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About Me
About the Blog
Support the Blog
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Blog Schedule
Rating System
Trigger/Content Warnings
Game Accessibility
Contact
For my review policy, please go here: Review Policy
About Me
Hi, Kit here! (If you need to refer to or credit me, “Kit @ Metaphors and Moonlight” or just “Kit” or just “Metaphors and Moonlight” is good!)
As you’ve probably figured out, I’m a big lover of books and always have been. I read mostly fantasy/paranormal and science fiction, but I read a wide variety within those genres, including young adult, adult, LGBTQIA+, romance-focused, no romance, and all different subgenres (although I do have a special love for paranormal creatures, especially vampires). And I sometimes dip into historical fiction, retellings, and horror that feels sort of SFF-adjacent. I also love self-published and indie books. I like dark, intense books. I like fluffy, light, fun books. I like quirky books. I like books that make me sad. I like books that make me laugh. Mood reading! *shrug* I never regret reading a book because I take something from every book I read, but I do find it a lot more fun to talk about the ones I like.
Maybe I’ll write some books or stories of my own at some point, but that’s on the back burner for the moment.
I’ve always been a Simmer (my favorite is The Sims 3), and now I also play visual novels, dating sims, point and click games, farming sims, puzzle games, and other low-stress types of games.
As for everything else… Well, I’m an INFJ. I’m disabled and chronically ill. (M.E. and various chronic injuries. If you see me talking about TTS, screen readers, blind-friendly accessibility, not being able to look at screens sometimes, etc., that particular issue is thanks to a nerve problem in my head, though I am sighted.) I sometimes make art (mostly of mermen, it seems). My favorite color is red, my favorite fish is the longhorn cowfish, and my favorite movie is Tangled. I love the night because it has a magic and a stillness that makes everything feel more meaningful and makes me feel more like myself. I have six piercings in one ear even though I’m afraid of needles. I used to do gymnastics and circus, even though I wasn’t particularly great at either (aside from handstands, I was pretty good at those). And… I guess that’s about it!
If you want to get to know me more, here’s where you can find me:
Goodreads
All things bookish!
Pinterest
Quotes, humor, reading, writing, gymnastics, circus, food, and more, all in pretty picture form!
Twitter
Any random thoughts I have that fit into 280 characters.
Tumblr
Any random thoughts I have that don’t fit into 280 characters but also don’t quite warrant a post here. I usually share my art there too.
Steam
I mostly just play games, post reviews, and comment in discussions for games I play, but I like having friends there! And I’m usually down to chat about a game if we’ve both played it.
Bloglovin’ / WP Reader
Blog posts! Make sure you don’t miss them by following my blog one of these two ways, or by using the email sign-up in the sidebar 🙂
About the Blog
I started this blog in July 2015 as a place to share the amazing books I was finding. I especially love spreading the word about indie books that deserve more attention.
This blog contains reviews of the following types of books:
– Mostly Fantasy, Paranormal, & Sci-Fi
– Occasionally Historical Fiction & Mild Horror
– Young Adult & Adult
– Regular Novels & Graphic Novels
– Traditional, Indie, & Self Pub
– Romance (mostly LGBTQIA+ at this point) & No Romance
I also review visual novels, dating sims, puzzle games, point-and-click games, management sims, farming sims, and other chill types of games (and very occasionally the more stressful kind)! Mostly indie. Though I do also talk about The Sims quite a bit.
I do non-review posts too, like discussions, recommendations, books & songs that go together, and sharing pretty book covers.
And occasionally I talk about podcasts, movies, shows, music, blogging stuff, and other random things.
Support the Blog
As a disabled person who is unable to work right now, I appreciate every donation, gift, free book, etc. that I get, as well as every use of my referral links!
If you’re enjoying my blog, one way you can help me afford to keep it running, without any extra cost to you, is by using my Amazon affiliate links (which is most Amazon links on my blog, including in reviews, rec posts, the Books with Disabilities list, and the covers below). If you use one and then make a purchase (any purchase, it doesn’t have to be the thing I linked to), I will make a small amount of money. But if you do want suggestions, here are some books I recommend!
If you don’t have a Scribd account and you sign up with my referral link, you can get a 60-day free trial: Scribd Free Trial
If you like audiobooks and supporting local businesses, here is my Libro.fm referral link: Libro.fm membership
I’m also an affiliate for some non-bookish sites! Here are my affiliate/referral links for those:
Zazzle (customizable products)
ChemiCloud (webhosting)
iHerb (herbs, supplements, food, beauty products)
Nolah Sleep (a really comfy mattress, especially for side sleepers, that I’ve been using for years)
Honey (a free browser extension that automatically finds coupon codes for you)
Swagbucks (sign up free and earn gift cards by searching, playing games, & more)
If you’re feeling particularly generous (only if you have extra and are able to give!), you can donate through ko-fi or buy me a book 🙂
Blog Button
Blog Schedule
It changes sometimes, but my posting days are usually Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Rating System
It might seem like I give every book a great rating, but that’s only because reviews are a lot of work, and I mostly review the books I love or really like. If I dislike a book, I’m less likely to put in the effort to make a whole review for it.
I recommend paying more attention to my reviews than my ratings because my ratings are inconsistent, my scales/standards change over the years, I don’t rate entirely based on feelings (so I might dock or add half a star for specific reasons), etc. But this is my general system as of 2022.
– 5: Blew me away!
– 4.5: Loved it! Amazing.
– 4: Liked it or really liked it! Great or solidly good all around.
– 3.5: Still liked it, but might not have strong feelings, or I had a few issues. Good, enjoyable.
– 3: Ok, I mostly feel neutral about it. Or I had a balance of likes/dislikes.
– 2.5: Meh, didn’t really enjoy or had significant issues.
– 2: Disliked it. I have actively negative feelings.
– 1.5: Really disliked it.
– 1: Hated it.
– 0.5: What did I even just read?
Trigger/Content Warnings
I try to give trigger/content warnings for common triggers and upsetting content in books, but I can’t promise I remember for every book, or that I remember every warning in any given book. I also didn’t add warnings when I first started blogging. So please be aware that a lack of warning doesn’t necessarily mean something isn’t in the book.
If you want a quick way to try and find specific triggers in a book, try this:
PSA for those who need/want trigger warnings for books but have a hard time finding them:
When you go to a book on Goodreads, right under the "community reviews" header, there's a search box. It searches all of that book's reviews so you don't have to read through them all 🙂 pic.twitter.com/NHJlJRiURe
— Kit (Metaphors and Moonlight) (@KitTheNameless) June 6, 2019
Game Accessibility
Accessibility in gaming is important to me! So in my game reviews, I try to mention accessibility features when I’m aware of them. However, since everyone’s needs are different, I can’t mention everything.
I myself use a lot of blind assistive tech (though I’m sighted), so I make a point to mention whether or not games are accessible for blind / visually impaired players and screen reader users. I don’t do it to call any games out. I do it because, if no one explicitly says, “This game is not accessible,” it can be hard to know sometimes.
If you know of more accessibility features in a game I review, feel free to leave a comment mentioning it! (Or better yet, if you review games anywhere, mention accessibility in your reviews too!)
Here’s a post I wrote if you’d like to know more about how games can be made accessible for blind and visually impaired players.
Contact
Questions? Review requests? You can email me at: metaphorsandmoonlight (at) gmail (dot) com
(If you’re requesting a review, please check out my review policy first!)