Month: March 2015

Top Ten Tuesdays #34: TBR

Posted March 31, 2015 / TBR Lists, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 10 Comments

Top 10 Books I Recently Added to my TBR Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make lists of our top ten books based on that week’s prompt… and then we stalk other people’s answers to add a million books to our TBR. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Links go to Goodreads or my review. I recently split my Goodreads TBR into a basic “to read” shelf for books that are already released, and a “TBR unreleased” for books that haven’t come out yet. I decided to highlight the most recent five books from each TBR here! The One that Got Away by Bethany Chase | Every Breath by Ellie Marney | Angelfall by Susan Ee | The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins | Steering the Stars by Autumn Doughton & Erica Cope | When We Collided by Emery Lord | Feminism for the Real World by Kelly Jensen | Young Widows Club by Alexandra Coutts | All the Rage by Courtney Summers

Bookmark Lit Bulletin – March 2015

Posted March 30, 2015 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 8 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin was created to wrap up each month and prepare for the next. I share my life happenings, book haul, books I read and reviewed, posts I shared, challenge updates, and more from the previous month. I also let you know what may be coming up on the blog in the coming month. You can read past bulletins here and learn more about the feature here. I guess the biggest recent development for me is the fact that I, as usual, became football-obsessed during free agency. I had to keep track of what all the teams were doing (and what my team was NOT doing, as usual). I had a pretty busy month overall. Chris and I took a day trip down to the southern part of the state to visit a different Lego store and an indie book store. I had a boring day at Jury Duty that led to me reading two books, which was pretty awesome. I went out to dinner for my dad’s birthday and my stepmom’s birthday; they’re unoriginal and both pick the same restaurant. We also went to a Lego event that took place up at Yankee Candle Village. I bought a lot of things I didn’t need and we participated in some Lego stuff that was meant for little kids. I went to my friend’s birthday party that consisted of galactic bowling, so that was fun! I love seeing her and spending time with my other friend that I don’t see […]

Reading Recap #1

Posted March 29, 2015 / Features, Reading Recap / 5 Comments

Because my reviews are usually posted at least a month after I finish the book, I never really talk about what I’m currently reading or just finished reading. This Reading Recap feature will let you know the the books I just finished reading and listening to, as well as the books I’m currently reading and listening to. Past recaps here! Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway | I absolutely LOVED this book. I kind of liked Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway, but not enough to be super excited about reading the rest of her books. I loved the synopsis for this one when I saw it but I was hesitant. I had no reason to be, because it was so damn good. I truly have no complaints about it. Definitely add this to your TBRs for when it comes out, folks! Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo | Such a solid end to the trilogy! It was easily my favorite book of the three and everything wrapped up so nicely. I was happy to see Mal being less annoying and pathetic in this one and was felt good about the ship that sailed. I already reviewed this one here for Book Buddies. Harmonic by Erica O’Rourke | Usually I might not bother with including a novella here, but this did not read like one! My one usual gripe with novellas, especially if they’re too short, is that everything feels condensed and rushed. This one had a great amount of action and […]

Organization Part One: My Book Bag

Posted March 27, 2015 / Discussions, Features / 16 Comments

Inspired by my recent organizational acquisitions (and posts by Hannah), I wanted to share some information about how I keep myself organized – primarily for blogging and reading, but also a little about my personal organization, too. Part One: What’s Inside My Book Bag I carry around a tote bag full of bookish things. No, not everywhere I go… but pretty much. I bring it with me to work every day. I never know when I’ll have a free second to read or will need to write something down. It’d be awful to get struck with inspiration and not have my blog notebook on hand, right? Right. So, my organization series on the blog will kick off with me showing the basics of what’s inside my book bag and why I carry these items everywhere with me. The bag itself: I got my bag from The Strand bookstore in NYC. Chris and I went there back in October for his birthday and I knew that a tote bag was my #1 purchase there. I wish it wasn’t so crowded in the store that day, though, because I’ve come to realize I missed out on SO many other cute accessories. I love the pattern on this one with all of the books (and Chris likes the cats). I added a couple of bookish pins to it. One came from a previous swap partner and the other came from pre-ordering The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord! I do indeed […]

ARC Review: The Start of Me and You

Posted March 26, 2015 / Book Reviews / 13 Comments

Yeah, I’m not sure how I’ll ever formulate words about this one. My Goodreads review that usually is a few sentences about my first reaction literally consisted of: I pretty much loved this book from the first page. I’m not going to say anything fancy about it. I just did. When I saw that I got approved for this one on NetGalley, I celebrated like never before and immediately started reading after my current book. This all happened in January – and, because I’m me, I wrote the review then. (Hi! This is January Lauren!) This was easily one of my top three anticipated books for 2015 so my excitement was out of control. Thank god, somehow, my expectations were exceeded. I really loved Open Road Summer but I’m a weirdo in that music isn’t a huge part of my life. I liked the tour aspects. I LOOOOVED me some Matt Finch. But a book centered around music is kind of meh for me. REGARDLESS, excellent book. How could she top that? (She did though) Also, there was a Lilah Montgomery reference in this book and I died. LET ME GET TO IT FOR REAL NOW: This book was perfection. There were some moments where I wanted to kick Paige in the butt, but I felt the same way about Reagan in ORS. Emery Lord’s main characters are imperfect. Flawed. They make mistakes that the reader wants to punch them for, but loves them anyway. I loved Paige. I loved […]

