Month: May 2017

#ReadADessen: Along for the Ride

Posted May 17, 2017 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

I was sent a finished copy of this book for review as a part of the Penguin Random House Partner program. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Click the photo below to view the original source on the Penguin Read a Dessen campaign website! When Penguin invited some bloggers to join in with the #ReadaDessen campaign in honor of her new book ONCE AND FOR ALL (out June 6th), I hopped on board real quick. I’d been planning a Dessen-filled summer with Cristina already, but figured I’d give myself even more motivation to get rereading. True story: everyone has a favorite Sarah Dessen book. And if you ask them about it, they’ll be more than happy to gush about it for as long as possible. That’s why this summer we’re asking readers to spread the love by sharing their favorite Sarah Dessen novel with the world. Whether it’s because your favorite Sarah Dessen book gave you a love for reading, got you through a tough time, or changed the way you see the world – we want to know. [Source] Why Along for the Ride? In 2009 when this book initially came out, I was turning 18 years old and moving away to college in mere months. I was with my dad and family in Maine for one of the two weeks we’d spend there each summer, when we went to this little bookstore in Wells. The shop owner asked me what kind of books […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #139: Mother’s Day

Posted May 16, 2017 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments

My Mom, the Reader 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 a Mother’s Day Freebie (favorite moms in literature, books about motherhood, best mother/daughter or son relationships, books to buy your mom, worst moms in literature, etc.). This is a tough one! I’m a huuuuge sucker for father-daughter relationships in literature so I don’t keep tabs on the mom-related ones as much for some reason. However, both of my parents are huge readers of various genres. I decided to go with a mom-related reading post – the books she likes to read, maybe some recommendations, and her reading go-tos. Seriously though. My mom has said this before a lot. She doesn’t care about romance or happily ever afters. She wants murder and mystery and intrigue. Nothing true crime though – all fiction. On a float in the pool (or next to the pool on the deck, or walking in the pool with the book held up above the water – does this sound familiar?) | My mom and I love being in or around the pool while we read. I’ve spent my whole life doing it thanks to her. She has her float that she calls the “throne.” On her swinging chair in the yard | […]

Lauren Lately | May 2017

Posted May 15, 2017 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ Portland, ME | We went up to Portland to visit Chris’s sister with his cousin and had SO much fun! I have more pictures but didn’t want to spam you. We’re so in love with that city now. Above you can see the Bug Light park/lighthouse area, our seafood lunch, and walk near Back Cove. Everything was awesome. We went to a really fun Mexican restaurant at night with so many pepper-shaped lights on the ceiling and walls – literally like a blanket. We also went to a nice indoor-outdoor bar that will be super fun later on in the summer. I can’t wait to be back up there very soon! ? Reading outside | Tis the season, when the weather gets a little nicer and I get to spend my lunch breaks reading in the grass. I also try to utilize our back porch as much as humanly possible. I love being able to enjoy […]

ContRom Challenge Topic: Sports Romances

Posted May 12, 2017 / Book Lists, Features / 6 Comments

Each month, Andi poses a monthly topic for the Contemporary Romance challenge. I try to participate in my wrap-up posts if it’s a quick, short list, but I like to have a full post about it when I have A LOT to discuss. The topic of sporty romances certainly leaves me a lot of room to talk about some of my FAVE books and series. Rusk University (Football) This is the first sporty romance series I think of! I loved all three of these books in different ways – All Lined Up, All Broke Down, and All Played Out. The fourth book, All Closed Off, is coming later on this summer. It’s been delayed because Carmack wants to make sure she gets the story perfectly right, as it deals with a super sensitive and important subject. NA sports romance books are my FAVORITE. I have to also note that this series (a) will apparently also have a fifth book coming out and (b) is about FOOTBALL, aka the best sport in the world. Off-Campus (Hockey) Aaaand this is the second series I think of. I LOVE these boys so much and am incredibly happy there’s a spin-off series in the works! I admit that I didn’t love the final book (The Goal) as much as the other three, but it’s still an incredibly steamy and nearly perfect series to read. My order of favorites otherwise goes: The Score, The Deal, and then The Mistake. These focus on some hot hockey boys. […]

ARC Review: The Best Kind of Magic

Posted May 11, 2017 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments

Initial Excitement I love heading into books with zero expectations. I saw this on Goodreads and added it a long time ago, then randomly hopped on the ARC tour for the book. The premise seemed like it was more magical realism than paranormal, so I was eager to see how matchmaking and witchcraft were related in this particular world. When I got the book, it sat around my apartment for a week while I ignored it for Netflix. I finally picked it up and got reading… and really couldn’t stop myself! Quick Summary Amber and her mom, a witch, own a magic shop in Chicago. The whole witch thing skipped a generation because Amber is just a “lowly” matchmaker. She can look into someone’s eyes and see glimpses of their future with their true love. She’s never had luck in her own love life though, as she can’t see her own romantic future. The Mayor’s son, Charlie, comes to Amber with a problem. She finds herself falling for him even though she knows who his match will be (aka not her). She, Charlie, and her best friend Amani (who can see the future) band together to find a missing person and deal with many other magical people along the way. Storytelling, Setting, and Feels This was super cute and so fun to read! I loved reading about all the different kind of magical beings and their ancestors. I thought this was magical realism at first, but I think with ALL […]

