Month: April 2017

Series Review: Black Dog Bay

Posted April 13, 2017 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments
Series Review: Black Dog Bay

I really enjoyed the first and only Beth Kendrick novel that I previously read – Second Time Around. I’m always interested in charming bed and breakfasts, seaside towns, friends reuniting, etc. That book and this series hit on most of those elements. I was randomly looking for a new audiobook before going skiing and came across this whole series on Hoopla. I decided it’d be the perfect light audio series to binge. The books in the series are companions to each other and set in the same coastal Delaware town of “Black Dog Bay.” It’s known as a destination for people dealing with heartbreak; there are places called the Whinery, Better Off Bed-and-Breakfast, and Eat Your Heart Out Bakery.   Quick summary: After dealing with a personal plane-related tragedy and a little bit of heartbreak, Summer heads to Black Dog Bay. It’s a town known for being perfect for people who just got out of relationships. She enters into arrangements with the hot mayor of the town as well as the crotchety old lady who essentially owns half of the town. Heroine: Summer was immediately an intriguing character. She had this past she kept alluding to that made her unwilling to find love again, so I was concerned this would annoy me later on. I liked that she was spunky and did whatever she wanted. Once she set her mind to something, she refused to give up. Romance: So, along those same lines, this definitely included her attraction to the off-limits town mayor, […]

Cover Colors: The Secret of a Heart Note

Posted April 12, 2017 / Cover Colors, Features / 11 Comments
Cover Colors: The Secret of a Heart Note

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… The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee I love this cover so much. It made me INCREDIBLY excited for the book (of course the premise/summary didn’t hurt too!). I enjoyed it (a bit less than expected, but that’s probably my fault) and had to highlight it here. The cover is very springy with all of the flowers, so I couldn’t resist using the floral prints and colors in a few different outfits. Floral print is my FAVE. You can tell by the millions of things below.   Secret of a Heart Note 1 by bookmarklit featuring a mini dress   Secret of a Heart Note 2 by bookmarklit featuring a blue purse   Secret of a Heart Note 3 by bookmarklit featuring Kevyn Aucoin   A post shared by Lauren • Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) on Jan 1, 2017 at 7:23pm PST

Top Ten Tuesdays #134: Unique Superlatives

Posted April 11, 2017 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 20 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #134: Unique Superlatives

Books with ~Unique~ Aspects (Superlative Style!) 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. This week’s topic involves the most unique books I’ve read. Because I’ve done similar posts and really can’t think of many more, I figured I would do some superlatives for unique aspects of books I’ve read. Most of them are somewhat recent so you won’t be bored of the same examples I always give 😉 Rebel Belle series by Rachel Hawkins • I haven’t read many paranormal books, but I remember being baffled by the whole Paladin thing because it’s not the standard vampire/witch/demon concept that I’ve seen. The whole trilogy was really interesting and enjoyable! Down with the Shine by Kate Karyus Quinn • Again, I don’t foray into magical realism as much as I could, but a magical wish-granting moonshine concept feels pretty unique to me. I hope to read more of this author’s books sometime soon because all of them are very different! Dreamology by Lucy Keating • Clearly Lucy Keating is another one with unique concepts! This book was about a couple who meet in their dreams and then find out that the other person is actually real. Such a great book that I couldn’t put down. Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett • The main characters worked in a really cool […]

Mini ARC Reviews: The Adjustment, Secrets of a Reluctant Princess, and At First Blush

Posted April 10, 2017 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments
Mini ARC Reviews: The Adjustment, Secrets of a Reluctant Princess, and At First Blush

Like I did last week, I’m rounding up three ARC reviews for today! Sooo many March and April titles to catch up on… good lord! There’s a bit of a mixed bag, enjoyment-wise. Some of them were really great while others were… not so great. I hope you enjoy these slightly smaller reviews 😉 S H O R T  &  S W E E T   A R C   R E V I E W S Honestly guys, I have no idea how Suzanne Young does it. She is totally the master for crafting an incredibly interesting series, where each book is just as good (sometimes better) than the last. I really can’t fathom it. I’m not ready to leave the world of THE PROGRAM yet and thank god there’s one more book! This story happens after the Program has come and “gone” from the world. (I recommend reading these in published order instead of chronological order because it keeps the suspense going!) There’s a new thing called the Adjustment, which allows for someone’s memories to be essentially implanted in another person. Tatum and her boyfriend Wes end up giving it a try. He comes back from the Program and doesn’t remember how much they loved each other before, so they start working with the Adjustment because he starts to get feelings for her again. Of course, there are plenty of problems and mysteries to work through. These books are a wild ride. I have to say that I did […]

ARC Review: Fireworks

Posted April 7, 2017 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments
ARC Review: Fireworks

