Tag: Blogiversary

5th Blogging Anniversary

biblionerdreflections18 Comments

Hello, everyone! Today marks a pretty special day for me, my 5th blogging anniversary. It’s been exactly five years since I published my first post on this blog! If you’d asked me then if I’d still be blogging in half a decade, I don’t think I would have said yes. lol. I started the site on a whim after getting back into reading. I’d experienced a lot of major life changes in a short period of time, and reading and blogging helped provide some structure and consistency to my life in those early days. Since then, I’ve written over 400 reviews, built a home library of well over 1000 books, and gotten to know so many great people in this blogging community. I’m eternally grateful for all of the joy blogging has brought into my life, even on the days where I have little to no motivation to write. 😊

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I’ve decided to take a look back at my blogging journey so far. From some of the most popular posts and my most underrated reads to the posts that deserve more love and some disappointing books, let’s take a look at some highlights from the last five years.

First & Last Post

Let’s start out with an easy one! My first post was a review of Into the Dark by Claudia Gray. When I first started blogging, most of my reading was Star Wars or Doctor Who books. So, it tracks that my first review would be from one of those two franchises. My last post was a review of Sister Svangerd and the Not Quite Dead by K. J. Parker. As you can see, reviews have been a major focus of my blog from the very beginning and continue to be so. I’m also super happy to report that blogging has seriously expanded the types of books I read and review. While Star Wars and Doctor Who are still important to me, they make up a pretty small portion of my reading these days.

Most Underrated Reads

I’ve read A LOT of books in the last five years, 869 to be exact. So, it was a herculean task to pick one underrated book from each year. I managed it though! So, here they are:

My pick from 2021 is A TOUCH OF DEATH by Rebecca Crunden. This book was the start of a fantastic dystopian series, and the fact that it only has 237 ratings on Goodreads is absolutely criminal.

My pick from 2022 is YMIR by Rich Larson. This was a sci-fi retelling of Beowulf. The whole thing was so inventive and interesting, and the prose was a work of art. It deserves so much more love.

My pick from 2023 is CHARMING YOUNG MAN by Eliot Schrefer. This historical coming-of-age queer YA story was fantastic. It made me a bit obsessed with Proust, who was a notable side character in this story.

My pick from 2024 is a book I talk about any chance I get, THE PHOENIX BRIDE by Natasha Siegel. I adored this historical romance, and it deserves way more attention.

My pick from 2025 is THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS by Rowena Miller. The story did have some pacing problems and contrivances in the plot, but I adored the unique premise and how the setting was executed. It is worth the read alone for the setting of 1900 Paris at the World’s Fair.

Blog Post Picks

I’ve written over 1,000 blog posts in the last five years. From book reviews and anticipated releases lists to weekly memes and bookish tags, I’ve done all sorts of posts. Some do a lot better than others. So, I thought it’d be fun to share some of my most view posts and others that I wish had gotten a bit more love.

Most Viewed Posts

Posts I Wish Had Gotten More Love

Disappointing Reads of My Blogging Tenure

I debated whether to include this section in the post because I didn’t want to be too negative. However, disappointment has obviously been a part of my journey over the last five years, and it felt a bit disingenuous to ignore it completely. So, here are five books that let me down in some way.

Version 1.0.0

Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibanez, The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley, The Lure of Their Graves by Laura R. Samotin, Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao, Half Lost by Sally Green

New Favorite Authors Found Through Blogging

The scope of my reading was rather limited before I started blogging. I’ve been lucky to find so many new to me authors over the last five years, but some of them stand out above the others. Here’s a look at five favorite authors/books that I might never have read if not for being introduced to them through blogging/ARCs. These are all pretty much auto-buy authors for me at this point.

Jade City by Fonda Lee, A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, Babel by R.F. Kuang, The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley, Dark Moon, Shallow Sea by David R. Slayton

Favorite Blogs

Let’s wrap things up with one of the best parts of the blogging experience. I’ve been around long enough to see blogs be born and die out. lol. However, there are also some amazing blogs written by awesome people who’ve been in my corner consistently for a really long time. I don’t bounce around to visit other blogs as often as I’d like, but these five (actually six because I couldn’t narrow it down… lol) are ones I constantly gravitate toward when I’m in the mood to blog hop. So, go visit them and give them some love!

There you have it! My celebration of my 5th blogging anniversary. I still can’t quite believe it has been five years, but I hope to make it five more. I definitely have enough books on my shelves to last that long…😊

One Year Blogiversary!!

biblionerdreflections18 Comments

I cannot believe it has been one year since my very first blog post. So much has changed in my life since then. It’s honestly a bit hard to fathom. When I started the blog, I was desperately searching for some type of constructive, meaningful activity because I’d recently quit grad school and was only working a few hours a week. I had lots of free time and felt directionless for the first time in a long time. Blogging has helped to fill that hole and helped quite a bit with the isolation of the pandemic, as well. So, I’m really grateful for the role it has played in keeping me sane over the last year!

I’ve accomplished a lot with my blog during the last year. I published 320 blog posts and reviewed over 140 books! I’ve found some great new authors, both indie and traditional, that I now love to read, and I’ve met so many other book bloggers whose posts I always look forward to reading. I’m happy with what I’ve managed to create on my little slice of the internet, and I hope those who visit it enjoy the content that I’ve loved writing.

As for stats, I’ve had almost exactly 9000 views in the last year with over 4000 visitors. There have been over 500 comments and 4000 likes on my posts. Never in my wildest imaginings would I have ever expected so much interaction with my thoughts about books. I’m super grateful for it and appreciate every person who has visited, commented, liked, and subscribed/followed.

In looking toward the future, I’m not sure what, if anything, I plan to change. I’m always looking for ways to improve the blog, but there’s nothing specific right now that I plan to do differently. I’ve changed a lot of things about the blog over the last year (looks, types of posts, etc.), though. So, I’m sure some stuff will change. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see more or less of in the future, feel free to leave some suggestions down in the comments!

Once again, thanks for a great year! I’m looking forward to many more years of great reading and interacting with you all. Now let’s look at some highlights from the past year!

One Month Blogiversary

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I can’t believe it, but it has already been one month since I started this blog! I started blogging because I was interested in recording my reading journey and my thoughts on books. I just wanted to have a place to process my thoughts and feelings about the things I read. I did not set out thinking anyone would actually read or care about what I think.

I am grateful to each person who took the time to look at one of my posts. I still can’t believe my stuff was viewed over 100 times last month. I’ve also gained 20+ followers on WordPress and over 220 followers on Twitter. Other than all the great books I’ve read, my favorite part of this experience so far has been interacting with people. This really is a great community of creative people, and I’ve loved getting to know some of you and your work.

Things are growing, and I’m continuing to learn more and more about how to be a better blogger. My focus is still on picking, reading, and documenting really great books, but I also plan to devote more time to growing my reader base and writing some work of my own, including bookish blog posts, poems, and short stories. This month I’ll be writing a series of blog posts exploring my motivations for reading. The first post will be out tomorrow. So, don’t miss it. Here’s to many more books and many more months!

Thanks for reading!