Book Buddies Review: Ruin and Rising

Posted March 25, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Kaitlin’s blog! (Link at the bottom) View Kaitlin’s part of the discussion here. Some decently big spoilers ahead regarding the ending and some plot points, especially if you haven’t read the whole series! Proceed with caution. Before starting this book, did you read any reviews on it? Do you generally read reviews before or after reading a book, and does it impact your reading if you read them before? Kaitlin: Usually I don’t read a review before reading a book. That’s what happens after I finish the book. If the person posts a review for a book plan to read then I’ll save it on Bloglovin for later. Other than that, no. Reviews are usually read after the book is finished. Same went for Ruin and Rising, I didn’t read reviews before I read it but since, now, I have already read it, I went ahead and let myself read reviews. My reason for that is usually to avoid spoilers. I understand that people don’t include spoilers […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #33: Childhood

Posted March 24, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 16 Comments

Top 10 Books from my Childhood I’d Like to Revisit Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make lists of our top ten books based on that week’s prompt… and then we stalk other people’s answers to add a million books to our TBR. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Links go to Goodreads or my review. The BFG by Roald Dahl | This was one of my absolute favorites when I was younger so it deserves to be on the top of the list. I remember being so mesmerized by the story, the cute little pictures, and the writing style. It was my first experience with something fantasy-esque, since it’s about giants. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein | I used to flip through this book of poems ALL the time when I was in elementary and middle school. The illustrations were awesome and the poems were so funny and clever. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine | Just looking at the cover of this book makes me nostalgic! I remember LOVING this story. Reading the reviews and summary on Goodreads just now is making me definitely want to reread. Holes by Louis Sachar | Not sure this one needs an explanation! A total classic. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry | I read this one back in elementary school and it’s stuck with me ever since. I know I have the book somewhere and would definitely revisit it. Very powerful. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White | I can’t remember if I read this for pleasure […]

Inside & Out #3: Brittany from The Book Addict’s Guide

Posted March 23, 2015 / Features, Inside and Out / 8 Comments

Admiring book covers and bookmarks, shared by you! Welcome to INSIDE AND OUT. This feature includes two of my absolute favorite book-related things: bookmarks (inside) and book covers (out)! I’ve invited guest posters to share their favorite book covers and bookmarks here on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Sign-ups are always open (see bottom of post)! Check out past posts here. Brittany from The Book Addict’s Guide Twitter: @bookaddictguide | Instagram: @bookaddictsguide | Facebook | Pinterest Tell me a little about yourself: Hi! I’m Brittany and I’ve been blogging for ALMOST three years now at The Book Addict’s Guide (3 years in April!). I read a little bit of everything — from YA to adult, contemporary to fantasy to sci-fi — and you’ll find it all on my blog (and more). I just got married in November and it really was an awesome day! I love the color blue, books (of course), Harry Potter, The Princess Bride, camping, homebrewing & craft beer, and pretending I will catch up on all of the TV shows I started and never finished. Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): I actually started blogging when I was reading mostly adult cozy mysteries and YA dystopian. I started reading YA when I could ONLY find dystopian books in the YA section (The Hunger Games got me HOOKED) and then I discovered how amazing YA was and it stuck! I still read some adult here and there but more fantasy lately than anything. I’ll read a little […]

Review: Something True

Posted March 20, 2015 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Mild spoilers ahead if you haven’t read books one and two! Overall this book held my attention much better than the other two! I was super eager to finish the series just to see how everyone got together and True finished her tasks. I was itching for her and Orion to get back together finally. The setup of this book was a little different than the previous two. Usually the three points of view were True and the two people she was trying to set up. In this case, it’s True, Orion, and Darla. She’s trying to win back Orion while he dates Darla, and meanwhile True is trying to find someone for Darla. Because of the setup of this one, it was good to be in Orion’s head more and see his relationship with True. The previous two books mostly include her pining over him and the reader not getting to see their relationship in action. After book two, I was dying to get more True + Orion time, and this book delivered. I loved all of the characters for the most part. I mention below some reservations about Orion and Darla, but I really grew to like them. I also loved Hephaestus and True’s sister. The cameos from the first couples that True got together were great! I think it ended perfectly. I won’t say much more! Orion and Darla’s voices really bugged me for quite a bit of the book. They definitely got better as time went on, […]

Random Bookish Thoughts: DNF

Posted March 19, 2015 / Discussions, Other Memes, Weekly Memes / 17 Comments

THE DNF. (For the newbies out there, a DNF is when you mark a book as “did not finish.” You stop reading the book, set it aside, and may or may not ever return to it.) I think I’ve mentioned in the past how difficult it is for me to DNF books, even when I’m not really enjoying them. I know there are LOTS of bloggers who are able to stop reading books whenever they can. I don’t know why; I just can’t bring myself to do it most of the time. I was talking with Lisa on Twitter recently and she brought up some great points. I decided to poll some fellow bloggers on the number one reason they decide to DNF a book and use them as inspiration for this post. Why do I rarely DNF? When I talked with Lisa about this, the main reason I came up with was the fact that I first have plenty of time to read. Honestly, my boyfriend and I are not busy people by any means. We prefer to hang out at home. He’ll build Legos or play video games while I read. On top of that, I have some time in the morning to read before work. When Chris gets up and leaves for work at six, I usually can’t fall back asleep. This gives me almost two hours of reading time before I have to start getting ready for work. I also always have an audiobook going, so I […]