Month: January 2020

Blog Tour Spotlight and Cover Colors: Lie to Me

Posted January 17, 2020 / Cover Colors, Features / 0 Comments

Welcome to my stop on the LIE TO ME blog tour! I’m here to do a quick spotlight on the book and a little bit of Cover Colors, since it’s been a while! In case you haven’t seen it before, I typically pull the colors from the book cover and create a palette. I usually make some kind of outfit and accessory post to correspond but it’s hard to do that when the book is a mystery and involves some kind of murder or death… 😉 Cover Colors I was drawn to this cover right away because it’s pretty simple but haunting! The pops of pink color lighten it up a little bit too. I was definitely curious to read the story after having seen this cover initially. About the Author Kaitlin Ward grew up on a dairy farm in a tiny New Hampshire town, the same town where she lives now with her husband and son. She studied animal science at Cornell University and cofounded the well-known blog YA Highway. She is also the author of Where She Fell, Girl in a Bad Place, and Bleeding Earth. Find her on Twitter at @Kaitlin_Ward.

Anatomy of a TBR Post (2020 Update/Plans)

Posted January 16, 2020 / Discussions, Features / 3 Comments

Here I am yet again with another post about TBRs (you’ve seen the original version of this last year and I’ve also discussed ARC habits and how I pick the books for my TBR)! As I started plotting out my reading challenges for 2020 at the end of last year (and my reading resolutions, including a focus on adding variety to my TBRs), I realized I should update this and PLAN for more variety. I always think about the books I missed out on reading, and how it can be really challenging to fit in everything I want to read in a given month. If I read 120 books a year, 10 books a month doesn’t feel like a lot in terms of balancing backlist, new releases, favorite authors, blog tours, book clubs, owned books, and review copies. How can I squeeze ALL of those in each month??? It seemed like a good time to remind myself what’s important and how I can curate monthly TBRs with a solid amount of variety that keep me interested and on track. So, a lot of this will be similar to last year’s Anatomy of a TBR Post that I made but will specifically include other challenges and balancing in the backlist / catching up on old review copies. As I said last time: I remember back in 2015 I followed Andi on an experiment of using TBR-related categories when picking books for the month. It worked so well for me because my mood […]

Popsugar Reading Challenge Ideas

Posted January 15, 2020 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features / 2 Comments

Just like last year, I decided I should make a big ol post about TBR ideas for the Popsugar Reading Challenge! Sometimes it just helps me to circle back and remember what my ideas were at the beginning of the years if I start to get lost later on. I was REALLY excited to see this list because all of the prompts seem attainable this year. Seriously, I’d probably read *most* of these without a lot of prompting. Other resources: Popsugar Reading Challenge post and Popsugar Goodreads Group TBR Ideas A book published in 2020 This is one I’ll be sure to cross off right away, as I tend to read new releases pretty frequently! I decided to list some January titles I’m excited about since I’m sure that’s when I’ll check this box off. It could be ONE OF US IS NEXT, A HEART SO FIERCE AND BROKEN, or A CASTLE IN THE CLOUDS. A book by a trans or nonbinary author I struggle with heavier contemporaries like I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST but I’ve heard so many great things about this book. I think the likely option for me based on my existing TBR will be OVER THE TOP by JVN because they identify as nonbinary. A book about a book club I’ve been seriously meaning to read THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY for while and I don’t really know why, but that will work here. I also have an egalley of UNDERCOVER BROMANCE, which involves […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #270: Discoveries

Posted January 14, 2020 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments

Best Bookish Discoveries of 2019 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. This week’s topic is so fun! We’re looking at the best bookish discoveries we made in 2019. I’m going to broaden this a little beyond just discoveries, but bookish or reading-related THINGS I started doing, found, or changed from 2019. Reading Bullet Journal I enjoyed working on my bullet journal for the vast majority of 2019. I think I got burnt out and uninspired after a while, but I still fully completed it for the year! I hope that the new year has increased my interest in it, but it’s still a fun and creative way to mark progress on books. Booktube I obviously didn’t DISCOVER booktube in 2019 but I did find a lot of new favorites and spend a LOT of time watching it! I was recommended some great channels and found a few more on my own, plus loved watching “old favorites” that I would watch even before this year’s new obsession. TBR Cart My cart is a little less TBR-oriented right now because of how I have it arranged and where it’s located. I use it to store planner supplies and my bullet journal, my iPad, […]

Romanceopoly

Posted January 13, 2020 / Book Challenges, Features / 4 Comments

Just when you (probably) thought ya girl was done with challenges, yet another popped up for me to overanalyze and create TBRs for! 😉 You can learn all about Romanceopoly HERE but I’ll be discussing the general idea and plan of attack below. This is just such a fun and unique challenge that will help me read a bit more widely under the romance genre and beyond. The Basics The hosts have created a Monopoly-like game board with different prompts for each space. You can play a few different ways, including just going around the board in order or actually rolling dice to move around the board. You can pick between the SUN and MOON prompt packs as well, so you can technically complete the board twice if you wanted to. My Plan I decided to add this challenge to my life this year because it just seems like something fun I can do whenever I’m in the mood for romance or for something random off my TBR. Not all of the prompts are romance though! I decided to roll a few dice in a row so I have an idea of my next couple of books, and then decide when to read them. I know most people strive to complete the game board but I’m not 100% sure if I will or not. Unlike other challenges, I won’t be tracking it as closely in terms of completion percentage or goals. I’ve picked the moon pack for this because I […]

Lauren Lately | December 2019 – January 2020

Posted January 10, 2020 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 8 Comments

