the friday 5: the 5 stages of Gdpr compliance

Were you like me when you first heard GDPR? What’s a GDEEPLOPROP? Basically – it took me at least a week to remember the letters GDPR and figure out exactly how they affect me.

Then as more information (sketchy at best) started rolling in, things sprilaled out of control.

What follows is my 5 stages of dealing with implementing GDPR by the May 25th deadline.

Stage #1

To implement the new GDPR you have to alert users that your blog uses cookies and they need to accept or say no & have a clear privacy policy explaining how you collect and store personal information. Blogger installed this notice months ago! I already have a privacy policy.

Maybe a few tweaks here & there. No problem. Next….

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Stage #2

Do a little research to make sure I cover all my bases and tweak policy. I’ll be done by lunch.

Stage #3

So yes, Blogger installed the cookie bar months ago but we’re responsible for making sure it works. The issue? If you’re in the US YOU CAN’T SEE IT.

And this privacy policy shit is WAY more complicated than it first appeared

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Stage #4

PANIC

8 hours (PER DAY - 5 DAYS) later…

I’m going to violate something and my blog will be deleted.

I will be fined $1,000.000

I’m going to jail!

BREATHE

Me after consulting with my international friends & re-writing my privacy policy to included ALL THE THINGS

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Stage #5

Fuck it!

If my blog is gone Friday morning it was meant to be.

I wasn’t enjoying blogging anymore anyway.

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Okay…so I’m still here and more importantly my blog is still here (& I'm not in jail!) so I will live to fight another blogging day. But man! This was a pain in the ass and I’m still messing with my privacy policy as I learn new information.

I'm going to assume that we are tiny fish in a big, information gathering pond and that we're not the main focus and hopefully get back to reading and blogging - stress free(ish) again.

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How have you all been dealing with this GDPR stuff?

*(thank you Offbeat YA & Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell for repeatedly checking my site and sending photos! & to all the bloggers who were willing to share there policies and struggles so we could make a version for our blogs) 

review: the way you make me feel by Maurene goo

From the author of I Believe in a Thing Called Love, a laugh-out-loud story of love, new friendships, and one unique food truck.

Clara Shin lives for pranks and disruption. When she takes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck, the KoBra, alongside her uptight classmate Rose Carver. Not the carefree summer Clara had imagined. But maybe Rose isn't so bad. 

Maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) crushing on her is pretty cute. Maybe Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means that Clara has to leave her old self behind?

With Maurene Goo's signature warmth and humor, The Way You Make Me Feel is a relatable story of falling in love and finding yourself in the places you’d never thought to look. ~ Goodreads

Source: ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Review: I was a little leery of reading The Way You Make Me Feel at first. I (mostly) enjoyed Goo’s I Believe in a Thing Called Love but took issue with the lack of growth of that books MC (Desi) over the course of the story.

When I saw that Clara was yet another protag that enjoys pranks (same as Desi) and was fairly unlikable at first I was sure I was going to bail on this book but what drew me in to I Believe in a Thing Called Love and kept me reading The Way You Make Me Feel was the family dynamics. 

16 year old Clara lives with her dad while her mom is a Lifestyle Influencer, traveling around the globe, documenting her life on social media, and is rarely in Clara’s life unless it ties in with a work assignment. Her parents had Clara when they were 18, never married and separated when Clara was 4 years old. Her dad, Adrian, is still young (in his early 30’s & a looker) and is fairly lenient with Clara since he once rebelled against his strict parents and tries to be a little looser with her.

Clara crosses a line at school with one of her pranks and dad cracks down. As punishment, she is forced to work with her arch nemesis, Rose, on her his food truck – KoBra (which serves  her father's native Korean/Brazilian food) for the summer in exchange for not being suspended at school.

I’m going to be completely honest and say that I think most people won’t like this book. Unless you make it to the 1/2 way point – all you will see is a self absorbed, flippant character who doesn’t really care about or take the time to understand anyone around her. Everything is a game or potential prank to her.

It wasn’t until Clara and Rose were thrown into a forced proximity friendship that Clara finally started to soften and think about the people around her. Rose is seemingly stuck up & judgemental but has her reasons and thankfully, calls Clara on her bullshit. They are really wonderful together once they open up a little.

If you make it that far (or don’t mind unlikable MC’s) - the exploration of changing friendships, letting yourself open up to new feelings – even if it means you might get hurt or let down and wonderful, tear inducing, family dynamics is well worth it IMO. It’s messy but real and I think would help teen readers relate to all the changes you go through at that age. Clara does grow and even becomes selfless in regards to others but it does take some time for her to get there.

The romance fell a little flat for me but that’s fine. It wasn’t the main focus and I loved how Goo showed that you can just date – or not – or date without it being love. That’s a really nice thing to see in YA.

But the real star of this book is Clara and her dad. My heart cracked and got pieced back together watching these two work through their relationship. Another rarity in YA are parents but is something this author does SO well. I grew up with just my dad (although under totally different circumstances) and it's such an awkward dynamic at times but it was written well. 

I know this isn't going to be the book for everyone (way to sell it Karen! lol) but if you're looking for a messy, realistic YA filled with diversity (I especially loved the descriptions of LA and the food)  and family dynamics that tug at your heartstrings - give this one a try. Despite a few heavy topics - it's a fairly light, fast read. Perfect for summer. 

tell me something tuesday

Tell Me Something Tuesday is hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings and discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging.

Question: Are you more inclined/less inclined to read books that are compared to other popular books or authors.

LESSSSSSSSSSSSS. SO much less inclined!

The main reasons being that they rarely measure up favorably to a book I’ve loved & the comparisons aren’t usually accurate.

I wish publishers used more restraint while using this tactic to sell books. I get it…if Gone Girl becomes a break out hit and readers are clamoring for more – why not compare any unreliable narrator/twisty thriller to that title? I’m sure it works for the first one or two comparisons until those don’t measure up in quality and readers don’t trust that angle anymore.

I’m old school – I trust my blogger peeps. If something catches my eye outside of blogging (anything other than a review or rec on a blog/by a blogger), the first thing I do is check if anyone I know has read or reviewed the book and go from there. If no-one has then I head to the library to give it a go in case it doesn’t work out - unless I’m 99% sure it’s my reader catnip and give it a shot anyway.

As for those author blurbs – same thing. I don’t mean this in a bad way - but most authors have VERY different tastes than I do and are more accepting of things that irritate the shit out of me. Also, I don’t know them and their reading habits on a personal level so that means zilch to me.

I do have a few author Twitter friends that give honest book rec’s all the time in genres I love. The key word there being honest. I’ll one-click those because they are recommending the books out of true reader enthusiasm – just like us.

*Updated: I'm also adding one more related peeve (because it's my blog and I can do what I want lol).  Don't promote a book as  *never been done before - totally original*. I read a lot. You may have an interesting slant on a trope or characters that make it seem fresh but I promise it's ALL been done before.

Do book comparisons and author blurbs lure you to buy a book?