Ravens and Writing Desks turns THREE! // cake! and games! and giveaways!

Today is officially the day that this little blog turns 3 years old! Let me just gasp in disbelief like a fish out of water because that sounds both way too long and way too short. I feel like I just started blogging, and still don't know what the crap I'm doing, but I also feel like I've known all of you for wayyyyy more than three years. 

Last year, I forgot about my blogoversary (it comes during a usually-busy end of school time, because I decided to make it on the first day of summer break after junior year of high school). And the year before that, I just had one sad little recap post. So, to make up for both of those, this year we're partying IN STYLE. Which means GIVEAWAYS and GAMES and GLITTER. (well maybe not glitter because that gets all over everything and my grandmother will get mad)

Of course, I really want to first say THANK YOU TO ALL YOU LOVERLY PEOPLE who read and comment on my posts (despite my rather irregular posting schedule). You all are worthy people deserving of chocolate and if I could I would give each of you a mountain-full.

Here's the thing. I have crappy memory (like seriously, so crappy), and I really want to do a list of shoutouts to my favoritest people but there are so many of you and I'm really scared of missing someone. So I'm going to do my best, but - know that you are in my heart even if you're not on these lists.

Bloggerly Inspiration

Cleopatra @ The Classical Carousel - my first bloggly friend! I'm sorry I don't visit you often now at all - I'll stop by soon, I promise!
Kayla @ The Thousand Lives - she's not blogging anymore, but she was THE first YA blog I followed (see below).
Cait @ Paper Fury - One of my biggest bloggly role models. She always makes me happy with her comments on my posts.
Emily @ Loony Literate - Her blog is so chill and yet so well put-together.
Bennett @ My Sky of Paper and Ink - her blog is private now and I was on a hiatus when it happened so now I don't know what to do! But she was the first person who said that MY blog inspired HER to start blogging! SO HONORED OMG

People that comment ALL THE TIME

Masanobu @ All the Pretty Books
Morgan @ Gone with the Words
Skye @ Ink Castles
Windsprite @ Writingcorner

Writer-friends

Katie @ Spiral Bound
Annie @ Curious Wren
Brett @ Book Squirt
Brianna @ StoryPort
Hannah  @ Plottinger Twist
(And Cait too, but she already got a shoutout. Who does she think she is, Queen of the Universe or something?)

On this momentous occasion, I think it's time to look back and see what started me blogging in the first place, and what's changed and what stayed the same.

Essentially, I started blogging because my parents got tired of me fangirling at them so instead I decided to fangirl into the void of the internet and hopefully find some people to fangirl with me. But I didn't really realize exactly how HUMONGOUS the book blogger community was. I started out with a humble little blog that rambled on and on about mostly classic books, because that's what I read.

There's a fantastic classics community of book bloggers out there, and a thing called the Classics Club, and that's where I first started making my bloggly friends. But soon, I started meeting people online who were not classics bloggers.

They were YA BLOGGERS. (dun dun)

Let me explain to you that when I was a child, I was an adorable tiny book snob. My literary diet consisted of 98% classics (both children's and adult's), and I rarely stepped foot into the "Teen" section of the library. And I'm really glad that I was a tiny adorable book snob because it laid a strong foundation for me in the classics. And I still really love the classics (even though I may have taken a bit of a hiatus from them at the moment?).

But let me also tell you that I once wrote an essay when I was 12 about why "Chick Lit" was bad literature and what I called "Chick Lit" was literally just YA.
I'M SORRY FRIENDS.
I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT.
FORGIVE MY PAST MISTAKES.

So when I stumbled upon the YA book blogging community (which is, let's be honest, like 99.57% of the book blogging community in general), I was hesitant. But here's the thing.

I read classics because I don't like wasting time on books I don't like. And classics are books that have continually, time and time again, proved their worth. If so many people liked them, there's a bigger chance that I'd like them than I'd like a random book I picked off the shelf.

So when I started reading reviews of YA books, and actually thinking about which I'd enjoy and which I wouldn't, I realized my hesitation was entirely the result of not wanting to waste my time. So I dove in, with the reviews of bloggers with similar tastes to mine and NOW I AM A CONVERT.

(Though I still love my classics babies. You'll always be my first loves *kisses*)

So I know stats don't Matter in the Long Run, but I think it's kind of fun to see how my blog has grown over the years.

1 year totals:
Pageviews: 7,052
Followers: 15

2 year totals:
Pageviews: 27,585
Followers: 80ish? Don't have exact stats.

3 year totals (now!):
Pageviews: 46,929
Followers: 171

Also, this past month I hit 100 followers on Bloglovin', 50 followers on GFC, and am soon going to hit 1000 on Twitter! I AM IN SHOCK.
YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME AND I LOVE YOU <3 <3

I think it's time for games now, yes? Yes.

