Month: June 2016

ARC Review: The Memory Book

Posted June 30, 2016 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments
ARC Review: The Memory Book

Wooooof. This book. I have a really weird mix of feelings about it, but I’m left with an overwhelming positive (in the sense that I definitely liked it more than disliked it) feeling about it. I’m so close to going for 4.5 stars but I keep reminding myself about the first half of the book. I’m going to break it down a little bit to explain what I mean. Sammie was a… weird character. She was hard to get used to in a lot of ways. She was awkward and failed miserably at interacting in social situations. It felt kind of uncomfortable to be in her head, especially because she’s writing everything down from her perspective in the Memory Book. She finds out that she has a type of dementia, essentially, that will cause her to lose her memories and likely die at a young age. She creates this book to fill with memories and daily happenings so that she doesn’t forget anything as her health declines. Super sad premise, obviously. At the beginning, she seemed “normal” (just health-wise) and it was hard to figure out what was going to happen with her. As her health gets worse, the book gets sadder and sadder. I really couldn’t relate to her at first, but this is truly a book where I liked it more with each page I read. She grew on me, the story grew on me, the other characters grew on me… just to the point where I was REALLY […]

The Selection Series – Part One

Posted June 29, 2016 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments
The Selection Series – Part One

I randomly decided to binge this series when I saw the audio on Hoopla back in early May. I had just finished with my reread for A Series of Unfortunate Events via audio and decided to go with another long-ish series in the same format. I’ll be splitting this review situation up into a few different posts because there are 3 main books, 2 companion-y books, and some novella bind-ups. I’ll just split everything into two posts and share my thoughts as I binge along. You know how I do. I could tell right away why people loved this book and why people hated it. It’s super addicting and easy to read, but there are so many little things that could grate on someone’s nerves. America Singer, for one, is a decently annoying main character. I appreciated that she had a personality but the millionth time she talked about her prettiness level (others thinking/telling her she’s pretty, her thinking she isn’t, and sometimes thinking she is)… I wanted to punch her. Towards the end of the book she had really started to bug me. The love triangle is also pretty irritating. I don’t have an issue with them in general because love triangles can happen – especially at a young age – but this one didn’t work for me personally. I do like the idea that it’s the hometown/long term boyfriend versus the new, different guy. It has that Peeta vs. Gale vibe. (#TeamGale) That element works for me because I can […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #95: Freebie

Posted June 28, 2016 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 12 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #95: Freebie

Ten Favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid Quotes 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. I had just finished the latest Taylor Jenkins Reid book when I saw the freebie topic was listed for today’s TTT. I was instantly thinking that I just needed to highlight more about this woman’s books because I have loved all of them. I mean, my least favorite of the three I’ve read I still gave 4.5 stars to! So yes, I’ve only read three of her four published books so far and I definitely plan to save Forever, Interrupted for the right day and mood. Today I’m sharing ten of my favorite quotes from her books. If you haven’t read them already, hopefully this inspires you to remedy that immediately. Links to my reviews: Maybe in Another Life | After I Do | One True Loves Maybe in Another Life Maybe in Another Life One True Loves Maybe in Another Life After I Do After I Do Maybe in Another Life After I Do Maybe in Another Life One True Loves

ARC Review: A Season for Fireflies

Posted June 27, 2016 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments
ARC Review: A Season for Fireflies

I tore through this book pretty quickly – it was a really easy read for me and frankly just what I needed at the time. I have some issues with it overall and really think the book could have benefitted from 50-100 more pages. We don’t get enough information about her life before the accident to FEEL anything. There’s one small section of the book where we see her quit drama club, ignore her friends, and keep secrets (her mom’s drinking) from everyone. All of this basically happens in one afternoon. In that same day, she meets the popular girl, Kylie, and they kind of hit it off right away. The book jumps ahead to a year later, where her and Kylie have been best-friend-ing it up. She’s ignored her other friends and moved on from them for what feels like no reason at all. Kylie is apparently vague about her life and Penny enjoys being able to ~hide things~ from her without feeling guilty. THIS is why she completely reinvents her life? I just didn’t buy it. The romance was super meh as a result of everything above. Before she abandons her friends, she has a budding romance with one of her friends, Wes. Something is about to happen between them when she says BYE EVERYONE and moves on to bigger and more popular things. Why!? I literally don’t get it. Because she didn’t want them to know about her mom’s drinking? It just seems kind of stupid to […]

Mini Reviews: The Forbidden Wish and Just a Girl

Posted June 24, 2016 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments
Mini Reviews: The Forbidden Wish and Just a Girl

After I saw the early reviews for this book, I bumped it up even higher on my TBR. I requested from the library and decided to read it as soon as possible, even with a million other more priority books waiting to be read. Unfortunately I kind of wish I didn’t bother reading it right away, because it didn’t grab me like I expected it to. The story was really great and the writing was lovely, but I was left slightly disappointed. It took me FOREVER to read this book. I never really wanted to pick it up and read it, and my attention would wander while I was reading. Khara was a really interesting main character because of her strength, backstory, and magic. I just loved reading about her. Aladdin was also a fantastic love interest and I kind of loved him. I definitely shipped them. However, there just was a little spark missing. The other side characters (the princess and her watchmaidens) were amazing too! The biggest issue, for me, is the general lack of plot. I could summarize the book in a few bullet points and call it a day. The ending had a lot more action, so that was a great change of pace. Overall, this book didn’t really meet my expectations, but I really did enjoy it. The gorgeous writing, lovable characters, and ending definitely sealed the deal for me. Here’s a nice age-level switch for you – a New Adult book I finished but […]

