Blogoversary Celebration Day 2: Now & Then

Welcome to day 2 of my blogoversary celebration. Since yesterday was just the launch/announcement, today is the first actual post and it's going to be about what kind of year I had; where I've been, what happened, what changed.

Then

This adventure all started on September 9th, 2011 when I started Xpresso Reads and posted for the very first time *sniff*. It's safe to say I had no idea what it all entailed. I had been reviewing on Goodreads for a year, and before that I was using some lame Facebook App for a couple years. So I wasn't new to reviewing, but blogging was a whole new world for me. I had heard of book bloggers but I didn't know much about what it was like to have a book blog; let's just say I had to learn fast. I loved every minute of it! Tomorrow I have a FAQ post where I will be going in more details about how I put myself out there, but I had a ton of fun going around and making friends. A lot of you guys will be my friends for life and this was worth it if only for that one reason!

Where was I this year?

-Interviewed at The Teen Book Guru
 -Interviewed at Reading A Little Bit of Everything
-Interviewed at One a Day YA
-Guest posted for Zombies vs Unicorns month at YA Bookmark
-Guest posted for My Reading Spot at Bewitched Bookworms 

Firsts:

-My first review on Xpresso Reads: Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
-My first WoW: Lola and the Boy Next Door (Eep I still haven't read it O_O)
-My first book haul post: IMM (1)
-My first Netgalley approval: Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (And by the time I got to it it had expired :( See! Learning experience! >.<)
-My first print ARC: Third Grave Dead Ahead by Darynda Jones (From St. Martin's Press)
-My first review request & first interview: Michelle Madow for Remembrance (loved it!)
-My first Fresh Batch post: Sept 25th - Oct 1st 2011 

-My first sidebar tour banner: Touch by Jus Accardo
-My first commenter: Amy from Following the Reading (and I still talk to this girl! She rocks!)

Now

Yep, my blog has had quite the makeover à la Parajunkee. She did an amazing job and I highly recommend her if you're looking for a makeover. Aside from the design, I have grown quite a lot as a reviewer and a blogger. It was a big learning curve and I'm happy to have gotten so many supporters - some of you I have known from my very first week! I will be mentioning a few awesome people later this week! ;) I hope there will be many more years to come, and a lot more friends to meet!

I'm sure most of you have heard by now, but new very recently is the launch of Xpresso Design where you can purchase banners and buttons for any type of use or event. Find more details here! I absolutely love working on my sidebar banners and event buttons, so after several requests, emails, and friend suggesting it, I decided to start this little design venture and we'll see where it goes from there.

Where do I stand after this year?

-308,000 Page views
-135,000 Unique visitors
-2,900 RSS Subscribers
-20,002 Total comments
-526 Posts
-238 Reviews

Yup, it was quite the wicked year!

Stop by tomorrow for a FAQ post where I will go into more details by answering frequent questions I get about followers, comments, ARCs & more.

Now, to fit today's theme, you can win two of the earliest books I ever received for review on the blog, and two of the most recent.

Giveaway

Then

Jus Accardo and PT Michelle both wrote two of my earliest reviewed books on Xpresso Reads. For this event, they have very generously offered up copies of these pretties for giveaway (click on the covers for my reviews).

         

-One print re-release copy of  Touch (with the extra Kale scenes) by Jus Accardo + a swag pack
-One ebook copy of Brightest Kind of Darkness by PT Michelle

Now

Helen Keeble and Darynda Jones both wrote two of the most recent books I received for review on Xpresso Reads. They have very generously offered up copies of these pretties for giveaway (click on the covers for my reviews - note: My review of Death and the Girl Next Door will be posted later today!)

    

-One signed copy of Fang Girl by Helen Keeble
-One signed copy of Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones

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Giveaway details:
There will be TWO winners: first winner wins the "Then" books, the second winner wins the "Now" books. A very big thank you to these four wonderful authors for this giveaway opportunity!

Both open Internationally
Giveaway ends September 24th, 2012
Use the Rafflecopter below to enter


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Where else can you find Xpresso Reads?

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