the best family dynamics ever!
15. Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind (Series Overview) – fantasy, fantastic morals and world building!
16. Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost (Series Overview) – action-packed vampire romance fun!
17. Mists of the Serengeti by Leylah Attar (My Review) – an ugly cry favorite!
18. Becoming Calder & Finding Eden by Mia Sheridan (My Review) – another ugly cry favorite!
19. Black Dagger Brotherhood series by JR Ward: reading order – badass/epic paranormal vampire romance!
20. The Girl He Used To Know by Tracey Garvis Graves (My Review) – second half of the book hit me so hard!
21. In The Stillness by Andrea Randall (My Review) – the feels… literally all the feels!
22. Wallbanger by Alice Clayton (My Review) – most I’ve ever laughed reading any book!
23. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (My Review) – stunning wartime story!

A full list of all my reviews can also always be found at this link.

Happy reading! ❤

~Aestas