December 19th, 2012 is when I started this blog. It’s now 2015. It’s been three years.
Three. Years.
Wow.
I started blogging three years ago, and it amazes me how far I’ve come from that person who wanted an outlet to talk about books but was essentially winging it—flying by the seat of her pants—for the first three-four months to, well, this present day Cee who’s worked hard and made a lot of wonderful friends; got out of her shell and went to book events; gained publishing contacts; and learned so much about the book world. It’s been truly rewarding to look back at where I was and where I am right now because that’s all the hard work I’ve done!
I had trouble writing this blogoversary post because what is there to say? I think I’ll try to list what blogging for three years have done to me.
- I pay attention to the books that will be coming out. In the past, I didn’t keep track or paid attention to those type of book news because I didn’t feel the need, but now, paying attention to them is engrained in my soul. I gotta know what awesome books will be published!
- I made so many wonderful friends who I wouldn’t trade for a bazillion dollars! I’m so blessed to have every one of you who I call a friend in my life! Here’s lookin’ to: Charlotte, Kelly, Alexa, Sana, Crini, Jessica, Kayla, Chiara, Jess, Kierra, Shelly, Stormy, and you. <3
- I am comfortable going to book events alone. Most of my friends live across the ocean/country/states, or don’t read YA, so they’re unable to come with me. It was scary at first to go alone, but I’ve done it so much that it’s no big deal to me now.
- I know what books are for me, and what books aren’t. (That doesn’t stop me from reading the books I know I won’t like because I’m still a big believer of giving a book a fighting chance even though I will hate myself for it. Still learning to trust my instincts.) In the past, I didn’t have an idea of the kinds of books I like. I just picked whatever sounded interesting, but now, I have tropes I know I love reading about or dislike reading.
- I have conquered Photoshop. Well, not really, but I did finally understand how to use it efficiently! I was so excited because Photoshop had always been a pain for me to use in the past, but not anymore! (Well, still a little pain.) I’m not a pro or anything; I’m just happy I can work in it.
- Even though I may not like a book that someone else did, I can understand the pros of it.
- I can read books with “unlikeable characters” because those people do exist, and those unlikeable character may be likable to someone else.
That’s all I can think of. I’m sure I’m missing some other ones, but that’s okay.
I have to give a big shout-out to my blogoversary twins—Kristen at My Friends Are Fiction and Jessica at Literary, Etc! Today is our third blogoversary! Three years for three bloggers. Crazy, right? It totally blew my mind! We’re a triple threat! ;) You should give these wonderful ladies a visit!
And of course I have not forgotten to thank you all for supporting The Novel Hermit. I wouldn’t be here without you guys. I feel so blessed to be in this wonderful community. You guys make me more excited about books, and you really inspire me. Thank you!
Let’s celebrate in style! Party, confetti, dancing, and awesome giveaways!
(*The banner was made with the ice skater, penguin and landscape from Freepik.)
In honor of my third blogoversary, I want to celebrate by hosting two giveaways for US and international folks!
THE RULES
- Giveaway #1 is only opened to the US.
- Giveaway #2 is only opened internationally (as long as The Book Depository delivers to you).
- The giveaway will run from December 19 to December 31, 2015.
- You must be 13 years (with your parent’s permission) or older.
- You will be disqualified if you pick up entries you haven’t done.
- If the winner does not respond to my e-mail within 48 hours, I will have to choose another winner.
- I am not responsible for any items lost in the mail.
1. For US people ONLY, you get to win a box of these books:
Hunter by Heather Lackey (ARC)
Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente (ARC)
This Raging Light by Estelle Laure (ARC)
Front Lines by Michael Grant (ARC)
Take the Fall by Emily Hainsworth (ARC)
The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (signed)
Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender
Famous Last Words by Katie Alender
Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
Enter to win a box of awesome books!
2. For international folks ONLY, you get to pick from a book that I loved reading this year:
*For the comics (like East of West, Rat Queens, Saga, and The Wicked + The Divine), you can choose what volume you want. (So if you have volume one, you can pick volume 2.)
Enter to win one of my favorite reads of this year
Congratulations!! I’m so honoured to follow you and your blog and for your blogoversary present: remember that time we talked Gallagher girls and I made that stupid comment? Yeah, you we’re totally right. GIRL POWER! *hugs*
Happy blog birthday!!
