Let's Talk: Books I Have Read Because of Book Bloggers

Let's Talk is a weekly feature at i swim for oceans.

Question: What books have you read because of the recommendations of book bloggers?

 I only recently started keeping track on Goodreads of who recommend me books, but I know there are a ton of bloggers that I value the opinions of. A lot of the time though, I am turned off of books more so than turned on to them. I'm not saying that I see a negative review and automatically decide not to read it, but sometimes someone will say like "there was so much bodice-ripping romance!" and I'll think O_o maybe not for me. I think that book bloggers influence people, even if it's not directly from their blog. I get a lot of recommendations on Twitter and Goodreads. I think most book bloggers post their reviews on Amazon or Barnes & Noble and those reviews help people decide if a book is for them or not. Maybe people don't come to my blog to see reviews, but they read my reviews in one of the million other places that I post. As the head of the YA department at my library, I am always talking about books. I tell kids about books and fellow librarians and EVERYONE! So I think bloggers are super important, because early reviews help librarians decide which books to order and we don't always trust the industry reviews ;)

I have had the pleasure of being recommended some fantastic titles from fellow book bloggers though. One that comes to mind because I adored it is one that Irish from Ticket to Anywhere recommended. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. It was such an amazing read, and I'm so glad she made me read it.

A lot of the time bloggers don't necessarily recommend books just to me, but talk so much about how much they love the, (like Melissa and Raw Blue) that I am dying to read them, because they must be fantastic. This happens a lot with books that have little publicity or covers that don't quite work for me. I'll read a review and know that it is a great pick for me.