You can read my monthly Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups to learn about the bookish and blog-related things I’ve accomplished. Lauren Lately was created 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. Ummm you know it’s been a while when you need to include TWO months in your recap post title! I usually try to do this post or a Five on Friday every week but clearly the holiday season derailed that quite a bit. Here’s a big ol recap of my life. What I’ve Been Up To I usually go weekend by weekend but simultaneously a lot has happened and not a lot, so I’ll do some categorizing instead through the holiday season! Jonas Brothers concert • I went to see the Jonas Brothers concert with Chris’s sister and mom way back before Thanksgiving. We had some annoying people around us (that’s my life, every time I go anywhere) but the show itself was WONDERFUL. The next day, Jen and I grabbed lunch at our favorite spot. Thanksgiving • We always do a fun, comfy Thanksgiving at Chris’s parents house, so this year was no exception. We did onesies! I had a nice day at my nana’s house in the morning before heading to their house after. We made apple cider mimosas. My favorite part of Thanksgiving though? The post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches with everything on it. Breweries and brunch • Chris and I have been […]

2020 Reading Bullet Journal

Posted January 9, 2020 / Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc. / 8 Comments

I tried to share some bullet journal posts last year and got lazy for the final pages of the year. I think I was not giving myself enough ability to be creative with it and just lost steam. I ended up putting a lot of thought and effort into my layouts for this year, so I thought I would share my bullet journal setup for 2020! This includes all of the yearly pages (reading tracking overall, challenges, etc.) but not the monthly layouts. I kept some layouts the same, moved stuff around, and came up with brand new ideas for my new challenges. I also ended up using the same bullet journal from 2019 and just setting up a 2020 section because I barely made a dent in it last year haha. So, here we go! 2020 Divider Because I’m continuing in the same bullet journal from last year, I decided to make a 2020 divider page so I know where the new year starts. I’m keeping the little bookmark there as well. Year in reading and dates completed/read These pages are similar from last year’s setup as well. I made a large book where I color in one stripe/line across for every five books I finish. By the end of the year, the book should be full of stripes and colored in! The second page here features a year-long calendar. If I finish a book on a specific day, I circle that date in the calendar. If I finish […]

ARC Review: The Map From Here to There

Posted January 8, 2020 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I realized while reading this book that I have not read new words from Emery Lord since 2017. (She did have a small story in an anthology from last year, I realized, but whatever.) That is EONS ago. I was obviously eager to read this book because THE START OF ME AND YOU is probably (???) my favorite Emery Lord book. I will tell you: I recommend rereading that one before this if you have a bad bookish memory. It’s obviously a contemporary romance, which makes it less challenging to get up-to-speed on (IMO), but I still found myself completely forgetting who people were. It didn’t take long to sink into her writing and characters though. This story follows Paige and Max beginning at the end of the summer. Max, as we know, was in Italy for a summer experience. Paige did an NYU film program and came home to work at the local cinema. We’re introduced to Hunter, her coworker that I LOVED, and I could just sense that some trouble may brew from their friendship down the line. Sidenote: give me a Hunter Chen book. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE! Anyways, this story brings us through senior year moments and highlights (as well as some definite lowlights). Paige is really struggling with her anxiety in this one and I definitely felt for her. I certainly deal with that on a daily basis but in a different way; it was challenging to see her unable to express her feelings. I wanted […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #269: Anticipated Releases

Posted January 7, 2020 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 13 Comments

Most Anticipated Book Releases for the First Half of 2020 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 recently made my anticipated sequels and next-in-companion-series post the other day, so today you will find ONLY standalones or series-starters for the first half of 2020. I usually also try to avoid books that I already have review copies of, but no promises if I’m THAT excited for them 😉 Throw Like a Girl by Henning | Big fan of sporty girl books, especially when football is the main topic! Infinity Son by Silvera | Adam Silvera has broken my heart in contemporary novels, so I can’t wait to see how he pulls it off in his new fantasy series! Lucky Caller by Mills | I’m a little bummed I won’t be spending my third New Years Day in a row reading an Emma Mills novel, but I’m still incredibly pumped to read this one! Her books are so wonderful. Off Script by Watson | I’m always a fan of books taking place around Hollywood and rich people. This is an Emma retelling apparently, where a teen starlet plays matchmaker to her friends. Layoverland by Noone | Another trope I’m a sucker for: purgatory! Or, the place […]

Five Star Predictions

Posted January 6, 2020 / Book Lists, Features / 0 Comments

Post found on Pretty Deadly Reviews | Inspired by Mercy’s Bookish Musings For the past few years, I’ve written some prediction posts at the end of the year to predict which books I may rate five stars in the following year. They’re all upcoming releases and usually from authors I already know, love, and have rated many books five-stars from. I did alright with 2019 predictions, with MOST of the books coming between 4-5 stars. Here I go again, this time for 2020 releases… I decided to order them from the most likely to be five stars, down to the ones that maybe are wishful thinking but still have a good chance. The King of Crows by Libba Bray | This series has been such a wonderful experience. I loved Bray’s writing before, but holy crap – she is so damn SMART. I loved the first book, seriously enjoyed the second, loved the third… I’m hoping she REALLY gets me with the final book. I’m simultaneously not ready at all and also cannot wait. Girls with Razor Hearts by Suzanne Young | As you saw in last year’s post and the recent update, I was spot-on in assuming that the first book in this series would be a five-star read. I was blown away. I’m continuing to hope and assume Young will knock my socks off yet again in book two! Four Days of You and Me by Miranda Kenneally | I adored the Hundred Oaks series even though there were a […]