Month: March 2023

An Updated & Brief Bookshelf Tour

Posted March 10, 2023 / Features / 2 Comments

I haven’t done a bookshelf tour in so long (not even sure I’ve done one officially) but I recently went through a lot of effort to reorganize and rearrange, so here we are today! Some quick backstory on my book situation and purchasing habits, then I’ll dive into the brief shelf tour. Book Buying Habits I’ve been super up-and-down with my book buying. When I first started blogging, I went WILD and bought so many books. Not even great books. Just any books I saw on sale in the store that looked moderately interesting. I didn’t check Goodreads right away (simpler times!) and just spent recklessly on kinda crappy, random books. My shelves have been filled of those books for years because I kept thinking MAYBE I’d read them. I refused to admit I had wasted money on books I’d never get to. I did move a lot of lame books from house to house, plus storage in between when we moved to Maine. I started to be way pickier about what books I purchased, like only books by favorite authors or guaranteed wins. No more gambles haha. The last year or so I started picking up books more freely and subscribed to BOTM, but I still made sure to pick up books I genuinely wanted to read instead of some just because they were on sale. I also frequently check if the book is on Scribd or Hoopla before purchasing for now. Last weekend, I decided to purge a […]

Favorite YA Mystery/Thrillers

Posted March 9, 2023 / Book Lists, Features / 0 Comments

My TTT for last week’s genre-related freebie was for my favorite adult mysteries and thrillers. I was inspired, when running through my Goodreads shelves, to take a look at the 140 young adult mystery/thriller books I’ve read and share a similar list. Because I’ve read about double the amount, I thought I would allow myself to exceed 10 books if needed. I also decided to stick to true suspense, mysteries, and thrillers – I’m not including any books that have some paranormal elements alongside the mystery (like THE DIVINERS – as much as I love that series!). I’ve found it to be super common for YA “mysteries” to blur the line a lot more, so I broke it into three semi-distinct categories to include my favorites. True Mysteries and Thrillers This category is for the books that are true murder mysteries and thrillers. These ones don’t have a ton of fluff or “contemporary” vibes like others on this list might. The first three books below are my absolute favorites within the genre. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series is the real GOAT when it comes to YA murder mysteries. It just is. And book three? Good lord, she went there. She really did. Truly Devious is one of my personal favorites and I will read every book following Stevie and the gang… and I don’t feel bad about it. Yes, the romance stuff is annoying, but I just get this FEELING with this series that I don’t get with any other […]

ARC Review: Missing Clarissa

Posted March 8, 2023 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I was beyond excited for this book – I was really hoping for the second-coming of the GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE books. I wanted a true crime podcast and best friends solving the case of a missing girl. I love all that stuff! Unfortunately, MISSING CLARISSA was a disappointing and predictable read, despite being an overall enjoyable ride. Cam and her best friend Blair come from a town with an infamous missing girl case – Clarissa Campbell. She was the popular cheerleader who left a party in the woods, never to be seen again. The two girls decide to focus on this case for their journalism class project and create a podcast about it. I loved this setup and the fact that both Blair and Cam had no experience in solving mysteries or making podcasts. The story went through the actual moments they had to figure out logistically where to even start. I didn’t mind reading about Blair and Cam but they (especially Cam) made very stupid decisions a lot of the time, especially toward the end. It was terrible to read about Blair’s shitty boyfriend. I didn’t mind Cam’s romantic arc but she was still frustrating. The writing was pretty good – I can’t figure out if it was the characters that annoyed me because they were annoying or if the writing made them more annoying lol. Their internal dialogue was a little cringe-worthy but again not sure if that has to do with the author’s writing or just the characters […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #399: Authors to Meet

Posted March 7, 2023 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 4 Comments

Bookish People I’d Like to Meet Authors I’ve Met & Some I’d Still Like to Meet 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. My authors I’d like to meet post from 2017 did not age well because of stupid JK Rowling being terrible – I went straight there to see who I selected. I think author/book events are really fun and I’m happy that they’re coming back around. I also made another post in 2018 with five authors I’ve met and five I’d like to meet. I thought I would update some of these things for this post! Authors I’ve Met Leigh Bardugo I met Leigh Bardugo back during my first Book Expo trip! I thought I had a picture with her but I can’t track it down anywhere? It was such a fun event and really one of my favorite experiences in this community. I miss the 2015-2016 era of book blogging. Maureen Johnson This is the latest book event I went to, so putting it up toward the top! I had the pleasure of going to RJ Julia (my fave semi-local indie) to see Maureen Johnson talk about NINE LIARS, the latest release in the Stevie and friends/TRULY DEVIOUS series. […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2023

