Bookmark Lit Bulletin: October 2014

Posted October 31, 2014 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments

bookmarklit bulletinHello friends! As you know, I introduced the Bookmark Lit Bulletin as a way of reviewing what I posted and did throughout the month. A lot of bloggers participate in Sunday Post or Stacking the Shelves memes, but I try to stay off the blogosphere on weekends. To that point, I post the Bookmark Lit Bulletin twice a month to serve that purpose. The first is posted for a mid-month update on the 15th, and the second is posted for a monthly wrap-up on the 30th or 31st. I post my book haul at the end of the month. For past bulletins, click here!

wrap up this month

bookish thoughtsThis month has been a good reading month for me! I really enjoyed the majority of the books I read. I think the biggest disappointment was Rites of Passage. I expected to hopefully love it like everyone else, even though I had a feeling the book wasn’t for me. Unfortunately I should have trusted my instincts. I admired the strength of the main character but couldn’t deal with the hazing and otherwise boring plot. The biggest surprise was probably Damsel Distressed. I had a feeling I’d enjoy it, but the plot completely caught me off guard. It was a much darker book than I thought, but it was very emotional and insightful. My favorite book of the month – no surprise here – was Dissonance! Definitely exceeded my expectations and was the most Lauren Book of all time.

non bookish thoughtsPicMonkey CollageWe had a pretty busy month on the weekends. We had friends visit the first weekend of the month and then traveled to NYC later in the month for Chris’s birthday. We had a pretty relaxing day on his actual birthday – just hung out, watched football, and had sushi for dinner. My football team is killing me slowly this season and has absolutely no consistency. It’s pretty infuriating. We finally did pumpkin picking and fall activities this past weekend! We went to the farm that I used to go to as a kid and it was a lot of fun. We got a few different pumpkins and bought apple cider and cider donuts. So good. The apple cider is literally the best I’ve ever had! I’m going to be scouring every grocery store in a 20 mile radius trying to see if they sell it there. If I knew it was that good I wouldn’t have only bought the mini bottles! On the work end of things, I started a marketing-oriented project that hopefully will make me feel a little better about my situation here. Sometimes I don’t mind my job, but this week has been killer for me.

reviews features

Book Reviews

Book to Movie Review

Book Buddies Review with Cristina

Blog Tours

Challenges

  • Series-a-Month Challenge – Check out my post here. I’ll be reading one series per month to help clear some of them off of my TBR list. You can keep up with my progress on this page.
  • Holiday Bingo – Between now and the end of the year, I’ll be checking off boxes on my Holiday Bingo card from Great Imaginations. Since starting at the beginning of October, I’ve checked off three boxes. Not bad! It looks like I’m almost on my way to having the whole first column..in a real game of Bingo I’d be pretty close to victory 🙂
    • Reread I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have To Kill You by Ally Carter
    • RomanceJust Like the Movies by Kelly Fiore
    • WitchesTrial by Fire by Josephine Angelini

update1 holiday bing

Guest Posts

  • Parallel Time Loop at Andi’s ABCS – I wrote a guest post about my thoughts on Just Like Fate for Andi’s October feature of Parallel Time Loop. She asked some other bloggers who enjoy parallel universe/time travel books to join in on her blog with some reviews or posts. I posted a basic review of Just Like Fate and shared my interest in parallel universe books, which stems from a couple of TV shows!
  • Fortnight of Fright at Tripping Over Books – I signed up for a Fortnight of Fright guest post and it was featured on Tripping Over Books! My guest post was about my favorite Halloween movies and TV shows. I focused on somewhat more family-friendly movies, like Disney Channel originals.

Top Posts this Month

book haul

Real books:

  • Poisoned Apples by Christine Heppermann
  • Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares
  • Stealing Parker by Miranda Kenneally
  • Ex-Mas by Kate Brian
  • Rooms by Lauren Oliver

Kindle books:

  • Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult
  • Also Known As by Robin Benway
  • The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard
  • Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally
  • Scoring Wilder by R.S. Grey
  • Wallbanger by Alice Clayton
  • Whatever Life Throws at You by Julie Cross
  • The Fine Art of Pretending by Rachel Harris
  • Not that Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
  • White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Library Books and Audio

  • The Art of Wishing by Lindsay Ribar
  • The Fourth Wish by Lindsay Ribar
  • One Past Midnight by Jessica Shirvington
  • I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (audio)
  • Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter (audio)
  • YOLO by Lauren Myracle
  • Biggest Flirts by Jennifer Echols
  • Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Audiobooks:

  • Rites of Passage by Joy N. Hensley
  • This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

wrap up next monthwhats nextLet’s see, what’s up for November? I honestly haven’t planned anything out yet. I still don’t know what I’m doing to do for Thanksgiving. I used to alternate each Thanksgiving (spend one with mom, the next with dad, etc.), but now that I’m older it’s not as black and white. I’d like to keep up that rotation but there are always other things getting in the way. My nana has been getting sicker each year so I keep wanting to stay local and spend time with her while I can. On top of that, my dad and his family always go up to Maine for Thanksgiving. Normally I don’t want to stay overnight or deal with traffic that day, so I don’t do that as often. Then, of course, Chris has his own family. Luckily if we stay local, we have the opportunity to do two celebrations. My family eats early and his family eats late, so we can normally split our day in half. That doesn’t happen when we go up to Maine. Ugh I just don’t feel like dealing with travel and family drama. Aside from that, we’ll be headed to the BrickFair Lego Convention this weekend in New Jersey! My friend lives close to where the convention is taking place, so we’ll be staying with them overnight. Chris is pretty effing excited.

bookish goals

  • Read more books I already own or from the library instead of spending money on them
  • By the end of the year – finish the Private series once and for all!
  • Read as many holiday books as I can through November and December
  • Make two new Goodreads shelves for books I own physical copies of and books I own Kindle versions of… I never remember what books I have sitting around being unread!

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2 responses to “Bookmark Lit Bulletin: October 2014

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