So I made a quizzy guessing game! You've got to guess the book that the cropped bit of cover belongs to - but here's a hint: they're all THIRD books in series. (Haha aren't I so clever, it's my third blogoversary, so i have a third-books-in-series quiz, yes so clever)

(and actually I'm not sure how much that tip helps because all the multiple choice answer options are third books too so...)

(basically this is my first time making a quiz and it might be super easy or it might be super hard so bear with me because I'm really a baby beginner at this stuff)

The game should pop up below, but if for whatever reason you can't access it, click here, and that should work. And then share in the comments what you got! (and if the quiz was too hard or too easy)

So what comes after games? Giveaways, of course! And I have MULTIPLE.

THREE, IN FACT

(there's a pattern here, you see?)

The first is in homage to my classics beginnings. I don't know how many of my old classics bloggly friends still read Ravens and Writing Desks, but if you do, I really promise I'll come back to the classics world soon! I REALLY PROMISE. (I've just been catching up on all the YA books I neglected when I was actually the intended audience.)

So this giveaway is of one of my favorite classic books with one of my favorite classic heroines - Jane Eyre. And hey YA people? I think you should give it a shot, even if you don't read classics. It'll appeal to you if you like romance, brooding love interests, creepy mysteries, and quietly badass heroines.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My next giveaway is one of my favorite YA books, and one of the only books ever that has made me cry unapologetically in public - Rose Under Fire. (The other one was The Book Thief, if you were wondering.) It is technically the second in a series, but works as a standalone 100%. You can read my review for it here. YOU WANT TO READ IT BECAUSE IT WILL DESTROY YOU.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And my last giveaway is INTERNATIONAL! (US-ers are still welcome to enter.) The winner of this giveaway gets an Amazon e-book of their choice from the list of all the books I've reviewed on the blog! (see list here)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So go! Enter! Win!

How did you like the festivities? How did you do on the quiz? Was it too easy? Too hard? (plz tell me) And TELL ME YOUR BLOGGING ORIGIN STORY! And oh, before you leave, you can't refuse...

Why I Love the Raven Cycle and Thus Desire an ARC of Blue Lily, Lily Blue

Maggie Stiefvater is giving away a bunch of copies of Blue Lily, Lily Blue, and the way to win is to write (blog, tweet, post, status update) about one reason why you enjoyed reading the Raven Cycle.

The giveaway is open for ONE DAY ONLY.

So here I am writing about my love of these books when I should be getting ready for school tomorrow. 

 If you've been following my blog for the last few months at least, you'll know that there are many reasons why the Raven Cycle fascinates me: the fresh writing style, the distinct characters, the well-structured plot. But I'm supposed to only write about one reason, so I'm going to be a good little girl and follow the rules here. And for that, I'm going to choose:

Why I love the Raven Cycle: The Characters are fantastically real and distinct from one another. And I ADORE that.

Another thing you probably know (or have had shoved down your throat) if you know me is that the main criteria for me to like a book is for the characters to be excellent. The Raven Cycle fulfills this marvelously and so places itself on my Top Books of 2014 list. (That list is only in my head as of now.)

Why are the Raven Cycle characters so great? Here are some reasons:

1. No one can be mistaken for anyone else. When it's Gansey's POV, we know its Gansey's POV. When it's Blue's POV, we know that too. And when it's Ronan's POV, we definitely know it's Ronan. :-) There's no confusion. It all works.

2. There are five main characters but it's not overwhelming. Any author who can pull this off has my highest respect. This means that all the characters are distinctly Themselves, and so they are realistic. They aren't flat.

3. All characters have a backstory. Even the side ones. In the Raven Cycle, you can't trust a side character not to become a supporting character, since they're all so robustly characterized. (That sounds weird but you know what I mean.) For example, I loved that all the ladies at Blue's house have their own personalities and backstories. Who knew that Persephone would become such a Main Thing in Dream Thieves? 

I realize now that these three points are just three different ways of saying the same thing. Maggie's characters seem to just be plucked out of reality. They all have a three-dimensionality to them, whether they are leading or supporting; they all can be the main characters of their own story.

The more three-dimensional the characters are, the better I can "loose" myself in a book. And the better I can loose myself, the more I like it. 

Given this reasoning, it is of little surprise that I love the Raven Cycle so much! I'm so excited to see where my beloved characters will go in Blue Lily, Lily Blue.

~Sophia

Update: I didn't win, sadly. But I still consider this a fine post on The Raven Cycle, and maybe it makes up a bit for my teeny tiny review of The Dream Thieves.