Month: July 2016

Top Ten Tuesdays #98: Out of the US

Posted July 19, 2016 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 17 Comments

Books Set Outside of the United States: Six to Read and Six Already Read 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. Well, this was an eye-opening TTT! I haven’t read a lot of books outside of the United States, apparently. Most of them involve someone from the US heading overseas on a trip of some kind, and luckily I have a Goodreads shelf specifically for that. I decided to split this TTT up into books I’ve read that take place outside the US and books on my TBR. Definitely link me up with yours! Wanderlost by Jen Malone /// This was such a sweet story. I read it so quickly because it was just too adorable. I shipped it reaaaal hard. I shipped it hard all over Europe. Two Summers by Aimee Friedman /// I was super looking forward to this book because I love parallel life stories, but it didn’t completely wow me. The main character goes to Paris in “one of her lives” and has a few surprises along the way. Definitely glad I read it and would definitely recommend it! Come Away With Me by Karma Brown /// Ugh this book made me uuuugly cry. Very emotional read but involves a lot of international travel as a woman moves on from […]

Review: Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here

Posted July 18, 2016 / Book Reviews / 11 Comments

The premise of the book is that Scarlett’s favorite show, that she writes popular fanfic about, was cancelled. She’s trying to move on from the loss, get ~things~ going with the childhood friend she’s always had a crush on, manage her relationships with her parents, and keep up both IRL and online friendships. The book has snippets of IM conversations as well as pieces of fanfiction sprinkled throughout, so that was fun! Reasons to Read Sassy main character Scarlett is a really fun main character. Her sarcasm and sassiness levels are out of control. This was often funny and quick, but sometimes it was definitely a defense mechanism. I was hoping for some development in that area but didn’t want her personality to change. I love sarcastic and clever main characters. It was hard to be in her head at times because it seemed like her thoughts were going a mile per minute, but I did enjoy it overall. Fanfic and fandom, plus online friendships The book centers a bit around Scarlett’s new fanfic. They decide to spin-off from the TV show and create their own (something I didn’t understand based on the IM conversations, but whatever…). Scarlett bases hers primarily around the guy she likes (Gideon), the girl he’s seeing (Ashley), and other people at their school. You can imagine how this turns out for her. Minus all of the expected drama, I thought the fanfic elements (and really everything related to being in a fandom) were so fun. It’s so relatable […]

ARC August Sign-Up: Goals and TBR

Posted July 17, 2016 / Personal / Information / Etc., TBR Lists / 2 Comments

ARC August is hosted by Read Sleep Repeat. I debated for a really long time (probably too long of a time) if I should do ARC August. I totally fail at ARC-related challenges in general because honestly? I forget about them. I finally decided to just do it because I have a lot of books that I am genuinely excited to read that are ARCs. I’d love to get a head-start on some of the fall releases I have as well as catch up on already published ARCs I still have sitting around. Goals My goal is pretty simple this time. I’m not going to set a certain number of books because I have no idea how much reading I’ll do in August. My goal is to have a 1:1 ARC to regular/backlist book ratio. If I read one ARC, I can then read a non-ARC next. If I read a total of 10 books in August, 5 of them should be some kind of ARC. I don’t care about allocating the amount of already published ARCs vs. upcoming ARCs, because I’d like to follow my mood reading wherever it takes me! ARCs to focus on Like I just said two seconds ago, I plan to follow my mood when picking books. I don’t want to make a strict TBR as a result. Here are some of the books I’ll likely be focusing on throughout the month because I need to and/or because I’m super excited for them. Below, books published […]

Bookmark Lit is TWO! – Blogiversary & Giveaway

Posted July 16, 2016 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 33 Comments

