Month: May 2026

2026 Summer Bucket List

Posted May 29, 2026 / Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc. / 0 Comments

Last summer was one of the busiest and weirdest ones we’ve had – we packed up slowly for a couple of months, moved out of our rental house at the end of June, moved into a temporary Airbnb, immediately went to Maine for the Fourth of July long weekend, spent the rest of July in the Airbnb, bought my parent’s house, and moved into our new home at the beginning of August. My reading was not consistent, nor did I read the physical TBR that I didn’t pack away for the summer lol. Enjoy the pool at least 1-2 times per week, including pool parties Once we get the pool open, I really hope to make use of it! It’s such a pain in the ass to set up. I’d like to have some biweekly pool parties with various friends or have people over on Sundays to swim all summer. Cook out or bring food/drinks and just enjoy the weather. I love hopping in the pool on a hot day to cool down or laze around on the weekend so I definitely want to make the most of it. Get Hazel and Miller out in the world We plan to go to Maine for the Fourth again and it will be our first time sleeping outside of our house with Hazel and seeing how she does overnight in a new place. We have a Mystic trip planned in August as well so hopefully she is a good girl this summer. […]

Recent Reads | The Anniversary and Rachel West and the Fallen Starlet

Posted May 27, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

Unlike many others, I enjoyed Finlay’s book last year – I know others have read and enjoyed a smattering of books from his backlist but I just kept putting off reading them for whatever reason. As I sometimes do, I requested a review copy last year for PARENTS WEEKEND to motivate me to read it. THE ANNIVERSARY was another great read and I really should prioritize his backlist now! The concept is what got me: the book follows two main characters annually on May 1st in the 1990s as they try to track down a serial killer who only strikes on that day. There are a handful of chapters set on each May 1st and the book goes in order to see what they’re doing and what the case updates are. The characters didn’t wow me but again, the concept was so interesting. I think Finlay did a good job of not making it feel like the book was just jumping ahead in time without any reason. It never felt like I “missed out” on major events from the May 2nd to April 30th in between. I liked seeing where Jules and Quinn were each year and if/when their stories overlapped on that day. I didn’t actually try to solve the mystery in this one at all so I was generally surprised by the outcome. I’m curious to see some other reviews to see if I’m just a dummy for not realizing. I’d definitely recommend this if the concept interested […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #492: Fave Books by Fave Authors

Posted May 26, 2026 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

My Favorite Books by My Favorite Authors 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 made a few posts where I rank books by my favorite authors so there’s a nice jumping off point for this topic. Some authors I’d consider favorites but I haven’t read as many from within recent years so I do think this list could look different than it did a few years ago! (Sidenote: reallllly need Emery Lord and Jenny Han to get me some new books…)

Recent Reads | Stranger Things Have Happened and Tell Me What You Did

Posted May 21, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I loved Kasie West’s YA books back in the day and the new trend of YA romance authors writing adult romance has been amazing. (I seriously need to read Steph Perkins one.) I haven’t read as many YA books at all lately and even missed some of West’s recent releases. I was planning on reading her adult debut before this one but for whatever reason this spoke to me when I was browsing my Kindle for something to read. The story follows Sutton, an LA restauranteur returning to her hometown to help her mom recover from an accident. She reconnects with her newly engaged high school friend Tara, and finds herself involved in a bet. Tara’s fiance Michael doesn’t want to go to couples therapy before their wedding and insists that two strangers could go and the therapist would never realize they weren’t an actual couple. Enter Sutton and Elijah, Michael’s brother. They begin a four-week session with a local therapist to see who wins – does Michael need to go to therapy with Tara or will she win the bet? Sparks fly between Elijah and Sutton while she also navigates complex family dynamics and co-managing her restaurant from afar. Candidly I didn’t love the characters in this one. It took me a while to like Elijah and root for them as a couple. Sutton had some annoying tendencies and her relationship with her mom was tough to read. Her friendship with Tara was underdeveloped, especially as they alluded to […]

Recent Reads | In Case I Go Missing and This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone

Posted May 14, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

Young adult mysteries are harder to win me over these days, but there was something about the premise here that got stuck in my head. I don’t like to request books on Netgalley by unfamiliar authors in genres I’m unsure of. I’m so glad I did because this book really impressed me! Fenny and her friend Sam were best friends with Sarah. When she suddenly went missing after acting weird for a while, and the two begin to unravel that Sarah was working on a new case baked into the history of the town. I liked that it was a mystery within a mystery and that the missing girl’s friends had to follow in her footsteps/investigation in order to also figure out what happened to her. I loved watching them come to realizations in the same way Sarah likely did by talking to people around town and learning what Sarah was up to, while also figuring out how her investigation made her a target. Candidly the actual characters were fine and not memorable, but they really didn’t need to be. This was exactly what I hoped it would be when I read the premise. The mystery was layered and not predictable. I liked seeing how the two mysteries (past and present) intertwined. I would definitely read more books by this author because as of now, Maureen Johnson is my only remaining YA mystery author. I’d recommend this if the premise interests you, since it delivered for me! I’ve really enjoyed this […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 2026

Posted May 7, 2026 / 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 feel like I didn’t read anything in April, and it was weirdly 100% four-star books plus one DNF. I’m not sure what my favorite of the month even was as a result? I hope May is better but for whatever reason books are just taking me forever these days. 6 books in April 6 read • 0 reread • 1 DNF Formats: 3 ebook/audio, 2 physical/audio, 2 egalley Status/source: 3 Kindle Unlimited, 2 review, 1 purchased, 1 library Age Target: 6 adult, 1 young adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings! Shelf Reflection Challenge: 42% Read with Allison Challenge: 38% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 42% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 58% Breakdown: 7 hardcovers | 2 paperbacks | 0 ARC | 2 egalleys | 2 ebook | 1 audiobook All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Review Copies From Penguin: If Books Could Kill by Eberle From Hachette: The Season of Sinking by Woolsoncroft From Macmillan (audiobook): This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone by Mack Physical Books Book box: King of Ashes by […]

Recent Reads | The Ending Writes Itself and Once and Again

Posted May 4, 2026 / Book Reviews, Recent Reads / 0 Comments

I was really excited about this one when I saw it was announced – I love when a debut can catch my eye, and hopefully have a lot of interesting books in the future. This was written by V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke so technically it’s also my first book by Schwab? The book follows a group of authors as they’re brought to a private island under the impression a famous mystery author, Arthur Fletch, has invited them there for a salon-type weekend. Instead, Fletch is dead and the publisher is desperate for a ghostwriter. I won’t spoil what happens because the synopsis doesn’t include some of the obvious occurrences, but we’ll just say the ending is a killer. I enjoyed this but I could see others finding it a bit bland. It reminds me a little of THE GOLDEN SPOON, which I loved but I know was polarizing. If you liked that, give it a try. It’s not quite a cozy mystery like THE GOLDEN SPOON feels, but it’s just a quieter kind of mystery maybe? The premise was good and the setting was really cool, like all locked room castle-on-an-island mysteries are. I’ve noticed a lot of books coming out lately with authors going to some retreat and seemingly having a similar premise. I enjoyed the format/POVs and ending, but was somewhat let down overall. I think maybe something twistier and darker would have resonated even more. I’d read more from this author duo for sure. I’ve really […]