Blowing Our Own Horn

On a normal day we try to help you, our readers. Most days our post is a review (helping you decide if a particular book is for you). Sometimes we'll have a guest post from an author, a quick read to entertain or enlighten you while serving the dual purpose of a tryout, giving you a feel for the author's “voice” and other clues as to whether their books might be a good fit for your tastes.

Coming up in March we'll be conducting the 2016 Readers' Choice Awards, our fourth annual awards contest where we draw attention to the absolute best books we've reviewed in the prior year and ask you to weigh in with your pick for the best of the best. (You and other voters will also get entered in a raffle for some great prizes.)

Even “Ask the Pals,” our latest new feature that premiered earlier this week, while it might seem to be more about us, is actually so you can know us better than what you can glean reading between the lines of a review. We feel that this will make our reviews more valuable if you know the individual better as both a reader and a person.

However, today is an exception. It's not about you. It's all about us. Sorry. :)

Today marks our fifth birthday. We're excited that when school starts next fall we'll finally be out of preschool and get to attend the real school with the big blogs and blogesses.

In the beginning, it was just me. I kicked off with a review of the mystery thriller Brittle Shadows by Vicki Tyley followed by some commentary on the brand new (at the time) Kindle Singles program. It has been a constant learning experience from the beginning with one of my reviews going viral when the site was only a couple months old. I think my reviews have improved over time and the site definitely improved with the addition of the Pals. The three Pals with the longest tenure, ?wazithinkin', Pete Barber, and Keith Nixon, will each reach their four year anniversary as Pals in 2016. During the last five years we've reviewed more than 1,400 books. While that barely scratches the surface of all the indie books out there (it barely makes a dent in those we've been asked to review), we're still proud of what we've accomplished. But enough about us. Tomorrow, it's all about you again.