Month: February 2018

March TBR

Posted February 28, 2018 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 4 Comments

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. February Progress I feel like I completely forgot the books I genuinely NEEDED to read in February when I made my TBR. There were at least three books I knew I was getting this past month and I just ignored putting them on my TBR. As a result, I didn’t do the BEST job of reading from my TBR (especially after January’s success)… On Deck for March Some Library Books The Chaos of Standing Still – Brody | Public Relations – Healey/Rebolini Down Among the Sticks/Bones – McGuire | The Wonder of Us – Culbertson Beneath the Sugar Sky – McGuire | Nice Try, Jane Sinner – Oelke I’ve had most of these guys out for a while and I’m going to prioritize reading the majority of them before the end of the month. I’m not going to fool myself into thinking I’ll read all of them, but my plan is to (a) read them by order of due date and (b) prioritize the small books by Seanan McGuire because I’ll bang them out. Done! Upcoming Egalleys No Filter by Orlagh Collins | Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett | Legendary by Stephanie Garber […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #172: Reread Forever

Posted February 27, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments

Books I Could Reread Forever AKA Books I’d Actually Reread More than Once Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, 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 not the biggest rereader out there, even though I’d like to be better about it. I made posts in 2017 and 2018 to highlight some books I wanted to reread in those years. I was able to reread the Gemma Doyle trilogy as I planned, as well as Along for the Ride. Sadly, I didn’t get around to any others on my list – the other two Dessen books, the Looking Glass Wars series, or the Anna/Lola/Isla companions. I included Looking Glass Wars on my 2018 post but apparently forgot about the rest. The point of all this is to say that the topic of books I could reread forever really is just a list of books I could actually see myself rereading more than once. There will be duplicates based on some of the stuff I just discussed. Harry Potter Series Frankly the only book series I could see myself revisiting for the rest of my life would be HARRY POTTER. I don’t think I’d get tired of the stories and especially the audiobooks. I love the story in that form and […]

On My List (4)

Posted February 26, 2018 / Features, On My List / 5 Comments

I love Jamie’s New to the Queue feature because it highlights new things she’s added to her different “to do/ read/ watch/ etc.” lists. This new random feature – called simply On My List – will show off the most recent books, movies, shows, podcasts, recipes, crafts, and other things to make it on my to-do list. Found on the Shelves of Target I don’t read a lot of adult fiction to begin with, but adult mystery/thrillers (aka really anything non-contemporary, honestly) haven’t been on my radar much. I’ve expanded into adding some on my TBR and hoooopefully I actually read them at some point. Sunburn by Laura Lippman | This book involves lying and someone dying and a lot of secrets, once two people meet one summer. Both people seem to have questionable paths and I’m curious about how the author keeps some secrets under wraps, as well as the general style of the book? The Widower’s Wife by Cate Holahan | There’s a real life story of a woman falling over the edge of cruise ship (or disappearing from it maybe?) and that story has kind of fascinated me. When I saw that was the general premise of this book, I added it to my TBR. The Party by Robyn Harding | This is one of two books on this list that remind me of Liane Moriarty. It’s a “domestic drama about a sweet sixteen birthday party that goes horribly awry, a wealthy family in San Francisco finds their picture-perfect life unraveling, their darkest secrets […]

A Day in the Life (2/21/18)

Posted February 23, 2018 / Lifestyle, Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

I’m taking a cue from lifestyle bloggers and vloggers who share daily vlogs about their lives for this feature! I’m not sure if it will be a regular things around here or not, but I always am fascinated by people’s daily lives and routines. I’ll be sharing various pictures and descriptions of a day in my life – what I wore, what I ate, where I went, what I did, and more. Let me know what you think in the comments! 9:00 – 11:00 AM I start work at 9 AM and since I currently work from home, I usually wake up right around then. Yes, I’m lazy. Today was no exception. I got up, got my coffee, turned on my computer, and checked my email. I have a candidate for a job that was made an offer from a client last night (yay!) so we worked toward scheduling a call for 11 AM. I moved on to making a quick breakfast once my emails were dealt with. Because we’re heading home to CT tonight for a few days, we needed to finish up our eggs. I made a little fried egg on toast with an apple and cashews for breakfast. I’ve been using the LifeSum app to count calories and track how healthy I’m being, which is fun! Once I put in my food, it tells me if I’m high or low on carbs, protein, and fat. I try to remedy it by changing up what I’m eating. I learned […]

Review Round Up | Truly Devious and Renegades

Posted February 22, 2018 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 3 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 love books about boarding school and have really been meaning to read Maureen Johnson, so it’s only natural that TRULY DEVIOUS intrigued me right away. I requested it from the library before it even came out, so my hold came in immediately. I quickly started reading… and quickly finished in two sittings. I read 70% of a 400+ page book in one night and could not stop reading if I tried, even though my eyes kept closing on me from exhaustion. I was fascinated and intrigued by the story from the very beginning. Everything from the setting (remote Vermont boarding school for incredibly smart kids) to the mixing of past and present (1936 when the first murders and kidnappings happened and present day when Stevie attends the school) kept pulling me in. While there were some parts that dragged a little and even confused me (why so many characters?!), I was hooooooked. Stevie was an interesting main character and I LOVED her interest in true crime. I’m a podcast addict when it comes to that topic as well. Her friends and housemates were all unique and compelling from the beginning, even though it was sometimes hard to keep track of all the characters involved. There are […]

