Category: Features

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2024

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2024

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. February was a bit rough. Thank GOD for the series of six novellas that I read in February to make up for spending the literal entire month reading HOFAS. I also quickly read a couple of egalleys toward the end of the month when I was really craving some fast-paced mysteries.      9 books in February 9 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 1,822 •   Average rating: 3.89 stars Genres: 6 contemporary, 1 fantasy, 2 mystery/thriller Formats: 6 mixed format, 2 ebooks, 1 egalley Sources: 7 purchased, 2 review Age Target: 9 adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts! THE IMPROBABLE MEET-CUTE COLLECTION: The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren //  Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez // Rosie and the Dreamboat by Sally Thorne // Drop, Cover, and Hold On by Jasmine Guillory // With Any Luck by Ashley Poston // Royal Valentine by Sariah Wilson //        Popsugar Reading Challenge: 14% 52 Book Club: 19% Book Cover Bingo: 36% 24 in 24: 4%      Breakdown: 6 hardcovers […]

March TBR

Posted February 29, 2024 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 1 Comment
March TBR

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 was doing great with not requesting a ton of egalleys but I got wild in February. I managed to squeeze in two of them at the end of February but I decided that March is going to be FILLED with review copies so I can get back on track. Here’s my TBR for the month! Egalleys   I’m going to try to read all of these in the month… even though there isn’t a great mix of genres! I have been definitely missing my mystery/thriller books after reading a ton of fantasy and romance in Jan/Feb. I plan to finally get to CANADIAN BOYFRIEND for my romance pick. The mystery books to read are FINLAY DONOVAN, THEOTHER LOLA, KILL FOR ME KILL FOR YOU, EVERYONE IS WATCHING, and THE MAIN CHARACTER. Owned / Physical Books   I haven’t read any Hazlelwood yet but for some reason this one is really intriguing me. My sister let me borrow her copy of BRIDE so I’m hoping to give it a shot next month! I preordered THE SPLIT and purchased FAEBOUND recently so I do hope to get to those as well.

Boox Palma | Review and First Impressions as a Kindle User

Boox Palma | Review and First Impressions as a Kindle User

I recently noticed a few people trying out the Boox Palma as an ereader instead of a Kindle (or in addition to!). On a total whim like the frivolous spender I am, I decided to buy one. I thought I would share my first impressions as a gal who loves her Kindle and wants to keep using it. How do I like it and when would I use it compared to my Kindle? Here are my thoughts. Overview I’m not big on the tech side of things so I added a quick image from their website (linked above) if you do care about that. All I knew was that the Palma is essentially a smartphone mixed with a Kindle. It has the e-ink pages you’re used to reading on and an operating system like an Android, including the Google Play store for apps.           The Palma fits in your hand and is pretty much the same size as an iPad. The screen is obviously in black and white due to the ink-like technology. It’s truly like if your Android phone had a baby with a Kindle. It has similar functions to a phone where you can take photos, download apps, browse the internet… all with a screen that doesn’t hurt your eyes!  Pros and Cons These are my personal pros and cons for this device. You may feel differently! My cons may be your pros and vice versa but hopefully you can understand its functionality a […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2024

Posted February 14, 2024 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2024

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 didn’t have an amazing reading month in January from a quantity perspective, but man was the quality good! I had a great overall rating. I managed to even finish both of the first two Crescent City books by the end of the month, which was my goal. Now I’m still slogging through the third one…      8 books in January 8 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 3,486 •   Average rating: 4.38 stars Genres: 4 fantasy, 1 contemporary, 1  cookbook, 1 historical fic, 1 mystery/thriller Formats: 6 mixed format, 1 audio, 1 hardcover Sources: 4 purchased, 2 review, 1 preorder, 1 borrowed Age Target: 7 adult, 1 middle grade      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 10% 52 Book Club: 13% Book Cover Bingo: 28% 24 in 24: 4%      Breakdown: 2 hardcovers | 1 egalley | 6 ebooks | 2 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review From Hachette/Forever: Just for the Summer by Jimenez Ebooks Kindle Sale: Defend […]

February TBR

Posted January 31, 2024 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments
February TBR

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. February TBR January got a way from me even though the month felt like 5 months packed into one! I definitely used the final two weeks of the year to binge-read the Crescent City series so I know I didn’t read as much to start the year as I would have preferred, but I’ve got like six novellas to read in February so I’m sure I can make up for it! Egalleys   I got derailed on egalleys in January because of my commitment to reading Crescent City lol. I plan to catch up with CANADIAN BOYFRIEND and THE HEIRESS this month for sure. I have FINLAY DONOVAN ROLLS THE DICE waiting on my Kindle as well as THE OTHER LOLA. Romance for February I plan to read, if I can, all six novella in the IMPROBABLE MEET-CUTE collection this month, especially during a couple of romance read-a-thons and Valentines Day weekend. These feature some of my favorite authors and one new-to-me author. They have ebooks and audiobooks, which is even better! Owned and Preordered   THE WRITING RETREAT and TRUE CRIME STORY have been on my immediate TBR for many months […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2023

Posted January 10, 2024 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2023

