Why I wouldn’t want to be a social influencer

Being your own boss, traveling to amazing places and receiving a lot of things for free, sounds like a dream right?! 

That is one side of the social influencer/famous blogger life, but there is much more behind it. I’m not one myself and you could say that I have no idea, but there are still certain things you just hear. 

I love traveling, most of you know that and yes I’d love to travel more. Social influencers just get to go on these press trips, get invited to fab places and sometimes also get paid. Yes, they see a lot, but they never get a break. They always have to feature the place, hotel etc., share everything on social media and start complaining that they never have a real holiday. Well, it’s great that you can go on these trips in the first place, just be grateful. Maybe just enjoying the holiday once, should be possible as well. A lot oft hem travel all the time, so they are barely home. I think form e that would be too much, it also always means adjusting to time (hello jet-lag) and the culture. 

Yes, you are your own boss, which means you can organise your time and schedule. It’s easy to forget to tae the time to relax and go after other hobbies. On top oft hat you have to deal with tax returns, incomes, bills etc. You don’t have a regular monthly income and dealing with your taxes can get quite complicated. 

You always hear that they share their actual opinion and only post authentic things. I’m sometimes not so sure about that. You get paid for what you say, so why not just do it. I’m not saying that all influencers are like that, but with certain people that’s definitely the case. All these sponsored posts would be form e. Yes, fabulous i fit is a brand you like, but otherwise. Blogging for me means being authentic and real. 

Where do you put all the products and things you receive?! Don’t get me wrong, I receive books in exchange for an honest review and I don’t know where to put them anymore. I can imagine that it’s even more extreme with bloggers. They receive so many things, where do they store them?! Do they use all their little beauty freebies?! That can surly not be good for your skin. 

The content always needs to be perfect and flawless. That means a lot of work, time and much more. I wouldn’t have the patience. 

Lastly, how long will this be a thing?!

The Lucky Dress - by Aimee Brown

Original Cover

My own copy

The blurb: 

We all have our lucky dress... an irresistibly hilarious rom-com: perfect for fans of Anna Bell, Jo Watson and Sophie Kinsella. 

Emi Harrison hasn't been feeling particularly lucky lately. Ever since her ex-fiancée, Jack Cabot, successfully shattered her heart into a million pieces. She's managed to avoid him for a whole year, but all that's about to change at her brother Evan's wedding... 

She will have to face Jack, Jack's sister, Jack's parents, and Jack's new girlfriend: a mean girl that just won't quit. What could possibly go wrong? 

But with her lucky dress on, she might just find new love, life, and maybe even happiness at last!

My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Emi Harrison had her heart broken, when she found her fiancé with another woman. She doesn’t speak to him for a whole year, but then she has to, because her brother Evan is getting married to Jack’s sister Hannah. Jack has a new girlfriend… Well Emi of course doesn’t go to the wedding alone, where a lot of things happen. Stuff goes wrong and somehow everyone is kind of involved. 

The story was about Emi and Jack. Other characters were constantly involved in their business, which really disturbed me. The storyline was always interrupted by one of them in my eyes. It’s fine to include all these characters, but it was too much for me. Lily and also Jack’s mum brought in a lot of energy and passion, which was great though.

The narration alternates between present day and past, so we get to know a lot about Emi’s and Jack’s relationship. We find out how they met, how he proposed and lots of details about the wedding preparations. This for me made it clear: these two belong together. 

It seemed a bit strange for me that Jack never got a change to explain himself and that they just don’t speak for a whole year. Other things in the storyline weren’t that authentic for me either. It’s a shame, because I really like the idea behind the book and I think Aimee Brown’s writing is very passionate, funny and gripping. There is definitely a lot of drama going on, but it made the story very exciting. 

The ending is very adorable, loved it!

Rating:

About the author

Aimee Brown is a writer of romantic comedies set in Portland, Orego

n, and an avid reader. She

spends much of her time writing, raising three teenagers, binge-watch

ing shows on Netflix and

obsessively cleaning and redecorating her house.

She

’

s fluent in sarcasm and has been known to utter profanities like

she

’

s competing for a

medal.

Aimee grew up in Oregon, but is now a transplant living in cold

Montana with her husband of

twenty years, three teenage children, and far too many pets. She is a lot older th

an she looks

and yes, that is a tattoo across her chest.

Aimee is very active on social media. Stop by and say hello!

Follow

Twitter: @AimeeBWrites

Facebook: @AuthorAimeeBrown

Instagram: @authoraimeeb

About the book

Emi Harrison hasn

’

t been feeling particularly lucky lately.