Bookmark Lit is two and I can’t believe I’ve had a hobby this long. It never ceases to amaze me. I never thought blogging would get this fun or I would meet so many people. I literally couldn’t have dreamed it. Between meeting people at ALA and BEA, becoming real life friends, and chatting books all day every day… I’m super grateful! I went through and shared some stats last time around, so I’m going to do the same thing today! I hope you enjoy seeing what I’ve been doing for the past couple of years. I also want to talk about some of my favorite posts within the last year or so. (This was completed on 7/5 so some of the stats may be a little off, but you’ll get the idea!) Books read since I started the blog: 367 Book rating average: 3.99 Number of reviews posted: 285 Number of discussions, rec lists, memes, etc. posted: 452 Total number of posts: 737 First post ever: Review: We Were Liars Month with the most posts: August 2014 Month with the most visits: January 2016 Day with the most visits: January 3, 2016 Post with the most comments: I’m a Fake Fantasy Reader Post with the most views: Organization Part 2, My Traveler’s Notebook Top searches to refer people here: “if i stay” and “read a thon sign in” Top referrers to BL: Book Addict’s Guide and Alexa Loves Books Popular post view time: Tuesdays at 10:00AM As always, I have to give Andi | Andi’s ABCs a shoutout first. […]

Audiobook Favorites

Posted July 15, 2016 / Discussions, Features / 17 Comments

I listen to a lot of audiobooks – usually about 3 or 4 a month, depending on their length. Oddly enough, I don’t really review or rate the audiobook element in my book reviews. I focus on the same things (plot, characters, pacing, etc.) and only mention the narration if it was BAD. I love when people share more information about the audiobooks specifically, so I’m not sure why I don’t. Hence the reason for today’s post! I want to share some of my favorite audiobooks and audio narrators that I’ve read since I started listening to audiobooks a couple of years ago. Tried-and-True Favorites Julia Whelan I’ve listened to the most audiobooks by Julia Whelan – with good reason! She’s done a great job with Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books, in my opinion. I’ve listened to half of One True Loves and all of After I Do as audiobooks. She also narrated Tease and Of Beast and Beauty, which I generally enjoyed too. The only thing I don’t really like about her is her “male voice” impression. It sounds weirdly breathy or something. Tim Curry THE BEST. Second to only another guy on this list. I looooved his narration for the Series of Unfortunate Events. I did my whole reread of this series via audio. Some of the books were narrated by “Lemony Snicket” and most were done by Tim Curry. He was absolutely amazing and I loved every millisecond. Even Carmalita Spats. Will Patton I tried really hard to read this […]

Cover Colors: Three Day Summer

Posted July 14, 2016 / Cover Colors, Features / 5 Comments

It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with book covers. I love the colors, the typography, the different designs that cover artists can create. I even have a guest post feature where people share their favorite book covers and bookmarks! I decided to start up this random feature where I draw color inspiration from my favorite book covers. I may create an outfit, pick out some nail polish, or design a quote graphic. Today’s cover is… Three Day Summer by Sarvenaz Tash I decided that obviously this cover NEEDED to be shown off a little more! I’m so obsessed with the colors and its so amazingly reminiscent of Woodstock. This book was seriously great. With a setting at Woodstock, I knew I would at least enjoy that aspect! This book had a lot of great quotes about growing up and finding yourself. Here’s a favorite, using some of the cover colors… Obviously Woodstock was back in 1969, right during the Vietnam War and hippie style. I decided to make my outfits here based more around the time, instead of around the cover colors. I also decided to make clothing picks for both of the main characters – Cora and Michael. They each have a red bandana because they got one for free at the concert and wore it throughout. Three Day Summer by bookmarklit featuring highwaist jeans I also wanted to share a fun picture I took last summer on Instagram when I was reading this one. I loved that the smoothie […]

