I started this blog one year ago today. During this one year, I’ve posted 227 times and I’ve met so many bookish friends around the globe. Thank you for always visiting and commenting on my reviews and other posts, even though lately it’s been taking me a long time to get back to you all. Here’s to another fantastic year!
In celebration of this wonderful day (since I never thought I’d get to this point), I have a few giveaways and a short Q&A. I posted on Twitter and asked you guys to send through questions for me and here they are:
Q&A
My favourite moment of blogging in the past year is being chosen to be one of Jeann’s cobloggers at Happy Indulgence. I’ve made so many new friends because of coblogging and Jeann and Aila are definitely two of my blogging besties. I love them so much! The hardest part about blogging for me at the moment is replying to comments promptly. I feel really bad about not replying to comments (sometimes for weeks) and it can get me a little bit slumpy with blogging as well. Ooooh I have no idea which post is my favourite. Maybe this one? 😀
Before I started blogging, I was already reviewing books on Goodreads regularly. I started a blog so that I could reach a bigger audience since I love to share my opinions, and make friends with others in the community, which is something that’s a little bit hard to do just on Goodreads.
I don’t know, Joey. Why am I so ceebs?
(For those of you who don’t know, ceebs is short for cannot be bothered. It’s something that I say all the time and Joey makes fun of me for it.)
This is something else that Joey makes fun of me for. I really, really, really hate the cold (I actually also really hate hot weather) and I just have super low tolerance for snow and wind and… just cold weather. But I’m from Sydney, where it doesn’t snow or even get that cold so that’s my excuse. When I visit Joey in Canada later this year, I’ll be complaining the whole time.
I LOVE coblogging with Jeann and Aila over at Happy Indulgence. We just get along with each other so well and we have lots of daily chats. Jeann isn’t afraid to tell us what she wants and I feel so comfortable asking her questions. It’s been a really great time! We actually posted a discussion about the pros and cons of coblogging a few weeks ago.
Hahaha I don’t really have any secrets. My full-time job is being a PhD student and at this point in my candidature, I don’t really have to do any work outside of work hours. So I pretty much only do work when I’m at uni and when I’m not, I just read. It’s been working pretty well for me. I don’t read when I’m at work and I don’t work when I’m at home.
This is such a hard question! Obviously, the standard answer would be Harry Potter right? I’d love to go to Hogwarts! But I also really love the world that Marissa Meyer has created with her Lunar Chronicles series. It would be so cool to live in the future and have all the crazy technology that Marissa Meyer has come up with! But I would also love to be a Shadowhunter. It would be insane and I’d have to do so much training, but totally worth it if I can live in an Institute with one of those hot males 😛 Or maybe the Grisha world? I would love to have Grisha powers and also get to hang out with Kaz and Inej from Six of Crows.
My reviewing process is actually pretty simple. I write down notes on my phone as I’m reading and I turn those notes into a longer review when I’ve finished the book. I write down my thoughts as I go, as well as beautiful quotes that I can use. My reviews pretty much write themselves as I elaborate on and connect my notes together. If I’m not procrastinating, it will usually take me about 30 minutes to write a review. But I don’t make graphics for my posts, so that cuts down on the time it takes. For a Happy Indulgence review, it usually takes me about 1 hour because of all the additional information I need to add in.
Omg this is question is so hard to answer. I’ve read 84 books so far this year and a lot of them I’ve rated very highly. A few that stand out in my mind are I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios, The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore, A Tangle of Gold by Jaclyn Moriarty and Max by Sarah Cohen-Scali.
Hehehe I’m pretty sure most of you will already know the answer to this one. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is my favourite book of all time. My second favourite book of all time is another adult book – A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I’m always very hesitant to recommend it though because it’s very graphic and upsetting and isn’t for everyone. I also really love The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion if you’re looking for something light-hearted and funny. I also love The Lake House by Kate Morton.
*gives Aila powers* She doesn’t need them though. She’s much better at this blogging thing than I am.
This girl needs to stop flattering me. She’s also much more awesome than I am. You need to check out her reviews and discussion posts because they’re so deep and thoughtful.
This question is cruel. Werner is the male protagonist from All the Light We Cannot See and I love him soooooo much! But Draco Malfoy was probably my first fictional crush. There’s just something about his obnoxious gelled-back hair that was super endearing. So I think I’ve gotta choose Draco. But hehehehe, my ultimate book boyfriend is actually Will Herondale XD
I slay them both with my love every single day. You’re not satisfied with my response, are you?
