Goodbye Book Princess Reviews 💔

I think we all knew this one was coming. I’m a “never say never” person. I do want to start off by saying there will always be a chance Mandy or I return with a post or even decide to revive the blog. But as it stands, we don’t see that in the near future. For now, we can say with certainty: Book Princess Reviews is closing down.

WHY?

There are two people involved in this blog. For that reason, both of us will give our reasons why we can’t and won’t be going forwards with BPR at this time. This isn’t meant to be a sobfest, or reminder of the absolute sh*tfest that was 2020, but we do want to let you know (FINALLY) why this blog is closing its doors.

→ MANDY

When I first started this blog, I never thought we would be here today. I created BPR as an outlet for a writing career I had given up on (as you can see, I tend to fall in cycles), something to do with my spare time, and a way to potentially connect with others who enjoy the same passion as me. Tbh, I just assumed I would be shouting in the void, and I never thought that there would be people from all over the world whose content I looked up to, sharing in the love of reading, reviewing, and princesses.

This has been a journey–one with absolute highs, so much stress, much more work and time than I ever thought of, and all of the books. It brought out another side of my reading and writing that I never imagined possible and a sense of belonging and kindness in a beautiful community. This ride has truly been amazing, and words will never be enough to thank everyone for making BPR what it is and sharing in our love.

But for me, the world has cycles. The month before Sha joined on, I was ready to call it quits. I was tired, burned out, running on empty with thoughts. She revived it, brought on new energy and passion and ideas. She was a driver that continued to bring this blog to things I never dreamed of. Things worked for a while.

When 2020 happened, I was already running on fumes with the blog. I was mentally and physically exhausted, and the thought of spending anymore time on my computer was horrifying. (It still is.) I was pumping out content, but the heart and passion had disappeared. Much like when I decided to call it quits on my personal writing, I would go back to early blog posts and ask, who was this girl? How did she write so well and lively? Writing simple reviews turned into an hours long process, and creating a creative post seemed impossible, causing frustration and insecurity. I couldn’t find a way forward to get myself back to the clear passion and drive that early Mandy had–and that’s what BPR readers deserve.

This year has been a messy year, and quarantine certainly has given us the blessing/curse of time–time to look back and forward. While I have loved this time on the blog, I burned myself out, which isn’t the Mandy that BPR needs or the Mandy that has the energy to continue to bring the love and passion. Especially for books which I’m currently in a “it’s complicated” Facebook relationship with. So, my decision to step away.

→ SHA

From the moment I joined BPR, it was a source of inspiration as well as a creative outlet for me. BPR was the perfect stimulus in my life. It combined everything I loved: reading, connecting with others, creating, and writing. I’m someone who needs to be creating to feel fulfilled, otherwise there’s just an itch in my fingers and a tickle in the back of my brain I just can’t get at. Hence why I could never stop coming up with new projects for the blog, from Insta polls to Twitter giveaways to month-long Blog events.

During my time in Australia, I certainly slipped away a few times to focus on my travels, but my passion for the blog never dimmed. I was still churning up new ideas and still anticipating new releases. If anything, my creative spirit bloomed, and I was reenergized for my return home.

This energy lasted for my first few months back. However, as time passed, I needed to turn more attention to my jobs, to paying my rent, to the starkness of every day life during a pandemic. I got back to my apartment every night feeling too drained to do anything more than sleep. BPR was the last thing on my mind.

I want to go back to creativity, to making even one post a month that can uplift spirits and allow me to connect with fellow readers. But I know that I’m not in a place to be creative mentally or physically, and as hard as it is to accept, it can’t be a priority for me right now. What I have created with you and BPR is something I will be fiercely proud of for the rest of my life, but I know I could not continue now with even half the passion I had before. Thus my decision to leave the blog.

Thank You.

The years we have run this blog have been some of the best we could imagine. We found amazing books. We made fantastic friends. We got to be part of this extensive community of readers all working towards inclusion, diversity, and expanding their passions. We couldn’t have asked for more.

Thank you to those who have been there since Day One and those who hopped on along the way. You’ve all inspired us and taught us. BPR has been a way to learn not only about books themselves, but social/contemporary issues, historical events, events around the world, (and then on a different level) graphic design, website planning, writing… The list goes on, and on, and on. There are no words to truly capture what the past four years have meant to both Mandy and I. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for being part of them with us.

Stay safe, stay healthy, wishing you all well!