Month: September 2017

Lauren Lately | September 2017

Posted September 15, 2017 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 6 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 ✨ August’s visit home and Smackdown Live | I left off my last Lauren Lately with my sister’s visit to Portland and that we were headed home the following day. We had Jen’s (Chris’s sister) grad party at his parents house, which was FULL of delicious food and his family members. We got to relax by the pool that weekend and then I worked in my office for a few days. On our last night home, we went to Smackdown Live in Providence with two of my friends. It was awesome because it was the last show before Summerslam. We watch Baron Corbin make an idiot of himself and it was insane. Old Orchard Beach | My goal was to soak up the coastal Maine towns/beaches while we still had summertime to enjoy. We made our way down to OOB for a day and LOVED it. I wish we stayed longer or explored into the […]

Review Round Up | The Lucky Dog Matchmaking Service and Ten

Posted September 14, 2017 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments

In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 books I’ve read or listened to recently. Sometimes they’re newer releases and sometimes they’re all backlist titles. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! I absolutely loved the last series I read from Beth Kendrick, and was a pretty big fan of one of her standalones as well. It took me a while to figure out what book to read that had an animal name in it for the Reading Quest, but I was happy to remember THE LUCKY DOG MATCHMAKING SERVICE as a light summery contemporary. I found the audio on Hoopla for the few days I was commuting into work recently and finished up with the physical copy afterwards. Anyways, this book was pretty good. It’s perfect for a dog-lover. And by dog-lover, I mean someone dog-obsessed. That person is not really me. I like them enough, but (don’t judge me) animals aren’t my thing as much as other people. I was frequently frustrated with Lara’s attitude about the dogs, their behavior, and her ex. I don’t know how I always come across adult contemps where the parents are basically like toddlers and the main character gives into their every whim, or falls for their traps. Her mom was so irritating and clearly didn’t care about bonding with her daughter. Her dad was the type of person who would fly into her life and then fly out whenever he wanted, […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #149: Throwback to 2014

Posted September 12, 2017 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 3 Comments

Ten Books I Loved the Year I Started Blogging 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. I’m kind of obsessed with this topic for today’s TTT! It’s a throwback freebie that can involve the books you loved when you first started blogging, books published 5-10 years ago, etc. I definitely wanted to go with the top ten books I loved back in 2014 when I first started blogging. 2014 was a really weird blogging and reading year for me. I started my blog in July and read some random books beforehand, but started to really get into the YA groove by the time it was nearing 2015. In any case, here are some of my favorite books I read in 2014. PS: check out the very relevant guest post I made on Ginger’s blog last week! And a throwback to the exact graphic I made for my “best of 2014” blog post… Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver | This book still holds up as an all-time favorite. I reread it earlier this year and was not disappointed. I’m not sure what it is, but I just love it. The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty | This book still remains my favorite Liane Moriarty book. I know I’m in the minority here in terms of […]

The Nostalgia Project: The A-List | Wrap-Up

Posted September 11, 2017 / Book Reviews, The Nostalgia Project / 2 Comments

The Nostalgia Project is my way of revisiting and rereading old favorites from my young adulthood to see if they still resonate with me. Learn more here and read old posts or reviews here! I’m really happy to say that this series really did live up to what I expected. I remembered something sort of fluffy and super fast to read. I was able to binge these books throughout August and a little into September, with just taking a short break or two in-between for other books. I found myself getting a little exhausted with the characters if I read too many in a row without switching it up for a day or two. I have a lot of takeaways from this series and overall thoughts. Good Things I liked that it was a third person omniscient point of view. I got to see what was happening inside the heads of each character, even the smaller ones. I loved knowing how everyone felt about what was going on. I think it was appropriate based on how many dramatic events followed this group of friends around! There was a lot of recap at the beginning of each book, which must have helped me when I was originally reading them. It’s the kind of series that’s easy to NOT binge, if you so choose. You get SO much recap. The characters were all interesting in their own ways. I love following around rich and famous people, and these folks were no exception. I’ll talk more about the […]

September Things and Autumn Bucket List (Round 2!) + IT’S MY BIRTHDAY

Posted September 9, 2017 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 7 Comments

Hi friends! Today is my birthday!! ? I’m currently in Salem, MA with Chris, my mom, and my stepdad. I’ve never been and am so excited to explore and celebrate. I was originally going to make two posts over the course of these week, but decided to lump them together. For some reason I have so many posts this month already. First up, I’ll talk about my September plans and fall bucket list. Second, I’ll share some lists about me in my 26th year of life. Hope you enjoy and feel free to send some cake to me ? I wrote a post last year that documented some of my September fun and planned the rest of my autumn bucket list. I always try to think of the many ~fall things~ I love to do, and try to record them here. I think it’d be fun to do the same thing this year! Here’s my intro from last time because all of it is SO TRUE ALWAYS: It’s no secret that September is my favorite month of the year. I love summertime because the weather in New England isn’t terrible and filled with snow, but the heat and humidity are not friends of mine. September means cooler weather, fall activities, and lots of life events I love – my birthday, my anniversary, football starting up again, the Big E (a New England must), other fairs and festivals, pumpkin and/or apple picking, and so many other things. Plans for September, October, and November I looked […]

Challenge Round-Up: Fall Bingo TBR Ideas and ContRom Monthly Topic

Posted September 7, 2017 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 2 Comments

