Blog Break | October

Posted October 6, 2021 / Uncategorized / 3 Comments

I always thought it was silly that people had to justify and explain hiatuses from their blogs. I never thought there was a point – just take some time off and come back like normal. However, I feel like I wanna chat for a few minutes and explain what’s up. I’ve been struggling with reading for a long time, as evidenced by my complaints in most blog posts this year. 2020 was garbage and 2021 was moderately better, but I still haven’t felt like reading much. People told me I wouldn’t read a lot while wedding planning because it’s like a full time job. The wedding wasn’t why my reading sucked because we wanted our day to be easy and fun and full of dancing. No stress. And I haven’t been stressed really until this past week with final pickups and drop offs and appointments. Not to mention fitting in work before I’m off for 2 weeks. We were going to go to Hawaii but when the governor cautioned against it last month, we made the decision to postpone the big honeymoon. We’re heading to the Catskills instead for a longer “mini moon” with the pup. I can’t wait to read on the porch with coffee and look at the mountains and changing leaves. I am in desperate need of a break. From work, from reading stress, from realizing at the last minute I forgot to do a TTT and scrambling just to ensure I have some content coming… the […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #358: Freebie

Posted September 28, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Freebie: 5 Favorite New Covers + 5 I Can’t Wait to See 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. The only certainties in life: death, taxes, and Lauren picking a cover-related topic during freebie week for TTT. I thought I would share some of my new favorite covers – either ones I recently added to my “cover love” list or ones that were recently revealed for books coming soon. New Faves The Suite Spot by Trish Doller // I got this for review and am PUMPED. I loved FLOAT PLAN and this sounds adorable. The cover is super cute too obviously. A Season for Second Chances by Jenny Bayliss // I loved her debut Christmas book and her sophomore clearly has the same cute illustrated cover vibe. It makes me want to book a flight to England around the holiday season and stay in a little village. Blame it on the Mistletoe by Beth Garrod // Yes another holiday book cover. I can’t resist the colors on this one and the big snow globe. Adorable. Read Between the Lines by Rachel Lacey // This has to be one of my favorites in a loooong time. The typography, little hearts everywhere, book on the cover, ugh – […]

Upcoming Mystery/Thrillers on my TBR

Posted September 23, 2021 / Book Lists, Features / 0 Comments

I’m finding in these shitty reading times that mystery/thrillers have been the key to getting some reading spark back. I usually want to read them quickly and will finish in a few sittings, in order to race to the end and see whodunnit. I also enjoy these in audio format because I spend most of my audio-listening-time with true crime podcasts… and mystery-based audiobooks can be just as addicting! I thought I would highlight some upcoming mystery/thriller books I have on my TBR – both books that recently published and those that are coming soon. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley // February 2022 I’ve really enjoyed her previous two mystery novels and haev been anxiously awaiting her third! The MC travels to Paris to escape her life for a bit and live with her brother, who ends up being completely MIA when she arrives. Did one of his neighbors have something to do with his disappearance? These Deadly Games by Diana Urban // February 2022 I’ve got this waiting on my Kindle and it’s taken a lot of effort to not read it ASAP! This one sounds intriguing overall but I’m mostly interested because of how much I enjoyed her debut mystery and its plot. The MC is forced to play a kidnapper’s game and she has to choose between hurting or killing her friends, or getting her sister killed. Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead by Elle Cosimano // February 2022 Genuinely depressed I have to wait until February […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #357: Fall TBR

Posted September 21, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 2 Comments

Fall TBR 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. Even though my favorite TTTs are the lazy ones where I just search for keywords on my Goodreads shelves or click on a specific themed shelf… I love the TBR ones too. It gives me a chance to look at new and upcoming releases that I don’t currently have review copies of and remember the ones I’m most excited for. For these purposes, I’ll be using September, October, and November as “fall.” I’m also not including the Christmas books that are publishing in October (see some of my holiday TBR here) since I won’t be reading them until December. These are books that I genuinely hope to read this fall! September Releases October Releases November Releases

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | August 2021

Posted September 16, 2021 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments

