Month: November 2021

Top Ten Tuesdays #363: Memories

Posted November 30, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

Bookish Memories 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. A lot of my fond bookish memories are around author meetings/signings/events, as well as attending “industry events.” Sometimes I just have fun and special reading-related memories that aren’t based on meeting an author or something similar. Here are some of my favorite bookish memories. Sarah Dessen Event with my Sister My sister and I love Sarah Dessen, so we jumped at the chance to go to southern Connecticut for a signing for ONCE AND FOR ALL. It was right before she was going off to college, so it was nice to have a night with just the two of us to celebrate something we love. It was one of my favorite events. I answered a trivia question right and got a little prize too! Solo Events: Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black I have no problem with heading off to events on my own either! For a favorite author and/or to support a friend, I’m down to check things out. I made a quick trip to Rhode Island (where I went to college – always love that drive) to watch my friend Sarah interview Sarah J. Maas for the release of ACOMAF in […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #362: Characters

Posted November 23, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Characters I’d Love an Update On 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 feel like I always go to one of my Goodreads shelves for prompts like this and pick the ten most recent that fit. For this one, I went to my “MC be my friend” shelf (aka the main characters I loved and would want to be friends with) and scoured the list to see which books left me wanting more – which characters would I love to read a sequel about? Which characters do I want to read a bonus epilogue chapter or two about?

Top Ten Tuesdays #361: Read if You Love

Posted November 16, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Books to Read if You Love Twists and Jaw-Dropping Moments 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 feel like I did a very similar post the other day about holiday movie and true crime podcast lovers so I thought I would keep this one simple. I have a shelf on Goodreads for twisty books and another for books where my jaw dropped at a big reveal or twist. Here are 10 recent books that made my jaw drop!

Holidays 2021 | To Read & Watch

Posted November 12, 2021 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 1 Comment

Usually I’m getting jazzed up for Christmas in September and forcing myself to wait until at least Halloween, but this year I’ve been feeling weird! I’m not super duper into the holiday spirit like I expected, post-Halloween. I’ve been listening to my holiday music since 11/1 and hopefully reading some holiday books at the end of the month PLUS decorating this week will be helpful. Here we go – onto the usual holiday fun and plans! Here’s a roundup of ALL of the holiday books I may read, including review copies (both backlist and current year), new releases, and backlist titles that have intrigued me. I have one or two review copies from last year and then the rest were this year’s holiday releases. As usual, most come out in October or November and I’m always late to read them. I definitely will be getting to all of the 2021 holiday ARCs I have though because I’m super excited for them! I usually know that I’ll only get to a couple new releases that aren’t review copies, just based on timing of reading! However, I decided to keep a bunch of them here to browse and remind myself. There are a TON of amazing holiday books – I think I’ll go ahead and request some of these from the library! I didn’t read any of the backlist copies I had on here last year, and so many keep carrying over! The two books in the right column are 2020 releases […]

Books I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read Yet

Posted November 11, 2021 / Book Lists, Features / 1 Comment

Yes, I have been a horrible reader this year. It’s not ACTUALLY that surprising that I haven’t read any of these because I’ve primarily read cookbooks and review copies I’ve been trying to keep on top of (not successfully). But there are a number of books I’ve been super excited for – whether it’s a new book from a favorite author, or a new series/standalone that sounds perfect for me, there are so many books I should really have made a priority to read. The Tea Dragon Tapestry // I always read these ASAP because they’re so quick and cute. The illustrations are completely adorable. Twist // I read and enjoyed LOOP (love me a time travel book) a while ago and definitely should have read book two immediately after. I haven’t been super in the mood for it unfortunately but I do hope to get to it next year! The Unexpected Everything // I do try to leave one book unread by some of my favorite authors for some weird reason, so I haven’t read this one by Matson. It’s also a HUGE book, which is a little annoying for a contemporary romance. A Week of Mondays // I love Groundhog Day-style books and this one has been on and off my “you have to read this soon” list for a long time. I even own it. It’s also kind of long, which doesn’t help. The Fallen Kingdom // This is the third and final book in a series I really loved. I’m kind […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #360: Quotes

