Month: September 2015

Beat the Heat Readathon Wrap-Up

Posted September 6, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

I finished the Beat the Heat Readathon! Well, this readathon was actually pretty motivating for me! I’ve had weird feelings about reading lately: part of me wants to read every book I see, while the other part of me never wants to read a book again. I’ve just read SO MUCH this year – nonstop- and haven’t given myself much time for anything else. Since I’ve gotten so ahead on my Goodreads challenge, it’s nice knowing that I don’t have to force myself to read when I want to watch TV. It feels nice. I did really want to read this month, though, so this was a nice way to kickstart September, finish up some ARCs, and squeeze in a few more summery books. Here are some details about this two-week long readathon, that was hosted by Novel Heartbeat and Phantasmic Reads: The Beat the Heat Readathon runs from August 24th at 12:00 AM to September 6th at 11:59 PM. What does this readathon entail, you ask? Well, read as much or as little as you want – the main point is to READ! You set your own goal, and for three weeks you read as many books as you can/want to reach your goal! There will be mini-challenges throughout the Readathon for participants, along with a grand prize giveaway at the end! Without further ado, here’s a recap of what my goals were and my progress… Goals and Potential TBR Overall goal → Read between 6-10 books during the two week time […]

Reading Recap #5

Posted September 5, 2015 / Features, Reading Recap / 7 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! It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of these! I won’t bore you with all of the books I’ve read, but I’ve been kind of itching to share some of my reading stats. These posts usually just talk about alllll the books happening in my life. Because my reading challenge is looking wonderful AND I started keeping track of specifics, I want to share some statistics before the end of the year. I just can’t wait, okay? September is my birthday month so I’ll do whateva I want. 2015 has easily been my best reading year of all time. Before blogging, I would be lucky to read a few books a year. Now? My Goodreads challenge is 11 books ahead with a grand total of 129 books read this year, out of my goal of 175 books. Here’s how it’s broken down by types of read and how many books per month I’ve read:Best month: July with 25 books (holy shit) | Worst month: March with 10 books Best month by average rating: January, 4.2 | Worst month by average rating: February & April, 3.67 Most pages read in a month: 7,641 in July […]

ARC Review: Everything, Everything

Posted September 4, 2015 / Book Reviews / 15 Comments

I totally, totally loved this. Is it bad that I spent the entire time thinking about Bubble Boy though? I’m just glad the main character of this book was a little less (okay, a LOT less) weird than Bubble Boy. Otherwise, a looot of the elements were the same… I absolutely looove books that have emails and images and IM conversations… anything that has that sort of element is going to be a-okay in my book. This was so fast and easy to read, because of the aforementioned elements and the incredibly short chapters. Love me some short chapters. Aside from all that fun stuff, the writing was kind of gorgeous. “You can’t predict the future. It turns out that you can’t predict the past either. Time moves in both directions – forward and backward – and what happens here and now changes them both.” The story follows Madeline, a girl with SCID – it basically means she has to live in a bubble-type environment (her completely sterile house) so she doesn’t get sick and die quickly. Her mother and her nurse are the only people who see her… until she meets the new neighbor, Olly. Sigh. So cute. The two of them start talking right away and eventually the nurse sneaks him into the house. Their relationship was adorable and heartbreaking, because you wonder if/how it’ll ever work. I loved her nurse, Carla, because she was so supportive of Madeline in everything she did. Even more so than her […]

Book Buddies Review: Nantucket Blue

Posted September 3, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 7 Comments

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 Cristina’s blog! (Link at the bottom) View Cristina’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution. How did you feel about Cricket as a main character? Lauren: I had weird feelings about her at first, to be honest! She started out being very critical about the girls she knew, and there were some major hints of slut-shaming. I was hoping that wouldn’t continue! I also thought it was a bit odd how quickly she decided to go to Nantucket by herself, right after her friend said they wanted family only. At one point she wonders if she should have told her friend she was going first, and I thought “UM yeah of course you should have!” I questioned Cricket’s intelligence and maturity a bit at the beginning and occasionally throughout the rest of the book. I thought she had a weird attitude towards girls (not necessarily full-on slut-shaming, but certain bits and pieces of it). I don’t expect all books with female MCs to be […]

Blog Tour Review: Broken Homes and Gardens

Posted September 2, 2015 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

This book was such a pleasant surprise! I’ve never seen the movie When Harry Met Sally – I know, shame on me – but judging from the plot I read online, this book does a pretty good job of lining up with that! Joanna and Malcolm are two longtime friends who spend years dancing around the fact that they should probably stop being dummies and get together. The story was incredibly quiet and character-driven, which I couldn’t help but enjoy. Looking back on the actual plot, not much happens – but not in a bad way at all. I like reading stories where the characters feel real and are just kind of going through their regular lives. There weren’t huge areas of drama or angst, which was refreshing. I loved Joanna and found myself relating to her a lot. She struggled with what to do for a career and never felt like she was good enough in any one area to make a career of it. She constantly referenced people’s lives in movies and the whole book had that kind of dreamy I-wish-my-life-was-like-that way. I don’t know how to explain it, but I think this would be a wonderful rom com movie. I loved Malcolm and shipped them from the start. I could see the chemistry from the very first night and Joanna’s reservations about ruining their friendship were pretty silly to me. They were on-and-off friends over the years – living together, writing back and forth long distance, not speaking… I […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #54: Characters

Posted September 1, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 10 Comments

Ten Characters I Didn’t Click With 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. Ah yes, this topic is an interesting one. There are plenty of books where the main character annoys the crap out of me or just doesn’t work for me, so here are ten of them! Jane from Signs Point to Yes by Sandy Hall – These characters were all kinds of awkward, and not in an endearing way. I couldn’t click with them and cringed at a lot of the dialogue. Tamsen from Young Widows Club by Alexandra Coutts – For such a sad topic, this book didn’t give me really any emotions at all. Tam had no interests or hobbies except for her the ones she shared with her deceased husband, and I just didn’t connect with her. Ally from Behind the Scenes by Dahlia Adler – I loved the second book in this series, but the first one wasn’t as good for me because of Ally. She was a bit overdramatic and I liked all of the side characters more than her! Charlotte from Even in Paradise by Chelsey Philpot – I’m still sad about this book. I was so excited for it and it just didn’t work for me. Charlotte was a follower with very little […]