Today’s post has a dual purpose, much like the personal post coming this Saturday. This is sort of a challenge round-up to take care of some business. First up is the bookish bingo card for this fall. I wanted to try to outline some TBR ideas, which I have occasionally done in the past. I always forget the books that first come to mind when I see the new card, so here we go for that. Second, I want to do the Contemporary Romance Challenge monthly topic – this time it’s about rereading. Fall Bingo TBR Ideas I’m loving the squares on this bingo card! I hope this is another season where I’m able to finish the whole thing off. Again, these are just book ideas down below because you know my mood reading will take me in so many different directions instead. Mental health: All Things New by Lauren Miller Set in another country: Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch Ensemble cast: Heart of Glass by Zoey Dean Fall release: The Knowing by Sharon Cameron Yellow cover: Beautiful Stranger by Zoey Dean Different culture: The Education of Margot Sanchez Person on cover: California Dreaming by Zoey Dean 2017 debut: Kissing Max Holden by Katy Upperman Horror: There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins Required reading: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare Illustrations: Fables Vol. 5 by Bill Willingham Magic in the real world: As You Wish by Chelsea Sedoti Asian American author: I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo Set at a school: A Dangerous Year […]

The Nostalgia Project: The A-List | Review Round-Up

Posted September 6, 2017 / Book Reviews, The Nostalgia Project / 1 Comment

The Nostalgia Project is my way of revisiting and rereading old favorites from my young adulthood to see if they still resonate with me. Learn more here and read old posts or reviews here! Because there are ten books in this series, we figured it made sense to do some mini reviews for each one. My reviews, specifically, will round up a few books at once and sort of talk through my feelings on each one. I’ll be referencing all major plot points, so there will be spoilers. Don’t read this post if you haven’t read this series before. I took notes in a Google Doc as I read because I KNEW that the books would blend together too much, so here are my thoughts from rereading. The A-List The first book in the series involves setting up all of the characters and the backstory; it’s super introductory. The premise of this series is that old-money-rich Anna heads to LA for an internship in lieu of finishing high school in Manhattan. She meets Ben, a hot guy wearing a Princeton hoodie, on the airplane. They connect immediately and he invites her to the wedding of Jackson Sharpe, a famous movie star. Anna decides to take some risks in her life in LA and reinvent herself, instead of constantly referencing the fake rich upper east side bible she’s lived up to, so she goes to the wedding with Ben. She quickly meets Sam, who is the daughter of said movie star, and her friends, Dee and […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #148: DNFs

Posted September 5, 2017 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 7 Comments

Six DNFs of 2017 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 books that made you struggle in some way (struggled to get into but ended up loving, were hard to get into but loved, or recently DNFed). I don’t DNF books that often because I always hope books get better. This year, I’ve already DNFed more than probably the last few years combined. I don’t write DNF reviews or even talk about them at all, so this is a good place for that. 2017 DNF’s or Books on Hold Here are the six books I’ve DNFed or sort of put on hold this year. The last one is iffy because I’m still sort of slugging my way through, at the time of writing this. I’m including the mini Goodreads reviews I wrote. Don’t You Wish by Roxanne St. Claire | “DNF at page 130. There’s really nothing wrong with this book I guess, except it wasn’t what I wanted. I love parallel universe books but that aspect isn’t really obvious. Basically the girl gets transported to a universe where she’s rich because her mom married someone else. Not sure how that gets resolved, but I don’t want to bother finding out. The main plot is that […]

The Nostalgia Project: The A-List | Intro & Goals

Posted September 4, 2017 / Book Reviews, The Nostalgia Project / 4 Comments

The Nostalgia Project is my way of revisiting and rereading old favorites from my young adulthood to see if they still resonate with me. Learn more here and read old posts or reviews here! I started The Nostalgia Project a couple of years ago when I decided to reread some of my old favorites. High school Lauren loved dramatic teen series involving rich kids, boarding school, and/or Hollywood and fame. I haven’t been super successful so far in rereading too many of these series, but I jumped on the chance to start this particular reread with Cristina when she tweeted about it. We decided to use a similar format to my Nostalgia Project posts, since the idea of it is pretty much the same. As far as expectations go, I really had no recollection of this series! I didn’t expect to completely binge it in the course of a couple of weeks (especially because my reading has been spotty lately). To be honest, I expected to be exasperated by all of these teenagers and their absurd early-2000s-book behavior. Most of these kinds of books don’t hold up for me over time. I knew they’d be quick reads, but I clearly had no idea how quick. I remembered the main character was Anna and that the books centered around her journey to California. I vaguely remembered the names of other characters and the love interests. Of course, there are multiple love interests throughout the 10 book series. I didn’t remember AT ALL how the […]

The Reading Quest Tracking (Week 3)

Posted September 2, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features / 2 Comments

The reading quest is hosted by Read at Midnight (information here!) and runs from August 13th through September 10th. My sign-up is here. I’ll be doing weekly tracking and wrap-up posts each Friday or Saturday throughout the readathon so you can see my progress and goals as they develop. This Week’s Thoughts I started THE KNOWING and ALWAYS when we went away for the weekend and there was some decent progress! I ended up just binge-finishing ALWAYS when we got home because it was too short to let hang around. Since I like having an ebook around while reading a physical copy, I decided to also work on TEN for the movie adaptation square in my Knight’s path. The adaptation is coming on Lifetime later this month so this was the perfect motivation to read it too. It took me a little longer to finish THE KNOWING because it’s a non-contemporary, which always takes me a while. I’m going to take this weekend to catch up on THE A-LIST and finish it for my reread, so no new reads for the Quest until maybe Monday/Tuesday. I won’t have another post about this until the wrap-up — eek! Week 3 Progress & Tracking The dates you see below are the dates I start and finish books, so you won’t see every date there. It’ll be running totals and information about each book and how it applies to the quest itself. Social media: Twitter poll for next read, Instagram post (2 HP […]