Month: April 2020

On My List (9)

Posted April 9, 2020 / Features, On My List / 2 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. These are the things I’m hoping to get to in the near future. Currently Available The Jetsetters by Ward | I saw this come up on Scribd and was intrigued by the title, so I went over to Goodreads to check it out. I wasn’t totally sold on the synopsis but I feel like I saw a good review somewhere and decided to go back and add it. Frozen Beauty by Hillyer | It’s kind of funny that I’m adding this after seeing a three-star review (not a raving one) but I was intrigued enough to add it. I’ve been having a lot of success with the kind of mystery/thriller books lately and it’s really what’s getting me through reading lately. Freaky in Fresno by Crompton | I liked Laurie Boyle Crompton’s other book well enough and think her inspiration from 80’s movies is really fun. This is a Freaky Friday kind of premise, so I’m sold. Unreleased Books Head Over Heels by Orenstein | I’m intrigued by this premise because of the gymnastics and Massachusetts hometown return. I don’t think I also need to tell you that these illustrated covers keep sucking me in. I wish this one had a […]

Review Round Up | Ghosted, With Malice, and All the Stars and Teeth

Posted April 8, 2020 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 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 realized I forgot to review this one after finishing so here’s a quick review from what I remember – you know my bookish memory is garbage… Thanks Goodreads for holding my initial thoughts 😉 This book was a wild ride. It spent so much of the book thinking I had everything figured out and was really pissed that it was going to be that cliche and boring. I definitely ended up being wrong! It was almost the opposite of my prediction, without getting into spoilers. There were lots of twists and turns and suspense. The beginning of the book was just okay for me. I wasn’t overly interested in the chapters that had them getting to know each other and connecting when they first met. They were only together for about a week but fell in instalove pretty quickly. I got REALLY addicted to this one, though, while trying to figure out why he ghosted her. I was racing to finish this and see how everything wrapped up. Overall, this one took a little while for me to get into because I wasn’t overly invested in the couple in the early stages, but I absolutely couldn’t put it down once the story picked up, trying to […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #282: Purchased Books

Posted April 7, 2020 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 4 Comments

Last Books I Purchased 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 is about the books I purchased because… and for me, I don’t really buy a lot of books. I have a strict budget for books and try to support authors/books in other ways. I thought it would be easier to share some of the most recent books I’ve purchased in general and why! Kindle Books All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace // I didn’t love this one but I had no way of reading it for book club, so I bought it. I was listening to the audiobook on Scribd and knew I wouldn’t be able to finish in time with just that format, since my audio listening time has decreased. Anyways, I’m happy to support a debut financially in this time. House of Earth and Blood by SJM // I did decide to buy this one despite being on the fence about actually reading it. I keep putting it on TBRs and applying it to reading challenges but GOOD LORD 800+ pages is so much. I do hope to get to it this month, maybe, but I’m bummed I can’t buy the audio on Libro.fm […]

Magical Readathon 2020 – OWLS Tracking

Posted April 6, 2020 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

As you saw in my sign-up post, I’m joining the OWLS readathon! I’ve decided to become a Hogwarts Professor focusing on Muggle Studies. This career choice allowed me the most flexibility with the prompts, as you’ll see below. Career Choice / Prompts Courses for my career I chose the Hogwarts Professor of Muggle Studies for my career. With this choice, I need to take seven classes total. Defense Against the Dark Arts and the course for my chosen subject (Muggle Studies) are the required classes, and then I can take five more of my choosing! Like I said, this allowed for the most flexibility for me in my reading choices and TBR. We’ll see if I can get all twelve done though! For NEWTS later in the year, I will need to get an O in the subject I’m teaching (Muggle Studies), E in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and at least two A’s in secondary subjects of my choosing. All of the options and TBR Here’s a reminder of the list of potential courses to take and the book-related prompts for them. I’m also including the books I chose as POSSIBLE TBR options for them. As always with my mood reading, this is subject to change! Ancient Runes // Heart rune: heart on the cover or in the title // The Honey-Don’t List Arithmancy // Magical qualities of number two: balance/opposites – read something outside your favorite genre // Deck of Omens Astronomy // Night classes: read majority of this […]

Five on Fridays [7] + April Currently

Posted April 3, 2020 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

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! The Tiger King Hope you’re in the mood for a TV-based FoF because man that’s all I have to share, basically. Like everyone else in the world, we watched The Tiger King on Netflix. WHAT A WILD RIDE. I don’t think I’ve ever watched anything – especially based on a true story – that has this many twists and turns and absurd characters. Everyone in the show is basically terrible and has some major issues going on, but I could not stop watching. We really enjoyed this experience, especially now that we can be hip to all the memes online about it 😉 Ozark I’m a huge fan of Jason Bateman but the premise for Ozark never fully interested me. With season three coming out and seeing a lot of people excited about it, we decided to take the plunge. We finished season one within a few days so we’ll probably just keep cranking through. It’s sort of slow but also really interesting? Some parts of the episodes are a little boring for us but we’re still enjoying it. Lots of interesting character work and again, Jason Bateman. […]

Blog Tour: Super Adjacent

Posted April 2, 2020 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

More purchase links: Bookdepository | iTunes | Kobo | Google Books Follow the rest of the tour HERE! Review I enjoyed Crystal Cestari’s last book series so I was excited to see a new book coming out from her! This one is also set in Chicago and has some element of magic or paranormal. In this case, there are characters with superpowers that work for Warrior Nation; they’re not in hiding or anything. Claire has always wanted to work with them and finally lands her dream internship with the organization. A romance blooms between her and the newest recruit, Joy aka Girl Power. The other main character is Bridgette. She has spent years dating Vaporizer and playing second-fiddle to his superpowers, so she’s ready to move on from being associated to the organization. The story centers around these two girls as they have to rally together and save the city when all of the WarNat heroes go missing. This plot point really didn’t begin until around the 50% mark so I personally am wondering why it was in the book synopsis? I kept waiting for it to happen in the earlier chapters. Either way, there was some nice buildup of the relationships (how Claire and Bridgette meet, how Claire and Joy spark a relationship, how Bridgette and Matt end their relationship, etc.) before the rest of the novel kicked off. The ending genuinely surprised me! I got caught up in a red herring for sure, so I didn’t see it coming. […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2020

Posted April 1, 2020 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

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. March was a bit off too still, which is okay. I’m going to give myself some grace during this time. I know I tend to read more when the weather is nice and I can go on the porch, so hopefully that turns out to be true this summer. We’re dealing with a lot right now and, as I discussed HERE, reading can be hard at times. I’m excited to begin the OWLS next month so I can be motivated to read more! 9 books read in March 8 new books • 0 rereads • 1 DNF Pages read: 3,102 • Average rating: 3.7 stars Sources: 6 for review, 1 library book, 1 borrowed, 1 owned Formats: [Review] 3 egalleys and 0 physical ARCs 0 hardcover, 0 paperbacks, 0 ebook, 0 audio, 6 combos Genres: 4 contemporary, 3 mystery/thriller, 1 fantasy, 1 paranormal Age Target: 4 adult, 5 young adult, 0 middle grade Check out my 2020 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 3 read this month | 20/40 read total Prompts read: Published in 2020, about a book […]