Posted March 6, 2023 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 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. Still in a great reading place this month! I managed to read the same number of books in February as January, even with 3 less days in the month! I also had a really great reading month overall with the vast majority of books at 4 stars and above. Feeling really great so far 🙂 9 books in February 9 read • 0 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 2894 • Average rating: 4 stars Genres: 5 mystery/thriller, 2 contemporary, 1 paranormal, 1 fantasy Formats: 2 paperback, 2 egalley, 2 ebook, 2 mixed format, 1 hardcover Sources: 4 borrowed, 2 library, 2 review, 1 purchased Age Target: 7 adult, 2 young adult Here are all the books I read this month and the challenges they applied to! Popsugar Reading Challenge: 34% 52 Book Club: 33% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 8% Must Read in 2023: 8% Romanceopoly: 8% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 35% Breakdown: 22 purchased | 0 free/gifted | 5 review copies | 1 BOTM All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review From Penguin: Meet Me at the Lake […]

On My List (10)

Posted March 3, 2023 / Features, On My List / 0 Comments

I loved Jamie’s New to the Queue feature because it highlighted new things she added to her different “to do/ read/ watch/ etc.” lists. This feature on my blog – called On My List – will show off the most recent books, movies, shows, podcasts, recipes, crafts, and other things that have made it onto my to-do list. These are the things I’m hoping to get to in the near future. I haven’t done one of these in a VERY long time. I won’t feature all of the usual categories outside of reading because I want to focus a lot more on the books I’ve added to my TBR. I have a few categories around this as well since there are backstories to each category (for the most part). Mystery Books of All Types I’ve been watching a lot of booktube lately so most recommendations come from people like Meg With Books or Books and Lala. They’re mystery/thriller queens and I’ve decided to follow their advice for the majority of these books on my TBR! A few of these could certainly be in the second category about hype, since they are, but I wanted to keep the mysteries and thrillers separate. CONFESSIONS // I’ve heard nothing but exceptional things about this book but it took me a really long time to add it to my TBR for some reason. I think I’m intimidated by it, which is kind of silly. I finally took the plunge and even got it out from the […]

March TBR

Posted March 2, 2023 / 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. March TBR I’m really impressed with my reading this year and happy that January wasn’t a fluke! I managed to squeeze 9 reads into the shorter month of February, which is the same amount as January. I hope to knock out a lot of review copies in March since a few of them absolutely crept up on me haha. Review Copies I’m reading MISSING CLARISSA as we speak – this is one that comes out soon and I’m genuinely shocked I didn’t read it the minute I was approved for it last year haha. The same could totally be said for OFF THE MAP. I am obsessed with this companion series so far and this one will be excellent, I’m sure of it. ANA TAKES MANHATTAN is another March release I have to get going on and it sounds great. THE GOOD LUCK CAFE by my girl Annie Rains definitely surprised me – I kept thinking it was publishing in May! Ugh. And finally, VERA WONG. I have yet to read her popular previous release/series but thought this standalone (I think?) is a good place to start. Owned and To-Be-Purchased Books For […]

ARC Review: Behind the Scenes

Posted March 1, 2023 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I adored SATISFACTION GUARANTEED and was excited for another book by Stetz-Waters! This story centers around Rose and Ash, who meet at a random pug event (Rose has two pugs) outside of Ash’s office building in Portland. Rose is a business consultant and Ash is a disgraced filmmaker who has a bad reputation for “ruining” her ex-wife’s movie (clearly there is more to the story there!). When Rose is contacted by Ash’s friend and colleague to help her get on track and stop trying to do it all by herself for her new movie, the two begin working together. I really enjoyed both of the jobs the MCs had in this story. I love any book set around Hollywood or movie-making and it was fun to read about Ash’s world… minus all the shitty things that happened to her. Ash had a ton of trauma from her ex-wife and an accident she was in, which was unpacked throughout the book. The same could be said of Rose, who hasn’t been on an airplane for 18 years due to her parents dying in a plane crash. She basically had to raise and take care of her sisters, which was a really sweet part of the story. Rose didn’t really take risks because she wanted to be stable and secure enough to support her family. (Sidenote: Rose was a business consultant for manufacturing companies but never set foot in a factory… this would definitely never fly in real life haha. I work […]