...
... Is this rise really Boolberry specific or is it just CryptoNote in general?
It is probably CryptoNote in general but it's hard to say with all this volatility, and all crypto is going up. What is certain that initial animosity between CryptoNote projects is mainly gone, and that did not help any but non-CryptoNote coins at the time. Maybe it is because males behave much nicer in presence of lady

The World sure is big enough place for handful of CryptoNotes that incarnate slightly different on existing hardware technologies and in given enviroment. Only time will tell which were the best solutions for different problems imo