I adored A Thousand Pieces of you this year. I’m a fan of time travel (yes DOCTOR!) and examining the idea of fate. So the dreamy romance, and action, drew me right in and made this my favorite book in a loooong time!
Congratulations on your third year! You can go to Hogsmeade this year ;). Just wanted to say that your blog is beautiful and the content and person behind it is amazing as well. A book I always recommend is Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. It made me stay up past midnight, read it on car rides, and bawl my eyes out and question why I read books if they hurt me this much. It’s obviously perfect.
Happy blogloversary! I loved The Hurricane by RJ Prescott and An Ember In the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. Thanks for the giveaway!
Just dropping by to say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!
Happy blogoversary! Three years is amazing! My favorite read of this year, which you should totally check out is the Shatter Me series because the writing is so unique and fantastic! I loved this series so much that I read it three times!
Happy happy blogoversary!
I would reccomend Queen of Shadows and thank you for the giveaway! :-)
btw. I’m the one whos from the UK but asked that, if I won, you could post the prizes when I’m back in the UK. Sorry for the confusion!
*back from the US.
*back in the US haha
aww congratulations cee! your blog has continuously been one of my favourites over the years so it makes me a bit teary to think that it’s been already been THREE YEARS as well. so congratulations cee and here’s to more amazing in the years to come! :)
happy bloggoveersary P_P
I will recomend the graphic novel Maus by art spiegelman it is breathtaking and very sad.
Congratulations Cee! Three years is phenomenal and kudos to you for making it this far! My 6 months blogoversary came and went last week but I haven’t been able to put a post up yet haha. Apparently I’m getting lazy already. Anyway here’s to more many happy years of blogging ♥️ Hope we get to know each other better over the coming year!!
Happy Blogoversary! <3
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US! I’m so excited that we started the SAME day 3 years ago. So awesome. So much love for you and your blog Cee!
HAPPY THIRD BLOGIVERSAY, CEEEEE! We are only just under six months apart!
I remember following you way back when you were on WordPress and thinking that you were so awesome (obviously I still think that because it’s true), and being intimidated by it! XD Oh, how things have changed, haha.
I’m so happy that you’ve gained so much through blogging! I always find it so unexpected because I just thought it would be a place to ramble about books, and yet it has turned out to be so much more. Proud of you you for going it alone to book events! <3
As for recommending you a favourite … that IS REALLY HARD because there have been a lot of special books for em this year. But I'm going to go with the most recent: The Marvels by Brian Selznick. It made me cry, and it's beautiful. It's ILLUSTRATED, and it's also LGBTQIA+, and just everything about it is lovely. If you're keen on it, and read it, let me know what you think! <3
HAPPY THREE YEARS, C1!!!! <3 *throws confetti and glitter and sparkles*
Happy third blogiversay! I just love your blog :)
I’m not really sure what I’d recommend because you have so many great books on your best of the year list already. If I had to pick one though, I’d probably say Everything, Everything, just because I loved it so much. But I’m sure you’ve already read it!
Congratulations on three years of blogging, my dear Cee! I am so, so, so happy that we met through this community of ours, and so grateful that we’ve become friends <3
HAPPY BLOGOVERSARYYYYYYYY <3333
I'm so freaking proud of everything you've accomplished and how far you've come. I'm thrilled and happy for what's to come in the future, even though it'll be overwhelming but I believe in you. Continue on pushing all the things on people, thinking of brand new blog ideas and just being the awesome queen you are <3
The Diviners by Libba Bray great characters, love, mystery, and flappers! Happy 3rd!
I have been blogging since 2009, but blogging books since 2014. I think book blogging has a really big community and it has been my favorite sort of blogging. Happy Blog Anniversary to you! I recently read Sword and Verse, I really loved it. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves YA.
Happy Blogoversary! :)
How to be both by Ali Smith was one of my favorites this year… it’s sort of experimental fiction and you get to follow both a teenager in the present and a painter of the 1460s. It’s really interesting and depending on the copy you get a different chapter is the first one and it changes your understanding of the book.
Happy Blogoversary Cee!