Series to Continue… or Quit

Posted May 10, 2017 / Discussions, Features / 16 Comments

I’m not too bad about reading series as they’re released. Usually I’m excited about the next, upcoming book, and am able to read it ASAP. I’ve had issues with binging series lately even though I used to LOVE it. I wanted to take a look at some of the series I still need to finish up. Most of these are all fully published and I really just need to decide if it’s worth it to keep reading. Let me know your thoughts! The Elemental Trilogy by Sherry Thomas Read: The Burning Sky • Number of books left to read: 2 Why I can’t decide: I did enjoy the first book (including the ship!) but I have not felt the NEED to read the next book(s) yet. I’m not sure why. I can’t figure out if I would like these better reading instead of audio, because the audio was good, but it just didn’t keep me as engaged as I’d hoped. Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins Read: Hex Hall • Number of books left to read: 3 Why I can’t decide: Again, I did like the first book. I even started the second one and then put it aside for a little bit. I’m intrigued to see what will happen next but clearly not interested enough to keep going in binge form. This would be a good one to just roll from one to the next, because the first one was quick, but still. Worldwalker series by Rachel Hawkins Read: Trial By Fire • Number […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #138: Reading Wishlist

Posted May 9, 2017 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 6 Comments

Ten Things on my Reading Wishlist 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 ten things on my reading wishlist (things you want to see more of in books – certain tropes, time periods, characters/personalities, issues, plots, etc.). This topic was done in January 2014, before I started blogging, so it’s fun to work on this one for the first time! It was kind of tough because I thought it may read as similar to my read-bait TTT (and all of those posts too).

#ReadADessen: Lock & Key

Posted May 8, 2017 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 1 Comment

I was sent a finished copy of this book for review as a part of the Penguin Random House Partner program. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Click the photo below to view the original source on the Penguin Read a Dessen campaign website! When Penguin invited some bloggers to join in with the #ReadaDessen campaign in honor of her new book ONCE AND FOR ALL (out June 6th), I hopped on board real quick. I’d been planning a Dessen-filled summer with Cristina already, but figured I’d give myself even more motivation to get rereading. True story: everyone has a favorite Sarah Dessen book. And if you ask them about it, they’ll be more than happy to gush about it for as long as possible. That’s why this summer we’re asking readers to spread the love by sharing their favorite Sarah Dessen novel with the world. Whether it’s because your favorite Sarah Dessen book gave you a love for reading, got you through a tough time, or changed the way you see the world – we want to know. [Source] Why Lock & Key? I didn’t remember much about this one so I partially picked this story to remind myself of why I initially loved it! I remember there being a really excellent character arc in this one, where Ruby learns to rely on other people sometimes and admit she needs help. I’m ALWAYS drawn to sister stories because I love my sister and want […]

Bout of Books 19

Posted May 7, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features / 1 Comment

Goals, TBR, Progress/Tracking, Challenges, and Wrap-Up I’m here for Bout of Books 19, as usual! This May challenge is coming at a nice time because I have soooo many summertime ARCs to get ahead on. I also want to read a lot of owned books before I pack them up. Check my small sign-up post here. The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 8th and runs through Sunday, May 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 19 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team Goals As I mentioned, my biggest goals are twofold. I want to get ahead on ARCs of books being published in the summer and also read books from my shelves. I had my challenges last month to achieve both of those goals and did pretty well. I exceeded my ARC goal but didn’t quite meet my owned book goal. This Bout of Books will piggyback off of those challenge ideas! Specifically, I hope to start and/or finish 4 books during this week – only ones in those two categories. Possible TBR Tracking Monday May 8 Started reading Always and Forever, Lara Jean Tuesday May 9 Started Waiting On You (audiobook) Finished Always and Forever, Lara Jean Wednesday May 10 Continued Waiting On […]

ARC Review: Brave New Girl

Posted May 5, 2017 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Initial Excitement I went into this book with really no expectations. When I read the description on the ARC tour website, I just kind of went with it. I don’t read a lot of sci-fi or light-sci-fi books, so I thought it’d be fun to take a leap into something a little different. I’m so glad I did! It actually reminded me a lot of Replica, which was a good thing. Quick Summary Dahlia 16 is one of many. In their world, babies aren’t born through two parents coming together. Geneticists create children in a lab and there are thousands of each person created. They all look identical and have names corresponding to their future career (Dahlia = flower = gardening/growing produce) and the number signifies their age. When Dahlia meets Trigger 17, she is instantly feeling things she hasn’t ever felt before. She feels different… but being different means your entire group is recalled, aka euthanized. She can’t risk everyone’s life for a chance at something with Trigger, but she’s still pulled that way. She soon realizes the world isn’t as it seems. Storytelling, Setting, and Feels The first half of this book involved a lot of setup and it took me a little while to figure out how everything worked. I liked getting a feel for the environment Dahlia grew up in but I think it dragged with not a lot of action. Even when she met Trigger, there was just constant internal dialogue, wondering if she should […]