The Bookmark Lit Bulletin wraps up the last month in reading and what was on the blog, as well as what’s coming up next. You can check out my book haul, books read, posts shared, challenge updates, etc. You can read past bulletins here. If you’re looking for more personal updates, you can check out my Lauren Lately feature; it highlights my life events and non-bookish fun from the previous 30 days.
February is/was a weird month. January felt like it took ten years to be over, but February was over in a blink. I know it’s partly because there are only 28 days. I read a few very large books that took me a while, but it’s mostly because I had to pause books to read other ones I didn’t give myself enough time for. I was reading MY PLAIN JANE when I got a book from an ARC tour, so I had to pause it. I went back to MPJ for a couple of days before realizing I had less than a week to read the 500+ page behemoth RENEGADES for my book club meeting, so I had to pause MPJ again. Trying to read those books took me most of the month because of start-stop-start-stop. I also made the mistake of randomly starting an ebook in between even though I didn’t really have time for it. Sigh. My reading has been all over the place this month. I slightly changed and simplified my BL Bulletin posts, in case you’re noticing something a little different this month! I wanted to get rid of some of the stats I don’t need and other details that take up time.
9 books read in February
8 new reads • 1 reread • 0 DNF
3,506 pages read including 10:18 of audio
Source: 5 owned books {2 review copies}
4 borrowed books {1 review copies}
Formats: 2 hardcovers | 0 paperbacks | 2 ebooks
0 audiobooks | 1 read/listen combinations | 2 egalleys | 1 ARC
1 novellas, short stories, or graphic novels
Average rating this month: 3.9 stars
Favorite
Pleasant Surprise
Disappointing
All of the books read this month:
Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge
1 read this month | 5 read total | 73% NG ratio
Popsugar Reading Challenge
4 read this month | 15 read total | 38% complete
Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge
3 read this month | 6 read total | 50% complete
Seasonal Bingo
FULL LIST OF READS:
Red cover | My New Crush Gave to Me – Petroff | December |
Death | The Afterlife of Holly Chase – Hand | December |
2017 Release Missed | Language of Thorns – Bardugo | December |
Friend’s fave | All in Pieces – Young | January |
Cold setting | Blackberry Summer – Thayne | January |
Spinoff | Wonder Woman – Bardugo | January |
Winter release | The Upside of Falling Down – Crane | January |
Green cover | Taxonomy of Love – Allen | January |
Fae, faeries, fair folk | Myths and Mistletoe – Childs | December |
Romance | Serenity Harbor – Thayne | December |
Black author | Dear Martin – Nic Stone | February |
Sci-fi | Gone Rogue – Meyer | February |
Trees on cover | Every Heart a Doorway – McGuire | December |
Book was a gift | Foolish Hearts – Mills | |
Buddy read | Aristotle and Dante – Saenz | January |
Light blue cover | Sugar Pine Trail – Thayne | December |
LGBT+ | They Both Die at the End – Silvera | December |
Wintery title | Winter Solstice – Hilderbrand | December |
Holiday theme | We’ll Always Have Christmas – Hale | December |
2018 debut | ||
Numbers in the title | Top Ten – Cotugno | January |
Snow/ice on cover | Snowfall on Haven Point – Thayne | December |
Music themes | ||
Villainous | War of the Cards – Oakes | December |
Breakdown: 11 bought | 2 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 9 for review
For Review
Publishers via Netgalley: To Catch a Killer by Scarborough, Toil & Trouble edited by Spotswood and Sharpe, Frat Girl by Roache, The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls by Spotswood, Legendary by Garber, Forever and Everything After by Salvato Dotorski, Furyborn by Legrand
From the publisher (thank you Forever Romance!):
One and Only by Holiday, Cowboy Bold by Brown, Sandpiper Shore by Mason
Currently Out from the Library
Nice Try Jane Sinner by Oelke, Beneath the Sugar Sky by McGuire,
The Chaos of Standing Still by Brody, Down Among the Sticks and Bones by McGuire,
Public Relations by Healey/Rebolini, The Wonder of Us by Culbertson
Borrowed ARCs
Borrowed from Wendy: My Plain Jane by Ashton, Hand, Meadows
ARC Tour: All of This is True by Lygia Day Penafor
Purchases
Kindle books (gift card): At the Heart of It by Fenske, Love Fortunes and Other Disasters by Karalius,
The Beau and the Belle by Grey, Emma Ever After by Coady, Prince in Disguise by Strohm,
Speak Easy Speak Love by George, Caraval by Stephanie Garber
B&N sale order: Everything Must Go by Davis, Feral Youth by Hutchinson,
She Regrets Nothing by Dunlop, Everything All At Once by Leno
My recent personal / life update found in the last Lauren Lately HERE.
