Tag: RaeAnna Rekemeyer

Lifestyle

I’m Not In It For the Free Stuff… BUT!

RaeAnna

For this week’s Tuesday Truth, I want to talk about the one thing that is really starting to get on my last nerve about being a blogger. 

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I started Bookish Liaisons as a hobby and a passion project. A place I could take all my thoughts and opinions about the books I read. It still is. It has definitely grown larger than my wildest dreams. It accidentally turned into a small job and business. This place of mine transformed from a book blog into a bookish lifestyle blog because I’m a nerd with a life!

I never, not once, started this to get free stuff. Actually, the first time someone sent me a free book, I was thrilled and mostly shocked. “I should have started doing this a long time ago,” went through my mind because free books! A bookworm’s dream. I do not search out free books, and I do not search out free stuff. Sometimes, I get things in exchange for an honest review. Always honest. I’m never going to sell out for loot. Or try and sell my followers on things I don’t genuinely believe in.

Complete honesty: I’m pretty proud of the following I have on Instagram. I love all my followers because they are joining in on this great journey of mine. I’m no Selena Gomez, but I’m doing just fine!

Due to the number of followers I have, I get a lot of offers from companies and people wanting to send me their products. I turn down most because I am very picky about what I associate with. I am only ever going to talk about, post, and promote things I believe in and would spend my own money on. The books I have received from publishers are fabulous, but I only say “yes” to the books I’m actually interested in reading. I have turned down a ton of books, even if they are free. No matter what, I still review with honesty. (The books I have hated the most have been books sent to me for free. Oh man, I roasted a couple.) I’m not going to put my integrity on the line for a free book. No way. If I upset a publisher, editor, or author because of that, so be it.

What is starting to get on my last nerve as a blogger: companies soliciting. I’m a blogger. I’m a blogger on a limited budget. I freelance for a living. I like to spend my money on three things: travel, my dog, and food. I’m a bargain shopper when it comes to books because I’m a bargain shopper with e.v.e.r.y.thing. I ABSOLUTELY HATE WHEN COMPANIES, AUTHORS, ANYONE REACHES OUT ASKING ME TO BUY THEIR PRODUCT AND REVIEW IT. I get. We all have to hustle. It’s the way of the world. If you really want me to review your book, candle, bookmark, product, whatever, then send me an email, ask if I’d be interested, and then send it to me for free. I will never ever ever ask anyone to send me something for free. If I want it I will buy it. I am not going to spend the little money I have on something I do not want, need, or am looking for.

I have been contacted so many times because people want me to buy, review, and promote their product. Being a blogger, creating content, writing posts, and promoting takes A LOT of time. If you can’t pay for my time to market your product as the influencer I am, then at least offer to send it to me for free. I always politely say “thanks, but no thanks.” Sometimes, they even ask if I could shout them out or repost their pictures on my feed directing my followers their way. NO. Unless I can product test, I am not going to promote it. Integrity people. So many of the people who have approached me this way had products I would have totally accepted. Not now. Ya gotta spend some to make some.

I’m nothing special; I have a respectable following. I am an influencer and a blogger. I absolutely love doing this. I hate that people don’t take the work, my time, or my followers seriously. I’m not in this for free stuff. I am also not in this to spend all of my money.

End of rant!

Books

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 323
Quick Review Amy Schumer is a household name as a bold and open comic, movie star, TV star, writer, and more, but do we really know her?

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I live under a rock, so I had never heard of Amy Schumer until her 2016 movie Trainwreck. In the two years following, I have become a big fan. I love her honesty. She’s not perfect, but she is real. In The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, she ramps up her candor and imperfections even more. She becomes an even more relatable star as she humorously tells some of the ups and downs and face plants of her life.

I am drawn to people who deal with struggle through humor; probably because I do the same damn thing. Schumer’s stand up is hilarious and powerful and sometimes in your face. Her book is a subdued version of all of those things. She looks comfortable on stage for comedy shows. During interviews, she seems nervous and uncomfortable like she’d rather be any where else preferably not in the spotlight. Instead of entertaining on a stage or sitting on a couch for an interview, her introversion shines through. She is just that: an introvert. In her book, it feels like she gets to tell her story on her own terms without having the pressure of being funny.

I have always appreciated her unapologetic honesty. Her book is even more so. She talks about her family, her struggles, her relationships, losing her virginity, abuse, the road to success, having money, and so much more. She lets her fans and readers in and see what is behind her on stage persona.

