• When I started book blogging, it was on MYSPACE and it was a mess. Yes. Myspace. But, if you've read my little about me, you probably know that already! 
• I started Booked J with a couple of friends and it was originally called Booked JJP. Shout out to Paige and Jane. We had no idea what we were doing or how to do it, but boy did we do it.
• The first book I reviewed was The Girl Death Left Behind by Lurlene McDaniel and then probably a Gossip Girl novel. 
• Which, related to Gossip Girl, I was around for the whole "Gossip Girl is no longer being made into a film with Lindsay Lohan as Blair Waldorf and is instead being made into a TV series with the people who did The O.C." fiasco. Which was delightful because, at the time, I was more of a lurking Lucy. (That's not really a phrase, right? Where Did I get that?) 
• Booked JJP started as a side gig from my lucrative career as a shitty coder. And by that I mean, I had been making Myspace layouts for a year or so at that point and piggybacked on my followers (er, friends?) count from that to get Booked JJP started. Note: One more friend did join us but she has asked to be left out of any mentions.
• (We also all had fansites dedicated to Swedish girl group Play.) 
• The first time I received bookmail, I cried. Literally, cried. It was an emotional time because A.) I never expected it. B.) Johnny Depp was in town filming a movie (Public Enemies) and I had been obsessed with him at the time (to clarify, I am not anymore) and my friends and I saw him. (And for the record, despite me loving him at the time the novelty wore off quickly once production shot LITERALLY DOWN MY STREET and I couldn't leave and my friends and I had to verify that I, in fact, lived down said street.)
• During my first year of Book Blogging, my friends and I built a pretty solid audience. Solid enough that when my teacher needed some new books for the classroom, I went to an alternative school at the end of high school, publishers and authors and readers were so kind they sent boxes of books to me to give to her. She is the most influential teacher I've ever had and giving her a bunch of new books? The feeling was indescribable and that was when I knew I loved this community. 
• I took a VERY long hiatus somewhere around 2010 and came back unexpectedly. I've not left since, but I have taken breaks here and there. 
• The truth is, I probably reached 700 reviews a long time ago. But, between purging out a lot of my old reviews or just flat out losing them... you get the picture.  
• All of the publishers and authors that I've worked with have been truly wonderful. I've not had too many bad experiences, but I'd like to take a moment to shout out Scholastic for not only being the ringleader in getting me into reading (hello, book fairs!) but for being a truly generous by providing me many materials in the past. I receive book mail from a lot of places, but by far Scholastic has been the most generous.