Operation COYER and eBooks I Keep Forgetting

Posted February 21, 2018 / Book Lists, Discussions, Features / 2 Comments

I saw a few posts recently (Kristen and Jamie) about ebooks people forgot they owned. This happens to me ALL the time – I buy a book I’m excited to read (or even one I’m not as excited to read but hello Kindle sale) and then I completely forget about it until I’m scrolling through my Kindle, looking for my next read. I actually don’t do this super often because if I open up my Kindle, I have a book in mind. The other night before bed though, I did find myself flipping through and trying to see what I was in the mood for. I found so many gems that are just waiting to be read! I’m calling this Operation COYER based on the COYER (clean out your e-reads) Challenge. I’m not an official participant but I liked the wording, so I wanted to link over there. First, I’ll share a few books that I keep forgetting I have on my Kindle. Then, I’ll talk about how I plan to clean my ereader out and be a happier person. I hate that my Kindle is so damn slooooow. Top books I keep forgetting about Me, You, and Tiramisu by Charlotte Butterfield | I loved another one of this author’s books and immediately downloaded this other book because it was cheaper. These characters were minimally introduced in CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE and I love the whole bookstore idea. I wanted to read it soonafter but I’m bad […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #171: Should I Read It?

Posted February 20, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 7 Comments

Books I Can’t Decide If I Want to Read Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, 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. The topic for this week’s TTT is books I’m no longer interested in reading, but I decided to do a different spin on it. I started browsing my “consideration” shelf on Goodreads and came across some books I was on the fence about. I figured it would be more fun to make this a should I read this book or not? post – I’ll talk about the book I was thinking of reading, why I want to read it AND why I don’t want to read it, and ask you in a little poll if you think I should read it. Some of these are sequels in series I’m only half-interested in, some are released/old books from my TBR, etc. etc. Help Me: Should I Read this Book? After You by Jojo Moyes I didn’t love the first book, if I’m be honest. I did LOVE the movie though; I thought it was even better… which never happens. I just can’t decide if I NEED to read this book. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Lou and honestly can’t figure out if I really want to know what happens […]

Degrees of Separation and Connections

Posted February 19, 2018 / Book Lists, Features / 4 Comments

I’ve talked repeatedly on here about how I love books where random people come together over a shared event or traumatic experience – people who would otherwise never have met each other. Movies like Valentine’s Day, Love the Coopers, and New Years Eve always interested me too, where interconnected stories play out slowly throughout the movie and you wonder how the people you’ve met will end up knowing each other. There are a lot of topics that fall under this kind of “connection” category, like people meeting up during trips (traveling around the world, road tripping, etc.), being snowed in or stuck somewhere with someone, health-related connections (through organ donation, being in a hospital, etc.), working together for the summer or at a first job, or even being connected over time (where some of the story happens in the past and some happens in present day, but the characters’ stories are related). There are A LOT of flavors to this category that I love so much, but one thing remains true: these people would not know each other if it weren’t for the weird, extenuating circumstance that ends up binding them together. In my recent read-bait post, I talked about “travel meet cutes.” This is the kind of situation where someone meets a ~special person~ during their travels (road trip, airport, stuck on a train – the list goes on) and fall in love. I’ll talk about those books here a little, but I wanted to also expand into those […]

Blog Tour: The Sweetest Kind of Fate

Posted February 16, 2018 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 0 Comments

More purchase links: Book Depository | Kobo | iBooks | IndieBound Author links: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Facebook About Crystal Cestari: With rainbows in my hair and stories in my head, I am a writer drawn to magic in the everyday world. My debut novel, The Best Kind of Magic, arrives May 16, 2017 from Hyperion. Follow Amber Sand, a magical matchmaker who can actually see true love, as she takes off on a fun and romantic adventure toward happily ever after. Cover Colors This is probably one of my favorite Cover Colors! First of all, I love the actual colors from this cover. They were a lot of fun to pull from for the outfit below. Amber is a baker and hoping to get into culinary school, so I was able to include some baking-related accessories for her, including a cupcake phone case, apron, and cute pan. I included a map of Chicago print for the wall, since that’s the setting of the book, and a winter coat to keep her warm during those winters. She’s a very casual dresser so I gave her some ripped jeans, sneakers, and a cute tank top. There are some matching beauty items and accessories too. Sweetest Kind of Fate by bookmarklit featuring chicago wall art Review Another cute installment in this series! I love the Windy City Magic store and all of the paranormal happenings around Chicago. Amber is approached by her enemy, Ivy, because her sister, Iris, is going […]

Lauren Lately | February 2018

Posted February 15, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 0 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 ✨ Thompson’s Point | I’d always heard about this little neighborhood in Portland and had been planning a trip there for a while. It’s this little strip of land that juts out into the ocean and is currently being developed still. They’re going to add some apartments and hotels to make it an actual neighborhood. Anyways, there’s currently a bunch of stuff to do there for a day: brewery, ice skating, fried chicken and waffles restaurant, distillery, paint your own pottery, and a cryptozoology museum. We decided to hit most of those one Saturday afternoon! We got chicken and waffles first, then went to the museum, then went to a yurt near the ice skating for beers (the brewery was way too busy), and then painted pottery. Biddeford / Elements | In an effort to keep exploring the surrounding area, I spent some time one Friday researching local bookstores. I came across a really cool […]