Lets get to some maths for the year. Although I am terrible at all types of maths, I still genuinely have a lot of fun breaking my blogging year down in stats. I acknowledge that this is boring for anyone other than myself or other book bloggers. But my philosophy there is Bore Big or Go Home, so on that note, other bloggers if you’re interested the 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017 breakdowns are linked. 2020 was a lot of fun, if that influences your decision.

Just as a note: I’ve spent zero pennies on marketing of any kind since I started this blog as a free .wordpress.com in November 2016. Instead, I’ve focused on blog-hops and building relationships. That means super slow growth and also super low stress levels.

(If slow is not the way you would want to grow your website, then these will not be very helpful posts for you, but you can totally stick around and read some . . . uh . . . meaningless statistics anyway?)

A very scientific and accurate gif of my blogging strategy

Visitors in 2025: 2022 has been the year to beat, with 4,947 visitors. Did we beat it in 2025? Nope! But my humble self-hosted website still returned a very respectable visit count of 4,510. You’ll see my theory as to why 2025 performed better than 2024 when we get to my top posts this year.

Top 5 Posts from 2025:

The number one post this year knocked groveling off its 3-year-strong pedestal, but it was still a romance book trope post: You Should See the Way They Look at You (otherwise known as delicious pining). It’s no mystery why this one came out top of the heap. We readers LIVE for that yearning.

2. Frequently Used Words in Romance nudged back into second place for 2025. For reasons I don’t really comprehend, this one is consistently popular, and has been since I published it in 2018  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3. Coming in third, Book Tropes: The Grovel in the Novel fell from #1, but I’m still delighted to see it holding strong in the top 3. Groveling and yearning, the two magic words in romance.

4. Surprise contender Stranger Things Season 1-Episode 8 finale review came in hot this year. Just in the last two months I’ve noticed a huge upswing in the amount of views for all of my Stranger Things Season 1 reviews. I think I have the imminent release of Season 5 to thank, and I do thank the whimsy of the internet gods for this. 224 views this year for this one post.

5. And just behind Episode 8, Stranger Things Season 1-Episode 7 was the last of the top 5 for the year. People like having the entire season spoiled for them, I suppose. Or they enjoy my emotional anguish through those damn cliffhangers. Either one.

Favourite post I wrote in 2025:

Not one of my absolute favorite tropes, per se, but one that often leads to my favorite tense situations, made Book Tropes: Oh No, Looks Like There’s Only One Bed my favorite post. It’s from 2024, but I’m breaking all of the rules here because this is my blog and I can if I want.

Post I wish had gotten a little more love in 2025:

For the hopeful vibes and the kind comments from other members of the group, The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is Limitless is my favorite underdog post from 2025.

Top five countries my readers came from this year:

  1. United States
  2. China (look, don’t be a stereotype and be spam bots or phishing attacks, please. Rise above.)
  3. United Kingdom
  4. Canada
  5. India

Reasons my readers continue to be the Actual Best™:

You still comment on the actual article content, and even better, the comment has something to do with the article it is located underneath. NO, y’all don’t UNDERSTAND what a rare and precious treasure this is in the explosive Fireswamp which is internet comment sections. I adore you all for this and hope I bring something to your comment sections as well!

Wishing you all a warm and fuzzy ending to 2025, and a prosperous, happy, and safe 2026.