One Year Anniversary? Thank you!

Oh my gosh, guys. It's a year since I started this blog. (Waaay back.) It's been an insane ride. I love blogging. Even if I complain a lot and get really down. I think I'm up for the challenge now! Yay!
Thank you so much for reading this!

Why I Started

Okay...so you'll probably hate me for this. But I started because of...drum roll...ARCS. 
Hahahah. Don't hurt me. 

But the thing is...I stay because I love it. I know my Twitter feed is full of me complaining and whining and threatening to go. But I've stayed. For a year. And maybe for more years to come!

Things I Did

You may or may not know that I like doing stuff. And stuff is vague for a reason. Because 
I've done blog stuff to anime stuff to book stuff. So yeah. A lot of different things. 

Convention stuff?

I went to BookCon 2015!
And I did TWO recaps.
Day Uno
Day Dos

Photo by Wren

Another book festival/convention I went to was North Texas Teen Book Festival. (My haul HERE!) I met so many amazing people: Naya, Liv, Avery, Sarah, Lizzie, and Whitney. Check them out!

I also got hugged by Adam Silvera. Life. Goals.

And blog stuff!

I started to do anime reviews. I'd link them all...but then I'd have to look for them. (And I'm now this anime addict. Sorry not sorry.)

I started a podcast for discussions as The Bookmato Chronicles. (Check out some episodes HERE!)

But I stopped. And changed my blog name.

BUT good news! I'll be doing a podcast called The Litaku instead! Which will be anime/book reviews, top ten/top five lists, updates, and whatever else. It'll be fun. I might slowly become a podcast, but I'll keep going with my blog.

I also started an (unsuccessful) YouTube. But check it out anyways. I'll do anime commentaries and all on there.

I started another blog called Bookish Eventravaganza. There are two events with this event blog. 

BiblioSummerSwag

InterBlogCon

Check them out!

I also started a street team for my favorite author ever Victoria/VE Schwab! It's called the VElites. Check it out.

And now...the only writing thing I did during this time! NaNoWriMo 2015! 
And I won! (No clue where my certificate is. SOMEWHERE.) 

So onto some life stuff.

First things first...I moved! To Texas! Yay? So I met new people, of course, and i got new teachers and all. It wasn't too bad, I guess. But it wasn't FANTASTIC or anything.

I went to a Japanese festival. For the first time in my life. It was awesome. See my haul HERE. 
In case you're wondering, yes, I did go to Japan. I stayed in a capsule hotel. 

Photo by Wren

And I went to a rabbit cafe. Fun stuff really. I hope to go back one day!

Now, I am a blue belt in TKD. ALMOST THERE, GUYS. (I started a green when I moved to TX.)

I broke my glasses. For the first time in my life.
And I struggled without them. (As I write this, I have no glasses. So it's goddy awful.)
Also, it's TKD's fault for them breaking. True story.

I started to do page designs for my school newspaper! They look awful, by the way. But I'm working on it!

Editor applications came up, and I signed up to be the page editor. So yeah...gotta brush up on those editing skills.

Stats

Sigh...here's where I start to cry. My sad, sad stats.

Followers (Bloglovin' + GFC + Feedburner): 89
Views: 14,727

Twitter Followers: 489 (ALMOST THERE)
GR Friends: 154 (I'm not really on this one...)

Top Five Posts

These posts are the posts with the most views on my blog. Maybe you can add another???
Why I Love Being a Blogger
An Interview with Brittany from Book Addicts Guide
BookCon 2015 Giveaway (CLOSED)
A Discussion about #booksfortrade
An Interview with Rachel from A Perfection Called Books

Thanks

Okay...now onto the good stuff. I'll be thanking all the bloggers who have helped me. SHOUTOUT TIME.

Thanks to Mishma from Chasing Faerytales. You are one of my best friends in the blogging world. You are so sweet and so kind. I love everything you do. Especially VE Schwab things. Our little, fictional family is so awesome. #Schardas4Life ;) You're my blogger waifu, and I can't believe I've never met you before. One day! Love, your #Schardas ally Wren.

Thanks to Em from Piplup's Shadowy Bookshelf. GIRRRLL. I love you so much. You introduced me to Haikyuu. You introduced me to one of my main anime loves Nishinoya. And we talk anime and drawing together. Thanks for lending your artistic eye to things and for my AMAZING profile picture. I hope we continue this awesomeness. Love, your anime buddy Wren.

Thanks to Briana and Angelina from TV Bros. You guys are so sweet. I'm sorry you left blogging (but have sorta come back.) I miss youuu. I know I kinda abandoned Miitomo (because I abandoned my iPad basically.) You guys are great. I love your support and kindness. Love, your kohai Wren.

Thanks to Joan from Fiddler Blue. You are my IBC queen! Your ideas are amazing. And your stories are always funny. Thanks so much for helping me with IBC. I love everything you've done. Love, your lost co-host Wren.

Thanks to Emily from Emily Reads Everything. You gave me the best gift a person could have. An ARC of TSS. Thank you. And thanks for all the support. I love it a lot. You're a great person to talk to. Love. the person forever in your debt Wren.

