Month: July 2017

August TBR

Posted July 31, 2017 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 8 Comments

I recently started a monthly TBR feature, where I try to pin down which books I plan to read in the upcoming month. It also helps remind me throughout the month which books I’m supposed to be reading, for various reasons. I add a little poll at the bottom too, so you guys can vote and help me narrow down some of my options as well. Here are my top TBR choices for this month and how I did last month… July Progress I definitely went a little off-book for July! I kept reading random ebooks from the library or my Kindle without really thinking about what was on my TBR for the month. Oh well! I was happy to bang out the above egalleys – one was wonderful and heartbreaking (GIRL NEXT DOOR)… the other was terrible (36 QUESTIONS). Here’s hoping I read more summery books in August (especially ones on the TBR. Cough). I also started IN SOME OTHER LIFE before the end of the month, so I’m counting it here, of course! On Deck for August For Review All Things New by Lauren Miller The Dirty Book Club by Lisi Harrison The F Word by Liza Palmer I recently got quite a few books on Negalley, because of course I decide to ruin my percentage JUST when I was getting incredibly close to the 80% pipe dream. I hope to bang out a few of them since I’ve been liking my digital reads lately. I’m not […]

Goodreads Book Tag

Posted July 27, 2017 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 5 Comments

I went on a wild goose chase to find out (a) where I saw this tag in the first place and (b) who originally created it… but came up blank. SHOW YOURSELVES SO I CAN GIVE CREDIT. (It may have been here but that was a year ago, so I have no idea.) That’s what I get for literally just pasting this into a draft and leaving it for six months. Either way, here’s a fun and quick tag! These answers are as of yesterday – July 26, 2017. 1. What is the last book you marked as “read?” I finished The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney this morning! It was really interesting to go back and read a childhood favorite. All I have to say is… YA books have come a long way! This book was under 200 pages and super quick, but definitely not full of nuance and personality. 2. What are you currently reading? I’m juggling two books at the moment, but I am more actively reading Just Dreaming by Kerstin Gier. I set it aside for maybe a week or so because I was looking for quicker contemporaries to make some progress on, but I’ve since picked it back up. I’m also reading an ebook of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee, but very slowly. 3. What was the last book you marked as “to read?” I technically added two books in the Janie Johnson series (like the first […]

I Need More Books Like THESE

Posted July 26, 2017 / Discussions, Features / 10 Comments

Lately I’ve been finishing books and thinking, MAN I could use another book just like that. It’s either because the topic or story was so unique that I can’t stop thinking about it, or the book itself just fully encompasses what I look for in a certain type of book. Today I’m sharing three books or series I’ve read recently that I’m hoping you can provide some comp titles for. Think you can help me out!?

Bookish Memories

Posted July 25, 2017 / Book Lists, Features / 8 Comments

After reading Kate’s TTT recently and leaving a rambling, unnecessary comment about one of the books, I realized that there are a few books out there where I have VERY specific memories attached to them. (I’ve also done this with music!) I can vividly remember and feel the place I was while reading or listening to the audio. I thought it might be fun to share some of them with you! Specific Bookish Memories I started A Discovery of Witches back in college… and never really finished it. I vividly remember reading this while working out at my school’s gym, for the limited amount of time I actually went to the gym lol. I think I started it while I was home on break and continued when I was at the gym at school. I don’t know why but that specific memory always comes to mind when I see this book. I need to finish/start over someday! Three Day Summer was such a cute book. I always picture this excellent Instagram picture I took at Chris’s parents’ house. I remember laying by the pool and reading it on my float, then drinking a perfect smoothie while reading. I featured the picture here. On the flipside (seasonally), I read Cure for the Common Breakup in the winter months. I was randomly looking for an audio series to start while we went skiing one night, and I remember frantically downloading this on the drive to the mountain. I laughed and smiled to myself like a butthead […]

ARC Review: Hello, Sunshine

Posted July 24, 2017 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Initial Excitement & Summary First of all, I have to note how weird it is that two books with this title were released this year… and I read them both! One is YA and one is adult, but still. They also, oddly enough, involve “fame” in one way or another. I was really excited for this one because Laura Dave is one of those authors I’ve wanted to read for a while. I’ve been on this adult contemporary kick lately and was excited to get to this one. Sunshine is a famous YouTube chef, essentially, whose world comes crumbling down one day when her lies are revealed. She doesn’t know anything about cooking, she’s not from a small southern farm, and she’s cheated on her husband. The world learns she’s a fraud and she has no choice but to head to her hometown of Montauk, New York. Storytelling & Characters I love the Hamptons as a book setting so much. There’s something so special about northeast / east coast beaches for me. I can’t imagine growing up there and then desperately wanting to leave, like Sunshine did. The story itself has somewhat of a redemption arc, with Sunshine going home and having to make up for lost time with her remaining family. She has to start from scratch in just about every area of her life, especially her career. She picks an interesting path to try to get back into the cooking world, which honestly didn’t make much sense to me. […]

