My Highest Rated Authors

Posted May 20, 2022 / Book Lists, Discussions, Features / 0 Comments

As I wrote yet another glowing review for a Rachel Lynn Solomon book, I wondered if there’s any other author that I consistently rate as high. Taylor Jenkins Reid is up there. Anyone else? Katie Cotugno? I started thinking about this and decided to roll through all of the authors I’ve read and figure out which ones I’ve rated the highest in my years of book blogging. It was a little tedious but my parameters were the following: (1) I needed to have read three or more books by the author to count them for this experiment, since two books can sometimes be a fluke. Novellas or short stories in anthologies did not count as “one book” in the totals to determine if the author should be included, but… (2) …I did include novella book ratings in the rating calculation. For example: I read four books by the author, one of which was a novella, so that was counted for ratings purposes. I didn’t include short stories within anthologies because then I’d have to go into the review post and find the individual story rating. (3) I did not include authors where I’ve only read one series by them (3+ books). Saying I loved the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy doesn’t necessarily mean that Holly Jackson herself is on my highest rated author list, since I’ve only fallen in love with one series by her. For all I know, her next series may not hit me as hard. I did include […]

ARC Review: See You Yesterday

Posted May 18, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Rachel Lynn Solomon DOES NOT MISS. She really doesn’t. Is this what I start all of my reviews for her books with?? Maybe. Whether she’s writing YA or adult, I end up loving it. Add in the fact that this book featured one of my favorite tropes, and I was sold. I love books where people are stuck in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again. Usually there’s some kind of message or lesson they need to learn and they try to go through each day differently to figure out what it is. The first one I read and loved was BEFORE I FALL and I will pick them up every dang time. In this story, there were quite a few twists to the typical Groundhog Day story that made it a winner. Barrett begins her first day of college with a physics class and ends it with burning down a frat house. When she wakes up the next morning and realizes she’s reliving the same day again, she’s eager to right those wrongs. She soon learns that the boy sitting next to her in physics, Miles, is also stuck in the time loop with her. I’ve never read one like this before! It was a unique take on the story because they were able to work together to figure out how to get out of it. These stories can admittedly get a little repetitive. Sometimes hearing the same dialogue bits or repeating scenes with slight differences […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #377: Excited to Get But Haven’t Read Yet

Posted May 17, 2022 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Books I Was SO Excited to Get and Still Haven’t Read Yet Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I kind of think this topic was made for me based on the past two years of my reading life! There are SO many books I was really jazzed up for and they’ve just sat on my Kindle or bookshelf. I feel like I do an okay job of reading my absolute favorite authors’ new releases but anything else just sits there. Even still, I’ve slacked! I broke this into two categories since I don’t really buy new books as much – egalleys I received for review and can’t believe I haven’t read yet, and the books I’ve preordered or purchased that I was pumped for and still need to read. Review Books I’ve adored all of Jenn Bennett’s books but for whatever reason, I didn’t immediately read my review copy of ALWAYS JANE. I think the overall plot didn’t sound as interesting to me and then my friends were saying it was their last favorite of her books. I’m sure I’ll get to it soonish! I would have thought getting a review copy of NOTHING MORE TO TELL would be an instant […]

ARC Reviews: The No-Show and The Wedding Season

Posted May 12, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Oh man. This was such a fascinating reading experience and not what I was expecting at all. THE NO-SHOW story centers around Siobhan, Miranda, and Jane, as they all date Joseph Carter. They each suspect him of cheating or think he’s hiding something when he doesn’t show up for their Valentines Day plans. The story alternates between their three perspectives, so I expected this to be some kind of John Tucker Must Die story (like Cristina said in her review!) where they all figure out what’s happening and go for the jugular with this dude. Overall… that was kind of masterfully written. I shouldn’t have doubted Beth O’Leary like I initially did. The first 3/4 of the book was honestly a little tough to get into. I mean, this dude is dating three women. Why would I want to read that? Who am I supposed to root for as a couple? Are the girls going to get together and seek revenge? Well, without spoiling anything, things certainly changed in the final act. I got very unexpectedly emotional and it was not a light or girl-power-filled “rom-com” like I thought it would be. I’ll leave it at that! It’s hard to fully review this without majorly spoiling where things go. I think this was definitely worth the read and in the end, I REALLY enjoyed it. I think I could have rated it a bit higher but it was not the most fun to read for the first half or so. I […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 2022

