Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Today Is My 4 Year Blogoversary!!!! PLUS Giveaway!!






I can't believe it's been 4 years of blogging already!

My Story


  • I've always been a reader, but after having a baby in 2007, and becoming a stay-at-home mom, I started reading at levels I never had before.  Part of that is because there really isn't anything on TV at 4 A.M. (my kid never slept and this was a pre-Netflix, DVR world for me), and part of it was that I found my reading HOME.  That my friends is Young Adult books.  
  • For the longest time I had been thinking that since I was an "adult", I had to read Adult books.  And don't get me wrong, I found some really great ones in that time, books by Jodi Picoult, Emily Giffin, Sophie Kinsella, titles like The Devil Wears Prada, She's Come Undone, The Nanny Diaries, The Kindness of Strangers, Where the Heart Is, and 20 Times a Lady.... but when I picked up a Sarah Dessen book (Just Listen), and found my old copy of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (which I reread), I realized that while I really enjoyed some of those Adult books, the place I feel at home in is YA.... And I'm okay with that.
  • Don't get me wrong, I still felt like a creeper when I was in the YA section of Barnes & Noble, but I felt good KNOWING where my reading home was.  I think back to my pre-blogging days of running down the YA section in the libraries and grabbing something super fast because I thought people would think I was weird for being there, and I laugh at how dumb I was.  That's one thing the blogging world gave me: The realization that it's OKAY to read YA at any age... and that lots of adults do!!  I had no idea!
  • So as I read more and more, I had a hard time remembering everything I was reading.  This lead to Goodreads!  A way to keep track of my books!!  But then I started wondering what would happen if Goodreads ever went away??  How would I know what my reactions were to all my books??  That's when I decided to do a blog.  Just to keep track of what I thought about books.  I only wanted it for me.  I had NO idea there were other people that actually blogged about books and that they did it in a SOCIAL way.  I had no idea anyone would ever read what I was writing.
  • Somehow right away I stumbled onto Top Ten Tuesday, and I thought it was just a thing to do once a week to talk to people about books.... once a week- that's the only time I ever thought I would converse with other book people.
  • Now 4 years later, my blog isn't some big success or anything, but it's grown into a really fun hobby for me.  I've learned a lot about myself over this process.  I've learned what I want out of this whole thing.
  • What I Want Out Of This Whole Thing: NOTHING!!  Well, not nothing, nothing, but yeah, pretty much nothing.  I just want to have fun and share the books I love with people.  I went through a whole "Ahhh, there are so many awesome blogs out there, and I want to be awesome, and I want to keep up, and I want to do all the things, and be included in all the things"-phase, but I soon realized that I don't want to be competitive and stress-out and feel bad and compare myself against weird expectations, I just want to share the love of books.  And have fun!!  And document what I read... because that's really the whole reason I started :)
  • For fun, take a look at THIS gem.  It was my very first post!
Now that I've written that long-winded thing.... I'd really love to do a giveaway!!  To thank all the peeps over the last 4 years who have talked books with me.  All the people who given me moral support, who have been nice to me when I saw them at book events, who have followed and read the silly things I write.  THANKS GUYS!!




  • Winner chooses up to 2 books (under $30) from The Book Depository
  • As long as the Book Depository ships to you, you can enter
  • I will contact you by email if you win
  • Thanks for stopping by!!



a Rafflecopter giveaway




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25 comments:

  1. Yay! Happy bloggiversary<3!!! I'm glad you found your home in YA!!

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  2. Happy Blogiversary to you!! I think your blog is soooo successful you have like 800+ followers alone. Keep up the great reviews!!

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  3. Happy Blogoversary! I think you have a very successful and interesting blog. Keep up the amazing work! :D :D

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  4. Woo hoo. Throws confetti. Happy blogoversary. Here's to more great reading and many more years of blogging.

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  5. Happy Blogiversary!!!!! I am not sure how to like a review on Goodreads, lol :( ♥

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  6. Happy 4th Blogiversary! Thanks for the generous giveaway :)

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  7. Happy Blogoversary and hope you continue enjoying blogging!!

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  8. Happy Blogoversary!!! Congratulations!

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  9. Happy Blogoversary Michelle, I can't believe that we started blogging around the same time, 4 years is an amazing achievement, here's to many more wonderful years to come!

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    1. I remembered that!! It's very cool that we started at the same time! And your blog is a blog I found very early on too :)

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  10. Happy Blogoversary! I just met your blog, and I loved it. I wish many more years to come!

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  11. oh the lure of ya books. I didn't discover these until i was way adult. I started to read ya because of my teen daughter. needed to know what she was reading. And then i was hooked. I still get strange looks when I tell people I read mostly ya but who cares. I am not the only adult that does. I have discovered some great adult books too just not as many on my list as ya.

    happy anniversary.glad you made it to the blogosphere.

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  12. Congratulations on 4 years! Wow, I think that is fabulous. You're doing such an amazing job. I appreciate all the stuff you share with us. I didn't even start reading books until 2008 and I've always been drawn to YA books the most. Thank you for everything.

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  13. YOU GUYS!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR CONGRATS!! SO NICE!!

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  14. Happy blogoversary, Michelle!! I'm an adult YA reader too, so I'm glad we've found our people. :-)

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  15. Congratulations on four years, that's fantastic! I remember finding your blog sometime last year, but then I think I lost your link, so I'm glad to have found it again, especially to stop by and leave you a nice comment for your blogoversary :) Wishing you many more awesome bookish blog years to come!

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  16. Happy Blogoversary!!! Thanks for the giveaway. :)

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  17. Happy Blogiversary, Michelle! Congratulations on 4 years, that's so impressive! I hit my 2nd anniversary last month, and I can only imagine that each year that goes by it becomes more and more of a sense of accomplishment that you have such a passionate hobby you've kept up!

    Cristina @ Girl in the Pages

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  18. Happy blogoversary! Four years is impressive :-D And I love everything about this post lol. I was cracking up at how you would run through the YA section and your reasoning for starting the blog. I'm glad you've found your niche in books and, it seems, in blogging. It makes you happy, and that's what it's all about! (At least, I think that's what it should be all about!)

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    1. It's funny because now when I'm in the YA section somewhere I have to actively stop myself from telling a person about the book they are looking at. Instead of being embarrassed, I feel the need to recommend or not recommend everything there :) Times have definitely changed.

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  19. I don't how I missed this post this week!! Happy Blogiversary!! Four years is such an awesome accomplishment. Loved reading about your reading and blogging journey :)

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  20. Happy blogoversary!! Glad I found your blog because I have the same philosophy of blogging: have fun and enjoy the books. Here's to many more years of reading for both of us!
    Thanks so much for stopping by! Jen @ YA Romantics

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  21. YOU GUYS ARE MAKING ME FEEL EMOTIONAL WITH ALL YOUR LOVELY WORDS!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAYING ALL THIS :)

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