Thursday, January 01, 2015

Happy New Year! 2014 Highlights + Giveaway!

Posted by

NewYearXpresso
Whoooo! Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday and new year’s eve. I’m currently on vacation so things are fab, here. First I just want to thank all my followers and bookish friends for being generally awesome and supportive and easily the best part of this blogging experience for yet another year. I hope 2015 is just as wonderful! Even though there’s been some drama in the book world this past year, I don’t let it get me down and try to focus on the people who rock it in this community – which is most of you, really. We can’t get the bad apples ruin in! Let’s take 2015 by the balls… or whatever >.<

So okay, today let’s check out Xpresso Reads’ 2014 highlights – it was a pretty mellow year, though (I was uber busy!), so bear with me >.< And then there’s an awesome giveaway to kick off the new year with a bang!

2014 Highlights

  • BGDCBanner637Co-bloggers! It started with Jenni who came and went in the same year (sheesh, huh? >.<) and now there are 3 of us! The lovely ladies Amy and Faye joined Xpresso a couple of months ago, now, and it’s been great so far so I hope they stick around for a while 😉

  • BEA 2014I went to BEA again this year. It was just as memorable an experience as last year (and I had several near death experiences on book-con day so I could say that again!) and an event that is completely worth it. For those who get the chance to go – don’t miss it! I do plan to attend again in 2015 so I hope to see some new and familiar faces again! 🙂

  • BGDCWe haven’t posted any in a while, but Book Girls Don’t Cry is our discussion feature here at Xpresso Reads where we chat about bookish things or vent or talk about whatever suits our fancy. You can check out the past year’s discussion posts here! And we’re always looking for discussion ideas, questions, whatever, that you can submit here!

  • XBTNew design! I know this is technically not Xpresso Reads but I’m putting it here anyways >.< Xpresso Book Tours got a makeover this year. You can have a look for yourself here. While I never hated it, I was never truly happy with the design on that site so I finally took the time to redo it. The install and coding was done by the fabulous Ashley, of course 🙂 Xpresso Reads should be getting a new design in 2015, too! *gasp*

  • DNFThis seems to be a controversial topic in the bookish world, but I do review DNF books – mostly they’re short reviews on why I put it down, and I feature them in round-up posts. You can find my first DNF round-up here, and part 2 here.

Other happenings:

  • We had our second annual Cover Madness Giveaway hop in 2014 which was another hit. So you can expect this hop to continue in 2015! 🙂 We usually have it right after BEA in the summer so stay tune!

  • Meme switch! Last year I was doing WoW as the main (and mostly only) meme at Xpresso Reads, but in 2014 I switched to Top Ten Tuesday. I find they’re more fun to do and you can find a lot of my top reads and bookish recommendations from the lists I’ve posted here.

  • Blogoversaries! Xpresso Reads turned 3 in 2014, and Xpresso Book Tours turned 2 with a new design to boot! And I hope I get many more blogoversaries to come! 🙂

  • Did you miss my book life? I’m sporting quite the awesome bookish lifestyle, just saying! 😉




DividerXR1

Giveaway!

To kick off the New Year, I’m giving you all a chance to win one of my favorites books I read in 2014 shown below (if a book is part of a series you can pick any other in the series, instead):

F1 F2 F3 F4

F5 F7 F8 F9

Screen Shot 2014-12-18 at 9.42.25 PM F14 F135 F12


  • Open internationally (as long as The Book Depository ships to you)
  • Giveaway ends January 15th, 2015
  • Full contest terms and conditions found on Rafflecopter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy New Year everyone!


The following two tabs change content below.

Giselle

Canadian blogger, wife, mother, coffee lover, and sarcastic at heart! She has had a love for all things bookish since before Amazon and eReaders existed *le gasp*. You can also find her organizing tours and other fun things at Xpresso Book Tours.

Latest posts by Giselle (see all)

19 Responses to “Happy New Year! 2014 Highlights + Giveaway!”

  1. Laura Plus Books

    Yay for everything that happened in 2014! I’m so happy that you were able to acheive and do so many things. 😀 I was contemplating starting either TTT or WoW and I went with Top Ten Tuesday because it’s so much more fun!

  2. Danya

    Thanks for the awesome giveaway 🙂 I haven’t read any of those books yet, need to catch up on my reading! Happy New Year!!

  3. Amy

    Yay for being part of the team now! I was beyond excited to join you and I hope to stay for a long time. I promise I will get better with the whole calendar thing. Haha!! And I can’t wait to see you again! Woot! BEA!!! Finally. I only had to start crying for my hubs to agree that I can go for 2 days. It just sucks that it’s during the week this time, but whatever. I will be attending on Thursday and Friday most likely.

  6. Kristin

    I still review my DNF books as long as I have something of substance to write. I would love to go to BEA or any of the bookish get events. Hopefully with our new location there will be something going on nearby that I can attend. My only problem is that I find out about things as they are happening instead of in advance. So I always miss things.
    Happy new year,
    Kristin @ Book Sniffers Anonymous

  7. Becky

    I didn’t know you did book tours! I have actually never taken part, I’m too much of a newbie to understand how one works.
    I really love your blog, all three of you are great and I look forward to more in the new year! 😀

    Also so excited for this giveaway *jumps about in excitement*

  8. Carina Olsen

    YAY 😀 It sounds like 2014 was all kinds of awesome for you guys. <3 I adore your blog 🙂 and I hope you will all continue to blog for ages. <3 Love reading your reviews too 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing this amazing giveaway as well 😀 Would really love to win Dissonance. <3 Happy New Year girls 😀

  11. ShootingStarsMag

    Happy New Year!! I’m planning on going to BEA this year, so fingers crossed that it all works out. I went a few years back or so but I wasn’t able to fully enjoy it and stay as long as I wished, so I hope to make up for that this year! It would be fab to meet you and others in person!! I haven’t met many bloggers…not in a long while at least.

    I miss your discussion posts, so I hope you do some more soon. Always fun! I’m currently hosting a giveaway if people do a specific type of discussion post, if you want to stop by and check it out (prize is a gift card to Book Depository).

    -lauren

  12. Aimee @ Deadly Darlings

    Happy new year, Giselle, Amy and Faye! It’s been a great year stalking you girls. I can always count on the Xpresso Reads team for a reliable review and awesome bookish recommendations.

    I hope 2015 is another great year for you gals! Congratulations on a successful 2014!

  15. Marnie Ward

    This is an awesome giveaway to kick off the new year! Congratulations on the anniversaries.

    Happy New Year,
    Marnie.