I literally have no social life. I’d much prefer to stay home and read every single night. I don’t think I read particularly quickly but I just spend a lot of time doing it.
GIVEAWAYS
Eeeep I’m so excited about these giveaways. I much prefer giving people gifts than receiving them and I’m so excited to be giving THREE winners awesome prizes!
GIVEAWAY RULES:
The rules are the same for all three giveaways.
- All giveaways will end at the end of the month on June 30 at 11:59PM AEST.
- Each person is eligible for two out of the three giveaways depending on where you live. Make sure you check which giveaways are open to your country because I will have to disqualify you if you enter a giveaway that isn’t open to you.
- There will be ONE winner for each giveaway and the winners will be chosen at random through Rafflecopter.
- I will contact the winners on July 1 and if I don’t receive a reply within 48 hours, I will choose another winner. I will be checking all entries so please don’t cheat!
- I will require a postage address so please make sure that you have parental permission to give me your address if you’re under 18.
- Book Depository will be sending out the orders for the first and third giveaways so I take no responsibility for lost or damaged parcels. I will send you a shipping confirmation and keep you updated on the process though. I will be personally sending out the prize for the second (Aus YA) giveaway and will provide the winner with tracking information.
Now for the giveaways!!!
GIVEAWAY 1: YOUR CHOICE OF ONE OF MY RECENT FAVOURITE CONTEMPORARIES & ONE PAPERBACK OF YOUR CHOICE (INTERNATIONAL)
CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE OR THIS LINK TO GO TO THE RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY PAGE
For this giveaway, the winner gets to choose one of the three books shown above, as well as one paperback of your choice from Book Depository.
- Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley (Book Depository)
- I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios (Book Depository)
- The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson (Book Depository)
GIVEAWAY 2: YOUR CHOICE OF ONE OF MY FAVOURITE AUS YA NOVELS & ONE MORE AUS YA OF YOUR CHOICE (OPEN TO NON-AUSSIES ONLY)
CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE OR THIS LINK TO GO TO THE RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY PAGE
This giveaway is open only to those who don’t live in Australia so that we can give those who don’t have access to these books a chance to read them too! For this giveaway, the winner gets to choose one of the five books shown above (I left my copy of Frankie on my desk at work…) and one additional Aussie YA book of your choice.
- The Stars at Oktober Bend by Glenda Millard
- The Sidekicks by Will Kostakis
- The Flywheel by Erin Gough
- The Yearbook Committee by Sarah Ayoub
- Frankie by Shivaun Plozza
GIVEAWAY 3: A PREORDER OF ONE UPCOMING RELEASE IN US HARDCOVER EDITION (AUS ONLY)
CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE OR THIS LINK TO GO TO THE RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY PAGE
This giveaway is only open to those in Australia, to give them a chance to win a beautiful hardcover edition of a new release. The winner can choose a preorder for any upcoming release in hardcover. The ones pictured above are examples of upcoming releases you can choose from but you can pick any book you want! Of course, special editions like the illustrated edition of Chamber of Secrets are not included.
That’s it from me! Thank you for your support during my first year of blogging and good luck!
Happy blogiversary Jenna! Eek, we have such similar blogiversaries and honestly, you were one of the first blogs I ever sub’d to. It’s amazing how far you’ve gotten, not just blogging wise, but I know that you are also working very hard at school too! I totally wish I could read one book a day, but alas–it’s more like one book every 2-3 days. Not too bad, but you are definitely goals! Thanks for being a constant inspiration in the blogging community and can’t wait to see where you go these coming years!
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Thanks for all the support, Jess. You were one of the very first bloggers that I met when I joined the community as well and it’s been a lot of fun doing this together with you and all the others who started at around the same time! Hopefully we’ll be doing this for a long time to come!
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HOW DO I NOT NEED YOUR POWERS? I have like 3 hours until I need to post something on HI and I haven’t even opened a draft yet LMAO. :’D The unproductive life is really stressful.