Posted May 11, 2022 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin wraps up the last month in reading and what was on the blog, as well as what’s coming up next. You can check out my book haul, books read, posts shared, challenge updates, etc. You can read past bulletins here. If you’re looking for more personal updates, you can check out my Lauren Lately feature; it highlights my life events and non-bookish fun from the previous 30 days. I had a lovely reading month in April because my books were highly anticipated AND I loved them all. I wish I managed to finish 2 more books before the end of the month, but I didn’t end up doing any reading on my vacation during the final week. Oh well. 4 books read in April 4 new books • 0 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 1376 • Average rating: 4.63 stars Sources: 4 review copies Formats: 4 egalley Genres: 4 contemporary Age Target: 4 adult Check out my 2022 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 4 read this month | 18/40 read total Featuring a party, by latinx author, fulfills prompt from past challenge (written by a woman), title begins with last letter of previous read Calendar of Crime Challenge None this month – all contemps! Breakdown: 1 purchased | 0 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 9 for review All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review From Macmillan: I Kissed Shara Wheeler (audio) by Casey […]

May TBR

Posted May 4, 2022 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 1 Comment

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. May TBR I got behind yet again in April because I spent the last week of the month with friends on a vacation, which meant I didn’t really have solo time for reading… despite hoping I’d get to enjoy some time with my books in the hot tub! In any case, I hope (as usual) that I can get back on track in May. The month is somewhat busy at the beginning but I’m hoping some car rides will allow for audiobooks… woof. Review Copies I did a great job of focusing on upcoming releases in April – I love when I can delete covers from the previous month’s TBR here! The only holdover is ALWAYS JANE. Usually I dive right into Jenn Bennett books but this one hasn’t had amazing reviews, so I’ve been hesitating. I recently got a review copy of THE CHANGE and it’s actually already been published so hopefully I’ll get to it soon. Seems intriguing! Otherwise, VERY BAD PEOPLE and SEE YOU YESTERDAY are early May pubs so I should hop on them as well. I have other May egalleys I want to read but I’ll leave […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #376: One-Word Reviews

Posted May 3, 2022 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

One-Word Reviews for the Last 10 Books I Read Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I’ve only read 20 books so far this year (currently 4 behind thanks to a vacation with friends aka no time to read!) so my previous 10 books account for half of the books I’ve read so far this year. I like this prompt but it made me think a little bit harder than I expected. I use a lot of the same adjectives to describe books so I had to think out of the box. Also, found it very hard to keep it to one word! Here are the words I’d use to describe each of these books (top row first, left to right): Unexpected // Chemistry // Happy-Making // Perfection // Fun Yummy // Frustrating // Unique // Unenjoyable // Addicting

Top Ten Tuesdays #375: Floral Covers

Posted April 26, 2022 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

Recent/Upcoming Books with Flowers on the Cover Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I will never turn down the chance to share pretty book covers! This one is fill-in-the-blank where we can share books with certain items on the cover. Here are some of my favorite covers with flowers on them! Most are coming soon or have been recently published.

Top Ten Tuesdays #374: Bookish Merch

Posted April 19, 2022 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Bookish Merch I’d Love to Own Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I don’t buy or own a lot of bookish merch anymore. Back when I was first blogging and getting hardcore into reading again, I did buy a lot more book or reading-related merch. I think I’m just trying to not acquire as much stuff around this little house anymore! I did buy some great gifts for my sister for Christmas (and a few bookmarks for me) from Emily Cromwell Designs though. So, with that in mind… Bookish Gift Wishlist from Emily Cromwell Designs Top links: Magnet | Sweatshirt | Bookmark | Bookmark | Sweatpants Bottom links: Flag | Notepad | Bookmark | Blanket | Bookmark

ARC Review: Part of Your World

Posted April 18, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

How are all of her books so good!? PART OF YOUR WORLD centers around Alexis, a doctor with a strong family history in medicine at a specific hospital in the city, and Daniel, a mayor/carpenter/B&B manager in the country. When Alexis is driving through his small town and runs her car off the road, Daniel helps her out of the ditch. They cross paths later that night when she stops by the local VFW for dinner and end up having a great night together. Their relationship picks up over the coming weeks until they’re basically a couple (at least in his small town). She could never bring Daniel into he world. Her twin brother’s new wife doesn’t pass her parents’ test of a suitable partner so clearly a tattooed, bearded man who is 10 years younger than her won’t either. She tries to protect Daniel from their scrutiny and the other side of her life but it gets harder and harder. I wasn’t fully sold on the age-gap romance (not my cup of tea) but it wasn’t the “main issue” these two had going for them, so it worked out fine for me. I really loved their chemistry in this one and the kind of opposites attract vibe. (Clearly I can’t resist it because this is the second book with that trope in a row where I read 60% or more of it in one sitting.) Daniel’s small town and all of the people in it were so cute. I loved […]