Thanks to Fallon from Seeing Double in Neverland. You heard me. And you gave me advice...and books. Thank you for this. It really makes me smile everytime I get a package from you. Love, your blogger without the books Wren.

Thanks to Nori from Read Write Love 28. You have SST. You have RQWN. You are the queen of blogging, Nori. And I admire you. You set the bar high for me, and I strive to be better. Love, your lowly friend Wren.

Thanks to Cait from Paper Fury. You are an inspiration to me. I love your stories. And your enthusiam. I can't wait for your next post, and I greedily gobble it up. I want to be that crazy writer who writes books in a day. But I gotta accept who I am. Thanks for making me reach for the stars. Also, food. Love, your dessert lover Wren.

Thanks to Christina from Books and Prejudice. You have been here from the start. You're always chastising me and really making me rethink all my name changes. But I know this one will stick. Love, your indecisive friend Wren. 

And I might be missing people out, but don't get down! You all are my FAMILY. Thank you so much for all you've done. 

Thanks to you! For reading my blog. And being my friend. Hope we continue this wild adventure until the end. Love, your Litaku Wren.

Giveaways!

And no anniversary is awesome without a giveaway...or two.

So here they are!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Twitter Giveaway

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Countdown to the End of the World...I Mean the End of the Blogger Positivity Project

 

Welcome to my (a tad late) recap of the Blogger Positivity Project! Yay? Definitely yay.

Five Brief Tips:

The blogging community is great. You'll be supported no matter what.

Authors are totally awesome potatoes and should be thanked more.

Who you are is amazing. Even if you're sarcastic and cynical. Like me. You're still cool.

Books are amazing. And you'll find that one book that is totally yours. I mean...other people will read it. But it's yours.

We totally need to write different discussion topics. Totally. 

Four Things I Enjoyed:

Meeting new people: I loved meeting these new people. I'm not someone who meets a lot of new people. I'm quite shy. So yeah. Admittedly, I didn't get to meet a lot of the other bloggers. School is stressful, you know. But I did meet some people. Some. 

Getting to write these awesome topics: I enjoyed writing these topics. I got to say things that I might not have said by myself. Plus...my letter...I loved writing that.

Seeing other posts: I love seeing other people's posts. It was really cool to see their thoughts.

Getting all happy because of the kind comments: This is so self absorbed, but all these comments made my day. I got a little happy each time I saw a new comment. Like...'OHMYGOD. YOUCOMMENTED. THANKYOU.' 

Three Favorite BPC Posts:

Erin at the Hardcover Lover made a great post about the things the blogging world should know. And I totally agree.

Christine at Aerou Wishless did this pretty cool post about Goodreads. Okay. Confession time. I'm not a big fan of Goodreads these days. I used to use it a lot but not now. But this post reminded me of the good times.

Alex at All Alex Reads wrote this wonderful and heartfelt post to JK Rowling. The feels. Just the feels.

Two Bloggers That Inspired Me:

Jess: Okay. I kinda love Jess. She has a gorgeous blog design. And she's all sweet and kind. Ugh. How do you describe people? 

Jillian: I just...how did she make this wonderful event? This girl has chops. And she's always so amazing. Brownie points because she did this blog hop. She makes pretty awesome posts. Yeah. Skills. 

One Inspirational Bookish Quote:

And here's a mini recap of what I posted! 
My awkward intro
What I want the blogging community to talk about
Dear Mackenzie Bishop
5 bloggers I want to collab with 

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June 2015 Recap

June 2015 Recap

What I Read:

Where I Went:

 

Challenge Updates:

This month was terrible for my year-long challenges. -sigh- I didn't add in many books to any of them really. Bad Wren! 

More Happy Than Not

More Happy Than Not

The Wonderland Effect: Vacaville, California, USA

Scintillate: Cary, North Carolina, USA

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May 2015 Recap

Hey, everybody! Here's my monthly update for May.

I started recently, so I can't write much. Sigh...

Travel: 

I left my hometown for the amazing New York City. I arrived and went to BookCon.

BookCon was quite amazing. It was fun. I did have some...problems. It seemed to be composed entirely of lines. And lots of things were right time and right place. (Like my 'The Rest of Us Just Live Here' ARC from Patrick Ness.) You had to be there on time.

And the one thing that made me so upset? The fact that the signing for Marissa Meyer and Leigh Bardugo capped out/closed an hour before it started. Man. That was so rude. I hated it.

How early did those people get there?

I can't wait for what happens next in my summer adventure.

Next Time on Books in My Suitcase:
Sitting in the Strand
Princeton and Graduation

Books:

This month was a good month. 

But I opened recently. Which doesn't help ANYONE. 

Sigh... 

I got 28 pounds of books from BookCon, though. All free. Awesome, right? A lot of ARCs too. 

I was so happy to have so many books and ARCs. And three signed copies. And four signatures. It's amazing. BookCon was so awesome. 
I can't wait to crack open these spines and start reading. 

Two books I DID read: 

I do have reviews to publish, though.

Expect the following reviews: 

'The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone' by Adele Griffin

'The Heir' by Kiera Cass

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