Armchair BEA: Young Adult

So today we're talking about Young Adult books, which are near and dear to my heart. I still can't believe that a couple of years ago, I'd never really heard of this genre. I mean, here in Holland it's only gotten big over the last year I think, there's now a 'young adult' shelf in our local bookstore where before everything was just shelfed in 'children's' and there weren't really all that many books to choose from.

I love that there's such a big selection of books out there for this age group and I wish I'd known about it when I was a teen. At that time I wasn't really reading a lot of books. Instead, I scoured FictionPress for stories to read because the library didn't provide much of a selection (or I'd read them all a thousand times already) and well, I basically had no money to buy books. I'll be forever grateful for this though, because discovering the what was then called 'Queen of Glass' (you now know it as Throne of Glass) by Sarah J. Maas and following her blog led me to Goodreads, discovering so many books and then to blogging.
So maybe this has been a good thing.

But I'm drifting off topic.

I am one of those adults who read YA, I think I love it so much because there are just so many real and raw emotions. It's frequently a coming of age story and there's so much room for character growth! I love experiencing the first time someone falls in love with them and there are a lot of other firsts as well and I love that! And I'm not saying you can't have all these things in genres besides YA, I just come across them more often there. I love that it feels like everything's still possible and there's such a range of tough issues that are dealt with in these books!
And I love the gorgeous covers! YA has some of the best covers out there!

YA is usually fresh and new and I guess that's why I keep coming back for more.

Do you read YA? Are your reasons similar to mine? Leave me a link to your post!

Armchair BEA: Blogger Development & Genre Fiction

So today we get to talk about two things: blogger development and genre fiction. I don't know how helpful I'll be at the first subject, but let's give this a go.

Blogger Development

Even though I've been doing this for almost 3 years now, I still feel like such a newbie! I'm not one of the big blogs out there and I'm ok with that. I do however think that over the years I've grown as a blogger, I've begun showing more of myself through my Daisy Updates and I've made friends through Twitter. I've let the though that I should be pushing myself to become the next big thing go, because I don't want to force myself to be someone other than myself on this blog.
I do have some tips though:

-Twitter is your friend: seriously, if you want to get yourself some blogging friends, Twitter is probably the easiest place to start. Everyone is very friendly and open and you can just jump in a conversation. I love that I can connect with people all over the world through this and it's a good way to market your blog.

-Requesting arcs is easy, make sure you have the time to read them: I am so guilty of this pitfall... There are so many shiny books up on Edelweiss and NetGalley and if you're lucky enough to be able to get your hands on physical arcs, it is SO tempting to just request EVERYTHING. Before you know it you'll be gleefully swimming in ARCs. Then comes the panic of knowing you can never ever read all of them before the release date...

-Be yourself: people will know if you're pretending to be someone you're not and hey, nobody likes that! People will like you for who you are, there's a book reading buddy for everyone :)

-Decide if you want to brand yourself: having a sort of 'genre blog' can be the way to attract a large following, but decide for yourself if that is what you want. There are pros and limitations that come with this. I'm an eclectic reader and my blog shows that, but there are blogs that focus mainly on YA or romance or urban fantasy or well, basically anything that comes to mind.

-Enjoy yourself: this is possibly the best advice anyone could give you in my opinion. Because if you're not doing it because you love it, why would you put all of this time and effort into it??

Genre Fiction

I do appreciate literary fiction, I do. But if you scroll through the posts on my blog, you will find out that I'm ALL OVER genre fiction. I love that possibilities that come with it! I'll list some of my favourite genres and favourites in said genre:

-Fantasy: this is quite possibly my biggest love. Dragons and knights and swordfighting! There's just something about a guy with a sword...
Some favourites that come to mind are A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, Fire and Thorns series by Rae Carson, Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Witchlanders by Lena Coakley, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.

-Historical Romance: I love swooning over strong heroes and beautiful heroines and balls and gorgeous dresses and ALL OF THE EMOTIONS! Seriously, these books have some of the best romances out there. And kissing ;)
Some of my favourite authors: Sarah MacLean, Sophie Jordan (though I know her Firelight series is probably better known than her historical romance), Julia Quinn, Katharine Ashe.

-Paranormal Romance: particularly of the YA version. There are some bad eggs in this genre, some Twilight-wannabes, but there are also some of the most compelling stories I've ever read.
Favourites: Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead (I've only read the first 3, but they are AWESOME), Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter, Everneath by Brodi Ashton, Die For Me by Amy Plum, The Unearthly series by Cynthia Hand.

Ok, somebody stop me before I just list ALL the books I love!

So any recommendations for me? Books we share a love for? Tips for becoming a better blogger? Let me know!

Armchair BEA 2013 Introductions!

So it's time for Armchair BEA for all of us sad little bloggers who don't get to go to this amazing event for whatever reason. I would love to be in New York right now, but as I live in Holland, that just costs a whole lot of money...
But let me introduce myself:

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?
Hi! My name is Daiy, I'm a 25-year-old doctor, girlfriend, food enthusiast and of course self-proclaimed book nerd. I've been blogging for almost 3 years now, I got into it through the College Students group over on Goodreads. Jamie asked who wanted to be part of a book blog and I jumped at the chance and the result is The Broke and the Bookish. Only blogging every now and then wasn't enough for me and I decided to start my own blog.

2. Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location. Feel free to share pictures.
I live in Holland, Nijmegen to be exact. Nijmegen is home to a huge four day walking event every year in July, people all over the country and even some international folks come to my city for this and there's a festival during the whole week surrounding this event.

3. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2013?
I'm currently reading A Feast For Crows by George R.R. Martin, I love this series so much! My two favourite reads of 2013 are The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson (I was lucky enough to receive an e-arc and guys, it was SO GOOD) and Splintered by A.G. Howard.

4. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?
HOGWARTS! Seriously, I would KILL for a Hogwarts acceptance letter and a chance to study magic there! Oh, and all the awesome balls in my beloved historical romance novels, because what can be more romantic than being swept across a ballroom by a handsome man? :)

5. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community?
I love that I've gotten to know so many amazing people over the years! I love that I can geek out with you guys over books and boys in books and just discuss all of my favourite things! I love that when I have a problem or I'm a bit down, I can just go on Twitter and someone will be around to cheer me up. Everyone is so friendly and accepting and I'm just really grateful that I get to share my love of reading and that it's NORMAL to read as much as I do! And the book recommendations! I probably wouldn't have read half of the book I did if it wasn't for all your aweseome recommendations!

So that's me in a nutshell! I hope everyone's enjoying Armchair BEA and isn't too jealous of all those people having fun at BEA without us... I will live vicariously through tweets and recaps and such, but for now I'm glad to join in on the fun right here!