Five Years of Favorites: The Blog
My blogiversary celebration, Five Years of Favorites, continues today with a look back at some of my blog posts! I've got five categories of posts - Reviews, Discussions, Features, Collaborations and Top Ten Tuesdays. I featured five of my personal favorite posts for each, plus added links to the five most popular.
I apologize in advance for the length of the post, but I just had too much fun revisiting all the work I've put into this space. Five years ago, I couldn't have imagined that this blog would become what it is now. I can't say enough how thankful I am for the opportunity to create content I'm proud of and to belong to this community!
1. The Lynburn Legacy Series by Sarah Rees Brennan
Although it's a lot more than I typically write, I think this is probably my favorite book review I've ever written. I loved taking a three-sentence summary and turning it into a list of 11 reasons this series is a must read.
2. I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
The heroine in this novel loves to create collages from random items, so my review highlighted the bits and pieces that make up the book if you look close enough. I like that the format was inspired by the book.
3. Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
This is another review where I got creative with the format! For this one, I went through 26 things (one for every letter of the alphabet) that readers will find inside this story. I was surprised by how quickly I thought of things!
4. Open Road Summer by Emery Lord
I made a list of reasons that I'm so obsessed with this story and included a quote from the book that corresponded to each reason. I felt like I really captured the book in my review, which is always satisfying.
5. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Finally, this is another review with a list! Are you noticing the pattern here? I'm a sucker for alliteration, so it was fun coming up with five reasons (all starting with the letter F) to drop everything and read this book.
{Most Popular Reviews}
in order, excluding any featured above
1. The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
2. Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows
3. At Home with Audrey by Luca Dotti
4. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
5. The Bronze Horseman Trilogy by Paullina Simons
To celebrate 200 years of Pride and Prejudice, I spent a week talking about my lifelong love for this classic. I admitted to collecting copies of the book - something that started accidentally and grew into an addiction. My collection has grown since then, but I love that this post highlights the personal aspect of buying books.
This post was so time consuming to write, but I'm so glad I went for it. I'm a big fan of non-fiction, and I loved sharing advice on how to find the right non-fiction for you. I like when I'm able to talk about stuff that's not discussed as often by other bloggers, especially when it's something I'm passionate about!
While working on my post about my favorite planning tools last year, I had the idea to write about channeling your creativity. I was feeling inspired and full of post ideas last year, and I love that this captures those feelings. Blogging has definitely helped me become more creative, and this reflects that development.
I wanted to write more personal posts on the blog, and this one post came out of that desire. I went to the beach for a week with my best friend, and I came home thinking a lot about friendship. Writing about the journey that led to my friendship with Lauren was cathartic - and reminded me of just how thankful I am for her!
This is, quite honestly, probably my favorite thing I've ever written on the blog. It's so long (basically an essay!), but I loved every minute spent writing it. Sharing what the Anne of Green Gables series taught me about romance helped me illustrate the profound impact that one book can have on a reader.
{Most Popular Discussions}
in order, excluding any featured above
If I could only keep one feature, I'd want it to be Buy the Book! It combines two of my favorite things: gift guides and quotes. The name is a play on "by the book" since all of the gifts in these posts come directly from quotes in the book featured. I've shared six so far, and this one for Happiness for Beginners is my favorite.
I wanted to start a new feature last year and ended up with Tune in Tonight. I love talking about TV shows (more proof here!), and my very first TV show obsession was Alias. Working on this post inspired me to rewatch all five seasons - and sparked so many discussions with fellow fans on Twitter! There's only one Sydney Bristow.
I love sharing seasonal So Obsessed With posts filled with things I'm currently loving, but I was excited when I realized that I could post "mini" editions highlighting specific obsessions. My favorite so far is my post about The Folio Society - the expensive (but gorgeous) book editions that I'm now carefully collecting!
After resolving to create a new feature in 2014, I got the idea for Series Speed Date. Do you ever have a moment where inspiration strikes and everything just flows out of your brain? That was this feature! I love reading series and was thrilled to come up with a creative way to share a review for a series.
In 2013, I wrote a post called The Classics Conundrum. I talked about why I enjoy classics and shared eight tips for reading them. I loved the feedback on the post, and it sparked the idea for this feature where bloggers recommended their favorite classics! It was so fun - and introduced ME to classics I've never read before.
{Most Popular Features}
in order, excluding any featured above
If you'd told me before I started blogging that I'd start reading fantasy (and end up loving it), I would have thought you were insane. I love how blogging has expanded my reading taste! This event with Alexa from Alexa Loves Books was a joy to create. My favorite post was A Book for Every Fantasy Reader.
Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and I had been talking about our book buying and reading habits. We both wanted to make changes for the better, and The Picky Pledge was the result. We've written quarterly check-ins, discussion posts and taken a detailed look at our reading stats - and this post is my favorite of them all.
I became so obsessed with Nowhere but Home in 2014, and Cassie from The Casserole fell in love after I recommended it to her, too. We wanted to share our love for Liza Palmer by hosting a fun event to celebrate her 2015 release, Girl Before a Mirror, and this was the result. My favorite was the music!
This event holds a very special place in my heart! I loved celebrating my all-time favorite series with Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and Rachel from Hello, Chelly. I already mentioned my favorite post (in the Discussions section), but my second favorite was my re-read review of the series. This series fostered my love of reading!
With the explosion of book tags around the blogosphere, it seemed only fitting to create one for my favorite fantasy series with the blogger who introduced me to them in the first place - Alexa from Alexa Loves Books! I love the tag because I feel like we nailed the categories, and we had the best time collaborating.
{Most Popular Collaborations}
in order, excluding any featured above
This post was one of the first times (at least that I can remember) where I got more personal on the blog. I enjoyed reflecting on how books have been such a huge part of my life, even before I was blogging, and sharing ten of my favorite book-related memories. And my list has only grown in the past few years!
I absolutely love reading love stories! I had so much choosing the types, the feelings and the moments that I adore when I'm reading. Plus, I'll be honest - I had way too much fun pairing each item on my list with a gif that illustrated each one from some of my favorite literary-inspired movies.
For as long as I can remember, I've kept a "quote book" - a notebook filled with my favorite quotes. Whether they're from famous people or books I've read, I love jotting down words that have had an impact on me. So it's no surprise that I love any Top Ten Tuesday topic involving quotes (like this one and this one, too).
Even though it's nerdy to admit, I always enjoyed picking out what classes I'd take each semester in college. I've had good and bad professors, but my favorite class was about a subject I adored: Jane Austen. This post was my attempt at creating a syllabus for my own version of that class - separated into units with required and optional reading + film screenings.
This was one of the first posts I wrote after taking a long break from the blog earlier this year, so I have a special place in my heart for it. I wrote it after a period of time where I wasn't reading as much, so it was nice to take the time to reflect on why reading is so important to me. Books have truly changed my life!
{Most Popular Top Ten Tuesdays}
in order, excluding any featured above
Check back tomorrow for
Five Years of Favorites: The Memories!
It's so awesome to see your fave posts - and most popular. I loved your creativity post, and the Foxy Dori posts too.
ReplyDeleteI have read and loved so many of these posts! I've always admired your ability to express your thoughts so creatively and eloquently <3 And I'm also a very big fan of the fact that we've been able to collaborate so much over the years!
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