Ever since her ex-fiancée, Jack Cabot, successfully shattered her heart in

to a million pieces. She

’

s managed to avoid him for a whole year, but all that

’

s about to change at her brother Evan

’

s

wedding

...

She will have to face Jack, Jack

’

s sister, Jack

’

s parents, and Jack

’

s new girlfriend: a mean girl that

just won

’

t quit.

What could possibly go wrong?

With her lucky dress on, all bets are off, and maybe

Emi will find her happily-ever-after at last?

Perfect for fans of Anna Bell, Jo Watson and Sophie Kinsella.

Buy links:

Amazon: getbook.at/TheLuckyDress

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2Kq3dsG

iBooks: https://apple.co/2NldJ2c

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2z8UZzW

Follow Aria

Website:

www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction

About the author

Aimee Brown is a writer of romantic comedies set in Portland, Oregon, and an avid reader. She spends much of her time writing, raising three teenagers, binge-watching shows on Netflix and obsessively cleaning and redecorating her house. 

She’s fluent in sarcasm and has been known to utter profanities like she’s competing for a medal. 

Aimee grew up in Oregon, but is now a transplant living in cold Montana with her husband of twenty years, three teenage children, and far too many pets. She is a lot older than she looks and yes, that is a tattoo across her chest.

Aimee is very active on social media. Stop by and say hello!

Follow 

Twitter: @AimeeBWrites

Facebook: @AuthorAimeeBrown

Instagram: @authoraimeeb

Buy links:

Amazon: getbook.at/TheLuckyDress

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2Kq3dsG

iBooks: https://apple.co/2NldJ2c

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2z8UZzW

Follow Aria 

Website: www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction

Overthinking everything – how to change that

Whether it’s a little mistakes or an accident. It can only affect yourself or other people as well. Most people tend to overthink stuff like this, I am definitely one of them. 

Usually when someone says something to me, whether it’s positive or negative, but I can’t get it out of my mind and start thinking about it all the time. The same thing goes for things that happen on the road, when I’m driving. Shocking things just don’t go out of my head and keep going over them and the impact for a few days at least. Of course after time these little things go away. 

I’m a very confident person, but somehow I catch myself thinking about what other people might think of me or the thing I just said. I don’t want to do that, but somehow it keeps to be an issue. 

I think it’s important to stop think about things you can’t control anyway and second-guessing just makes you insecure. 

Here are some tips for not overthinking too much: 

-      Awareness:Try to catch yourself doing and try to stop, do something else. The more you do the that, the more you get used to it. 

-      Focus on the positive:Let go oft he negative thoughts and think about things that make you happy. 

-      Take a nap/Sleep: Just relax and take a break, it’s good, for your brain and body. 

-      Do things that make you happy: Focus on your hobbies, do them with passion and joy!

-      Write down your thoughts: If you are a blogger, you know that this helps. Let go of your thoughts. 

-      Talk to someone: It helps sharing your feelings with someone else, even if they are just listening. 

-      Listen to music: Music always helps. 

-      Relax: Just chill. 

Most importantly, don’t let the overthinking take you down. It’s ok to do that. You can’t be perfect, nobody is and that’s totally fine. 

One Thousand Stars and You - by Isabelle Broom

Original Cover

My own copy

The blurb: 

Alice is settling down. It might not be the adventurous life she once imagined, but more than anything she wants to make everyone happy - her steady boyfriend, her over-protective mother - even if it means a little part of her will always feel stifled.

Max is shaking things up. After a devastating injury, he is determined to prove himself. To find the man beyond the disability, to escape his smothering family and go on an adventure.

A trip to Sri Lanka is Alice's last hurrah - her chance to throw herself into the heat, chaos and colour of a place thousands of miles from home.

It's also the moment she meets Max.

Alice doesn't know it yet, but her whole life is about to change.

Max doesn't know it yet, but he's the one who's going to change it.

My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Alice and Max are both on holiday in Sri Lanka when their paths cross. Alice is there with her two best friends Maureen and Steph. Max and his friend Jamal are also traveling together. The connection between Alice and Max is there from the starts, their chemistry is undeniable, Alice is in a relationship though and her boyfriend Richard desperately wants to set a date fort he wedding. She just isn’t feeling it anymore. Max has been through a lot in his past and is still dealing with the consequences. Plus, there is Maureen, who is always around him. 

Sri Lanka is just what Alice needed. The traveling allows her to be free and really do what she wants, she discovers the real „ME“ again and her life is changing. Max is a big part of that journey and I just really loved the special moments they shared. 

Sri Lanka sounds like such a great place and it really feels like actually traveling with the characters and discovering everything through their eyes. 