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 read a number of cookbooks this month to get ahead and it sort of worked… but I still ended up reducing my reading challenge from 100 to 75. I don’t see myself succeeding this year and have no motivation to catch up from being 12 behind. Here’s a late ass recap of August since I’ve been lazy and busy. 7 books read in August 7 new books • 0 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 2200 • Average rating: 3.57 stars Sources: 4 purchased, 2 review, 1 preordered Formats: 4 egalley, 1 mixed Genres: 4 nonfiction, 2 contemporary, 1 mystery/thriller Age Target: 5 adult, 2 young adult Check out my 2021 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 1 read this month | 24/40 read total Seen on someone else’s bookshelf A-Z Reading Challenge 1 read this month (D) Calendar of Crime Challenge 1 read this month Summer “holiday” for August Breakdown: 0 purchased | 0 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 6 for review All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #356: Numbers

Posted September 14, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

Books with Numbers in the Title 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. Love a lazy TTT these days – aka going into Goodreads and searching keywords like “one” “two” etc. to find 1-10 nice and easy 😉 I’ve read all of these books except EIGHT PERFECT HOURS in case you’re wondering. Top TEN by Cotugno // NINE Women One Dress by Rosen // EIGHT Perfect Hours by Louis The SEVEN Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Reid // SIX of Crows by Bardugo In FIVE Years by Serle // FOUR Days of You and Me by Kenneally Tell Me THREE Things by Buxbaum // TWO Summers by Friedman // ONE of Us is Lying by McManus

Top Ten Tuesdays #355: Smile

Posted September 8, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

Books to Put a Smile on Your Face 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. One day late but here we are! These are the ten most recent books I’ve read that made me laugh out loud. I keep a Goodreads shelf for this reason – some feel good books, or stories with very funny/clever main characters. I love some banter!

Review Round Up | Good as Dead and We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This

Posted September 6, 2021 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments

In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 books I’ve read or listened to recently. Sometimes they’re newer releases and sometimes they’re all backlist titles. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! If I could leave this review as a link to THIS review, I would haha. Basically she said she hated the book from 45% on, but understood the choices that were made, and still rated it around 3 stars. I mean… same. This series has been by go-to during the pandemic. When I’m desperate to kick my reading into gear again, one of these books has helped me do that. I loved the first book so much and didn’t want to wait for the second, so I ordered it (and the third) from Book Depository as the UK versions instead of US. I was eager to read this ASAP when it came in (around a month before the US book publishes) and was somewhat addicted like the other two, but I genuinely had to put it aside for a few days because of the turn the book took in the middle. I had figured out a THING and then it took a major turn and then, as you can see, I took a couple of days off or could only read a little at a time. It’s really hard to review this without completely giving everything away, even if you’ve read the first two books in the […]

September TBR

Posted September 1, 2021 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

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. September TBR August, again, was terrible. I was somewhat busy but honestly it’s mostly just that I don’t prioritize reading. I got super into some new podcasts and listened to very little on audio. I only managed to read 7 books in August because THREE were cookbooks. Currently Reading I am somehow still reading RULE OF WOLVES although I’m pretty sure “reading” is a strong word, since I’ve only read 2-3 chapters since the last time I wrote about this here. I do genuinely need to make a commitment to reading a chapter a day (or listening to an audio chapter) until it’s done. I’m also still working through THE INTUITIVE EATING WORKBOOK because it’s a little repetitive after reading the full book and working in my group coaching. It’ll get done eventually and be a quick boost to my reading numbers when it happens. Physical/Owned Books These are holdovers too, whoops. I got ARSENIC AND ADOBO in my recent BOTM package and it’s been sitting there! I’m excited to read it but I’ve been Kindle-addicted lately. I also got DONUTS AND OTHER PROCLAMATIONS OF LOVE from Laura (the author’s agent) […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #354: Fictional Crushes

Posted August 31, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Fictional Crushes 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. Last week was the first time in my blog’s history that I forgot to write a TTT post – clearly blogging isn’t on my mind lately. Here’s this week’s TTT about my book boyfriends or fictional crushes most recently added to that Goodreads shelf of mine. Tarek from WE CAN’T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS // Jamar from THE DATING PLAYBOOK Harry from ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE Sir from TO SIR WITH LOVE // River from THE SOULMATE EQUATION Dominic from THE EX TALK // Cassian from ACOSF Adrian from LIFE’S TOO SHORT // Neil from TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW // Keane from FLOAT PLAN