Happy 1st Blog Anniversary to The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange!

Hi, there!! Yesterday was a very important day for me, but sadly I was beaten up and couldn’t muster the efforts to celebrate. Well, I’m making up for that now: IT’S MY FIRST BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY!

You got it right: On June 22th, The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange completed its first anniversary! ❤ A lot has changed since last June, not only for me, but for the blog as well. That’s what I’m going to talk about today: our firsts, lasts, good and bad experiences. If you don’t feel like reading a long (and possibly grandma-sounding) post, you better give me an hour or two to go back to my regular schedule for the day, haha!

The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange wasn’t my first blog, but it definitely is the first that survived. I know it sounds harsh, but it’s the truth. I can remember having seven blogs since I’m a child and none survived before this one. My first one was a gif blog (way before Tumblr times) that I had with a friend. I think it worker for a month – we were children, after all. With the same friend, I started a blog for the Olsen twins in 2004. Didn’t last too, as they were already slipping from the spotlight – and from our interest.

I miss watching those funny romantic comedies with them.

Then I had a famous people blog in a God forsaken format that I’m not sure if it existed outside Brazil followed by an attempt at writing a blog as if I was a pirate. Maybe that would have been a nice idea. Anyway, this was followed by a comic stories blog about my own life – all my college teachers said I should have become a stand up comedian – and it didn’t last too. Then, we had this project on college classes to build a blog talking about cool places in our State. As soon as the classes were over, so was the blog, but I didn’t care about that one.

Then a friend called me over to write with her on her blog and that’s where my book blogging started. I’d talk about books, weird things, nerd things, anything. And at some point of this, The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange was born. It has the same name since the start and while it is oh-so-freaking-long-and-a-pain-to-type kind of name, it couldn’t be more true, as all my adventures happen in books.

I mentioned once in a tag that I am an extremely detached person for good and bad and this applies to hobbies too. In my whole life, the only obsession that never eventually left me were my books. And I’m glad to see that this blog isn’t an obsession anymore, but my fortress. Obsessions fade with time and boredom; fortress get stronger and safer. I pride myself on my reviews, as I’m always honest and try to not be rude – if I am, that wasn’t my intention at all!

I won’t lie, it’s hard to keep the blog running. You have to take the time to write the post, choose the picture, format it all – sometimes, with WordPress against you – and still have to make a time to stop at your friends’ blogs and honor their work. It’s exhausting, but in my humble opinion, it’s all worth it.

Despite being a digital professional, in the sense that I do that for a living in my offline life, I don’t consider myself a successful blogger, just a very fortunate one. I have almost 300 followers, which is not much for a year of blogging, but I made so many wonderful friends that I don’t get upset for not being more successful and big. I started the whole thing as a hobby and to discuss books with people. I got exactly what I wanted and I feel blessed ❤

Thank you all for sticking around even if it hasn’t been for long. You mean the world to me! But now let’s talk about the firsts of The Book Adventures of Annelise Lestrange:

– The blog was originally hosted on blogger, but I changed my mind and transferred it for WordPress. Best decision ever, if you ask me, haha!

– My first published review here was The Murders in The Rue Morgue, from Edgar Allan Poe;

– My first book sent for review purposes was Sharp love, by my goddess Ava March, way before I even had this blog;

– My first book received through this blog was Breach Point, from Steve Spatucci;

– My first book tour was for Mystical, by Michel Weekly;

– My first won giveaway was hosted by my now bff @thepagemistress at Instagram;

– My first book received through NetGalley was Shattered Blue, from Lauren Bird Horowitz;

– My first paperback book received from an author was also Shattered Blue; (<3)

– My first (and only, for now) movie review was for Austenland;

– My first manga review was for Desire, from Maki Kazumi and Yukine Homani;

– My first all HTML made post was for Unicorn Attacks book blitz – it was fun, but a one time thing, as HTML takes so damn long, haha!

– On April, I designed a simple title head banner and smaller banners to give the blog some id and that was the first design change that I did since the creation of the blog;

And, to end this os-so-grandma-like post: the first time I tried to record a vlog was last February with miserable flaws due lack of proper equipment. However, it wasn’t my last. I really want to open a channel at YouTube and taking my book randomness there too ❤

Thanks so much for reading all of this and for putting up with me though this all! I love you all from the bottom of my heart! ❤

SECOND ANNIVERSARY, BRING IT ON!