I had to double check which anniversary I was up to because it feels high but thankfully I’m not quite that advanced just yet. But all the same, it has been a while. This is my 13th year and as I reflect once again it’s amazing to think back on all those changes and experiences. Some cemented in my mind and could be a few years ago and not a decade past, others a blur of nothing from the last couple years. Weirdly, 13 feels like a nothing number. It’s not a nice round number like ten, or twelve where you get a decade or a dozen. It’s not fifteen or another solid number. Kinda like 9. It just is. But that’s ok.
I got an email from another blog I follow who was celebrating a huge visitor count after years of blogging and it still baffles me that there are the people I admired when I was a baby blogger still going alongside me. Who, even then, seeing them having five or ten year anniversaries was astounding. I was amazed at their endurance and commitment. Of course in that time I’ve also seen many blogs come and go, so it’s not always the same faces floating round.
Now, thirteen years later, I don’t know if I’m marvelling at my own endurance or mainly at the passage of time, and how, despite everything, I’m still loving doing this. I am loving sharing my thoughts on great and not so great books I’ve read. So much so it is hard to read a book and not want to review it. I don’t have to. No one is making me. But the compulsion to write some kind of thought down after finish a book is strong. What stops me usually is after the initial thoughts are out I forget to return and finish them. Or I move onto another book so quickly when I do want to review it we’re three books passed it and I can’t remember what it was about besides the vibes.
But thankfully something gets done or I wouldn’t be here all these years later! As a result we must celebrate my desire to share my love of books of all kinds – good, mediocre, and underwhelming. I have revisited my Top Five of last year and assessed whether they are giveaway worthy and I reckon they are. I have also tossed in a few other favourites from the year to make up the usual numbers. I looked at past years and realised why my list was short: a few pushed back releases threw off some usual suspects from certain authors or series which meant I didn’t have many heavy hitters. Given we’re three weeks into the year and I already have a few suspected top reads I have slightly higher hopes for my next list.
But that’s for next year. Today we are celebrating my blogiversary the only way I know how and that’s with an international giveaway! A slight snag in the plan is after 15 years Rafflecopter has shut down which I hadn’t realised, so the entry conditions will be changing slightly. Plus with the destruction of Twitter there’s more people spread out onto other platforms which makes sharing harder. But there will be a chance for everyone who wants to get an entry in to be counted. I hope for my next giveaway I will have found a more suitable solution, but for now they are limited.
The Selection
The Cousins by Karen M. McManus
Impossible Music by Sean Williams
Wrong Answers Only by Tobias Maddon
Because of You by Pip Harry
Dear Wendy by Ann Zhao
Tin Heart by Shivaun Plozza
The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde
Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
To enter: For a chance to win one of the pictured books comment below on your favourite book of 2025 and/or follow this blog. This will give you up to TWO entries into the giveaway.
Let me know in the comments which entries you are submitting. You can follow to gain an entry without submitting a book title and vice versa. If you are already following me you will automatically gain that entry just let me know in the comments!
Please note: This giveaway is international on the basis Blackwell’s ships to your country.
To see if you are eligible you can check their website.
Thank you for helping me celebrate thirteen wonderful years of blogging and if you enter the draw I wish you the best of luck!
Giveaway runs until midnight AEDT on Friday 20th February 2026
I have always enjoyed McManus’ books and her ability to create a story that is about people and the choices they make. This one is such a great story that draws you in, and gives you the expected twists except the twists you get are not expected at all. It was an incredible way to play with the reader and the story. It plays into the old style of the classic mysteries but also has a great modern approach as well.
This is a relatively short book but one that managed to really get to the heart of people and their lives, and how the smallest thing can derail their expectations. The exploration of the Deaf community from someone coming into it through trauma was amazing and I loved how Williams doesn’t shy away from the stubbornness and the anger something like this brings.
It took me ages to read this because I thought it sounded a bit boring, but once you realise you should trust Fforde knows what he’s doing, you see he’s made an intriguing alternate reality where anthropomorphised rabbits are integrated into modern society. It’s a wonderful non subtle metaphor of xenophobia and tolerance with the intricate alternate world building Fforde is a master at.
This book is perfect if you want to see the full, messy, teenage life on display. Madden brings a chaotic character and a pinnacle life choice to a head and then puts it all on a boat with red flags, family drama, and the high seas and intense friendships.
Because of You by Pip Harry
Seventeen-year-old gaymer Noah Mitchell only has one friend left: the wonderful, funny, strictly online-only MagePants69. After years playing RPGs together, they know everything about each other, except anything that would give away their real life identities. And Noah is certain that if they could just meet in person, they would be soulmates. Noah would do anything to make this happen—including finally leaving his gaming chair to join a community theater show that he’s only mostly sure MagePants69 is performing in. Noah has never done anything like theater—he can’t sing, he can’t dance, and he’s never willingly watched a musical—but he’ll have to go all in to have a chance at love.
