Recent Reads | Lies Between Us and The Someday Garden

Posted August 13, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I always read Jessica Goodman‘s books when they come out because they’re typically easy and addicting reads, but overall pretty middle-of-the-road. I don’t know why but she’s an auto-read author for me, despite never giving her books more than 4 stars. This story follows three sisters in the wake of a mysterious death/possible murder of one of the local boys. The youngest, Frankie, decides she’s going to solve the crime, while the others (Lucy and Millie) are hiding secrets of their own. These girls are best friends with the three boys that live next door and that dynamic is heavily featured in the story. I thought some of it was unnecessarily cheesy (the girls last name is Silver and the boys last name is Gold…) but it felt somewhat realistic, with some of them dating each other or having crushes, etc. I liked the small beach town vibes of this one, which made it a good quick summer mystery. Goodman writes in a very accessible way without feeling “young” for a YA book. I know I’m not the audience anymore but I do find them pretty good for adult readers. Nothing groundbreaking happens in this one but I thought the resolution to the mystery was actually interesting and pretty unique. No spoilers obviously but I feel like it was generally something I hadn’t read before. I’m so surprised how Ashley Poston’s have turned into “hit or miss” for me. She’s been one of my favorite authors for years now, back […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #501: Ten Years

Posted August 11, 2026 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Books I Was Reading On This Day Over the Last Ten Years 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. This is such a fun topic! I have been tracking my reading semi-obsessively for years, ever since I started blogging in 2014. I was able to go into my yearly read shelves on Goodreads and scroll to the August 11th timeframe to see what I was reading. If I was reading two books at that time, I did decide to share each book for that year. 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

Books I Want to Read by the End of 2026

Posted August 10, 2026 / Book Lists, Features / 0 Comments

I usually will write this post late in the year to try to keep track of things in the final hours, but I was thinking about a couple of series and books I really want to get to and thought I’d write an early one too. We’re just past the midway point of the year and there are quite a few books I either can’t believe I haven’t read yet OR just keep putting off and would love to check off my list in 2026. Finish off Emma M. Lion I keep putting these three “final” books on my TBR each month because I am definitely determined to read all of them before the end of the year. I know the author plans to continue the series and honestly I don’t know when the next ones (volume 9 and beyond?) are coming, but getting the current books done is a priority. Finish off the Seaside Cafe Mysteries I last read one of these cozy mysteries in the summer of 2024, which is totally crazy. CLOSELY HARBORED SECRETS involves Halloween so I wanted to read it last October and just never got to it. The final two books don’t seem to be holiday-based so hopefully I can just read them through the end of the year, with the fifth book happening sometime around Halloween. Make Progress in The Grandest Game/etc. Series THE INHERITANCE GAMES is one of my favorite series because of the fun world of games Barnes […]

Recent Reads | The Romance Revival and Every Version of You

Posted August 6, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

It’s been far too long since I’ve read a Christina Lauren book and they are absolutely an auto-read/buy author for me. Their last book was a top favorite so I had pretty high expectations for this one, despite not really even reading the synopsis. I am a fan of magical realism (this was not really that) and the science-y books they’ve had in the past (definitely that except heightened) so I was cautiously optimistic. Emery is a scientist in a super secret job with a husband she loves but does not show up for enough. When Luca unexpectedly gets into an accident, Emery acts quickly thanks to her job, but he doesn’t remember anything about his life. She feels like she’s been blessed with a second chance to prioritize her relationship. You definitely have to suspend your disbelief on Emery’s work and what happens with Luca, but the premise was interesting and unique to me. I love romances with a unique concept and Christina Lauren have written quite a few of them. I do prefer when their books are funny with a lot of banter – more like a rom-com – and this was definitely more serious. I liked Luca and Emery and watching them fall for each other again, but there was a little something missing for me. I know a lot of people don’t enjoy second chance romances where the couple already knows each other and has this whole backstory involved, but this is a bit different – […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #500: Cover Freebie

Posted August 4, 2026 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 5 Comments

Cover Freebie: Cover Reveals I NEED and Unreleased Book Covers I love 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 am literally always going to do a cover freebie. I feel like I haven’t been pulled to as many covers as I usually am and my “cover love” shelf on Goodreads is looking a little bleak. I usually wouldn’t want to feature NON covers for this challenge but I figured I should show covers I am really excited to see revealed soon. Covers I Can’t Wait to See Feels Like Falling by Abby Jimenez // I love Abby’s books so I’m always curious to see what the covers look like! Usually they have really pretty colors and illustrated designs. Every Ordinary Thing by Jessica Joyce // I haven’t had success with Joyce’s other two books (I DNFed one and didn’t read her followup) but the covers are totally gorgeous. I can’t wait to see what this new release’s cover looks like… and if I’ll read it! Emily Wilde’s History of Dark Faerie by Heather Fawcett // I put the first book’s cover here as a placeholder because I think all of them are so pretty. When this fourth unexpected book was announced, I got so […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | July 2026

