Month: September 2019

Five on Fridays [1]

Posted September 27, 2019 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 4 Comments

Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc. I’ll generally be posting these biweekly and linking up with Friday Favorites (hosted by A Little Bit of Everything, Grace and Love, and Momfessionals). Previous posts can be found here! I did start my numbering over, since it’ll be a little different than my previous iterations… Engagement I spoke about this in my most recent Lauren Lately post, but I suppose it’s a big enough event to include here 😉 I won’t get into it too much since you may already know and I’m too lazy but basically picture the Monica/Chandler proposal from Friends (minus the Richard drama and the whole Monica-tried-to-propose-first thing of course), perfectly-timed Panthers-colored nails, and my favorite guy. Please don’t ask about wedding planning and dates and anything else because no thank you ? Big E The Big E is a huuuuge fair – which I weirdly spoke about in my latest Five on Friday post years ago?? – that comes to Springfield, MA each year and is supposed to represent all of the New England states. It’s for the majority of September, the traffic is terrible (I will never go on a weekend anymore), and is chock-full of basically just food and infomercial products. It’s amazing. We decided to go this week on Wednesday night after work with Chris’s sister and her husband. My […]

October TBR

Posted September 26, 2019 / 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. September Progress September was another garbage reading month. I’m burnt out and just in the mood to be lazy with videos and podcasts instead of reading. I also should give myself a break every September and have zero reading expectations in general since my life gets super busy! Anyways, I made a strong push at the end of the month thanks to Contemporary-a-thon and managed to get some shit read. (Yes, I posted this earlier and am HOPING to finish a few of these on here lol bye) Up Next in October Review Copies Mooncakes by Walker | All Eyes on Us by Frick | Ricochet by Berla The Map From Here to There by Lord | His Hideous Heart by Adler I did a terrible job of tracking things and actually looking at / following my TBR from September, so you’ll see some rollovers on here too. I have a couple plans with these though. I might read MOONCAKES specifically on Halloween or right around then. I also will be splitting HIS HIDEOUS HEART into maybe two stories a week throughout the month, or a story per day depending on my […]

Blog Tour | Review: Glow of the Fireflies

Posted September 24, 2019 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

More purchase links: BookDepository | Kobo | Google Books | iTunes Review I’ve been really trying to move out of the contemporary romance bubble I tend to live in when reading. Magical realism is always fascinating to me and this book feels like it’s more along those lines than fantasy, because the main character discovers some magic in her hometown when she returns for the summer. I’ll backtrack a little bit: this story is about Briony, who was moved to Knoxville by her father after a fire and the disappearance of her mother. Her grandmother, years later, needs help for the summer, and she returns to Firefly Valley with her best friend Izzy in tow. She meets her childhood friend, Alder, that she doesn’t remember, and a lot of ~*magical things*~ happen from there! The main point of the story is that Briony discovers her mother didn’t abandon their family – she’s trapped in-between our world and the spirit world. The story escalates fairly quickly… the moment she arrives to Firefly Valley, she’s learning ALL the things about how magical this place is. The action started quickly and somehow she came to terms with it fairly easily? There were some interesting additions to the story in the second half, so things picked up exactly where I needed them to. The magical system and general premise of the story was pretty darn interesting, albeit a bit confusing. I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m fairly inexperienced with fantasy, though. There […]

[Monday Edition] Top Ten Tuesdays #254: Fall TBR

Posted September 23, 2019 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 2 Comments

Fall TBR – Review Copies 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 have a blog tour posting tomorrow, so I’m moving this week’s TTT to a Monday to keep it up! I don’t think I’ve missed a single TTT post since 2014 so why stop now? I posted my FALL BINGO TBR, which would look quite similar to this one, so I decided to make this one all about the REVIEW COPIES. I have a lot of books I’m hoping to read to get going on my challenges and to read more of certain genres, but my most important reading goal is to get my review copy ratio to 80% by the end of the year. I am reaaaally hoping for it, so let’s see how this shakes out! Not all of these will be egalleys though, some are luckily ~spooky~ fall picks that I was sent. Physical Review Copies Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky | I was so excited when I saw this available through the Forever/Hachette request form! I loved PERKS like many others and have been dying for more. This seems creepy and I’ve heard the pacing is a bit slow, but it’ll be a great […]

Spotlight: Backlist Books (2016)

Posted September 20, 2019 / Features, Spotlight / 3 Comments

Backlist Books My new Spotlight feature highlights anything within the bookish world that I feel deserves a spotlight for a few minutes – publishers (or more specifically, imprints!), new or old favorite authors, bookish people/bloggers, covers or cover trends, topics/genres within books, and anything else that should be on your radar. One of the bigger issues with book blogging is that we all tend to chase the new pretties. We get excited for new releases, read advanced copies, and yell about them… until the next new release comes around. I do love having TTT posts to highlight books from ALL reading and blogging years, but I often notice myself reaching for the same titles on those posts too. I’ve tried to bring some old books to the blog with my Nostalgia Project, reread-a-thons with Cristina for books from our pasts, and Backlist Book challenges, but it doesn’t feel like enough. I think now would be a great time to pull out a bunch of Spotlight posts that focus on books I read in specific ~past years~ that I loved, yelled about at the time, and have since not talked about as much. Each Friday of September will feature one year of books/releases from my blogging past, from 2014-2017. BL Favorites from 2016 Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama | I really enjoyed this one and it was completely unexpected! It was recommended to me for a challenge prompt and I ADORED the audiobook especially. Great story! Close Enough to Touch by Colleen […]