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She has a very self-deprecating sense of humor. I appreciate this because I too spend most of my time pointing out my flaws. Although, I hope she could see herself the way so many people see her: as a smart, talented, beautiful woman. It is obvious she deals with self-esteem issues sometimes bordering on ‘does she have any self-confidence at all?’ But I would love to meet a woman on this earth who doesn’t. This book was written two years ago, and it’s evident the themes in her latest movie I Feel Pretty have been long lasting themes in her own life.

Candor is one of the most notable points in her memoir. She talks about her parents honestly. She has no qualm about critiquing or slamming present and past self. Her inclusion of diary entries is hilarious and wonderful. She includes footnotes, which are equally funny. It takes a lot of lady balls to let the world see the ridiculousness that is teenage diaries.

Schumer is a born storyteller. She has a tendency to meander through her stories and chapters by adding one or three tales on her way to making her main point. They may or may not have something to do with her point, but they are all entertaining.
I highly suggest The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo to anyone who enjoys a good laugh and a multidimensional memoir. I know I do!

Memorable Quotes
“If you’re a true introvert, other people are basically energy vampires.”
“I don’t know what a hedge fund is. I want a hedgehog fund.”
“…nobody can be innocent and wise at the same time.”
“This is how we were raised: we were always oppressively OKAY.”

Title: The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo
Author: Amy Schumer
Publisher: Gallery Books (Simon & Schuster)
Copyright: 2016
ISBN: 9781501139888
Books

Purple Hibiscus

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 307
Quick Review Set against the backdrop of a Nigerian coup, a 15 year old Kambili learns about love and life outside of her childhood home controlled by a religious zealot.

I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She is my favorite author, and I have now officially read all of her books. Purple Hibiscus is her first novel, and it’s beautiful.

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Nigeria is in the midst of a complete upheaval. Kambili, a 15 year old girl, and her brother, Jaja, stay with their aunt and cousins in Nsukka. Kambili begins to realize the extent of her father’s religious fundamentalism and abusive nature when she compares it with the loving, open household her cousins flourish in.

Adichie explores so many interesting themes throughout the progression of the novel. Christian fundamentalism is a looming presence as Kambili struggles with her father’s oppression even when she is far out of reach. She is unable to engage with her surroundings, family, and even herself because she lives in perpetual fear of her father’s wrath and eternal damnation. The physical and psychological abuse Kambili, Jaja, and their mother live with is intense. Aunt Ifeoma and her children are the voice of progressivism.

I love Adichie’s inclusion of Igbo words peppered throughout the narrative.

I seriously suggest this novel to anyone interested in reading. It’s a beautiful and moving novel full of hope and heartbreak speaking to the resilience of the human spirit.   

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Memorable Quotes
“I was not sure what my laughter sounded like.”
“We didn’t scale the today because we believed we could, we scaled it because we were terrified we couldn’t.”

Title: Purple Hibiscus
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Publisher: Collins (HarperCollins Publishers)
Copyright:  2004
ISBN: 9780007345328

Lifestyle

The GOC: The Grammar Obsessed Character

RaeAnna

I’ve decided to do a series called Tuesday Truths. I’m a huge fan of the truth, so why not get down and dirty with the thoughts that cross my mind as a reader, as a blogger, as an Instagrammer, and everything in between. So… kind of my once a week complain session, but it’s a well founded complain sesh. Let’s start off with a good one.

I hate books with grammar obsessed protagonists.

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As an avid reader, I come across books of all shapes, sizes, and plots. Something that keeps cropping up: main characters with a grammar obsession. It’s overdone and not done well. Writers are a language obsessed group, and grammar is a part of that obsession. It’s appealing to write a character with this specific neurosis because it’s familiar.

I dare you to name one person you truly enjoy being around who is constantly correcting your grammar and how you speak. I can’t come up with one either. No one likes being reprimanded mid-sentence because they used who instead of whom. It’s called conversation; I’m not writing a thesis while talking about my favorite way to prepare a potato. Let’s just have fun and enjoy the company.

As unpleasant as these people are in real life, they are even more unpleasant on the page. I have yet to read a grammar obsessed character I like or relate with or want to know better. They literally never come off as endearing. The author usually tries to sell it as a cute quirk. Not cute. Not a quirk. It’s annoying. It makes me not like your book. Each character has come off as snotty and better than me. I don’t want to waste my time on a character I wouldn’t give the time of day to in real life.  

On top of being awful, the books usually have grammar mistakes. This is partially the editors fault, but it’s also the author’s fault. If you’re writing an uppity grammar police of a character, then your prose better be flawless. I mean immaculate. If it’s not, then you come off as a douchy hypocrite, which makes me like you even less.