Posted August 3, 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. I’m back to being a little bit behind but I’m really proud of myself for using my days off at the very end of the month to finish the two books I was in the middle of. It felt good to sit around and read with a goal in mind. My ideal scenario is 9-10 books per month the rest of the year and I really hope I can pull it off. 7 books in July 7 read • 0 reread • 1 DNF/Hold Formats: 2 physical/audio, 1 hardcover, 1 paperback, 1 egalley, 1 ebook, 1 physical/ebook Status/source: 2 purchased, 2 preordered, 1 review, 1 book box, 1 Kindle Unlimited Age Target: 5 adult, 2 young adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings! Shelf Reflection Challenge: 62% Read with Allison Challenge: 67% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 67% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 67% Breakdown: 2 hardcovers | 1 paperback | 0 ARC | 5 egalleys | 0 ebooks | 0 audiobook All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Review Copies […]

August TBR

Posted July 30, 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. August TBR July was brutal. I managed to get on track and then immediately fell off the rails again. I know part of it was because I had a weekend away for a bachelorette, but I did manage to finish my audiobook during the drive. My biggest issue is that I wasn’t really reading any books at night on my Kindle. I just was never in the mood to pick it up and DNFed one I was reading. Review Copies I did a horrible job of reading on my Kindle in July like I said, so there are a ton of overdue review copies, along with upcoming ones I want to read soon. Here’s just a big list of recent and upcoming egalleys I have to read! August Releases There are a few big August releases and I guarantee I’ll be reading at least two of them, but definitely the Karin Slaughter. I loved the first book and have been eagerly anticipating the follow-up. I also really enjoyed Riley Sager’s book last summer (no one else did lol) so I’m excited to keep going with his new releases. I was […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #499: Had to Buy

Posted July 28, 2026 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 3 Comments

Books I HAD to Have Immediately but Still Haven’t 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. This is a dangerous one for me because I hate reflecting on how annoying I am about buying books lol. There are a lot of books I’ve bought, were super eager to read, and even preordered, but still haven’t read. I thought it would be fun to do a double TTT with 10 books I’ve preordered and still haven’t read as well as 10 books I bought and still haven’t read. Books that I just neeeeded and still have not gotten to! Preordered and Still on the TBR Had to Buy and Still Unread

Recent Reads | Heather and What Happened to Nina?

Posted July 23, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

Do you ever get a book stuck in your head so much that you just need to read it the minute it releases? That happened with HEATHER. I decided I didn’t want to wait for my Libby hold to come in and went to two different local bookstores to see if I could get it. I ended up grabbing it from the second and started pretty soon after for Summerween (which btw was a total fail this year since HEATHER is literally the only book I’ve read). I really loved THE GOD OF THE WOODS and ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK, and this book kept getting compared to the first. I feel like any literary, slow-burn mystery is going to. But that’s why I needed to read it ASAP. I like the comparison to Liz Moore but I would absolutely agree that this is more LONG BRIGHT RIVER than THE GOD OF THE WOODS. There’s a heavy focus on sister relationships, drugs and addiction, inappropriate relationships, etc. The book follows a few POVs that generally worked well together to give us the whole picture: Callie (the cop), Annabelle, and Blair. I won’t say who the other two are to avoid spoilers just in case. I’m not a big cop fan but lately I’ve been enjoying more mysteries with detectives trying to solve cold cases like this, so I’ll give it a pass. Callie was a little slow on a few things and I was a bit frustrated with her […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #498: Rent Free

Posted July 21, 2026 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Books That Live in My Head Rent-Free 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. Okay this is such a fun topic! I feel like there are a lot of books that I don’t stop thinking about. I even wrote a post a few years ago looking for hyper specific book recommendations because I just neeeeded more books like them. A couple of those will be featured here but there will be some newer ones as well! The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was such a specific experience for me and so many other readers. I remember being so floored by how the narrative was shaped and how TJR went through her life. It’s that fun mix of historical fiction and contemporary that I enjoy. The Black Dog Bay series is one I’ve talked about so much on here. The town of Black Dog Bay is built around being a place for heartbroken folks to travel and heal. It’s like a classic romance companion series on steroids. The businesses have names like Better Off Bed-and-Breakfast, the Eat Your Heart Out bakery, and the Whinery bar. It was just such a clever premise for a book and I’m always thinking about it. Dissonance is one […]