Fantastic Fives Blog Tour - Interview with Evie and Giveaway!

Hi guys! Today, I am honored and excited to be one of the stops on the awesome Fantastic Fives blog tour! So many amazing, well known and well loved blogs are celebrating their 5th birthdays this year, and so all of us have come together to celebrate! Bookish Lifestyle has turned 5 in May this year, but I never actually got a chance to put together a proper celebration, so I was very excited to join this awesome tour! And just look at the schedule - what a fantastic company we are in! :) 

Check out the interview and be sure to enter the giveaway I have put together just for you! :) 

Interview:

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm Evie :) I was born in Poland and have lived there for 20-something years, until one day I met the love of my life who is now my husband of 7 years. I moved to Canada almost 7 years ago and have lived in Toronto, London (Ontario), Vancouver, and (currently) Buffalo, NY.

I have a 21 months old daughter, Tori and Sheltie dog, Wilson. I am addicted to coffee and chocolate. I'm a dedicated couch potato, obsessed with Supernatural, The Walking Dead and Bates Motel. I occasionally cry while watching The Voice.



2. How did you get started blogging?

I was blogging on and off for years before book blogging, but these were either travel blogs or just personal rambling blogs and they always lived rather shortly. After moving to Canada, to live with my husband (at that time still fiance), I started reading books in English. I discovered Twilight and then The Chaos Walking Trilogy, and pretty much got sucked into the world of YA! I was so excited, so freakishly pumped, I needed an outlet (oddly enough, my husband didn't want to listen about Edward and Jacob and how Todd Hewitt was yelling VIOLA, huh). That's why I started a blog. It was only for me, at the beginning at least. To keep track of my thoughts and feelings. But then people actually started reading it and I started getting comments and I discovered this AMAZING book blogging community, where I felt completely and utterly at HOME.

And so I stayed ^____^ (you are never getting rid of me, HA!)

3. How did you pick the name for your blog?

Bookish Lifestyle was originally Bookish, we decided to expand the name to LIFESTYLE, because we wanted to post about more than books now. There's really no interesting story here, nor are there any funny anecdotes I could share. I wasn't particularly inventive, I just wanted to get started, so I picked the first thing that came to my mind.

4. If you could go back in time and tell your newbie blogger self 1 thing what would it be?

THINK a little about that blog name, and for eff sake don't put your name in the actual web address. That is just stupid.

5. What have you learned in your 5 years of blogging?

- Be yourself and blog however you want. There is no right or wrong way of blogging, as long as you're genuine and happy with what you're doing. You want to review - review. You want to post memes - do that. Don't let anyone tell you what YOU SHOULD BE posting, or writing, or thinking. Be yourself.

- If it's numbers you're after, learn to utilize social media. Twitter and Instagram are important for extra exposure and they will help attract new visitors and boost up your page views! But also, commenting and tweeting, liking and sharing is good for the soul - you'll make friends!

- Don't ever copy/plagiarize. Even small things, small inspirations, can come back to bite you in the bum.

6. What was the first ARC or book you ever received from a publisher?

- It was a package I got from Simon & Schuster Canada with Fury by Elizabeth Miles, Witchlanders by Lena Coakley and 3 other books I can't even remember the names of anymore!

7. When you’re not reading or blogging, what can we find you doing?

I'm running after my almost 2-years old daughter or designing stuff. I have two bookish stores (RedBubble and Society6) and I do occasional blog designs on the side. I also enjoy talking books on Instagram - there's an awesome book gramming community that I find so lovely and welcoming, I just ADORE all of the people on there!

The Fives: (and yes, you can ONLY have 5! *muwhahahah*)

Five Favorite Books
-Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness
-Vicious by V.E.Schwab
-anything Stephen King
-Mara Dyer trilogy
-the 5th Wave series

Five Favorite Book Boyfriends
- Todd Hewitt (Chaos Walking)
- Noah Shaw (Mara Dyer)
- Warner (Shatter Me)
- Phoenix (Embrace series)

Five Favorite Book Quotes

- Books Are A Uniquely Portable Magic
- She Is Too Fond Of Books and it has Turned Her Brain
- Why can't people just sit and read books and be nice to each other?
- What is normal? Normal is only ordinary; mediocre. Life belongs to the rare, exceptional individual who dares to be different.

- God grant me the SERENITY to accept what I cannot change the TENACITY to change what I may and the GOOD LUCK not to f*** up too often”

Five Blogging Tips For New Bloggers

- Try to post at least 4-5 times per week to attract more traffic!
- Tweet and share your posts on Facebook for more exposure!
- Keep your blog clean and pleasant to read - a good design can really do magic!
- Do what you enjoy doing and don't stress over numbers and statistics, it will all come in good time!
- SOCIALIZE!

Five Blogs You Want The World To Know About

God, really?! ONLY 5?!

Blogs I currently visit most often:

- Supernatural Snark
- Candace's Book Blog
- Me Myshelf and I

but there is a TON more that I love and stalk!!

Giveaway:

Win a Pillow / T-Shirt / Mug / Tote Bag of choice from my Society 6 store!
International / Ends 12/26

a Rafflecopter giveaway