Blog of a Bookaholic Blogoversary Day 2 - Book Bloggy Friends! :D



Blogging
When I first started blogging, I can honestly say, I didn't have the slightest inkling of what book bloggers did, I didn't know what content they posted (aside from reviews), I didn't know about Netgalley, ARCs, Goodreads...absolutely nothing. I just asked my dad (he's good with all technical stuff) if there was a site where I could create a blog and he said blogger. So I created my blog. And since then, it has been a non-stop journey of fun and bookish awesomeness. 

Like I said in my previous post, I have learnt so much since blogging. I have learnt that there is a whole book blogging community that I never even heard of, I learnt about Goodreads, Divergent, The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Sky is Everywhere, ARCs, BlogLovin (only learnt of that recently!), basic HTML and so much more. And I have had some amazing experiences.

Top 5 Best Blogging Moments
1. Talking to other book-bloggers!
This has definitely been one of the most amazing things while blogging. I have met quite a few bloggers that have the same taste in books as me and that are kind and helpful people. I really wish  that one day I will be able to meet all my bloggy buddies and we can go book-shopping and go to the library and then go eat cake and fan-girl about our book boyfriends. Maybe one day :P

2. Having publishers and authors send me books to review
Wow. When I got my first review copy, I was so happy and so surprised and just generally exhilarated, I couldn't believe that a small little blog like mine was actually being sent books to review. And even now, when I get books to review, I am totally ecstatic!

3. Getting my review in a book
My first book that I ever got to review: Melly, Fatty and Me by Edyth Bulbring, was re-published by Hot Key books, and my review was on the blurb. One of the BEST. THINGS. EVER!

4. Interviewing authors
My first author interview was with Edyth Bulbring, her interview was great to read and it was so amazing to be able to actually interview an AUTHOR. And we all know that authors are celebrities to us book lovers :P

5. Netgalley and Edelweiss
Netgalley and Edelweiss are both amazing. I've received so many amazing review books from them and I can't actually imagine a blogging life without it!

Top 5 Best Books I Have Discovered
1. Divergent - Veronica Roth
I absolutely adored Divergent and it was one of the first dystopian novels I read when I started blogging.

2. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
I read this last month and I loved it. It was one of the most heart-wrenching novels I have ever read and I will never ever forget the experience of reading such an emotional novel.

3. The Sky is Everywhere - Jandy Nelson
I don't usually read books where one of the main aspects is death, but The Sky is Everywhere had the most stunning writing and was written perfectly. I loved it.

4. Clockwork Angel - Cassandra Clare
Clockwork Angel is honestly a book I probably wouldn't have picked up or read if I hadn't heard about it on Goodreads and in the blogosphere. I absolutely ADORED it and I can't wait to read the rest of Cassandra Clare's books! :)

5. The Summer I Turned Pretty - Jenny Han
I hadn't heard of this trilogy before I started my blog and I am so glad I read it because it was one of the best contemporary trilogies I have ever read! :)

My Amazing Book-Blogging Buddies and Thank Yous
*In no particular order*
1.  Eileen from ***Singing and Reading in the Rain*
Eileen is probably the first bloggy (she also taught me the word bloggy. Love it. Bloggy. Bloggy. BLOGGY. *ahem* Moving on..) friend I made. I was always stalking following her latest blog posts and I seriously impressed with her blog because she had only been blogging for about 6 months at the time (I think?) and she had around 800-900 followers and I was like WOW. O_O And then since she was really good with blogging/designing and stuff I emailed her probably more than one hundred times asking her questions about blogging/formatting etc and it's a wonder she really didn't get sick of me. THANK YOU EILEEN FOR BEING AWESOME AND ANSWERING ALL MY QUESTIONS. *hands croissants and a real-life Ash* 

2. Jessica from Booked Up!
Jessica was one of my first ever bloggy buddies and she is one of the nicest people in the blogosphere! After reading her blog for awhile and leaving comments (as she reviewed books that I really wanted to read/have read and loved and we have really similar reading taste) I decided to ask to interview her on my blog and she said yep and then we spoke a lot about how out of control our TBR piles and how amazing the Airhead trilogy is and then the rest is history!

3. Zoe from Bookhi
I talk to Zoe practically all the time! She is such a sweet, nice person and it's being really lovely getting to know her the past year. Me and Zoe have actually been trying to think the past week on how we actually became acquainted. And then we both realised it was thanks to Hawwa from Ebony Black Lines! THANK YOU! Me and Zoe also have similar reading tastes and me, her and Jess often talk about the new books we are reading and about our spiralling TBR piles! 

4. Hawwa from Ebony Black Lines
Hawwa is an absolutely amazing artist, writer and reviewer from her blog, Ebony Black Lines. She was probably the third or fifth person that followed my blog and when I went on her blog I absolutely loved it! She is extremely talented and I've had some good conversations about writing with her!:)

5. Lucy from Queen of Contemporary
I actually only met Lucy back in August, when I created Twitter! She followed me and I followed back and then we chatted about books all the time! It's been so nice getting to know Lucy and see how her blog has grown. I still remember when I first went on her blog she just had 15 followers and now she has almost 200, GO LUCY! :D

6. Emma from Never Judge a Book by Its Cover
Emma! Emma is also one of my bloggy buddies I met on Twitter (See. SEE?! This is why you need Twitter, you meet so many amazing people. Imagine if I hadn't met Lucy or Emma?! *dies*) She is really sweet and we also have a lot in common with our reading! :D And she designs AMAZING graphics. Seriously. You see my blog banner/button? Uh huh, that's right, Emma designed it! :D

7. Rebekah from Reflective Bookworms
Rebekah and I actually started talking on Twitter (another Twitter, bloggy buddy!) when it was November and we were both preparing for NaNoWriMo and were both participating it, we chatted a lot about how the writing was going etc. And now we chat about all things bookish and writeish (a new word I created!) :D

8. Rebecca from Rebecca-Books
Another Twitter/bloggy buddy! :D She's really great to talk to and she has a fantastic blog! We've also read qutie a few of the same books. Oh yes! And THANK YOU REBECCA for telling me to continue reading The Knife of Never Letting Go! The Knife of Never Letting Go is one of my new favourite books and if it hadn't been for Rebecca I wouldn't have finished it. And I wouldn't have had such a heart-wrenching reading experience. *gasp* Imagine! *faints*

9. Annabelle from Sparkles and Lightning
I actually only really started talking to Annabelle a few months ago (on Twitter!!) and she is such a nice person! She runs an absolutely amazing blog and her reviews are wondddeerrfffuuulll! :D It's really fun fan-girling with her about stuff and ranting with her about bookish stuff. *Whose playing Hazel in The Fault in Our Stars Movie* *cough*

10. Terri-Maree from Bibliophilia 
One of my South African book blogging buddies! I wasn't actually aware that their were people who ran book-blogs in South Africa. It's really fun talking to someone who lives in the same country as me and it's lovely talking to her about books and life in general.

11. Tammy from The Book Fairy Haven
Tammy is such a lovely person and her reviews are utterly AMAZING and I really admire her writing skills! 

12. Monique from Parasphere
Also from South Africa and I started speaking to her on Twitter! We have the same taste in books (she has some excellent books on her TBR pile that we are definitely doing a read-a-long for) and I can't wait to get to know her more!

Other Amazing Book Bloggers 
Thank you to:
Giselle from Xpresso Reads
Evie from Bookish
Giselle from Book Nerd Canada
Lynn (kuro_rino)
Megan from The Book Babe

You guys all run amazing blogs and I love reading your posts! I look forward to chatting with you guys more on Twitter this year! :)