(Admin note: Our wonderful Super Mod sent us this blog post two weeks ago, but Serenity was locked in a writing cave to get her book finished and she didn’t read this until today… Serenity sucks! However, I still want everyone to read this lovely blog.)

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Happy Holidays to all from your very own Super Mod. As we close out the holiday season and move into a new year, I thought I would like to share some gratitude. If you read my previous blog post, well, some of this might feel a bit repetitive, but there’s no such thing as too much when it comes to sharing thankfulness.

First and foremost, I am thankful for Serenity and Charlie. For creating this site, for letting me join their team, for their constant kindness. and for sharing their fun-filled selves. It is an absolute joy to work with them. We work around their day jobs their second (and sometimes third) jobs, and a pretty big time difference, but they go out of their way to make it happen. We’ve been doing this together for over two years now (longer for the two of them), and I am still thrilled every day they keep me around, and for the friendship that has come of it.

I am thankful for my fellow readers. Sending in books we need to add and tag suggestions, rating the books so other readers are helped, all of it makes this site even more excellent. This has become a lovely little community where readers and authors provide the information that helps folks find new authors, expand their TBR’s, and fall in love with new book boyfriends. Seeing you all suggest the site out in the wild, telling others about the features and the new reads it’s helped you find, it all gets me excited all over again and makes me want to work harder. So thank you, truly, for both using the site, and helping to make it the best it can be.

My gratitude to the authors is large. Some of it is simply as a reader, but a lot of it is as a moderator for Why-Choose?. I think it would be easier as a list, so here it goes, in no particular order, the reasons I am so grateful to authors:

1) For overcoming impostor syndrome, for being brave enough to put yourselves out there into the world, and giving us stories to get lost in, dreams to dream, and a way to escape reality for hours at a time.

2) For whoever came up with those nifty graphics (I’m sure there’s a name for them, I just don’t know it) with all the tropes, kinks, and content warnings, and all those who use them. It helps me both as a reader and for tagging the books here. Plus, you all make them gorgeous.

3) For authors who write a single series at a time, and for authors who have multiple series going at the same time. I love it all, and I know everyone’s brains work differently, as do their muses.

4) For giving me things to look forward to. I love when you drop a book and I finish it knowing that in the future, there will be the next one coming out. Maybe it’s already up for preorder, maybe it’s not, doesn’t matter. I’m excited by the anticipation. No, I don’t care if your series is complete yet, if it interests me, I will happily read along as your books release.

5) For authors who leave no doubt in their blurbs that I am looking at an RH book. Very few authors write only RH. Some of you are super straightforward, knowing it can cause you challenges on retail sites to call it RH, and do it anyway. Some of you may not label it blatantly as RH, but you still make it incredibly clear that it’s RH. Not feeling as grateful to those who insist on calling ménage à trois (there are more and more lately) reverse harem, but what are you gonna do? Again, this is something I am grateful for as a reader, and for my work here.

6) For the verified authors here on the site. For tagging the heck out of your books, sometimes even adding the books themselves before we have the chance. For helping us keep your page as up-to-date and accurate as possible. For helping readers find exactly what they are looking for when they use those tags for their searches. I’ve seen some of you share about the site in your groups, it hits me in the feels every damn time. Heck, a few of you even refer readers to the site for you CW’s/TW’s.

7) Speaking of CW’s/TW’s, thank you to authors who provide them. Whether it’s in the blurb, in the sample at the the beginning of the book, or on your author website, thank you. An even bigger thanks to those who put it on their website, provide that website, and put the warnings somewhere easily located. While I personally have no triggers I am aware of, I do have some pretty strong preferences for what I enjoy reading when I am escaping and hopefully swooning, so you have my deep gratitude.

8) For putting plus-size models on your covers if your character is written as such. Seriously, thank you.

9) For live releases, for preorder dates that sometimes get pushed up, and sometimes get pushed back. Putting up preorders for the whole series or just the next book in the series. All of it is wonderful, and each way is just as correct as the others.

And huge thanks to everyone for contributing to the overwhelming success of the Why-Choose? website. Because of all of you, we are closing in fast on 3 million hits for the year!

I hope the New Year is prosperous, healthy, and joyous for you all. May you find an abundance of stories (and book boyfriends) to write about, read about, get lost in, and swoon over.