Posted November 9, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Favorite Quotes from Characters 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 used to spend a ton of time tracking quotes and writing them down for later use. In the past few years… not so much. Maybe it’s because I’ve read less serious books? I’m not sure. Here are some of my favorite book quotes in random graphics that I’ve made for past posts. #lazygirl

Honeymoon Reads // ARC Reviews: The Road Trip and The Royals Next Door

Posted November 8, 2021 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I finished THE ROAD TRIP during my honeymoon, late one night when I couldn’t sleep. I then started and blazed through THE ROYALS NEXT DOOR while hanging out in the hot tub, almost all in one sitting. I knew I’d manage to finish a book or two while I was out there enjoying the scenery! Here are the two reviews for this books – both were review copies that had already published. I’ve really enjoyed the first two books I read by Beth O’Leary – they’re unique and charming stories with fun characters. I even got past the horrible internal monologue/writing style in THE FLATSHARE because of how much I loved everyone. This book was generally pretty cute and mostly enjoyable, but not at the same level as the previous two books. I didn’t root for the main couple very much. They met and quickly fell for each other over one summer, have a weird and mostly shitty relationship for a couple of years, and break up. When they see each other again a couple of years later and end up having to road trip to a mutual friend’s wedding, sparks fly again. There were so many weird and complex elements to their love story and I didn’t feel like the chemistry was even there from the beginning, so why bother rooting for them to overcome their issues at all? Sure, they grew up a little bit by the “present day” chapters, but I still didn’t exactly care. There weren’t […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | September & October 2021

Posted November 4, 2021 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments

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 took a little blog break through October so I didn’t bother recapping the shitty reading month of September. I thought I would include both months here to make it seem like my reading life is normal (it’s not, but maybe it’s getting there?). I managed to finish two books on my honeymoon so that was nice! I also DNFed a book over 50% and therefore included it in my reading numbers. Thank goodness for the new Cravings cookbook too! Either way, maybe I’m getting on track for my 75 reads this year. Christmas/holiday books will save me! 7 books read in September and October 5 new books • 0 rereads • 2 DNF Pages read: 2100 • Average rating: 3 stars Sources: 4 review, 1 purchased, 1 gifted, 1 preordered Formats: 4 egalley, 2 hardcover, 1 paperback Genres: 3 nonfiction, 3 contemporary, 1 mystery/thriller Age Target: 7 adult Check out my 2021 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 1 read this month | 25/40 read total By online creator A-Z Reading Challenge None read this month […]

November and December (EOY) TBR

Posted November 3, 2021 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 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. November and December TBR I didn’t post a TBR for October since I didn’t do much reading in both September and October. I kept thinking the wedding wouldn’t derail me but I just didn’t have a lot of brain power to read, and spent most of my time watching TV with Chris or scrolling on my phone (annoyingly). I’m back in the swing of things for November now that my blog break is over. I usually like to develop a combined November and December TBR to target book to read by the end of the year, instead of by month. I don’t typically include my Christmas reading in these but I have a lot of review copies that are holiday reads. As of the time of writing this on 11/1, I need to finish 14 books to meet my new reduced goal of 75 books read. Here are the most likely 14+ books I’ll read or finish to complete the Goodreads challenge! Currently Reading / Recently Finished in Nov. I really should have put RULE OF WOLVES on hold. I decided that I am determined to finish this year. With around […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #359: Books for Non-Readers

Posted November 2, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Books for Non-Readers 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 biggest thing I can recommend to non-readers in general, especially those who like podcasts, is to listen to audiobooks. They’re very similar to podcasts and you can listen while you drive or wash dishes. That’s what inspired my first category here, and the rest also spill over into other categories where people can pick books based on their interests. For true crime podcast fans… So many people listen to true crime podcasts these days (myself included) so these three books are very easy (especially if you listen to audiobooks) to make the transition. Two of them even involve the main character working on and releasing a true crime podcast of their own. For Hallmark movie fans… I could recommend books in this category for days, obviously, but there are plenty of ways to keep cozy during the holiday season. I know plenty of people who love Hallmark movies but don’t read holiday books. You are missing out on some major seasonal feels! All of these feel very similar to Hallmark movies and one or two even have movie adaptations out or coming. For TV/Hollywood fans… And finally, for people who are […]