I recommend Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman. I wasn’t a historical fiction person before this book, but Anne Blankman changed that. The writing is so deliciously descriptive and historically accurate that I was able to picture myself standing in the middle of pre-WWII Munich. The main character is delightfully dynamic, and the love interest is a handsome, brave reporter eager to expose Hitler for who he is.
Congrats and Happy Blogoversary! What a great accomplishment. :D
The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley. It’s a YA novel (that is I think described as historical non-fiction even though it only takes place during the 1990s [which makes me feel really old, since that was decade of my childhood]). But, the writing was beautiful and atmospheric, and more importantly, it takes place in Ireland, and for some reason I’m a total sucker for books that take place in Ireland.
I congratulated you on Twitter, but I want to post an official comment here too. HAPPY (belated) BLOGOVERSARY. It is good to have you around :)
Happy 3rd blogoversary!
My favorite read this year was Violent Ends by Shaun David Hutchinson.
It’s told by 17 points of view. That may sound cray cray but it works for this particular story. I believe it’s a MUST-read book.
Congrats!
My favorite book this year is I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios. Great characters, diversity, love and all the feels!! This description doesn’t do it justice but believe me it’s amazing!
Thank you for the giveaway :)
Happy blogoversary! :) I read so many books this year, that I have a hard time remembering them off the top of my head. I would have recommended Vengeance Road, but I see you already read it. :) Some other books I read this year that made an impression on me are I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios and Rites of Passage by Joy N. Hensley.
Congrats on making three years! That’s so amazing! This year has been the year that my love for Outlander has really manifested so I highly recommend the books! A Court of Thorns and Roses was big surprise for me and made me jump on the Sarah J. Maas train. A Game of Thrones is also a new favorite and something I’m so glad I challenged myself to read. It’s a huge book, but it’s worth reading because Martin has such a great way of storytelling.
*hugs* Happy, happy blogoversary, Cee! That’s amazing, and I love chatting with you about comics. Not that I do it a lot, but I know I can definitely rely on you for that!
Happy blogversary!! *confetti* Congratulations on three years of blogging! <3 One of my favorite reads this year is Searching for Sky by Jillian Cantor. It's young adult and it opened my eyes to new things. It tugged my heartstrings and it even made me cry. I just love the story, the world, and the writing <3
Congratulations on your third blogoversary! This was not the best year for 5-star books but i still had a few that I really loved =) One of them is Black Iris by Leah Raeder which i don’t know if you’ve already read but it’s really really good! It has a really intense plot, LGBT themes and characters that were flawed but felt real. A warning though, it has sexual content, violence (including bullying) and drug use so if that’s something you don’t want to read or if it triggers you, i advise you not to read. Honestly, this book is not for everyone but I hope it’s for you and you enjoy it as much as I did! Also, thanks for the giveaway =)
Happy three year anniversary! One of my favorite books that I read this year is We Were Liars by E. Lockhart because it was just a fun, twisty story. Once again, congratulations and thanks for the giveaway!
Congratulations! I started blogging around that same time too- but I stopped blogging for a year or so after a while, and only started blogging again recently. To have done this continuously for THREE years is a huge feat! You are goals, my dear :D
My recommendation is A Thousand Splendid Suns. It made me cry, which hasn’t happened in a long time!
Once again, congrats!!
Congratulations, Cee! This is my third year as blogger too and I know how amazing it feels to have made it this far. Here’s to all the epic content you’ll be undoubtedly creating in 2016!
My rec for you is Aaron Hartzler’s What We Saw, it’s a grossly underrated YA novel that explores sexual assault from the perspective of the community. A must read for sure-If you do give it a go, hit me up ’cause I’d love to chat. :)
Congrats and happy blogoversary!!!
From my favorite books of this year I recommend you Love Rosie by Cecelia Ahern because i freaking love it and make me feel everything. And another favorite is Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. That book was just epic and blew my mind.
If you’re looking for a new fantasy series go for Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series. It’s got awesome world building, vast magic system, great character development and of course a badass female protagonist.
Congratulations on your third blogoversary! One of my favorite books this year was a quirky little British novel, A Robot in the Garden, it’s about this thirtysomething guy in the future who ends up befriending this adorable little robot who pulls the guy out of his funk. It’s odd, but in a cute, often funny, and sometimes touching way.