In an effort to support and promote book bloggers further in 2022, Pages Unbound is hosting a (very casual) Support Book Bloggers Challenge. The idea is simple: we will work together to read blog posts, share them, comment on them, and boost book bloggers in other ways. To learn more about the challenge and the 12 prompts involved, visit the original post here. (The above banner was created by Pages Unbound.) If you decide to join in on the fun, the social media hashtag to use is #BookBloggerSupport22.

The prompt for September is to write a guest post for a blog or feature a guest post on your own blog. Earlier this month I encouraged bloggers to reach out if they wanted to be featured on my blog. Thankfully my outreach didn’t fall into the internet void! All guest posts are presented as given to me; I have not edited any of the content save for the formatting.

For my second featured guest post, please meet Jude at Jude in the Stars! Keep reading to learn more about this fellow book blogger!

Meet the Book Blogger

What is your name (and pronouns, e.g., she/her), in what country are you based (if you feel comfortable sharing), and where can we find your blog? List any other social media you may have, if you like.

My name is Jude, my pronouns are they/she (more they than she these days but it’s easier in English than in my own language), and I’m in France. My blog Jude in the Stars is here.

You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok (I post very basic videos), all @judeinthestars. I’m also active in various sapphic book groups on Facebook.

What genres do you typically read and/or avoid?

I read and review only sapphic fiction, so no nonfiction or poetry. I’m a sucker for angsty romances, clever mysteries and space operas. I don’t read a lot of horror because I get scared too quickly and I don’t enjoy it much. 

What are some of your favorite books to recommend to others?

• Cari Hunter’s Dark Peak trilogy, especially in audiobook, Nicola Victoria Vincent’s narration is brilliant;
• E.J. Noyes’s Ask, Tell series;
• All of Milena McKay’s books: she won a Lammy Award and several Goldies (including one for the cover, which is one of my all-time favourites) for The Headmistress and another Goldie for her debut The Delicate Things We Make, and her latest novel, A Whisper of Solace, has my favourite ice queen;
• Who’d Have Thought and Purposefully Accidental by G Benson
• The Tell Tale by Clare Ashton
• The Ardulum series by J.S. Fields
• The Little Island series by Caren Werlinger 
• Any book by Anna Burke

I could go on and on, which kinda answers the next question.

What inspired you to start your book blog?

I started reviewing on Goodreads as a way to remember how I’d felt about this or that book (my memory sucks, because of dyspraxia or PTSD or maybe both). After a while, it felt silly not to post those reviews on my blog, which had been sleeping for years. I had started it as part of my job as a journalist, then quit my job after burning out, and forgot about the blog, but it was still there, waiting, and it now feels very much like home. At first, these reviews were therapeutic, I write a lot about feelings and how sometimes books relate to my life, and it seems to speak to others too, which is all sorts of cool. I also love sharing the love but struggle with recommending only one book, so having a blog I can refer people to is very handy.

Who are some of your favorite book bloggers?

• LezReviewBooks (I post some of my reviews there too) has some of my favourite reviewers
• Bookvark
• Late Night Lesbian Reads
• Reads Rainbow

What are some other hobbies you have in addition to reading?

Photographing pebbles and dead Christmas trees (see my Instagram).

A free space to mention anything else you’d like the book blogging community to know about you.

I’m not sure there’s much more to add 🙂

Thank you, Jude, for participating in this month’s Support Book Bloggers Challenge! Please feel free, of course, to check out their blog and social media handles.