You can call me Kaye. I'm a twenty-something Muslim girl who reads a lot of books, drinks a lot of tea, and wears a lot of (figurative) hats.
Currently, those hats include uni student aiming for an MLS in the future, staff writer for a certain online YA magazine, and fantabulous literary agency intern for Pooja Menon of Kimberly Cameron and Associates.
I am also the Once and Future Queen of the Iron Keys, which gives me life-long tiara rights.
When I'm not reading, I write about dark worlds, high stakes and tough, wounded girls who carve out their own happily ever afters.
I was introduced to the world of YA book blogging in 2009 by my best friend. I leapt in feet-first and didn't look back. Being able to share my thoughts, feels and occasional squeal over a new "shiny" with other wonderful bloggers and authors makes my day that much brighter.
In early 2014, I've shifted gears slightly. Upon joining the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign team, I've opened a stopper on actively speaking out on diversity, women's rights and the voices of minorities and women of color everywhere. You might see more of that here than you used to.
i n f l u e n c e s. {that is to say, the favorite authors}
charlotte bronte. jane austen. elizabeth gaskell. lloyd alexander. diana wynne jones. megan whalen turner. gail carson levine. scott westerfield. terry pratchett. leigh bardugo. jaclyn dolamore. robin mckinley. j.r.r. tolkien. kersten hamilton. laini taylor. nova ren suma.
f a q.
q. why watercolor moods?
Way back when this blog got started, I thought I had everything in place - the right theme, the perfect blend of whimsy and razor-sharp wit...and then Google, kindly power that be, popped up and reminded me that I didn't have a blog title picked out.
Blog title? What is this blog title?
In any case, like any good lover of all things literary and cleverly strung words, I took to my literary quotes cache and searched for something that summed up all the parts of me (read: my particular brand of crazy), as well as not being completely cliche and/or in use already by some other blogger that struck while the iron was hot.
In the end, I was particularly drawn to a quote from a poem by Sylvia Plath: "...this world of watercolor moods, in pagodas of green, where words jangle within the blood..." Or so I believe. In any case, I felt that it summed up my mind and the way it works: a foggy, silent place, reminiscent of the moors or perhaps a dense forest path.
A writer's mind, or at least, my own, seems to be comprised of blurred, beautiful images trapped within a window pane, waiting to be traced and freed onto the page.
It might have not been relevant to book blogging, but as I am now aiming to add more variety to the blog, I think it fits me perfectly well.
q. why do you add warnings to your reviews?
Not everyone likes the same cup of tea. Yes, I am using a tea metaphor, so please bear with me. You might like sugar. You might like it bitter. You might like it with salt - which I find barbaric, so please forgive me if I don't attend your tea parties any time soon.
The point being, what seems perfectly reasonable for one person to read, might be abhorrent, or triggering, or too much to bear for another person. That being said, there are books even in YA that slant beyond my own tolerance - beyond the pale, so to speak. You might notice I have little to no threshold for strong language, mature scenarios, et cetera.
This is all just to say that I am not insulting an author or their work if you see warnings under their title. I like to see morals in what I read, and I know people who read this blog who want to avoid certain stuff that I label in those warnings. It's a win-win situation for both of us.
Let's sum it up this way: I like to keep it at a level that you'd be comfortable with your mom reading. Or, barring that, your little sister.
q. is this completely a book blog?
No, not at all. I intend to discuss writing, the weather, my best friend and critique partners' antics (with permission, of course), my life as an intern, my life as a future library science student, and - if you be so lucky - video games.
q. so you read ya, right? isn't that teen stuff? aren't you in your twenties? shouldn't you read adult? hey, does this mean you like twilight?
Please don't. Don't even.
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