Month: October 2025

Recent Reads | The Sun Down Motel and We Are All Guilty Here

Posted October 27, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

My mystery book club picked this one out for October since it was a spooky paranormal mystery – it was a little out of my comfort zone as a result of that but I enjoyed it! I just don’t read a lot of ghost stories or paranormal mysteries. Simone St. James has been on my TBR for a long time. The book follows two timelines: there’s Viv in the early 80s and her niece Carly in 2017. Viv works the night shift at the Sun Down Motel in a time where lots of girls turn up missing or murdered in the small town of Fell, NY. Viv herself goes missing, which leads to Carly coming to town and trying to figure out what happened to her aunt. It was fairly obvious what was going on about halfway through though; there wasn’t as much suspense or twists as I tend to prefer. The ghosts were a fun aspect – I don’t want to spoil much about them but it was a welcome change from what I expected ghosts to be in a book like this, if that makes sense. The motel and small town settings were really vivid and made the book super enjoyable to read. Overall, really good for spooky season. My book club agreed this should definitely become a show or movie! We all gave it around 4 stars, with the exception of one person. My friend from book club showed up with this book, which she had just […]

Attempting to Meet Reading Goals ~ EOY TBR, Challenges, etc.

Posted October 22, 2025 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

It’s no secret this has been a weird reading year with a lot of crappy months. The year started halfway decent and I was on track basically until we started moving. Somehow May had 10 books read even though we were packing and slowly moving things into our storage unit. Clearly June through August were big moving months for us – June was final packing and moving out at the end of the month, July we were in a rental house, and August is when we moved into our new permanent house. I’ve found myself being really lazy, not in the mood to read, and playing around a lot on my phone this fall. September is usually a bad reading month because I have my birthday, lots of plans, and often a vacation or two. We’ve had weekend plans or trips almost every single weekend since we moved into our house, which also has not helped my reading. The other issue is that this year has been SO MID in terms of book quality. My average rating is 3.85 and usually it’s closer to 4 stars – my all-time rating is around 3.9. Doesn’t seem like too big of a difference but when I look at the star rating breakdown overall, I have a lot more in the 2-2.5 star range versus 3-3.5 stars. Goodreads Goal My number one goal between now and the end of the year obviously is to meet my Goodreads goal of 75 books. I’m currently […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #478: Cozy Reads

Posted October 21, 2025 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Cozy/Atmospheric Reads 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’ve been a big fan of cozy reads in the last few years – low stakes, fun, atmospheric, and easy reading. I have a full shelf on Goodreads to track these ones if you want to see over 170 examples there. Here are some of my favorites along with some on my upcoming TBR. Cozy & Atmospheric Favorites Upcoming Cozy TBR

Recent Reads | The Executioners Three and The Killer Question

Posted October 20, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I’ve been wanting to reread TRUTHWITCH and finally finish that series (since I own all the books…) but they’re just intimidating and large. I saw this new release from Susan Dennard and thought it’d be up my alley… a paranormal mystery set in the 90s sounded PERFECT for the fall season. The book follows Freddie, an NSYNC obsessed (same) teen embroiled in a prank war with the private school on the other side of town. When she comes across a body in the woods and doesn’t believe it was a suicide, she finds herself investigating more murders and strange happenings around town. This was really fun and ended up being perfect for fall. I’d recommend it for fans of TRULY DEVIOUS (for the mystery and odd main character sleuth) and THE DEVOURING GRAY (for the YA paranormal vibes and amazing setting). I’ve been in a reading slump and eventually this one really clicked for me, and I couldn’t put it down. Reading this book in my comfy reading chair by the window with rain coming down, the dog in my lap, and a hot coffee to drink was the perfect way to binge read it. A fun YA paranormal mystery set in the 90s with a quirky main character and lots of references to *NSYNC. What more could I ask for? I forgot how much I love Dennard’s writing style. Highly recommend for the season. This has been a not-great reading year for me – I usually finish books in […]

Recent Reads | The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold and The Other Side of Now

Posted October 8, 2025 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

This book had me wondering: am I in a reading slump because it took me forever to read this book, or did it take me forever to read this book because I’m in a reading slump? Ally Carter books are meant to be read in like two sittings so I’m disappointed in myself and possibly the book. I just want to love these adult romantic suspense (?) books of hers so bad. They’re good and generally entertaining but I didn’t find myself caring that much. The first book had a more annoying main character than this one so I think it wins there, but it was a little confusing. There were VERY quick and frequent time jumps that made it hard to follow, especially because there were the same locations as present day. I know that because this book took me a month to read, it was probably even harder to remember what was happening and follow along… again, is that my fault or the book?! I was really looking forward to this one wowing me but unfortunately it was a similar experience to the first book. Would I read a third? Absolutely. I think the premises are fun and Ally’s writing is enjoyable as usual. I hope she keeps writing adult rom-com mystery mashups because I really enjoyed the Christmas one last year. This is a perfect example of me just really knowing my reading tastes. I love books about parallel lives or alternate realities, and this one’s concept […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | September 2025

Posted October 3, 2025 / 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 wish I met the September goals I set for myself but I absolutely didn’t do that. Again, I should have no expectations when it comes to reading in my birthday month. I hope October is better but then again I’ll be traveling, spending weekends with friends and family, and just have lot of stuff going on during the weekends. 5 books in August 4 read • 0 reread • 1 DNF Formats: 1 hardcover, 1 paperback, 1 egalley, 1 audiobook, 1 mixed Status/source: 2 purchased, 1 review, 1 library, 1 borrowed Age Target: 4 adult, 1 young adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings! Note: I DNFed IMMORTAL CONSEQUENCES but counted it toward my reading challenge because I read like 300 pages / 50% of the book. My rating is about what I read. 25 in 25: 65% 52 Book Club: 75% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 58% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 92% Breakdown: 2 hardcovers | 4 paperbacks | 0 egalleys | 0 ebooks | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in […]

October TBR

Posted October 2, 2025 / 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. October TBR Yes, okay, way too much going on in September to make any real progress. I’m only one book behind on my Goodreads challenge though so I’m feeling better. I read a few short random books that only took a few days to read, along with two books that took forever to read… averaging out to 11 days per book! Ugh. I really hope that – despite traveling or hosting guests literally every weekend in October – I can get closer to 6-8 books this month. Review Copies I did cross off one review copy that was here last month. I have FALLING LIKE LEAVES I’d still like to read from last month. I have a physical copy and review copy of WE MET LIKE THIS that I think will (finally) be read this month. I’d like to get ahead on November – and kick off my cozy fall fantasy reading – with BRIGANDS & BREADKNIVES. October Releases I already have a copy of ALCHEMY OF SECRETS that was released a little early in book boxes. Really pumped to get into it! I always love Garber’s writing. The new installment […]