#ReadForGrace

Posted September 19, 2019 / Book Challenges, Features / 39 Comments

In July of this year, we lost a beloved member of our bookish community. Grace at Rebel Mommy Book Blog was an absolute light in our corner of the internet. She left positive, sweet, and thoughtful comments on ALL of our blogs. I could always count on kind words from her on a post. We spoke a lot via blog comments and on Twitter, and I grew to really cherish her friendship. I can’t emphasize enough how genuinely lovely she was as a person. When I had the unfortunate task of sharing the news of her passing, after a long and extremely hard-fought battle with breast cancer (twice), my feed was flooded with love for her. The word “kind” was the most common word to describe her, and I wholeheartedly agree. Despite the challenges she faced in the last year or two, she was always positive and bright across our community. She shared her journey and struggles with us and genuinely kept fighting until the VERY end. She sadly left behind a devoted husband and three young children, including her youngest who was only just over a year old at the time of her passing. She was the epitome of what the good in our community can look like and not a single day has passed since she left us that I haven’t thought about her or missed her. In honor of Grace and all the good she brought, I wanted to put forward a simple challenge for those of […]

Lauren Lately | September 2019

Posted September 18, 2019 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 3 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 ✨ What I’ve Been Up To Reunion and brunch | My family got together for a reunion in mid-August, just to see a few people while they were in town. It was a low-key day with some food and horsehoes, which I am terrible at. The next day, I had brunch with two of my best girlfriends. Family stuff: sister day, tattoos, and wedding | My sister moved into college for the first time at the end of August (!!!!!!) so we had a little day off together. We got lunch, shopped, and got some matching tattoos. We each got each other’s birthday around our ankle area. A few days later, Chris’s sister got married in Mass! We had a wonderful weekend celebrating with everyone and it was genuinely such a fun time. Day trip to Niantic | I made my lobster roll bucket list at the beginning of the summer, aiming to eat 10 lobster rolls […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #253: Food & Drink

Posted September 17, 2019 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 3 Comments

Favorite Things to Eat / Drink While Reading 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 will very frequently use some food and drinks as props in bookstagram posts, since I traditionally post more “in the moment” photos than pre-planned and posed ones. I’m too lazy but appreciate those who take the time to make things pretty! In any case, I thought I’d highlight some bookstagram posts that feature food and drinks that I’ve enjoyed consuming while reading! (1) Of course, coffee! Scrolling through my feed, this is very clearly the most frequent drink. I mostly drink with hot coffee in the morning before work or on the weekends, curled up in bed. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lauren • Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) on Aug 1, 2019 at 4:11am PDT (2) Lobster roll and pineapple soda This is a random one but I loved grabbing lunch with Chris a month or so ago, while trying to complete my lobster roll bucket list for the summer. I was waiting for him to come out for his break so I took a picture with my current read. View this post on Instagram A post shared by […]

Fall Bingo TBR Ideas

Posted September 16, 2019 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 1 Comment

Another season, another round of bookish bingo! Bekka posted the new card on Twitter instead of on her blog this time around, so go check that out! As usual, this is mostly updated (as of 9/13’s finished books and current reads) with what I’ve read for the first half of September. My TBR ideas are subject to change of course! Read or Currently Reading Paranormal | Lair of Dreams by Bray I finished LAIR OF DREAMS this month for the Diviners Readalong. I’ve said it a hundred times by now, but I never should have slept on this series. I love it so much. The first book is my favorite of these two so far, but I am prepared for shit to get real in the next two books. Non-linear narrative | Girls’ Night Out by Steinke / Fenton This story alternated between three friends, but one of them went missing. Her perspective was in the past while the other two characters were primarily in the present day, after she went missing and they’re tying to find her. Definitely non-linear with these snapshots of the past! Author of color | Of Curses and Kisses by Menon I’m currently reading this one and I guess I could say I’m savoring it… but really I just haven’t been in the mood to read anything… even a book by one of my favorite authors. It’s intriguing so far and has a completely different feel than her other books! Reread | The Darkest Part of the […]

Spotlight: Backlist Books (2015)

Posted September 13, 2019 / Features, Spotlight / 2 Comments

Backlist Books My new Spotlight feature highlights anything within the bookish world that I feel deserves a spotlight for a few minutes – publishers (or more specifically, imprints!), new or old favorite authors, bookish people/bloggers, covers or cover trends, topics/genres within books, and anything else that should be on your radar. One of the bigger issues with book blogging is that we all tend to chase the new pretties. We get excited for new releases, read advanced copies, and yell about them… until the next new release comes around. I do love having TTT posts to highlight books from ALL reading and blogging years, but I often notice myself reaching for the same titles on those posts too. I’ve tried to bring some old books to the blog with my Nostalgia Project, reread-a-thons with Cristina for books from our pasts, and Backlist Book challenges, but it doesn’t feel like enough. I think now would be a great time to pull out a bunch of Spotlight posts that focus on books I read in specific ~past years~ that I loved, yelled about at the time, and have since not talked about as much. Each Friday of September will feature one year of books/releases from my blogging past, from 2014-2017. BL Favorites from 2015 I had a lot of favorites that I read in 2015 but still talk about, so I’m going to only focus on the ones that I don’t feature on my blog QUITE as much as others! I’m also […]