My Fourth Year Blogiversary!

Another year in the books! I can’t believe it’s been four years already.

While 2020 was quite a strange year, I’m so grateful for the bookish community this year more than any other year. I’ve made so many new friends, I was sent a ton of great books for review, and I even dipped into podcasting thanks to the Dead Headspace crew!

But most importantly, this year, I saw how the people that I respect and consider friends be there when someone was in need. You are all such an incredible bunch. I’m so happy to know you all.

If you missed my other blogiversary posts, feel free to take a peek at them below:

• Year One
• Year Two
• Year Three

Let’s dive in!

My Fourth Year Blogiversary

Fun Facts:

• Since this day in 2019, I have posted 200 new blog posts.
• My blog post total is now at 1,040!

Stats:

• My follower count here on WordPress has grown from 101 to 126.
• My email subscribers have grown from 899 to 905.
• My Facebook fan page follower count has grown from 296 to 359.
• My Instagram follower count grew from 159 to 1,125 followers.
• Honest review requests completed this year: 54

My most popular posts from this year include:

• [Book Review] Don’t Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life by Anne Bogel
• [Book Review] Sarah’s Cross by Dean M. King
• [Bookish Platform Feature] The Storygraph
• [Novella Review] Scratches by Joshua Marsella
• Interview with Michael Clark author of The Patience of a Dead Man Trilogy

*NEW* Podcast episodes I guest hosted on:

• Dead Headspace Episode 46- Hunter Shea
• Dead Headspace Episode 56- Sonora Taylor

What I’ve Learned:
The biggest lesson that I have learned in 2020 is to avoid certain people in the bookish community. With a lot of really toxic behavior that occurred earlier this year, I felt the need to start a list on my computer to keep track of these people and what they had done so I don’t accidentally support them later on.

People make mistakes, sure. But there are just some things that I will not stand for even after an apology comes out. From the super toxic behaviors like sexual assault and verbal abuse, to smaller things like publicly whining about someone that had blocked them or creating a nasty “worst of” list at the end of the year…

I don’t support hate in any form. Opinions are opinions, but for me, there is a very thick line between sharing your opinion and sharing hate. To cross that line, you have to do it purposefully.

This year, I have actively worked on my “circle” and made sure that I’m connected to the good eggs. I’m so proud to call a number of people in this community my friends!

I’m also still learning to get better at saying no and making sure that I’m not over committing myself. This is an ongoing struggle in various aspects of my life, but in order to keep my book blog fun, I’ve been super aware of that here. Just turning down honest review requests has been a huge project for me. I always want to say yes and give the books a go, but if they fall outside of my honest review request, I have stopped emailing back. After all, I have that policy for a reason. If someone can’t do a little research before reaching out, I remind myself that I don’t need to go out of my way to respond.

Shout-outs:

I know I am going to forget some key people here… so stay tuned, I’m sure I’ll be updating this section again soon. If I missed something you think should be here, feel free to email me!

Thank you to Tony Moyle, Nick Clausen, Eric J. Guignard, and Kevin J. Kennedy for your continued support and communication about your latest works! I love working with you all so much.

Thank you to Sarah Miniaci, Cheryl Mash, and Wendy B. for putting some wonderful books on my radar. I always look forward to seeing your emails pop up in my inbox!

Thank you to Michael Clark for not only sending me copies of each of your amazing books, but for also sending loads of bookish merch, for trusting me as an early reader, and for being a friend. And thank you for putting a quote from my review on the back of one of your books! I still can’t believe it! This was such a huge honor for me. When I first read the quote and saw my name, I stared at it for far too long not being able to process what I was seeing.

Thank you to Aiden Merchant for putting me on your reviewers list! It has been an absolute pleasure to work with you! And thank you for putting one of my review quotes on the back of your book as well! When I saw your video showing off the physical copy of Horrific Holidays, I screamed and ran to show my husband.

Thank you to Eric LaRocca and Patrick R McDonough for trusting me as a beta reader for some of your works. I can’t wait to see what you both do next!

Thank you to Patrick R. McDonough and Brennan LaFaro for inviting me to take part in the Dead Headspace podcast. It was a pleasure speaking to you both while interviewing Hunter Shea and Sonora Taylor.

And last, but certainly not least, thank you to all that follow, read, and/or comment on my blog. I know all of this isn’t just about the numbers, but it certainly makes all of this much more enjoyable.

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Thanks for reading!
And again, thank you all so much for your support! I’m really looking forward to continuing this blog in 2021!