When Isabelle Broom writes a book, she puts a lot of thought and research into it. Like that the locations and settings come to life and her words just create this unique atmosphere. Also the characters are deep and very well lined out. Their personality really comes across and that is really important. 

This book is absolutely gorgeous and stunning!! It tells the journey of self discovery, travel, friendship, love and romance. It’s the perfect mixture and you can dive right into the story and I guarantee you never want to leave again. It’s very moving and yes I had to cry. The way Isabelle Broom plays around with words is fabulous, a very talented author indeed.

Rating:

Isabelle Broom on Twitter: @Isabelle_Broom

Website: https://isabellebroom.com

Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Fashion Corner - Très Chic meets Route 66

About a year ago I posted an outfit with this shirt, here is a bit of a different style. 

The shirt is from Hallhuber, I combined it with my high waisted jeans shorts and my white slippers. Some blue sunglasses and the look is complete. 

- Shirt: Hallhuber

- Shorts: BDG

- Shoes: Contesa

- Sunglasses: MR BOHO

Visiting my bestie in Belgium

Remember the wedding I went to last December?! I finally had time to visit my bestie Maryline in Belgium. When I was there for the wedding she obviously didn‘t have a lot of time and I didn‘t see anything of the country.

I left for Zurich airport in the morning of Friday, August 3 and arrived in Brussels at 3 pm after a little delay. Maryline and her husband Thomas picked me up at the airport. It was like we never left each other, talking about everything and catching up on the things that happened the past few months. We drove to their home in Beveren and spent the evening at their house. Lots of talking, pizza and planning the next few days. Let‘s say, we went to bed late.

The next morning we had a relaxed breakfast, before heading to the train station. Mary and I took the train to Brugges, which took about an hour. From the station we walked into the old town of Brugge, where it was very impressive. The city is like an outdoor museum, so gorgeous! The houses, the architecture, the canals... After walking for a while, we had lunch on the terrace of a cute Italian restaurant. It was a hot day, but they had a breeze there, the food was good, the waiter was very friendly ans we were able to do a lot of people watching. After lunch we walked around a bit more, before doing a boat tour, through the canals. That‘s definitely the best way of getting to know the city and seeing everything without having to walk. We walked through the rest of town, had a homemade icetea and then took the train back to Beveren. In the evening we had a yummy pesto pasta, spent some quality time together and watched Morning Glory and The Age of Adeleine (we saw that together in Berlin three years ago).

On Sunday we had a chilled morning with a long breakfast, mostly due to talking, then we just chatted away for the whole morning until Mary‘s husband got home and we had lunch. In the early afternoon we started watching the first episode of Big Little Lies. We couldn‘t finish the first episode until one of the other bridesmaids arrived, it’s confusing and weird. Together we walked to Kastel Cortewalle, where they opened a pop up bar. That was a special moment for us, because Mary got married there and lots of the wedding photos were taken there. It was a beautiful location back in December, but omg it‘s so gorgeous in summer too. We just talked the whole afternoon and went for dinner nearby. Back at the house it was time for some Harry Potter Trivial Pursuits. Two potterheads having fun 😉 Some questions were not that easy though. Then we continued to watch Big Little Lies, I think in the end it was three episodes and things got a but clearer, still not sure what to think about the show though.

Monday was already my last day in Belgium. We decided to take the train to Antwerp after breakfast. Their main station is stunning, so pretty, parts of it reminded me of Grand Central in New York. We first conquered the shopping street, both of us ended up buying Harry Potter things from Primark, surprise, surprise...
We just walked through the streets and Maryline always pointed out things to me. We had lunch in a very cute square and actually a bit of a fancy restaurant, it was very delicious. After lunch we walked some more and went to the Grote Markt, the popular square in Antwerp. Unfortunately, parts of the buildings were in scaffolding and white tents blocked the view too. Shame for the photos, but oh well. At 3 pm it was time to go back to Beveren, pack my things and then leave for the airport ☹️.
I had to switch trains once to get to the airport and almost missed my connection, I had to run. I got theough security quickly though, did some duty free shopping and looked at some other stores as well. Then I treated myself to a Stella (Belgian beer) and a panini. Then it all started... Two hours before departure they were already saying that there is a delay of 30 minutes, after a while they added another twenty, in the end it turned out to be 1 hour and 20 minutes, yay! By the time I got home it was midnight, even the train in Zurich was delayed, but luckily I still got my bus.

I had the most wonderful weekend with the best person! We finally had time to catch up witb each other properly and just had a great time! Thank you for having me Maryline and for everything else as well, love you.

Belgium, I will be back! Brugge is such a pretty city and Antwerp was lovely as well, can‘t wait to be back.