About Bee

The Raindrop Reader is me.

Hello. I'm Bee.

I live in the Pacific NW between raindrops, bookshops, and coffee shops. I've grown up here and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. Two hours to beach, or the mountains, the desert, or a hop and a skip to Powell's, the largest independent bookstore in the US.

As a child, I didn't read a lot of books. I ate them. As a teen, my reading interests vacillated greatly although my parents were near-censoriously interested in what I was (or was not) reading. Biographies of politicians were not as interesting to me as The Sweet Valley High girls.

As a young woman, I nearly abandoned reading until That Vampire Apple Book came out. My friends read it. My coworkers read it. My children wanted to read it. I decided to try it, even though I swore I'd never touch a paranormal or vampire novel. It was nothing I'd ever read before and felt like I'd devoured literary cotton candy. I came to the startling realization that most everyone is a reader given the right genre, author, and book. I was a reborn bibliophile.

Fast forward garble-farble years. I'm happily married with four kids - from 12 to 18. I've worn many hats: bookseller, medical student, blogger, stay at home mom, and genealogist.

I've sold books online and have worked in three bookstores. I've been a blogger for more than a decade. I'm a prolific reader so landing a publishing job was a logical step. Reviewing books online was a bit more practical, at least for now.

Over the years, I've learned what is worth my time and what is a healthy escape. I pondered my dislike of love triangles, and why I need my happily ever afters. In a short answer? It's all about knowing what I'm reading. 

As a blogger, I understand the feeling of putting something online or for public consumption in hopes to become the next Must Read. I've had that twisty gut feeling when crafting brilliance, creativity, or kinship for the masses to critique or dissect. It's those stories that rattle your gray matter in all the best ways, that entertain, or make you dig deeper and discover yourself, regardless of the genre. These are the stories I want to review.

◘ I give you my own perspective. You can read the back matter or synopsis without me but I can tell you what I thought the book was about.

◘ I will tell you what the author is attempting to say with the book. I will also tell you what I thought the author said with the book, hit or miss.

◘ I am respectful. I may not like the book on rare occasion, but I review the book, not the author.

◘ I use what I call The Crit Sh*t Sandwich: negatives couched between the positives. "Chocolate coating makes it go down easier."

◘ I share what rattled my brain or captured my attention. If I'm thinking about the book a week later, I'll tell you why.

◘ I also share what didn't work for me, did not make sense, or infuriated me. This is not always a negative thing.

◘ I will eventually read something that will interest you. I read mostly fiction, sans horror.


Thank you for stopping in.

~Bee