Reading in the Summer

Posted June 23, 2016 / Discussions, Features / 24 Comments
Reading in the Summer

I’ve chatted before about some of my favorite places to read (please ignore the utterly terrible graphics from my early days! Good god.) Today I’ll be sharing a little update to that post featuring a few Instagram pictures over the years. I’m highlighting my favorite places to read during the summertime, because there’s nothing better than reading outside! Check out some of my pictures and let me know where YOU like to read during the summer! Pool Chris’s parents have a gorgeous pool at their house and I spend a LOT of time reading there and floating around. I grew up reading in the pool with my mom every summer, so I’m experienced at not getting my book wet! I like to lounge on a float and read, but sometimes I walk around inside the pool with book above water. ☀️??? First swim time! . . . #book #bookblogger #bookstagram #instabook #ireadya #read #reading #currentlyreading #bookworm #bibliophile #currentread A photo posted by Lauren @ Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) on Jun 19, 2016 at 1:28pm PDT #Sunday ??☀️ A photo posted by Lauren @ Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) on Jul 5, 2015 at 12:05pm PDT Let’s see how many of these I can read while floating around the pool all day ☀️? #15beautifuldays A photo posted by Lauren @ Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) on Jun 14, 2015 at 11:58am PDT Porch We moved out of our old apartment because I needed a porch to read on. I love having the ability to go outside and sit […]

ARC Review: One True Loves

Posted June 22, 2016 / Book Reviews / 7 Comments
ARC Review: One True Loves

Woooof, where do I begin with this one? Because it’s Taylor Jenkins Reid, I already had sky-high expectations. I’ve read all of her books now except one and they’ve all blown me away. This is the lowest rating and its 4.5 stars! That being said, it wasn’t my favorite by her, but was still utterly fantastic. Loved it I love the fact that TJR’s books always focus more on character development and emotions than plot. Obviously a lot of things happen to move the story along, but there’s so much emphasis on the character working through her feelings that it takes center stage. This makes her books incredibly quoteable and rereadable. Just fantastic. I really felt the struggle that Emma had to deal with. I mean, what could you possibly do in that situation? You think your husband is dead, you finally move on and get engaged, then the husband returns!? It’s unthinkable. I love how Jenkins Reid gives a thorough backstory on the characters and their relationships before diving in. Like in AFTER I DO, she goes through the whole relationship first to see how it breaks down. You get to know the characters and can really see all sides of the dilemma. The same thing happens here in ONE TRUE LOVES. You learn about Emma and Jesse and Sam, so you really understand why she has a hard time deciding what to do. I was really nervous about the ending of this one. I had a feeling it […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #94: Best of 2016 So Far

Posted June 21, 2016 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 26 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #94: Best of 2016 So Far

Ten Best Books I’ve Read So Far in 2016 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. I’m not including rereads here (Harry Potter forever), but these are the top 10 books I’ve read so far this year! I have read a lot of really good books but not a lot that I would classify as favorites. I had to cut back on quite a few 4.5 star books, but these are the very best of the best for me. Links go to Goodreads or my review. 5 stars The Score by Elle Kennedy • We Are The Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid • The Lost & Found by Katrina Leno The Long Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes • History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera 4.5 stars A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas • The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater Dreamology by Lucy Keating • My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows

ARC Review: Winning + Mean Girls Book Tag

Posted June 20, 2016 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments
ARC Review: Winning + Mean Girls Book Tag

When I read this book a few months ago, it reminded me SO much of the movie Mean Girls. Honestly, I think the actions of the characters in this book might even be worse than the people in the movie. Because of this, I decided to do something a little different and combined my review with the Mean Girls Book Tag! I saw this one and saved it from Alexa’s blog back in 2015 and have been waiting for the right time to debut it on the blog. (Header graphic credit to her as well!) It was originally created by BookTuber and book blogger Sarah-Jane (check out her her booktube channel and book blog). First, the review! I started this book with really complicated feelings about the main character and her incredibly bitchy behavior. She was the EPITOME of a mean girl. I genuinely couldn’t imagine how this would be okay behavior for actual young adults to read about. I mean, I’m in my mid-twenties so I know how to act and not be a horrible person. But younger people could still be impacted by this! I was nervous, honestly. However… I took another look at the synopsis and realized that this book has no issues with making it very obvious that this is about a mean girl. The more I read, the more clear it became – this doesn’t glorify the mean girl trope (that being a terrible person gets you ahead in life). It exposes it and makes it very obvious that you shouldn’t behave this […]

Summer 2016 Goals and TBR List

Summer 2016 Goals and TBR List

When I saw Rachel’s summer bucket list post a few weeks ago, I needed to incorporate some of that into my Summer TBR post that I was planning! I tend to have a lot of summer ideas and then never follow through with them, so this is me holding myself accountable! I have some bookish goals and some personal ones. Then, of course, you’ll see my TBR list for the summer. Read the summery books I planned to read last year As you can tell from the TBR at the bottom, I have some plans to read reaaaally summer-oriented books. There’s nothing like reading a book that takes place on a beach and/or during summertime than in the actual summertime. I made a TBR last year and this year for my beach reads but, as usual, I’m terrible with TBR lists. Go to the Book Barn I adore the Book Barn but it’s about an hour and a half away from me, so I don’t go too often. I actually have some books to sell to them so I really should make that a priority before the summer gets too hot. (Wishful thinking.) We previously enjoyed the Niantic Lobster and Craft Festival and went to the Book Barn after, so maybe we can do that again this year. That ticks off another item on my bucket list too. 😉 Sit on the porch and read more often One of the main reasons we moved from our old apartment to our […]