Recent Reads | In Your Dreams and The Storm

Posted March 19, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

Unsurprisingly, five stars. I may have blinders on when it comes to the writing or characters but there’s something about this Rome, Kentucky series that just works for me every single time. It’s sweet without being too much. This was such a perfect way to wrap up the series, with multiple scenes of former main characters/ siblings/ significant others getting together and finishing with the couple I’ve been waiting for. Madison and James got the perfect story for them and it was worth the wait. We’ve all seen the tension brewing between them – my sister and I were eagerly awaiting their inevitable book! Madison has always been the wild child, the one who moved out of Rome to follow her dreams at culinary school in NYC. She hasn’t told anyone she’s struggling, except Emily in the last book, so she keeps plugging along through graduation. James has been pining over Madison for years so when she accidentally calls him and spills her guts, he has the perfect solution: a farm-to-table restaurant on his farm. He needs the financial boost and she needs a job, especially back at home. Win-win. I loved watching these two spend time together and the feelings develop for Madison, since James has already been in that place. I loved the conversations they had; Jame was such a perfect balance for her. I grew to love him more than I already did from previous books. Aside from the main romance/couple, as I mentioned, we get all […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #489: Green Covers

Posted March 17, 2026 / Goals & Planning, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Green Book Covers on my 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. I was going to do my favorite books with green covers or favorite green covers in general, but I couldn’t pull enough. I thought going into the TBR makes more sense! I think all of these are upcoming releases and none are already out, but there could be a few recent ones. Either way… all on my TBR to read at some point in time!

The Improbable Meet-Cute: Second Chances

Posted March 13, 2026 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I read three different Amazon short story collections in 2024 but haven’t really kept up with the more recent ones beyond those. When I saw there was a follow-up to the Improbable Meet Cute books, I knew I’d be blazing through them right away. This group is called THE IMPROBABLE MEET-CUTE: SECOND CHANCES. It features only one repeat author, Christina Lauren, along with five new ones: Hannah Bonham-Young Julie Soto, Trilina Pucci, Catherine Cowles, and Navessa Allen. I’ve heard all of them except one and quite a few are on my “their books are probably not for me” list, so I was cautious going into this lol. I was expecting to either validate my feelings on potentially not reading from these authors in the future OR realizing that perhaps I’m missing out! I thought I’d rank order the stories and share my ratings for them along with a mini review, then compare the collection as a whole to the first go-around in 2024. Story Ranking and Mini Reviews/Ratings Time Will Tell by Hannah Bonam-Young // // Sooo cute. I think I need to read a full-length book from this author. I was very smitten and smiling like a dummy reading their emails but wish that part was a little longer. The rest felt a little rushed but still so good! I have a feeling this will be the best of this bunch for me. Accidentally Yours by Christina Lauren // // Very cute, as expected! I love this pen pal/You’ve Got […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #488: Ordinal Numbers

Posted March 10, 2026 / Goals & Planning, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Book Titles Featuring Ordinal Numbers 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 decided to do this by searching in my Goodreads shelves in order (“first” then “second” etc.) so this list will feature my favorite books for each of the ordinal numbers. I haven’t read a book for all ten-ish of them so there’s a small TBR section below as well. Favorites by Number TBR Books

Recent Reads | The Fiancee Farce and My Husband’s Wife

Posted March 9, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I made it a goal to read more books with sapphic romance this year and this has been sitting on my shelves for a few years. It called to me so I went for it, and I’m so glad I did! I need to read more of her books immediately. The story follows Tansy and Gemma as they embark on a fake engagement/marriage to help them both out. Tansy used Gemma, a model on a book cover, as a fake girlfriend when making excuses with her family. When she actually meets Gemma in person, she’s shocked to see that Gemma joins the charade and reveals they’re together and engaged. Gemma needs to be married to inherit her family business and she’s willing to do anything to make it happen. What happens from here is a super cute, sometimes corny, love story. It’s not perfect but honestly exactly what I needed in that moment. I absolutely loved them as a couple and how well they communicated. With a plot this “big” where you know that something bad may happen outside of their control, we don’t also need miscommunication or in-couple issues too. The author did a great job of making the conflict work. The premise was over the top but highly enjoyable. I was rooting for them from the beginning and really loved it. This is the kind of book that will be polarizing – a lot of people have loved it and I’ve started to see some negative reviews trickle […]

