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.
I’m happy I increased my reading numbers, meaning I’m super ahead on my Goodreads challenge! I read SO many books in March. The middle portion of this year will be challenging for reading, with a decent amount of trips planned and weddings to attend between April and August. In any case, it was a good reading month where I kept up some momentum and continued to love my bullet journal! Related not-as-bookish sidenote: I asked you guys where you want to see wrap-ups for my bujo pages (if you did at all) and there was even split between “yes make a separate post” and “yes wherever you want to post it.” I’ve decided to do a bi-monthly bujo wrap-up post!
15 books read in March
14 new reads • 0 reread • 1 DNF
5568 pages read including about 52:07 of audio
Source: 8 owned books {6 review copies}
7 borrowed books {1 review copy}
Formats: 3 hardcovers | 0 paperbacks | 1 ebook
1 audio | 4 read/listen combinations | 3 egalleys | 3 ARCs
0 novellas, short stories, or graphic novels
Average rating this month: 3.9 stars
Favorite
Pleasant Surprise
Lauren-Bait
Adorable Fantasy
All of the books from this month:
Check out my 2019 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.!
Popsugar Reading Challenge
7 read this month | 20 read total | 50% complete
L-R: Zodiac/astrology term in the title, based on a true story, retelling of a classic, extinct or mystical
creature, about a hobby, inspired by folklore/myth/etc., weird/no chapter headings
Monthly Motif Challenge
3 read this month | 9 read total
This month: Royalty, Kingdoms, Empires, Governments
Retellings Reading Challenge
2 read this month | 2 read total | 20% complete
L-R: Brothers Grimm, Shakespeare
Picky Pledge
My goal is to work on Alexa and Hannah’s Picky Pledge, reading one book from my shelves per month that fits a category on this TBR idea list. (I may read more each month but I’ll just highlight one book and category.)
This month: Book you bought for the hook
Seasonal Bingo
L-R: Epistolary, three word title, warm climate, plants on the cover, the undead, mystery/thriller, retelling, green cover, contemporary, black cover, set outside the US, LGBT, school setting, author shares last initial
Breakdown: 0 bought | 3 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 8 for review
All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review.
Review Copies – Physical
From Sourcebooks: When the Light Went Out by Morrissey,
That Night by Balog, The Goodbye Summer by Van Name
From Publisher/TLC Blog Tours: Only Ever Her by Whalen
From Dial Books: This Book is Not Yet Rated by Peter Bognanni
From Disney: The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman (and various swag!)
Review Copies – Egalleys
From Forever: The Summer House by Hale, The Friend Zone by Jimenez
From Penguin: Night Music by Thorne
From Imprint (blog tour): Last Girl Lied To by Flynn
From Simon: Past Perfect Live by Eulberg
From Quarto Publishing: Creative Lettering and Beyond by Lavender
Library Books
From the library: When You Read This by Adkins, Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee by Zentner,
Always Never Yours by Wibberley/Siegemund-Broka, Bright Burns the Night by Larson
Purchased Books
None!
My recent personal / life update found in the last Lauren Lately HERE.
- [7 Mar] Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E. Smith ★★★★½
- [7 Mar] Springtime at Hope Cottage by Annie Rains ★★★★
- [11 Mar] Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo ★★★★★
- [11 Mar] King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo ★★★★½
- [13 Mar] Small Town Hearts by Lillie Vale ★★★½
- [18 Mar] Night Music by Jenn Marie Thorne ★★★★
- [21 Mar] The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston ★★★★½
- [27 Mar] I'll Be There for You: The One about Friends by Kelsey Miller ★★★★
- [27 Mar] The Fairest Kind of Love by Crystal Cestari ★★★
- [27 Mar] Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee by Jeff Zentner ★★★½
- [27 Mar] The Winter Sister by Megan Collins ★★★
- [1 Mar] Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2019
- [4 Mar] 2019 Reading Bullet Journal Setup
- [5 Mar] Top Ten Tuesdays #225: Characters to Switch With
- [6 Mar] Spring Bingo TBR Ideas
- [8 Mar] Another Post About Scribd (and TIPS!)
- [12 Mar] Top Ten Tuesdays #226: Sequels
- [14 Mar] How I Use Google Keep for Organizing My Life
- [15 Mar] Lauren Lately | March 2019
- [19 Mar] Top Ten Tuesdays #227: Spring TBR
- [20 Mar] “Consideration” and “Maybe” Shelves
- [22 Mar] Skincare and Makeup Lately: Hits and Misses
- [25 Mar] What a Reading Year So Far
- [26 Mar] Top Ten Tuesdays #228: Audio
- [28 Mar] Currently… On My iPhone
- [29 Mar] [ARC] April TBR
March: Read 50% digital/audio books and 50% physical books ✔️
April: Personal ARC April challenge
My March goal was a little random and hard to actually pay attention to (read: I forgot I made it a goal), but I really created it to keep myself accountable for some physical ARCs and library books. I will spend the majority of the month reading digitally if no one stops me. I wanted a 50/50 split of digital or audiobooks versus physical books. I did a really good job with this! I read 8 books digitally (ebook, audio, or combo of both) and the 6 books in straight-up physical copies. The final book I read was a mix between the physical copy and the audiobook, so that’s kind of half and half. In other words – I did basically get as close to a 50/50 ratio as possible when you read 15 books!
April’s goal is my sometimes-repeated ARC April, where I focus on reading review copies for the month. I do this again in August each year too. I have my whole TBR planned out. I even managed to get my book club on board with reading a book that I currently have an ARC for, so that pick will not even divert me from this goal! There’s a solid chance I read 100% review copies during the month, but we’ll see if I end up with library holds coming in or non-review audiobooks. I’m hoping my audio picks will be review copies that have already published, but we’ll see!
How Have I Not Read This Yet? | I did this post back in 2015ish, where I yelled at myself for not reading a bunch of highly anticipated books. I decided to do a follow-up and yell at myself even more for some books published after I wrote that one.
Spotlight (new feature) | I started a new feature on the blog, called Spotlight, where I highlight anything bookish that deserves a bit of a highlight! This could include publishing imprints I’m loving lately, cover or title trends, book style/types that are getting popular, and more. The first two of these will go up in April – one is about a favorite publishing imprint and the other is about a sort of book format? Hard to describe.
Seasonal Reading Habits | This is another refresh and revival of an old post I wrote, where I spoke about how I read super seasonally… mostly even reading specific things monthly at times! This brings me up to date on some new trends I’ve noticed for my seasonal or monthly reading habits.
Series I’ve Religiously Read | I always think I’m terrible about continuing series once they’ve started, but there are actually quite a few that I’ve religiously read each new release for. I’m bringing you through some of those in this post.
Reading Egalleys Over ARCs | I’ve noticed an annoying trend in my reading habits where I will constantly forget about physical ARCs that I have in favor of egalleys. There are a number of reasons for this and I thought I’d explore them a bit.
Balancing Media | I spoke a while back about playing catch-up and how I planned to get on track. I got addicted to YouTube and TV shows when we were living in Maine (and I never had time for audiobooks), so I was behind on my reading challenge for the first time in years. Since returning to Connecticut, I’m super ahead and balancing my time spent with certain forms of entertainment.
Check out my April TBR post! ?
I totally just bought The Cottingley Secret based on this post. I had to google it and when I read the blurb I was sold. I love tour posts and how well put together they are!
Good luck on meeting your April goals! It feels great when you can nail them. Looking forward to some of your upcoming posts as well. 🙂
Thanks so much!! <333
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