I know I tweeted this but congrats on your one year! I’m so glad you stuck through with blogging, no matter rain or shine. ❤ And it's actually crazy to see that we've only known each other for less than a year? I feel like we've been through so much, especially as a Happy Indulgence gang. *cloud floats by* I'm so grateful to count you as one of my friends, and I'm not sure what I would be doing rn without you and Jeann's guidance (for real, I would be a lost soul). Here's to many more years of blogging and clouds and heart confetti and cake! ❤
Also wanted to say 227 posts?? GIRLLL GO YOUUU. *flexes bicep*
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When you are 4 minutes away from being the first comment 😥
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Yeah dude. You just wrote too much HAHA
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Dude and how cool that we got to meet even though we live so far apart!!! That was like the highlight of my year! We should totally do it again next year when you’re completely free from the evil clutches of high school!! I’ll hide Jeann in my suitcase too!
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Happy Blogoversary!!! I really am dying to read The Unexpected Everything. *flails *
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OMG you totally need to read it! It’s soooo good. Good luck with the giveaway! Hopefully you can get yourself a beautiful hardcover copy 😀
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Firstly a huge congrats for making it to your first year of blogging @ Reading With Jenna!! What an achievement and here’s to many more year to come! Thanks so much for rewarding us followers with 3 amazing giveaways! I’m so excited for the 2 that i can enter but I think I’m dying to win the 1st giveaway as it’s contemporary (which I love) and one of choice from any country so I hope to win!
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Thanks for following! I’m so excited about the giveaways too. I totally want to enter them too!! Contemporary is my favourite genre so I’m hoping to share the love with others 😀
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YAYYYY! Happy one year blogoversary! It’s such an amazing feeling making it this far! I’m glad to have made such a great friend in you Jenna. We’ve been blogging for around the same time, and your blog is the best!
Keep up the amazing work and definitely keep reading 😀
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I’m so glad we became friends too. We’ve had such a blast together, even though I’ve been kinda absent around the blogosphere lately. Hopefully we’ll have lots more fun together and omg can’t wait to plan my Toronto trip!
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I’M SO EXCITED TO MEET YOU!! Is there anything you want to do while you’re here??
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Congrats and Happy Blogversary!!! Your blog motivates me to create one too!I’m dying to read the unexpected everything! Oh and that aussie books piqued my interest 😍Stay awesome!
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Congrats on starting your blog and welcome to the blogosphere! Thanks for the kind comment and good luck with the giveaways! I can’t wait for everyone to read some hard-to-obtain Aussie YA books!
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Happy First Blogoversary! *throws confetti* You actually did more in a year than what I did in 1.5 years (227 posts? That’s awesome!). Anyway, hope you have wonderful day and keep being awesome. Here’s to more year of blogging <333
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Your giveaway is out of this world omg, what do I even do for my post. I haven’t even written it yet lmao.
But congrats on your one year milestone, blog twin. I am so glad to have met you ❤ You're definitely one of the highlights of my blogging year ever. I love that you keep me honest and grounded, I love hearing your opinions on all the topics, and I hope that you'll be around for many years to come.
Also, perfect response to Joey's questions 😉
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Yay Jenna, congratulations on your 1 year blogoversary! I’m so glad you’ve made it to 1 year (I never thought I would back when I started either), and that there’s many more years to come! So glad to have met you briefly at SWF’s last month 🙂
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CONGRATULATIONS, Jenna, happy blogoversary, and to many, many years of blogging to come! ❤ You're one of these bloggers I look up to, really, because you always write such insightful reviews, and you're always convincing me to discover fantastic books. For that, thank you, so, so much ❤
And huge thank you for these giveaways, and for making those international ! ❤ ❤
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Happy blogoversary Jenna! I’m so proud that you’ve reached the 1 year mark, we’ve had so many great chats and times since we first met and here’s to many more years of fun blogging times! Congratulations!
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HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY! Let’s hope this is just the first of many 😀 The Q&A was super fun to read and you deserve all the praise and more! I don’t even know where to begin with those giveaways – that’s so kind of you! I don’t buy hardcover books very often, so maybe that’s what I would be most excited about, but I just generally think it’s cool that you have a focus on Australian authors 😀 Thank you for being awesome and also for the giveaways!
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Happy Blogoversary!! The Q&A was really fun.
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And, as much as I love the INTL giveaway I’m quite excited about the Aussie YA giveaway.
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Happy 1 year blogoversary! I’m so excited for the non aussie giveaway, can’t wait to read some.
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happy blogoversary!!! And thanks so much for the giveaway ❤ I'd be so stoked to win either giveaway but I'd have to say I'm praying I win the 1st one 🙂 🙂
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Happy blogoversary Jenna! Love the idea for the giveaways – especially the second one – gotta share that OzYA love! 😀
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Congrats on one year blogging! I’m super excited about the new Morgan Matson book. It looks so fun and it’ll be nice to read it in the upcoming summer holidays!