March TBR

Posted March 6, 2026 / 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. March TBR February was a rough reading month but I’ll blame it on the new puppy. I really wanted to get back on track in March but that proved to be a bit challenging initially (yes we’re fully 4 days into the month now). Review Copy & Book Club I know that I had a bunch of review copies for February and didn’t knock it out of the park but I want to read PARADISE COAST this month at minimum. Not even going to try more. I’ve already started it but am having trouble getting into it. I completely forgot about book club this month but luckily this TBR post reminded me. We’re reading THE PLOT, which has been on my list for a long time. I have a random ARC of this that I got from someone so I’ll probably pick that up and assume it’s similar to the finished copy lol. Physical Copies I knew I wanted to read a few Veronica Speedwell books this year so this felt like the right time to read the second book. I’m currently reading this one as well. I also picked […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | Februrary 2026

Posted March 4, 2026 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 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. Well I certainly used January to get off to a good start and then took a complete nosedive in February. To be fair, we adopted a puppy and I’ve spent most of my time managing two dogs and not a ton of time reading. As we speak, the two have some nice bones they’re working on and leaving me alone lol. I expect a bit more from March but am keeping my March goal around 6 books instead of the usual 8 I’d like. 4 books in February 4 read • 0 reread • 1 DNF Formats: 2 egalley, 1 physical/audio, 1 paperback, 1 full mix Status/source: 2 review, 1 purchased, 1 library, 1 owned Age Target: 5 adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings! Shelf Reflection Challenge: 27% Read with Allison Challenge: 23% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 25% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 50% Breakdown: 7 hardcovers | 3 paperbacks | 0 ARC | 2 egalleys | 1 ebook | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Review […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #487: Genre Freebie

Posted March 3, 2026 / Goals & Planning, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Genre Freebie: New or Upcoming Mystery/Thrillers I’m Excited to 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. My book breakdown each year is largely contemporary fiction/romance and mystery/thrillers. Naturally those were the first two genres I thought of when I saw this TTT topic. I figured I’d focus on some mystery/thrillers I recently added to my TBR that are coming out in the future or recently released. Hopefully there are some to add to your TBR!

Literary and Slow-Burn Mysteries

Posted February 20, 2026 / Discussions, Features / 0 Comments

I’ve always been a fan of mysteries and thrillers. Some of my first memorable favorites were the Pretty Little Liars and Private series, featuring rich teens behaving badly to various degrees. Sometimes murder and death was involved and other times a little less, but still… I didn’t always just read cute contemporary romances when I was a teen! However, I’ve realized that I’m way more likely to read a classic mystery or, more often, a fast-paced thriller. I like the twists and turns and am often disappointed when the book isn’t giving me whiplash with twists. I’m always expecting more from it and that’s probably not fair. One thing I’ve noticed lately is that – despite my nerves about reading them – I really enjoy the slower-burn literary mysteries. I read BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN thinking that it was a bit out of my comfort zone but for some reason it called to me. It was my first book of the year in 2024 and my brief Goodreads review said: This is going to stick with me. I was on the fence about reading it and hadn’t even marked it as “to read” on Goodreads when I bought it on a whim at the store and started it within the week. I don’t follow serial killer true crime stories or podcasts because the victims aren’t at the forefront so my only knowledge of the man “featured” in this book was the Zac Efron movie (watched only because of said actor). This […]

Recent Reads | The Fair Weather Friend and Out of the Loop

Posted February 16, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I really enjoyed the twists and overall mystery of THE BUSINESS TRIP and was excited to read more by Jessie Garcia. Her second book also featured a newsroom/weather woman so I was thinking she may turn into a TJ Newman (flight attendant or airplane setting) for me, carving out a specific niche within mysteries. When popular weather girl Faith is found strangled in her car during her dinner break, her superfans, colleagues, and old friends are left reeling in different ways. There were multiple POVs like her previous book and many of the plot lines and characterization were similar. The big twist was good in theory but it was very implausible in practice. I thought the writing was cringey in places and fairly juvenile – the character conversations and inner thoughts were just written in a weird way for me. I definitely enjoyed the ride, as I did with the first book, but it was unsatisfying in many ways – especially the very end. There were certain characters or POVs that got completely lost by the end and we got no closure on. I’m not saying that I had fallen in love with them and wanted to know more about them, but there were a number of loose ends that would have been more satisfying to know about. People weren’t built up enough – especially Faith – for me to care about what happened to her. I’m a sucker for time loop books or what I usually refer to as […]