The late end of the year - early start of the year THANK YOU post

Hello, Kai here! *waves*

Tin and I aren't really a fan of making lists, best ofs and generally any kind of posts that requires us to think too hard of how our year has been, but we're making an exception this year (or last year)... a few days late.

Photo credit: livingmylifegettingmydreams tumblr. (I added the text!)

2012 has been a good year for me (at the very least). It could have been a lot more amazing, but personally I like the way I've spent the past 12 months. Although we kind of lacked activity during the last 2 months of the previous year, I think we've made enough milestones (we gained 1,000 followers, crossed 50,000 page views, etc) to tide us over to the start of another year which we hope will be an AMAZING one for us and the blog.

I am not good with names or remembering people/events in detail, so forgive me if I forget to mention a few people here and there, but I'd like to thank the following:

2012 marks the year when we were finally able to interact with as much publishers as we could reach and I'd like to thank the awesome people over at HarperCollins (Sarah and the fabulous Christine) for opening a lot of doors for growth for Amaterasu Reads and Pinoy Book Tours, Ksenia at Macmillan, the lovely folks over at Penguin Australia (hi Tina!) and Hodder AU who loved us even though we're not Australian. Hodder Childrens / Hachette UK (Victoria) for the surprise that is Days of Blood and Starlight, the new folks we've met from Random House UK who we hope to work with more, Henry Holt, Andrew over at Panmacmillan Asia who survived the rainy season here in Manila during his visit, Simon & Schuster UK, Zondervan, Disney Hyperion, Sam at Headline UK, Gallery Books, Pier 9 books, Marshall Cavendish, Elise over at MIRA Ink, Text Publishing, Fremantle Press, the super awesome Jennifer over at Hardie Grant Egmont, Faber & Faber, Chicken House and all their wonderful surprises in the mail, the PR firms we've worked with (Midas PR, DJC communications, etc) and to everyone else who we've had an opportunity to work with to bring more awareness to the wonderful authors and their books through our blog, thank you! This also marks the first year where we got support from local bookchains which we never thought would happen, Fully Booked and National Bookstore. We hope to work with you all this year too!

And thank you again to all the fabulous authors whose books we've had a chance to read the past year. Lauren Oliver's visit here in Manila is definitely a highlight, and she's also a sweetheart! High Constable Alex Lidell, whose book is releasing this year, please support her! The lovely Sara Walsh, for being so gracious and kind to me and our blog. Elsie Chapman, with our mutual love for ONE OK ROCK, Rurouni Kenshin, and Japan. Her book, Dualed, is releasing this year as well, please buy it once its out! Natalie Zaman and Char Bennardo for being a riot, and having awesome books. Amalie Howard for being so kind and just overall awesome. Brigid Kemmerer, who I think is just a genius for bringing the Merrick boys in our lives.

If I can, I'd give a big hug to all the bloggers I've had the chance to talk to and meet both online and offline. To my Aussie cobbers (yeah, I just learned this word 2 days ago) Brodie you sexy beast, my eternal rival & twin demon, Becca, Lisa (Badass Bookie), Lisa (msammydean), Braiden, Alice, Saskia, Erin, Celine, can you please adopt me for like a month? I'm swimming to Australia for a vacation soon. Liz (Planet Print) and all the nice people in the UK. Ashley of Fire Star books who shares my obsession with manga, anime and Akashi my red Emperor.

Special thanks to my Pinoy book blogger friends who I've had a chance to meet with before the year came to an end. My book blogging sister, Precious of Fragments of Life, Louisse of The Soul Sisters (Geraldine too!), Dea of Teen Readers Diary, the super cute Dani of Book Whales, Ellie over at The Selkie Reads, Ycai of BlackPlume, Dianne our future PBT prodigy of Oops! I Read It Again, Michelle and Nicole from The Twins Read, the Mr. Book Wonder Von, Michelle of Michelle Shouts Random and all the ladies/gentlemen I've met. The stressful planning for the meet-up was all worth it! You've all made book blogging a ton of fun! And Tina of One More page, one of my bestest friend, colleague and fellow book lover, thanks for putting up with me and my crazy tendencies!

We've also had a chance to be active in some events for Filipino readers, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Honey and all the wonderful people behind the Filipino ReaderCon 2012 for giving me the chance to be a panelist for the Book Blogging workshop and help judge some of the awards for the conference. It's been a life changing event for me and the blog and we hope to participate more in events like this for Filipino readers!

To our blog followers, readers and supporters, thanks for accompanying us in our 2012 journey. We have more in store for you all this 2013, so please stay with us! Thank you for the continued support and we hope to have more readers this 2013!

The greetings might be late, but we wish you all are having an amazing start to the new year. 2013's just starting, let's make the most out of this!