Reading Bad Books… On Purpose

Posted July 21, 2017 / Discussions, Features / 28 Comments

Have you ever finished a few GREAT books and thought… okay, now I kind of need to read a bad book. I’ve read some really solid ones, somewhere between 4-5 stars, and now I need something not-so-great. I call these buffer books because they act as a buffer between allll of the good books. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m the only weird one, but let’s see. Where’s my logic in this? Let’s discuss. Cleansing the Palette If I read a number of really good books in a row, I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I don’t like to read too many highly anticipated books one after another, just because I could end up ruining them with a book hangover (more on that later). I never want to bang out 5 great, anticipated reads in a row because JUST MAYBE the 6th one will get ruined. I think this often has to do with genre or certain tropes being used a lot. Either way, I like to read some great books and then “cleanse my reading palette” with one I know might be bad in one way or another. Sometimes it’ll be an author that writes ridiculous and addicting stories. Sometimes it’ll be a book I’m reading completely for nostalgia. Sometimes it’ll be an angsty NA that I know will annoy me but I’ve wanted to read for one reason or another. Either way, tossing a book I think will be “bad” in them middle of a few good ones […]

Wednesday Wrap-Up #4 | WoW & WWW

Posted July 19, 2017 / Waiting on Wednesdays, Wednesday Wrap-Up, Weekly Memes, WWW Wednesdays / 6 Comments

I don’t like to do too many weekly memes on the blog and usually stick to TTT, but I thought it would be fun to occasionally post Wednesday memes I’m interested in. It won’t be weekly, but it’ll be fun to recap the previous week or so and talk about what books I have on the docket. It will be a combination of WWW Wednesdays and Waiting on Wednesdays (more details below!), as well as anything else I’d like to share. Waiting on…Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and asks upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. I’m currently waiting impatiently for… The Broken World by Lindsey Klingele Release Date: August 29th 2014 The adventures of three teen royals and foster girl Liv, which began in The Marked Girl, conclude in this exciting sequel. In the fantasy world of Caelum, Liv, Cedric, and Kat must attempt to defeat an evil traitor and his army to save their families and the kingdom. But the city they left behind is facing its own problems: back in Los Angeles, the sky is orange, gravity isn’t working right, and earthquakes shake the ground every few hours. Opening the portals has had devastating effects, and Liv’s best friend Shannon and Cedric’s frenemy Merek are the only ones who know what’s going on – and that tracking down the murderous Knights of Valere might be the way to fix everything. It’s a race against time as the crew must find a way to reunite and combine their quests to save both worlds. I really liked The […]

Series Review: Blue Heron

Posted July 18, 2017 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

I’m clearly a sucker for companion series set in small towns with unique characters and charm. I adored the Black Dog Bay series and listened to all of them, one after another. This series I took my time with a little more (just because my podcast addiction is still going strong), but it was a worthy series binge! This time, the books are set in Manningsport, New York. The main characters are all generally surrounding the family that owns the Blue Heron Vineyard. Many of the stories also star those family members and their love stories. This was also another audio binge with the narrator Amy Rubinate. Quick summary: When Faith is ditched at the alter because her fiancee is gay, she moves to San Francisco to break away and start over. She returns home to find that the “best man,” Levi, is now the town sheriff and just as difficult as he was when they were teens. Heroine: Faith was a really good character! She got herself into some funny situations and tried really hard to please everyone. She dealt with a lot of guilt over her mother’s death and struggled to move on years later. I liked watching her realize she needed to be home and get over her ex. Romance: This was truly the slowest burn romance I’ve ever read. I looooved the banter and major hate-to-love feels. Levi was so grouchy because Faith was always chipper and positive. They balanced each other out and really felt strongly for each […]

Make Me Read It Readathon | Poll, TBR, and Tracking

Posted July 17, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features, TBR Lists / 8 Comments

Hosted by Ely @ Tea & Titles and Val @ The Innocent Smiley /// August 6th to 13th Look at the books you own, either physical, e-book or ones you’ve borrowed from the library and pick out a few you really want to read, or feel like you should read. It’s up to you how many you pick, personally I’d pick a few more than you expect to be able to read in a week. Example: if you think you’ll only read two, pick out five books or if you think you can read seven, pick out ten. Make a list of these books on your blog, or make a video, or a Goodreads shelf or post a picture on Instagram—whatever is easiest for you. Then get friends, other bloggers/booktubers etc. to vote on which books you HAVE to read. When the readathon comes along, you read the books in the order of most votes. For example, if one book gets 10 votes—you read that first, then the one that got 7 and so on. If there’s a tie, then it’s your preference. The goal is to read as many as possible. I’m excited to participate in this readathon for the third year in a row! (See other years here and here if you’re curious.) In the past, I’ve exclusively used books from my shelves and library books. This year, I definitely want to mix in some egalleys and ebooks (since I’m working with less physical copies lately!). I usually rank the books in order […]

Library Love | July

Posted July 14, 2017 / Features, Library Love, Weekly Memes / 14 Comments

I’ve been wanting to share some library hauls on the blog, since I don’t include them in my monthly wrap-ups. I go through phases where I use the library A LOT and phases where I forget it exists somehow. Whenever the mood strikes, I’ll share what I’m working on from the library during any given month. This is a somewhat special version of library love, because I’m currently using the library in my new home! One of the first things I did when we got here (literally, we went on the third day we were here) was get a library card. I specifically made my grandma send me a letter so I had proof of address and everything. The Portland Public Library is really nice because there are multiple branches in different areas. I’m near the Burbank branch, so that means I don’t have to go downtown to get books! I can request for books to move from different locations too. I’ve already placed a few holds for books that are coming out later and picked up some more. I love that the library has self-service locations. You can find and grab your own holds from the shelf AND check them out yourself. Easy in and out! Anyways, enough of me rambling about my new library. Here’s what I’ve got! Trouble is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly | I’ve checked this out from the library previously but never got around to reading it before the due date. I don’t […]