Summer Reading Challenges

Posted June 8, 2026 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

I’m someone who lovesss a seasonal TBR and a reading challenge. When you combine the two for a great reading season – summertime – I’m definitely going to get on board. I’m joining two challenges and tracking them on Storygraph, so I thought I would share here and cover some TBR options based on what I hope to read this summer. Book Clurb Some gals I know in real life have an in-person Book Clurb and I think this is the second year of their summer reading challenge. I enjoyed it last time and hope to complete it this year! Read a book by a debut author: IF BOOKS COULD KILL is the main one that I know for sure is by a debut author and I’d like to read my review copy ASAP Read a book set during summer: There are a ton of books set in summer so just know that the vast majority of the books you see here will work for this prompt lol I added OUR PERFECT STORM specifically here for it Read a recommendation from a friend: I’ve had THE NAME GAME on my physical TBR for a few months now and I saw a bookstagram friend recommend it for summer reading this year Read a book without reading the synopsis: I could do DOLLY ALL THE TIME for this one because while I definitely read the synopsis a long time ago, I randomly started the audiobook this week without re-reading it… which […]

Friday R.E.P.O.R.T. (6/5/26)

Posted June 5, 2026 / Friday REPORT, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

This Friday R.E.P.O.R.T will consist of what I’ve been reading, eating, planning (instead of playing, I don’t really think it works for me), obsessing over, recommending, and treating. Written on Thursday 6/4. R / reading My reading has still been off despite my desire to improve it. I’m really amped about some of the books on my Summer TBR and love reading outside, but I cannot stop scrolling on my phone. We’re into WNBA season so you’d think I could read during the games that don’t feature my team but I get so into zoning out on my phone. Anyways, I’m currently reading DOLLY ALL THE TIME, which I’m enjoying a lot. I finished Sarah Dessen’s newest book (first since 2019!) and really liked it. I’m excited she’s writing again. I also read Emma Mills’ adult debut, which was an excellent, perfect-for-me mystery set in 2008 Hollywood. E / eating Chris made a new years resolution to eat out more since we usually are big takeout people. We’ve got a list going (by town) so we can decide where we may want to go next. Last weekend we went to Sparrow Pizza in West Hartford and it was excellent. Hopefully we’ll check another item off the list this weekend since we don’t have much going on. I made my favorite banh mi recipe (Chrissy Tiegan’s) and also went back to a favorite coffee shop… I’m addicted to their olive cream cheese and not enough places near me have it! P […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | May 2026

Posted June 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 did a good job of reading more books in May but I still managed to stay behind on my reading challenge. I need to read 9-10 books the next few books to get ahead, which I talked about in my summer goals post. I enjoyed this month’s books as well! It was nice to have some variety ratings-wise, unlike last month lol. 8 books in May 8 read • 0 reread • 0 DNF Formats: 3 physical/audio, 2 egalleys, 1 hardcover, 1 paperback, 1 ebook/audio Status/source: 4 review copies, 2 preordered, 1 owned, 1 Kindle Unlimited Age Target: 7 adult, 1 young adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings! Shelf Reflection Challenge: 49% Read with Allison Challenge: 52% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 58% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 67% Breakdown: 3 hardcovers | 1 paperback | 0 ARC | 4 egalleys | 0 ebooks | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Review Copies From Simon & Schuster: The Silent Appeal by Hallett From Harper Collins: It’s Beginning to […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #493: Can’t Believe Haven’t Read

Posted June 2, 2026 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 3 Comments

Books I Can’t Believe I 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 could be a top 100 list at this point. There are so many freakin books I can’t believe I haven’t read yet, including from favorite authors. I do have a habit of hoarding books by favorite authors so I always have one ready in case of emergency, so some of those will be on here too.

June TBR

Posted June 1, 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. June TBR May was a little better from a quantity perspective. I did a pretty good job of reading review copies and some TBR books too. June will have some leftovers and also get into the new/upcoming releases for summertime. Really hoping to get back on track with my reading numbers. Review Copies I read all three books on my review copy TBR for May! Great work by me for once. I have some June and July releases I definitely plan to prioritize immediately, including THE SINKING SEASON, ROMANTIC HERO, LIES BETWEEN US, and IF BOOKS COULD KILL. New/Recent Releases incl. Preorders I can’t believe I missed the boat on requesting a review copy of DOLLY ALL THE TIME since I’ve gotten the last few of hers from Netgalley. Regardless, I went ahead and requested this in all three formats from the library 😉 I preordered THE SOMEDAY GARDEN since I also apparently haven’t requested Poston’s books lately either lol. I saw Jenn Bennett’s newest book THE SUMMER OF LOST THINGS is on Kindle Unlimited so you better believe I downloaded that right away. Series Binge I only read one of these […]

2026 Summer Bucket List

Posted May 29, 2026 / Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc. / 0 Comments