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 made the executive decision to stop reading once I hit my 115th book of the year, even though there were a few days left in December. I got sick the weekend before NYE and just decided to keep it at a nice round number for the year and give myself a break. I finished the book with 10 books read plus one DNF, which was a nice and easy way to end the year.      10 books in  November 10 read  •  0 reread  •  1 DNF Pages read: 3,114 •   Average rating: 4.05 stars Genres: 6 contemporary, 4 mystery/thriller, 1 graphic novel Formats: 6 mixed format, 2 egalley, 1 ebook, 1 paperback, 1 hardcover Sources: 5 review, 3 purchased, 2 borrowed, 1 library Age Target: 11 adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 76% 52 Book Club: 77% Must Read in 2023: 75% Romanceopoly: 26% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 96%      Breakdown: 4 BOTM | 2 review | 4 gifted | 2 purchased All review copies were provided for free […]

January TBR

Posted January 5, 2024 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments
January TBR

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. January TBR I usually try to post my TBRs before the end of the previous month but January always feels like such a fresh start that I try to not plan or overthink until 1/1 happens! I also got a little wild at the end of December with what books I was picking up to end the year so I barely read any of the things I thought I would. Will any of them make it to the January TBR below? Let’s find out. January Egalleys   I have some really exciting January releases for review and I strongly believe I’ll read all of these in the month! I have CANADIAN BOYFRIEND, RED STRING THEORY, and THE GETAWAY LIST for contemporary romance selections. THE HEIRESS is another Hawkins mystery. And finally, most excitingly, I have EMILY WILDE’S MAP OF THE OTHERLANDS. There’s a good chance I make that one my first book of 2024. January BOTM Picks Here’s a quick screengrab of my BOTM picks from January. I usually wouldn’t promise to read all of these immedaitely when they come in, but I’m really excited about these selections! There’s a good chance […]

2023 End of Year Wrap-Up and Stats

Posted January 1, 2024 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment
2023 End of Year Wrap-Up and Stats

115 Books Read I’m so happy that I ended the year on a nice cute number like 115! I thought for sure I’d read one more book but I love finishing the year in 0 or 5 lol. I got sick right after I finished my 115th book on the 29th and just decided to totally lay low and not read anything else until 2024. It made life easier so I could work on my wrap-up posts earlier too 😉 This one has my stats about books I read and acquired. Overall, it was the best reading year I’ve had in a few years! Books Read One of my major goals recently has been to continue to diversify my reading from a genre perspective. It’s so exciting to see that I have a huge fantasy chunk this year! Thank you, long ass series! I wanted to read less than 75% contemporary and mystery books, and I finished the year at 69% between those genres. I can’t believe I actually read more mystery/thrillers than contemporary romance too! That’s huge. Fantasy is up from *1%* last year to *19%* this year. Yay!! I love reading books in multiple formats and that’s clear for 2023. I read more “mixed” books this year. This is partially because Everand (FKA Scribd) has more titles, I subscribed to Libby through the Charlotte NC library system, and Spotify rolled out audiobooks. I love having the option to listen to an audiobook in addition to reading it. Okay […]

2024 Resolutions and Goals

Posted December 29, 2023 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments
2024 Resolutions and Goals

I’ve been making these posts ALMOST every year since starting my blog (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023). I’ll do a quick check-in on how I did for 2023’s goals at the bottom but dive into my plans for 2024 first. Stay on track or ahead of my Goodreads challenge | I like to keep this one for obvious reasons. I’m still debating about what I want my Goodreads goal to be for the year though. I easily surpassed 80 books this year and will be finishing around 116. Do I move it up to 100? Based on another goal you’ll see in a second, I’m on the fence about increasing quantity. Keep up Instagram stories about TBRs and completed reads | I did a good job of this in 2023 and want to also keep it up. I adjusted the verbiage because I like to share monthly TBRs and reviews but only occasionally share current reads. Read my 24 in 24 | I pulled together the 24 books I want to read in 2024, which I’ll be sharing on the blog soon. It’s heavily backlist titles I wanted to read this year but I gave myself a few “freebies” of anticipated 2024 releases as well. Read bigger books | One of the main reasons I don’t know if I want to majorly increase my Goodreads goal is because I really want to read big books I’ve been putting off. I plan to start the Crescent City series (hopefully in January) […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 2023

Posted December 6, 2023 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 2023

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 definitely planned to read more in November (and didn’t expect for so many of my books to be novellas!). My trip for the last week of the month didn’t involve really any reading, so there are two books I didn’t complete in November that I figured I would. Oh well, it just means December is off to a good start!      9 books in  November 9 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 2,545 •   Average rating: 3.89 stars Genres: 5 mystery/thrillers, 2 contemporary, 2 fantasy Formats: 3 mixed, 2 audiobooks, 2 ebooks, 1 hardcover, 1 paperback Sources: 3 borrowed, 3 purchased, 2 library, 1 preordered Age Target: 8 adult, 1 new adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 76% 52 Book Club: 75% Must Read in 2023: 75% Romanceopoly: 23% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 96%      Breakdown: 4 hardcover | 3 paperback | 2 egalley All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review From Berkley: Summer Romance by Monaghan From […]