A childhood in the forbidden section
I grew up reading as a pastime. As a child I grew up in a large family, so I craved quiet alone time. That led me to the numerous bookshelves my parents had in the house. There were 2 entire bookcases of World Books, Encyclopedias, and Zoobooks magazines, and I remember spending hours opening them and absorbing facts about the world. As much as I loved the encyclopedia shelves, I was continuously drawn to the forbidden section: a bookcase full of romance novels and fantasy of every kind. I could devour a novel in a day as a young child and frequently got in trouble for staying up past my bedtime because I was reading. At school I read every history and nonfiction animal book I could get my hands on. Every few months there was a new animal or event I loved to spout facts about.
My true love of fantasy didn't blossom until high school, when I was introduced to The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. I had dabbled in whatever fantasy/novels I could get into at my home, but this was something new. I was so hooked by the magic, romance, and deep storyline that I would even sneak them into my marching band hat box at football games to sneak a few pages in between playing the fight songs on my trumpet. High school was the last time I was super deep into reading, as college/working took over my life for a good 20 years.
Finding my way back
I dabbled in reading on my Kindle over my first few years of motherhood, but as it does, parenting young children took over the majority of my time. When my children were a bit older and not in diapers, I got introduced to World of Warcraft, and it reignited my love for fantasy and magic. I rode the World of Warcraft addiction until I started doing some home remodeling and painting last year. One of my additions was a bookshelf that I subsequently started filling with books. My love for reading was reignited with the discovery of BookTok and all the new fantasy/romantasy options out there. I dove back into reading head on, and my home library started to grow.
I quickly realized that the bookshelf I had purchased wasn't going to work. It was already holding all my children's books, and my books were rapidly taking up the remaining space. I needed a new solution. I had already painted my walls in a dark, moody color and taken my framing to black — it felt elegant and classic. I even painted golden dragons, runes, mountains and stars on my accent wall in reference to my favorite new book characters and stories. I needed a reading area and library to match the rest of what I had built.
Building the library of my dreams
I really wanted to build a custom bookshelf and reading area that would be a centerpiece for my family — a place that would feel cozy yet elegant, where we could commune and read together. I watched a ton of videos trying to get an idea of what I would want to build. I settled on building the bookshelf of my dreams: one that stretched all the way up to the point of the vaulted ceiling in my living room (much to my husband's dismay). Tax season came, I had my budget, and I got to work right away! I slaved away building custom frames and getting bookshelves that would fit into my framing. I framed out my children's reading nook and ordered a custom-size plushy cushion so they could sit in the window and read with the natural light. I also built cupboards for family games and storage for days.
Caleb
While I was building the home library of my dreams, I found out I was pregnant with my 4th child — another boy, so my son would finally have a brother. My project quickly took on more meaning, as this area would now include a baby when it was done. Underneath the seating area of the reading nook, I added cloth drawers that we would fill with baby toys, so that he would have his own space too! Let me tell you how much my husband loved watching his pregnant wife get on a 10-foot ladder to build the top of this shelf (insert sarcasm). I had to do a lot of finishing touches when he wasn't around, or it wasn't going to be completed in time for baby boy. :P My project was nearly complete, and the older kids were already using the window seat to read and hang out. It was everything I'd wanted it to be.
Everything changed when I went in for my 20-week ultrasound. It was supposed to be the fun ultrasound — where you count all the fingers and all the toes. They would even tell you the gender if you didn't already know. My ultrasound tech ended up turning the monitor off and telling me she was going to be right back. I sat in silence as dread built in my chest. I knew something was wrong. I had 3 children already; none of my anatomy scans had gone like this. The doctor came in and informed me that he had passed away.
I drove home in silence for the first time in my life. There was no real processing time for his passing, because in less than 16 hours I was scheduled to come into the hospital to be induced. I gave birth to my sleeping Caleb the next day. To say the whole ordeal was traumatic is putting it mildly, and I honestly don't think I'll ever get over his passing, or how everything went down.
The next few weeks passed in a blur, and I didn't do much except try and keep going in survival mode. It was a sad time for my family; my husband and children were crushed. Instead of planning a baby shower and picking out new outfits for Caleb, I was talking to funeral homes about how I wanted to handle his cremation.
My husband was my rock throughout this entire ordeal, and at some point he wanted to cheer me up in any way possible. He mentioned going book shopping. Seeing as I was not going to make any public appearances, my Amazon cart got loaded instead. Taking all those new books out of the boxes and putting them on my freshly built bookshelves sparked something in me. I was able to pull through and finished that bookshelf area for my kiddos and I soon after.
Taking all those new books out of the boxes and putting them on my freshly built bookshelves sparked something in me.
Finding my way upright again
When my finished bookshelf was complete, all there was to do was get a cozy chair to curl up in and finish filling those shelves! Every time a new book was added, it filled a space in me and gave me another escape. Watching all my hard work come to fruition was amazing, and when I was gifted a comfy used recliner, it made the space complete. I was able to cozy up in that rocking chair and start diving into the library I had made — and my children made quick work of the cozy chair as well. I was able to start collecting my fantasy spark, The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, and seeing it on my shelves was pure bliss.
My favorite place to expand my library was the used bookstore; I could find some of BookTok's most popular books severely discounted, and also get older books that I'd been wanting to dive into. Soon I started running into a problem: my library had gotten large enough, and some items on my TBR had been on there long enough, that I would forget I had already bought them — and buy them again. I started ending up with doubles of books, and quickly came to the conclusion that I needed something to track my library so this didn't happen anymore.
The paywall gauntlet
I was using the notes app on my phone to track what I was missing in certain series, but I was not very good at keeping it updated, and I would still get doubles and not get the books I was actually missing. So I started searching for book tracking apps. I was met with my first paywall. After I had entered my personal details, my reading habits, and agreed to the terms, I was ready to use this shiny new app, and — BOOM. Paywall. I couldn't even trial the app before I bought it, which I was willing to do if it gave me what I was looking for. I closed it quickly, losing all interest in continuing.
I kept going and downloaded at least 5 different so-called "book tracking" apps. On 3 of them, I hit a paywall. The 4th was great, though — I was able to add my books, it was cute, and I started to get my library organized. After about 5 or so books added to the shelf, the app crashed. I tried for a good part of the evening to get it open again, but it would crash every time. I was super bummed. So, I tried another app. Sigh — another paywall. I was done. I uninstalled all the apps and went back to updating my series by hand in my notes app.
A couple weeks later, I really was determined to get my library collection in order. I had gotten another double and would have to take it back to the store, AGAIN. I decided to give it one more shot in my search for a decent book tracking app. I found one that was super cute! Nice intro page — it looked good and spoke to me. I entered my details happily, but before I could even see what the app looked like, there it was: that sneaky little paywall. I checked out of the whole idea of downloading an app and decided that I was going to make my own. It was going to have everything I wanted, and it was going to be FREE.
So I built it — and it's free
I decided I was going to build an app that gave me everything I was looking for. I wanted to share my love of books with the world with this app. I wanted something that the book community could use — something that would spark that inner piece of them that fell in love with reading in the first place. I built this app out of love: my love for my family, my love for reading, my love for the reading community. I hope this app brings people together with their love of reading, fantasy and faraway lands, a sweet escape, and really, their love of BOOKS!
A note to my fellow book lovers
I hope that my users will read my story and know that building this app came from the depths of my heart — and that in my loss and heartache, MOBS was born and pulled me out of the darkness. I'm here with all of my users. Talk to me, give me feedback; I'm a real person with real-life stories, and I would love to hear yours as well. 💛