ABOUT ME
They say that no two people ever read the same book. We all bring our own experiences with us, reflecting ourselves on the book as much as it does on us.
For this reason, you might be curious as to who the girl behind The Fiction Fox is. Allow me to quickly introduce myself:
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My name is Renée, 25 years old and born and raised in the Netherlands (no, not in Amsterdam). I’m a Medical Doctor and disability-ambassador by day, booklover and freelance editor, sensitivity-reader and book reviewer by night. Outside of books, my loves include dogs (they are, in my humble opinion, the best thing on planet earth…), swimming and being out in nature, especially near the sea.
I discovered my love of the English language around age 12, and started reading the occasional English book around then. Now, over ten years later, this love has only grown, and I now the vast majority of my reading is in English. You can still find the odd exception of a Dutch or German book on my shelves as well: my general rule of thumb is that I’ll try to read the book in the language it was originally written in, as long as I speak it.
I read mostly literary fiction, fantasy, sci-fi and the occasional horror-novel, although I’m open to branching out to almost anything that piques my interest, with the exception of pure romance or erotica.
As an editor and sensitivity reader, my talents and interest lie in books with medical, (mental-) health and disability representation, from a place of professional, as well as personal experience. This extends into topics of grief and loss, which I tend to have a soft spot for. In my edits and reviews, i also focus on rounded, truthful and inclusive representation of diverse characters (disability, chronic illness, ethnic minority, LGBTQ+ and more), especially in fiction aimed towards younger readers. I personally believe in the healing power of stories during hard times, and it is my wish that every (young) reader will one day be able to see and recognise themselves on page.
Why I read
My reading life began at a very young age, thanks to the loving example set by my reading obsessed mum, but my reading tastes have changed significantly, based on some of my life experiences. In order for you to understand my perspective, there are some things you need to know about me.
My best childhood memories are characterized by reading together with my mum. We read mostly middlegrade, and later fantasy, and in this way she took me on more magical travels than any other parent could. This was quite the feat, considering that for the majority of my life, neither one of us was in a condition to actually travel the world. I suffered childhood cancer, followed by the poor health consequences that followed. My mother was wheelchair bound and rapidly declining in health due to a debilitating disease. Yet both our minds were always full of life, stories and adventures, often thanks to the books we shared.
My mother died when I was 14, and left a void that books couldn’t even pretend to fill.
I didn’t read for a long time, until I found the beautiful genre that is magical realism. A genre that my mum would have loved as well I/we had discovered it earlier.
In the past few years, reading has brought me a little closer to my mum, brought me comfort and brought me that feeling of “home” I thought I lost. It became even more of a passion than it had been before, and stayed like that to this day.
The Fiction Fox is more than just a blog where I share my opinion on books. My hope is that it can become a small community where we can share our stories together: the ones that lie within books books, but also the ones that are inside the reader themselves, and influence their take on those books.
Heavier themes such as grief, depression, illness and disability are prevalent throughout my favorites list, as they are so close to my heart. If you are uncomfortable reading about these topics, proceed with caution around these books.
However, just like in real life: it’s far from all doom-and-gloom here. There’s plenty of fun books out here as well, so pick what fits your liking. Everybody has their own tastes for good reason.
This has been a my readingstory, and hopefully the start of many more beautiful chapters to come. Again, I’d love to hear your stories and share some of those new bookish experiences with you guys! Enjoy your stay in my virtual book-lair.
Lots of book-love,
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Renée
You can also find and befriend me on Goodreads via this link
Please send any review-requests to thefictionfoxreviews@gmail.com
Recommendations are always welcome on the above mentioned links as well!
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