It’s hard to believe it, but today is the anniversary of starting this blog five years ago way back when it was still on Blogspot. That seems like a long time ago, especially since the first year of blogging wasn’t very consistent so I feel like I’ve only been seriously blogging for about 4 years. Each year of blogging has been better than the last, though, and I’ve had a fantastic time with it despite feeling like I can never quite keep up and do as much reviewing as I’d like to.

I normally ignore these anniversaries, but 5 seemed like a big one and thinking about all I’ve done since then is a bit mind boggling. Since I started my book blog, I’ve:

  • Attended Book Expo America twice. Getting some books and briefly meeting some authors was fun, but the highlight was getting to meet and hang out with other book bloggers.
  • Attended the first two annual Book Blogger Conventions and participated as a panelist on one panel.
  • Interviewed authors whose books I’ve enjoyed, including Elizabeth Bear, Jacqueline Carey, and Freda Warrington.
  • Reviewed over 200 books.
  • Been quoted in the critical acclaim section or even in one case the back cover of a few books, including ones by N. K. Jemisin and Catherynne M. Valente. (Seriously, seeing these quotes made my year and I can’t get over that.)

So it’s been quite an interesting five years and to celebrate I’m giving away a box of 9 books! Since this is a large number of books, I’m afraid I will have to limit this particular giveaway to the US to keep shipping costs down.

Some of these are ARCs and some are finished copies and I’ll make sure to let you know which ones are ARCs instead of the for sale copy in the list below. Some of them have also been read, but only once and are still in decent condition. These fall under the categories of books I liked enough to keep but have extra copies of, books I liked but not enough to keep, books I didn’t like, and unsolicited review copies that just didn’t interest me – but even if they are books that I didn’t like or find interesting, you may. Here’s what I’m giving away:

  • Fox & Phoenix by Beth Bernobich (ARC, read once)
  • The Uncertain Places by Lisa Goldstein (ARC, read once)
  • The Dread Hammer by Trey Shiels (read once)
  • Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan (ARC, unread – a keeper but one I have multiple copies of)
  • Embassytown by China Mieville (ARC, read once)
  • Hard Spell by Justin Gustainis (read once)
  • Blood Rights by Kristen Painter (read once)
  • Outpost by Adam Baker (unread)
  • Cold Magic by Kate Elliott (mass market paperback, read once – a keeper but one I have another copy of that matches my copy of book 2)

Giveaway Rules: To be entered in the giveaway, fill out the form below. One entry per person and you must be from the United States to enter (sorry to those outside the US).  The giveaway will be open until the end of the day on Sunday, January 15.  The winner has 24 hours to respond once contacted via email, and if I don’t hear from them by then a new winner will be chosen (who will also have 24 hours to respond until someone gets back to me with a place to send the books to).

Please note email addresses will only be used for the purpose of contacting the winner. Once the giveaway is over all the emails will be deleted.

Good luck!

Update: Now that the giveaway is over, the contact form has been removed.