- [2 Feb] A Taxonomy of Love by Rachael Allen ★★★★
- [2 Feb] Together at Midnight by Jennifer Castle ★★★★
- [2 Feb] The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane ★★★★
- [8 Feb] Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella ★★★
- [8 Feb] Gone Rogue by Marissa Meyer, Stephen Gilpin, Douglas Holgate ★★★★½
- [16 Feb] The Sweetest Kind of Fate by Crystal Cestari ★★★½
- [22 Feb] Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson ★★★★
- [22 Feb] Renegades by Marissa Meyer ★★★½
- [1 Feb] Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2018
- [5 Feb] Seasonal Book Club (Part Two)
- [6 Feb] Top Ten Tuesdays #169: Old TBR
- [7 Feb] Three Things (2)
- [9 Feb] How My 2018 Bookish Planner is Impacting my Reading & Blogging Habits
- [12 Feb] Instagram Best 9 from 2018
- [13 Feb] Top Ten Tuesdays #170: Love Freebie
- [14 Feb] 101 Things in 1001 Days
- [15 Feb] Lauren Lately | February 2018
- [19 Feb] Degrees of Separation and Connections
- [20 Feb] Top Ten Tuesdays #171: Should I Read It?
- [21 Feb] Operation COYER and eBooks I Keep Forgetting
- [23 Feb] A Day in the Life (2/21/18)
- [26 Feb] On My List (4)
- [27 Feb] Top Ten Tuesdays #172: Reread Forever
- [28 Feb] March TBR
March’s bookish/reading goal: library book focus
This is a new little section for one bookish goal to focus on for the upcoming month. I hope it’ll remind me that there are always little, achievable goals to go for each month from a bookish perspective. I focus a lot on the numbers (reading X amount per month, etc.) instead of some wider options. This upcoming month, I vow to focus on alllll those library books I have! I shared a picture in my TBR post and above in my book haul so you can see that I do have quite a few to worry about. I’d love to return all of them after actually finishing them, instead of returning some unread. I’ll start with the ones due first and go from there.
Behind the Screen: Book Blogger Tag | I saw this floating around and Madalyn tagged me in it, so I was happy to participate! I’m always down to talk a bit more behind the blog and the blogger.
Skincare Routine | I started a new semi-natural skincare routine to help clear up my skin and shrink my pores, so I wanted to share what I’ve been doing. It’ll be on the one month anniversary (lol) of changing the routine, so we’ll see if I think there have been results!
State of the ARC | I decided to participate in this meme once a quarter instead of once per month, so I’m eager to see how I’ve been doing. I’m hoping to focus a bit more on my egalleys in March to make a bit of a dent.
Holy Grail Products | I was originally going to do a post about products I’ve been using and repurchasing for the past five years, but there are too many good ones that I’ve only been buying for 1-2 years that I think are deserving of the honor! I changed it around a little to be more like the products I’m so glad I bought and keep buying.
Incorporating Your Life into Your Book Blog | I’ve been adding my life into my blog for a while now, so I wanted to share some tips and post ideas for those thinking of doing the same thing.
Weight Loss and Health | I’ve been using calorie counting apps for about 6 months (not including the previous time I used one a couple of years ago) and wanted to share the pros/cons of them. I’m using an new one for the past few weeks.
Check out my March TBR post! ?
I also had a weird reading month in February! So frustrating. But it looks like you still managed to get some solid reading done! I’m relieved I’m not the only one who was disappointed by All of This Is True, and I’m so glad to see you enjoyed Dear Martin and Truly Devious (me, too!). I’m curious to hear your thoughts on Save the Date. Ooh, so glad you picked up Everything Must Go in the BN sale! I thought it was such an underrated release of last year. I’m super excited for your skincare post, haha!
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