I’m tired of this trope. Let’s move on from writing these characters. Unless the goal is to make them unlikable, then keep on writing! I will keep on hating.

Travel, Travel Eats

Superior Bathhouse Brewery

RaeAnna

Superior Bathhouse Brewery in downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas is a must. I go every time I am in town. I have introduced several friends and even family to this lovely place.

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Just an 18 beer flight.

Hot Springs, Arkansas is known for their hot springs. Wow! Shocker, I know. Beautiful bathhouses sprung up in downtown for the rich and famous way-back-when. They fell into disrepair for many years. Many have been refurbished because they’re historic, and it would be a tragedy to see the architecture go to waste. There are two which have remained functional bathhouses. One is a store. One is a museum. Another was turned into a BREWERY!

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Beau was trying to get in on my root beer.

I am not a drinker anymore, but all my friends and family are. They do have a killer root beer, which I imbibe with much gusto. I am super picky about root beer, so this is a glowing and hard earned recommendation. They have eighteen beers on tap. Some they make themselves; others they bring in. The floor is white hexagon tile with black grout, trés retro. There are tables, a hightop, seats along the huge window front, and picnic benches out front – hello dog friendly! The servers are always lovely and knowledgeable about the beers on tap. It’s a great place to sit and enjoy a drink after or before a day of shopping or spas or just to people watch.

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My family got a flight of all 18 beers on tap.

The building they inhabit is Superior Bathhouse, so the name stays true to its roots. It stood vacant for thirty-ish years before Rose Schweikhart moved to Hot Springs in 2011 to open a brewery. It’s the first of its kind in several ways. It is the first and only brewery housed in a U.S. National Park. It took Schweikhart two years to negotiate a lease agreement with the federal government, but she did it! The city is famous for their 144° spring water, which is used at the brewery to brew beer. They are the only brewery in the world to use thermal spring water for brewing. Woah. They opened their doors in 2013 and continually make new and unusual beers to satisfy pallets of all inclination. Seriously. They’re cool. Not only are they are brewery, they are also a full service restaurant and event space. The food is pretty awesome too.

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Even Beau loves it!

I love going. I don’t think I have been to Hot Springs without stopping in for a root beer since I discovered it in 2014. I’m a touch obsessed. If you ever stop in and post to Instagram, make sure to use #hotspringsontap.

Superior Bathhouse Brewery
329 Central Avenue
Hot Springs, AR 71901
Opens at 11:00

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A mandatory ‘let’s see the cool floor’ picture.
Books

lost & found

RaeAnna

Read: Yes
Length: 310
Quick Review: When Millie’s mother abandons her, she accidentally gathers a small and unlikely group of friends and protectors.

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lost & found is nothing short of witty and inventive. Brooke Davis is a beautiful story teller; although, her name makes me think of “One Tree Hill.” A quick read full of humor, insight, and struggle. I enjoyed reading it because it is fresh instead of a new take on an old story. I haven’t read much, if any that I can think of, Australian literature, so it was great dipping a toe into the unfamiliar.

Millie is a little girl obsessed with dead things. In her notebook, she keeps a list of all the dead things she has seen including her dog, Rambo, and her dad. Her mother abandons her at a store one day. Karl the Touch Typist is old. He has lost his wife, but he and Millie become friends over snacks. Agatha Pantha is a Millie’s elderly, shut-in of a neighbor since her husband died. Each of the characters are eccentric and lost in their own grief. They’re an odd group, but somehow they complete each other.  

Davis has a wickedly funny, observational sense of humor as each of the characters describe their views of the world from often overlooked age groups. It’s hard to think the story of an abandoned little girl is funny, but it is; not the fact she was abandoned, but the way the story is told.

I love that the main characters are from age groups seldomly written as protagonists. As an adult, it’s hard to get into the brain space of a child and an older person – we haven’t been there yet. They are groups of people who are overlooked, underappreciated, and greatly underestimated. It was lovely watching these characters, who usually fly under the radar, be so full of life.

The chapters are fairly short and told from each characters’ perspective. The language is simple and to the point. There are great humorous moments and a style all its own. lost & found is a great read if you want to laugh. It’s also a great book to get through on an afternoon after work.    

Memorable Quotes:
“I am never going to have sex again, he says. Not with this face.”
“And then they do IT, because even old people call it IT.”

Title: lost & found
Author: Brooke Davis
Publisher: Dutton (Penguin Group)
Copyright:2015
ISBN: 9780525954682