Initial Excitement 99 DAYS is one of my favorite books, so I was eagerly anticipating the next story by Cotugno. (I still haven’t read HOW TO LOVE because pregnancies/babies in YA books isn’t my jam, but I will read it this year I hope!) I was such a huge fan of boy and girl bands back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, so this book was pushed up my TBR even further. I was ready to feel nostalgic and bask in the popstar goodness. Quick Summary Dana and Olivia are lifelong friends who suddenly earn the chance to be famous popstars. Olivia had been training for this her whole life by singing, starring in plays, and taking lessons. Dana, on the other hand, just went along to keep Olivia company for the audition in Orlando. She ends up being forced to audition and somehow makes it into the band. The girls hit rough patches in their friendship, find love, and try to get used to a new lifestyle. Storytelling, Setting, and Feels I was jazzed up about reading a “historical” book set in the 1990’s. I grew up during that time and haven’t really read any books set during it (aside from books written during that period!). I have to admit that I totally wish there were more 90’s feels. I appreciated the references to music of that time period (Spice Girls, Mariah Carey, TLC, etc.) but it really didn’t FEEL like it was set during a different period. I think this […]

Podcast Recommendations: True Crime & Comedy

Posted April 6, 2017 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 7 Comments
Podcast Recommendations: True Crime & Comedy

I’m going to go ahead and warn you that the VAST majority of these are true crime podcasts. I don’t often listen to anything else; for some reason I just love this media for true crime. The funny thing is that I don’t read true crime books or watch shows; I barely even watch anything remotely scary/creepy. These podcasts though? They keep me incredibly intrigued and I get addicted. Today I’ll take you through my favorite podcasts. I’ve never started a podcast that I didn’t like; I’ve finished or caught up on all of these. They’re listed in order of favorite to “least” favorite, but you can tell I like or love all of them! Otherwise they wouldn’t be “recommendations” now would they? Okay here ya goooo. Up and Vanished What it’s about: Tara Grinstead, a former high school teacher and beauty queen, disappeared from her Georgia home back in 2005. No real progress had been made in the past 10+ years toward finding her, her body, and/or a possible killer. The podcast creator and narrator, filmmaker Payne Lindsey, set out to investigate the case and hopefully reach a resolution. Why I love it: Oooooh man. The biggest thing to mention is that the production on this one is so perfect and professional. Payne has a friend do some creepy voiceovers sometimes and the music is on point. I think it’s easily one of the best podcasts, production-wise. Of course you see it listed here as my #1 podcast so clearly I like it for […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #133: Fandom

Posted April 4, 2017 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 16 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #133: Fandom

Lots o’ Fandom Items I Want 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. This week’s topic is all about FANDOM. I decided to take it in the direction of fandom-related items I need to get my hands on. I have a lot of things for my favorite fandoms for sure, but there is always room for more! I usually track these things on my Etsy wishlist, so this was easy and fun to work on! (Clearly more than 10, ok?) Stranger Things alphabet lights bookmark | Sailor Moon dictionary page art print | Sailor Moon “Fight Like a Girl” tee shirt | The Room character buttons | Friends “I’ll Be There for You” mug It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia “What’s your spaghetti policy?” pin | Friday Night Lights character name tee shirt | It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia “The Nightman Cometh” poster | Arrested Development “There’s always money in the banana stand” cross stitch | The Office “Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.” mug | Adventure Time Lumpy Space Princess Christmas ornament Carolina Panthers dictionary page print | Luke Keuchly/Carolina Panthers portrait print

Mini ARC Reviews: Letters to the Lost, Pretty Fierce, Zenn Diagram, and Done Dirt Cheap

Posted April 3, 2017 / Book Reviews / 9 Comments
Mini ARC Reviews: Letters to the Lost, Pretty Fierce, Zenn Diagram, and Done Dirt Cheap

Am I the only one with a million ARCs of books releasing this month?! (Even this week in particular!) I wanted to bring together a few reviews here because there are just too many to include. I read some of these a long time ago and a couple of them more recently, but I’m going to pat myself on the back for getting a good portion of them done before their release date. All of these ones were mostly enjoyable – a few more than others – so be sure to read on! 😉 S H O R T  &  S W E E T   A R C   R E V I E W S I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Declan and Juliet were definitely interesting characters who were going through a LOT of shit. The premise of writing letters to each other was really sweet; I love the whole “hidden identity” letter-writing/online-chatting trope. There’s always the torturous waiting game to see when one or both of them realize who the other person is. In this case, it was fairly complicated as they grew to know each other IRL too. Like I said, both had a lot going on. Juliet was dealing with the unexpected death of her mother from earlier that year. Declan was dealing with community service requirements and big family-related issues. He was always angry and closed off from literally everyone, and Juliet was fairly similar except she was sad instead of mad. It […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2017

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! 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! 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: […]