ARC Review: The Long Game

Posted July 13, 2016 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

You guys. I just can’t with this book. I was completely smitten with the first one and was SO EAGER to get my hands on the next. I was counting my lucky stars when I ended up with a copy from ALA Midwinter because I planned to read it ASAP after finishing the first one. However, in typical Lauren fashion, I ended up waiting until a few days before its release. I totally shouldn’t have waited because some of the previous book’s plot was a bit muddy in my head. Either way, it didn’t take long for me to settle back into this world. I absolutely loved Tess in this book. I didn’t think it would be possible, but the stakes were even higher. The twists were even twistier. The characters were even asdfghjkl-ier. Sorry, no words there. Just feels. So fucking many feelings about everyone and everything. In the first book, there was literally zero romance. The author hinted at two romantic prospects in general but there really wasn’t even any tension to suggest that necessarily. I won’t spoil anything for this one. Just keep in mind what I said. I love books where you think everything has settled after the main climax, and then the author manages to toss in a few more curveballs. Totally happened here. I read very few mystery/thrillers because not many work for me. Add in politics and I’m even less sure I’ll like it. This duo seriously has me adding political dramas to my […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #97: Facts About Me

Posted July 12, 2016 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 14 Comments

Ten Facts About Me & Non-Bookish Things I Love 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 tmy review. I absolutely loved Lindsey’s post for a TTT a few weeks ago about the things she loves aside from books, and that’s kind of what inspired me during my post today. I have a lot of bookish facts about me and confessions that I’ve posted before, so I want to switch into something more personal! I think this will be a combo of things I love and things about me. Get readyyyyyy. My number one favorite thing. Football is really my biggest hobby and I think I’ve made that abundantly clear by now. I picked the Panthers back when they joined the league and I was only 4 years old. At that time, I wanted my own team instead of following my parents and their teams (Raiders and Cowboys, respectively), so I chose a new team. I’ve stuck with them through the good and the bad, and that’ll never change. I finally went down to Charlotte to see a game in person in 2013 then again in 2015. Chris and I definitely plan to make this a yearly trip (at least) because it’s an amazing city and an even better sports team 😉 […]

Mini Reviews: All the Summer Girls and The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend

Posted July 11, 2016 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

I have a tendency to add adult fiction to my TBR alllll the time… and then never read it. I was randomly in the mood for some recently and a couple of them happened to be nice beachy reads. I spotted the first one on Hoopla and remembered being interested in it a few months ago. Then, I was browsing my Kindle for another read and remembered the eARC I’ve been putting off for no reason. It’s not nearly as summery or anything, but it is about a vacation (“holiday”) in general… so that counts.I saw mixed reviews for this one, but it seemed like a lot of my friends enjoyed it more than the random reviewers. I was quickly intrigued by the story but thought it was kind of heavy-handed at times. There wasn’t a lot going on and the secrets the characters were hiding seemed obvious to me. Kate felt like the main character even though it switched perspectives. She just got dumped and found out she was pregnant, so she uses her Bachelorette weekend to head to the Jersey Shore with her friends. Vanessa now is a stay-at-home mom who is getting feelings for an old boyfriend, despite being married. Dani is a free spirit kinda gal who kept moving west after losing 12 jobs in 7 years post-college. Needless to say, they’re all quite different. It was fun to see the friends get back into a rhythm after time apart, even though you knew tensions were […]

Five on Fridays #21

Posted July 8, 2016 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 9 Comments

Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc. Previous posts can be found here! So I drafted up one of these back in April and highlighted some of the makeup I was using. Of the million things I was going to show off, I currently only use THREE of the same makeup items. Holy shit, my makeup life has changed. I’ve been generally interested in watching more makeup videos (mostly reviews) because I’m sick of my skin getting oily partway through the day. I finally found a mix of skincare and makeup that really works for me. If you have oily skin, I’d recommend checking some of these things out. Let me know if you have questions!! I’m listing them below in the order in which I apply them! I’ve had a lot of planner girl fails over the past year. I always become gung-ho about something and then lose interest quickly. It’s happened with just about every type of planner so far. I always enjoyed my Day Designer from Target but ended up using it at work because of the hourly format. It also was too big to fit in my purse. (It’s light and thin but very tall and wide.) When I saw a much smaller hourly version (with an adorable flower design!!) at Target, I had to pick it up ASAP. It fits perfectly in my […]