Review Round Up | Blacklist, Once and For All, Blood of Wonderland, and The Hate U Give

Posted June 23, 2017 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 1 Comment

In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 reviews of already published books (either older/backlist or newer releases) that I’ve read or listened to recently. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! After enjoying UNRIVALED and being incredibly interested to see what would happen next, it felt like BLACKLIST would never arrive. I checked it out from the library and stashed it under my bed (where I unfortunately keep and forget about all of my library books). I finished up what I was reading and suddenly remembered that I had BLACKLIST to dive into. Let me tell you, it was exactly what I needed at the time. Like its predecessor, I couldn’t put this one down. I don’t see many differences in my feelings between the two books, to be honest. I felt the same way about the characters (didn’t really care about or for them). I felt the same way about the pacing (awesome). I felt the same way about the mystery (really interesting; I have a few theories!). I don’t know why but I think I liked this book more than the first. Maybe it’s because the stakes feel higher? I can’t put my finger on it. Long story short, I stayed up late to finish one night and had to wake up at 4:30 AM the next day. On my way home that evening, I was so excited to think I had more to read when I […]

The Aesthetically Pleasing Book Tag

Posted June 22, 2017 / Book Lists, Features, Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

Man, I have never seen such a perfect book tag for me! I’m so glad Morgan pointed it out to me when I asked for recs on Twitter. She originally saw it on A Kernel of Nonsense and then did it herself too. It’s about boooook coversssss. MY FAVE. Best color combo on a book cover Piper Perish | All We Have Is Now | The Summer After You + Me I’m a big fan of bold colors or watercolors on book covers. These three use color very nicely! I have waaaay too many others on my shelves I could feature here but I was struck by these when I went through my list. I like colors blending together or fading like an ombre. Best typography/font on the cover TATBILB | The One That Got Away | The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend Okay this is something I could have A MILLION for. I’m a huge sucker for fonts and fancy, handwritten typography on book covers. All of the TATBILB covers in the trilogy have the same perfect typography, so I’m including just book one as a placeholder. Clearly I’m a fan of cute cursive! Best simple cover Who Runs the World? | An Unkindness of Magicians | We All Looked Up I know you could argue that the center cover is not simple, by any means, but I love the simple colors mixed with the intricate background. Otherwise, the simple covers shown here get the job done by intriguing the reader (for me […]

(Re)Reading Sarah Dessen | Cover Colors

Posted June 21, 2017 / Features / 1 Comment

Everyone knows that Sarah Dessen is the queen of contemporary romance and adorable (and often darker or more complex), coming-of-age summer stories. I have read and loved most of her books already, but I made it a point recently to read (or in a lot of cases, reread) all of her books. Her books are important to so many people and really are what got many of us into reading contemporary romance books. This summer, Cristina from Girl in the Pages and I have teamed up to talk alllllll about Sarah Dessen – when we started reading her books, our experiences with rereading, and other fun discussions, recommendations, and personal stories. Our feature will take place over 4 weeks this June on Wednesdays (here) and Thursdays (there). Schedule Introduction, Our Sarah Stories, and Discussion of Someone Like You June 7th on Bookmark Lit – June 8th on Girl in the Pages Dessen Recommendations and Similar Stories June 14th on Bookmark Lit – June 15th on Girl in the Pages Blog Features: Cover Colors (BL) and Event Recap (GitP) June 21st on Bookmark Lit – June 22nd on Girl in the Pages Once and For All, Dessen Favorites, and Wrap-Up June 28th on Bookmark Lit – June 29th on Girl in the Pages I decided to feature two covers of Dessen books that haven’t previously been used on the blog. These two are the ones I’m most looking forward to rereading but haven’t yet (because I’m nervous I won’t love them as much!) For these books, […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #144: Series to Start

Posted June 20, 2017 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments

Ten Series I’ve Been Meaning to Start Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, 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 needed an easy TTT this week, so thanks for helping me out on that one. I’m famous for starting series and not finishing them, but I do have a LOT that I haven’t started yet somehow. Here are the top ten I hope to start at some point… maybe… someday… Splintered series by AG Howard | I was really obsessed with the cover for this book for some reason but I’m not 100% sure it’s for me. We’ll see if I ever get around to it, but I do love Wonderland retellings. Every trilogy by Ellie Marney | A looooot of people love this series, so I’ve always been looking forward to reading it. I hope to binge them in a row when the time finally comes! Blythewood trilogy by Carol Goodman | I feel like this series is right up my alley (hello, magical boarding school) but definitely flew under the radar. I own the first book and wanted to wait for the rest. Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison | I’ve owned this book for YEARS and have never gotten around to it. I’ve heard its hilarious though, so we’ll see. Heist Society series by Ally […]

ARC Reviews: Roar and Trusting You & Other Lies

Posted June 19, 2017 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

I’ve seen some pretty stellar early reviews for this one, plus Cora Carmack is one of my favorite NA authors… so needless to say, I had fairly high expectations! I usually would blame my negative feelings about this book on those expectations and hype, but I absolutely don’t think that was the case here. I was on the fence about reading this one in the first place because the synopsis didn’t really sound like a Lauren book. I decided to give it a go because of the reviews and author, but I ended up pretty disappointed. I’ll keep this short and break it down by the main elements of the story. Main plot: The story is about a princess, Aurora (or Ror, or Roar) who doesn’t have any magic. She has a marriage alliance planned with a prince of Locke (another kingdom) in order to avoid this information getting out. She soon learns that there’s a way of essentially buying magic on the black market and decides to set off on a journey with a group of stormhunters. I honestly thought the plot was kind of boring? I really didn’t care what was happening and often had no motivation to pick up the book. It was a struggle. I like books where people are on the road journeying and training with magic, but this book had almost no ~major events~ I can think of. Main character: On top of the pretty boring plot, Aurora was a boring character for me. Locke thought she was […]

