Say what? Oh man! Has it been 3 years already? I feel like it was only a few months ago that I was brand new to this community, trying to figure out my way around blogging and finding out there was a whole community of book loving people out there. And these posts are really hard for me, because I feel like I can’t put into words what a wonderful experience blogging has been to me. It’s been an exciting and incredibly fun 3 years, and I plan to stick around for another lil while. 😉
A quick look-back!
First design (oh dear lord!):
I’m not really sure why I chose pink. I don’t mind pink, but if you knew me you wouldn’t say I’m a very pink person. But hey it has coffee too so it wins at some things!
My first reviews (on the blog) – Adult and YA:
My first print ARC book haul:
Best part of blogging!
Blogging can be a lot of fun. You get surprises in the mail, you make connections with publishers and authors (starstruck is still me!), you get to review books before they release (which is pretty cool!). Blogging can also be sometimes frustrating, dramatic, and hard work. But the friends I have made, and being a part of this community, is more than worth the hard times. This whole bookish community is really something that I didn’t know I was even missing before I started blogging, and I could never see myself not having all of you guys in my life. I’ve made friends who have become as close to me as my childhood buddies. I have met people – authors, bloggers, publishers – that I never thought I’d be lucky enough to meet. I have had 2 experiences at BEA that I will never forget for my entire life. You guys!!! You just don’t know how much you all mean to me! ♥
Ch-ch-ch-changes!
As many of you have learned, my co-blogger has decided to step away from blogging to make more time for life and family. So obviously there will be a few changes on the blog. I will still be blogging regularly – but as I have a much busier life now than when I started blogging (on maternity leave) I can’t promise a post will be up on every single day, nor should you expect 4-5 reviews a week like I used to be able to do. I’m now aiming for 2/week, 3 if I had a good reading weekend 😉
With that said, I do plan to do more discussion posts, as well as more personal posts (updates on my life in general and themed posts about things I love or what I like to do aside from books). I’ve been noticing these more in the blogosphere lately, and I love getting to know these bloggers better, so I figured it might be fun to get more personal, sometimes. I also want to take part in more blogging events. Things like the End-of-year survey that the lovely Jamie organizes every year. Really, I’ll post whatever suits my fancy, but I’ll make sure that whatever I post, my heart goes into it. Which means, if I don’t have anything to post, I simply will take a day off – I think we’ll all survive if I do that, right? >.< Posting daily was something I was really proud of achieving for the first 2 years of blogging, but it takes a toll on you and having a toddler and a full time job, now, I don’t want to turn blogging into a chore (and then the content suffers anyways!).
Giveaway!
Of course I won’t let you go through all my blah blah without dishing out a prize, right? Well I’ve got a few ARCs that I think some of you might be interested in winning. 2 of them are release already, but they were books I both really enjoyed so I think included them anyways. But, there’s another prize for some book depository books as well! 😉
Details:
This giveaway has 2 prizes. One is an ARC prize pack pictured below (US/Canada only), prize 2 is your choice of 2 books from the book depository (open INTL)!
- Prize 1 open to US/CAN – Prize 2 open INTL
- Full contest terms and conditions found on Rafflecopter
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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