Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2017

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin was created to wrap up each month and prepare for the next. I share my 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. I recently split out my personal posts into the Lauren Lately feature, so this is a bit shorter!

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I continued being ~in the mood~ to read quite often and didn’t usually push aside reading for TV. I guess there were a few days in February where I straight-up binged books in 1-2 days… and that didn’t really happen in March. I did, however, become addicted to a four book audio series and completed it within the month. Some solid reads overall and I’m excited!

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Average rating for books read in March: 3.79 stars

Highlights & Lowlights

All of the books from the month:

Year-Long

Contemporary Romance Challenge

12 this month | 25 read total | 119% complete
Books read from the pre-planned TBR: 0 this month | 2 total

Spring Bingo Challenge

All the books:

Magic: Zenn Diagram – Brant
2017 debut: What I Lost – Ballard
Green cover: What to Say Next – Buxbaum
Multi-POV: A Little Something Different – Hall
Paranormal: The Best Kind of Magic – Cestari
Spring release: Done Dirt Cheap – Lemon
Just words on cover: Secrets of a Reluctant Princess – Griffin
Series finale: Bounce – August
Witches: Windwitch – Dennard (currently reading)
Blue cover: Wires and Nerve – Meyer

Contemporary Romance Challenge Monthly Topic

March: Favorite First Kisses – this is actually a terrible prompt for someone like me with awful bookish memory. I’m only going to include a few very memorable ones because I seriously can’t think of more!

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Book Reviews

• [2 Mar] The Young Wives Club by Julie Pennell ★★★½
• [3 Mar] Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley ★★★★½
• [8 Mar] P.S. I Like You by Kasie West ★★★★
• [8 Mar] The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron ★★★★½
• [8 Mar] Kiss Cam by Kiara London ★★½
• [8 Mar] Reunion by Hannah Pittard ★★★
• [15 Mar] Chloe Snow's Diary: Confessions of a High School Disaster by Emma Chastain ★★★★½
• [20 Mar] Dark Star by Bethany Frenette ★★★½
• [20 Mar] A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall ★★★
• [20 Mar] Wires and Nerve by Marissa Meyer, Douglas Holgate ★★★★
• [20 Mar] Bounce by Noelle August ★★½
• [27 Mar] Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett ★★★★½
• [29 Mar] Geekerella by Ashley Poston ★★★★½

Discussions, Memes, and More

• [1 Mar] Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2017
• [7 Mar] The Secret Life of a Book Blogger Tag
• [9 Mar] Major Reorganization Goals
• [10 Mar] Recent Read-Bait: Carnivals, Disappearances, and Lottery/Riches
• [13 Mar] Standalone or Series?
• [14 Mar] Top Ten Tuesdays #130: Spring TBR
• [16 Mar] Lauren Lately | March 2017
• [17 Mar] Library Love | March
• [21 Mar] Top Ten Tuesdays #131: Couldn’t Put Down
• [22 Mar] Adult Fiction Reads on my Radar (2)
• [23 Mar] Why I Love Goodreads
• [25 Mar] March Netflix and Books Challenge Check-In
• [28 Mar] Top Ten Tuesdays #132: Authors to Meet
• [31 Mar] April TBR (Including A Very ARC-ish Readathon and Owned Book April)

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Breakdown:  5 bought  |  0 borrowed  |  1 gifted  |  1 for review 

 

 

Netgalley: The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich

Gift from Tonya: The Other F-Word by Natasha Friend (including this book here because it’s technically an ARC/ review copy)

Purchased and/or free ebooks: Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine, Some Kind of Magic by Mary Ann Marlowe, Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan, Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood, After Hello by Mhairi McFarlane

Purchased physical copies: The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

Secret sister: Grounded by Megan Morrison (Eek! So excited!) plus some candies!

 

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✨ Check out my most recent personal life wrap-up HERE ✨

Life Happenings | Media Addictions | Goals | Favorites | Life Ahead

       

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Top Blog Posts Coming Up

Cover Colors | One of my most obsessed-over covers in the last year was Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee. I enjoyed the book but I have to say, I loved the cover even more. It was a no-brainer that I’d feature it in a Cover Colors post! Get ready for cute springy, floral outfits.

Podcast Recommendations | I’ve been personally recommending podcasts to Cristina via DM and also widely recommending them through various blog posts, but I figured it was time to do a podcast round-up of my recommendations, favorites, and reasons why I became obsessed.

The Opposite of Read-Bait | I loved Michelle’s post about things she doesn’t like to read about in books, so I decided to make my own version. I’m calling it the “opposite of read-bait” because it highlights the words and plot points that deter me from reading a book, instead of the ones that draw me in (like my read-bait series!).

Audio Genres | I love listening to audiobooks and pretty much always have one going. I find myself drawn to certain genres or types of books for different reasons, and I decided to explore why that is. Why do I always reach for fantasy books even though I lose focus half the time? Why do I prefer to read nonfiction/memoirs in this format? Things like that!

Summer Releases to Watch Out For | I did this post last year and had a lot of fun putting it together. I always find myself reading ARCs with summer release dates in the winter, so I’m able to do a “save the date” type of post to highlight them ahead of time. I hope people enjoy them! (This is here from last month because I decided to push it off and include more books!)

Series to Finish…or Not | I joined in with a series-ender challenge this year to try to knock some books off the “unfinished series” TBR. I wanted to highlight those books and series to finish up in 2017. I also wanted to talk about some of the series I was/am on the fence about actually finishing.

Top Books on the TBR

Check out my April TBR post! ?

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How was your March?
Anything good planned for April?

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