Lauren Lately | June 2017

Posted June 16, 2017 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 12 Comments

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ Skatepark reading | Chris hits the skatepark quite a bit during the warm months. I really enjoy going with him so I can watch him skate around and learn new tricks. But… my time there would be very boring without a book. I’ll sit on the bench or top of the ramp to watch him and read. Portland round two | We had an EARLY and LONG day back in Portland, ME for Chris’s sister’s graduation. Lots of stressful things happened but we tried to keep cool heads… otherwise we could have gone crazy. We skipped out for lunch on the water and then helped her pack up the apartment. We also went to check out the local skatepark and skate shop too. Bike riding | We finally grabbed a bike for Chris and my dad put air in my tires, so we’re officially able to ride bikes around! We’ve gone a few times to […]

ARC Review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Posted June 15, 2017 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments

Initial Excitement & Summary I’ve obviously loved Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books over the past couple of years, but I always like to leave one hanging around to read if I REALLY need it. (Looking at you Forever, Interrupted!) I was a bit concerned and intrigued at the same time, because this book really isn’t like her others! It seemed like a unique blend of historical fiction and contemporary (hence me choosing both for genre) and definitely different from the rest of her books. There were similar elements overall, like the concepts of marriage, divorce, relationships… but the actual setup was quite different. I wasn’t sure what to expect! Evelyn Hugo, a Hollywood enigma, picks Monique, a fairly random writer, to write her biography. The story flows between Monique’s personal life and Evelyn’s life story, as she dictates her tell-all to Monique. It spans Evelyn’s entire history from the 1950’s through present day. Monique’s life recently changed when her marriage fell apart quickly, so she is simultaneously using some of Evelyn’s story and “advice” to figure out what she truly wants. Storytelling & Characters Even though this was different from her other stories, I found a lot of similarities with the characters and how you sometimes just want to punch them. TJR’s stories are about relationships, marriage, love, and what happens when those things fall apart. This book was similar in that regard, but took us through a wild historical ride through Hollywood. I never cared much about Marilyn Monroe and other starlets […]

(Re)Reading Sarah Dessen | Dessen Recs & More

Posted June 14, 2017 / Features / 4 Comments

Everyone knows that Sarah Dessen is the queen of contemporary romance and adorable (and often darker or more complex), coming-of-age summer stories. I have read and loved most of her books already, but I made it a point recently to read (or in a lot of cases, reread) all of her books. Her books are important to so many people and really are what got many of us into reading contemporary romance books. This summer, Cristina from Girl in the Pages and I have teamed up to talk alllllll about Sarah Dessen – when we started reading her books, our experiences with rereading, and other fun discussions, recommendations, and personal stories. Our feature will take place over 4 weeks this June on Wednesdays (here) and Thursdays (there). Schedule Introduction, Our Sarah Stories, and Discussion of Someone Like You June 7th on Bookmark Lit – June 8th on Girl in the Pages Dessen Recommendations and Similar Stories June 14th on Bookmark Lit – June 15th on Girl in the Pages Blog Features: Cover Colors and I Will Go Down with My Ship June 21st on Bookmark Lit – June 22nd on Girl in the Pages Once and For All, Dessen Favorites, and Wrap-Up June 28th on Bookmark Lit – June 29th on Girl in the Pages This week we came up with the broad category of making some recommendations! This could include recommendations for specific Dessen books based on favorite topics or other authors/books, OR it could be recommendations for other books based on your favorite Dessen. Cristina […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #143: Father’s Day

Posted June 13, 2017 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 4 Comments

My Dad, the Reader Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, 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. This week’s topic is a Father’s Day Freebie (favorite dads in literature, best father/daughter or son relationships, books to buy your dad, worst dads in literature, etc.). I wasn’t sure which direction to use last month for the Mother’s Day freebie, but this week was even harder. I’m a huge sucker for father-daughter relationships in books because mine has been very important to me. I ended up going with the same theme I did for Mother’s Day, except about my father this time. He’s a big reader too! In his recliner | Every night after dinner and before bed, my dad will read and/or watch TV in his recliner. My stepmom has a matching one next to his and does the same thing. They’re fairly busy some nights and weekends because they’re heavily involved with my sister’s school/band stuff, but they always come home to chill in those recliners. On the breezeway in Maine | They go to Maine multiple times a year for vacation and to see my grammie. My dad always sits in the same chair on the breezeway (three season room) with his book. There are some days where we could spend alllll of our time out there reading together. […]

Once and For All – Sarah Dessen Event

Posted June 12, 2017 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 8 Comments

When I saw that Sarah Dessen was coming to Connecticut, I really couldn’t believe it. I had just forced Along for the Ride onto my sixteen year old sister, so I was determined to make her into a Dessen reader (that was easy) and then get her to take a mini road trip with me. Connecticut is a VERY small state, as you probably know. I live at the top (a few minutes from the Massachussets border) and it would take me only an hour from my work (around the middle of the state) to get to the bottom of the state (Fairfield). I made arrangements to leave work early, pick my sister up a few minutes away, and head straight down for the 7:00 PM event. I wanted to have plenty of time to get a good seat and hopefully have some dinner down there. Here’s my recap for the event, plus some fun pictures of Dessen, my sister Jordyn, and me. Pre-Event Happenings I grabbed my sister after leaving work early and luckily we didn’t hit much traffic on the way down! We got there, parked, and made it inside by 5:45 PM. There was a Starbucks inside the bookstore so we were able to have a quick dinner after picking up the books. The cover (and interior!) of this book was even cuter than expected. I wish I got a better picture or Boomerang with my Pink Drink, since the inside of the book has pink endpapers! […]