Last summer was one of the busiest and weirdest ones we’ve had – we packed up slowly for a couple of months, moved out of our rental house at the end of June, moved into a temporary Airbnb, immediately went to Maine for the Fourth of July long weekend, spent the rest of July in the Airbnb, bought my parent’s house, and moved into our new home at the beginning of August. My reading was not consistent, nor did I read the physical TBR that I didn’t pack away for the summer lol. Enjoy the pool at least 1-2 times per week, including pool parties Once we get the pool open, I really hope to make use of it! It’s such a pain in the ass to set up. I’d like to have some biweekly pool parties with various friends or have people over on Sundays to swim all summer. Cook out or bring food/drinks and just enjoy the weather. I love hopping in the pool on a hot day to cool down or laze around on the weekend so I definitely want to make the most of it. Get Hazel and Miller out in the world We plan to go to Maine for the Fourth again and it will be our first time sleeping outside of our house with Hazel and seeing how she does overnight in a new place. We have a Mystic trip planned in August as well so hopefully she is a good girl this summer. […]

Recent Reads | The Anniversary and Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet

Posted May 27, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

Unlike many others, I enjoyed Finlay’s book last year – I know others have read and enjoyed a smattering of books from his backlist but I just kept putting off reading them for whatever reason. As I sometimes do, I requested a review copy last year for PARENTS WEEKEND to motivate me to read it. THE ANNIVERSARY was another great read and I really should prioritize his backlist now! The concept is what got me: the book follows two main characters annually on May 1st in the 1990s as they try to track down a serial killer who only strikes on that day. There are a handful of chapters set on each May 1st and the book goes in order to see what they’re doing and what the case updates are. The characters didn’t wow me but again, the concept was so interesting. I think Finlay did a good job of not making it feel like the book was just jumping ahead in time without any reason. It never felt like I “missed out” on major events from the May 2nd to April 30th in between. I liked seeing where Jules and Quinn were each year and if/when their stories overlapped on that day. I didn’t actually try to solve the mystery in this one at all so I was generally surprised by the outcome. I’m curious to see some other reviews to see if I’m just a dummy for not realizing. I’d definitely recommend this if the concept interested […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #492: Fave Books by Fave Authors

Posted May 26, 2026 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

My Favorite Books by My Favorite Authors 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 made a few posts where I rank books by my favorite authors so there’s a nice jumping off point for this topic. Some authors I’d consider favorites but I haven’t read as many from within recent years so I do think this list could look different than it did a few years ago! (Sidenote: reallllly need Emery Lord and Jenny Han to get me some new books…)

Recent Reads | Stranger Things Have Happened and Tell Me What You Did

Posted May 21, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I loved Kasie West’s YA books back in the day and the new trend of YA romance authors writing adult romance has been amazing. (I seriously need to read Steph Perkins one.) I haven’t read as many YA books at all lately and even missed some of West’s recent releases. I was planning on reading her adult debut before this one but for whatever reason this spoke to me when I was browsing my Kindle for something to read. The story follows Sutton, an LA restauranteur returning to her hometown to help her mom recover from an accident. She reconnects with her newly engaged high school friend Tara, and finds herself involved in a bet. Tara’s fiance Michael doesn’t want to go to couples therapy before their wedding and insists that two strangers could go and the therapist would never realize they weren’t an actual couple. Enter Sutton and Elijah, Michael’s brother. They begin a four-week session with a local therapist to see who wins – does Michael need to go to therapy with Tara or will she win the bet? Sparks fly between Elijah and Sutton while she also navigates complex family dynamics and co-managing her restaurant from afar. Candidly I didn’t love the characters in this one. It took me a while to like Elijah and root for them as a couple. Sutton had some annoying tendencies and her relationship with her mom was tough to read. Her friendship with Tara was underdeveloped, especially as they alluded to […]

Recent Reads | In Case I Go Missing and This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone

Posted May 14, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

Young adult mysteries are harder to win me over these days, but there was something about the premise here that got stuck in my head. I don’t like to request books on Netgalley by unfamiliar authors in genres I’m unsure of. I’m so glad I did because this book really impressed me! Fenny and her friend Sam were best friends with Sarah. When she suddenly went missing after acting weird for a while, and the two begin to unravel that Sarah was working on a new case baked into the history of the town. I liked that it was a mystery within a mystery and that the missing girl’s friends had to follow in her footsteps/investigation in order to also figure out what happened to her. I loved watching them come to realizations in the same way Sarah likely did by talking to people around town and learning what Sarah was up to, while also figuring out how her investigation made her a target. Candidly the actual characters were fine and not memorable, but they really didn’t need to be. This was exactly what I hoped it would be when I read the premise. The mystery was layered and not predictable. I liked seeing how the two mysteries (past and present) intertwined. I would definitely read more books by this author because as of now, Maureen Johnson is my only remaining YA mystery author. I’d recommend this if the premise interests you, since it delivered for me! I’ve really enjoyed this […]