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Congrats on your one year blogging!!
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All the cold and murderous ceebs to you and the next year of blogging.
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AHHH JENNA!!! HAPPY BLOGVERSARY!!! I had no idea you’d only been blogging for just 1 year. YOU ARE SUCH A PRO! I imagined you must be a vetren at this!! 😀 *sprinkles cake of congratulations in your hair* And omg I love your answers.😂 I’m cracking up over Joey’s questions. 😉 And I’m the saaaame my reading habits, omg. No social life = so many books read. I LITERALLY HAVE NO REGRETS ABOUT THIS. hehe.ALSO OMG SO MANY DELIGHTFULLY GENEROUS GIVEAWAYS. You are so nice! 😀
I hope this is just the beginning of many years of epic blogging. 🙂
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I can’t believe your blog’s another year older! I’m so happy for you, Jenna! This milestone surely means a great deal to you and your followers! Oh, and I adore your answers to all those questions! I miss our talks, and I hope we could chat again soon! Oh, and to answer your question for the giveaway, I’m definitely excited to get a chance to win Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley! 🙂
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Congratulations on your first blogoversary! That is such a huge milestone. I don’t think we’ve ever really talked (I do follow you on Twitter though!), but I’m very happy for you. Thank you for the opportunity to win Unexpected Everything!
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Congratulations on your blogoversary! That’s such a huge achievement 😀 I have to say, your reviewing process is really interesting! I think that definitely saves times. I don’t know how you manage to read so many books, but I’ll continually be in awe 🙂
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Happy blogoversary! Im really excited for your first giveaway. Thank you for this. 🙂
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Well why are you so ceebs Jenna? ALSO I AM NOT SATISFIED WITH YOUR ANSWER TO THE COBLOGGER QUESTION. You didn’t pick one!
Happy Blogoversary Jenna! I looooooooove All The Light We Cannot See! It is also one of my favorite books out there, along with every other WWII book hahahha 🙂
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To start, CONGRATULATIONS on a wonderful year of blogging. I can’t believe it’s only been one year. Now, on to this weather tolerance topic. If you don’t like hot or cold weather, how are you with rain? Cause if you can tolerate that then you can survive Wales haha.
I think I would half to join you in the Grisha world. That way we can make sure that Kaz and Inej get the ending they deserve and our shipper hearts don’t suffer. 😀
Here’s to a wonderful year and many, many more to come. ❤
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Congratulations on such a huge milestone!! It’s so exciting and I’m so happy for you! I can’t even believe it’s only been one year for you because your blog and you are that wonderful and pro 🙂 Thanks for these generous giveaways too, the fact that you are focusing on Australian authors (and followers, usually it’s US citizens) is doubly awesome! Hope you celebrate well and have a fantastic next year of blogging ❤
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Congrats on your blog 🙂 You have got a great blog !! Thanks for the giveaway .Hoping to win at least one giveaway !! Great job with the blog 🙂
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Happy blogversary Jenna!!! Your blog is so amazingly insightful and I’m so glad I got to know you through the bookish community ❤️❤️❤️
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It’s really nice that you are doing an international giveaway! I’ve been wanting to read I’ll meet you there for so long! However, it’s still expensive, so I’ll have to wait till the paperback is released. Happy reading!
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Blogoversary are happy moments! All the best! Thanks for a fab GA!
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Oh my gosh, I feel like a bad blogger friend having just seen this. I’ve been pretty absent around the blogosphere though. But anyway, happy blogiversary, Jenna! gives you a LOT of pastries So proud of you for all that you’ve accomplished and gained from blogging. 😀 ❤
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Happy blogoversary!! I’m dying to get my hands on I’ll Meet you There!
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Happy blogiversary!!! 😘🎉🎉🎉
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Happy blogoversary, Jenna! It’s so amazing how far you’ve come and you’ve been such an inspiration for my blog, so thank you and huge congrats!!! ❤
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Happy blogoversary Jenna! These are some awesome giveaways! I’ve never really sought out Aussie books specifically so that is really interesting for me. Loved the Q&A! I’m really jealous that you can write up such great reviews in an hour.
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Happy blogversary! 🙂
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omg this giveaway is amazing!! I have been dying to read Ill Meet You There….. so excited for this giveway
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Happy Blogoversary! Thanks for the giveaway; they all sound awesome.
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