Category: Features

Favorite Mystery/Thriller Tropes & Plots

Posted March 23, 2023 / Discussions, Features / 0 Comments
Favorite Mystery/Thriller Tropes & Plots

Here again with another chat about mysteries and thrillers! My new fave genre. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if this category surpasses romance or contemporary fiction for me this year. Okay, maybe not, but it will definitely come closer! Some related posts for further or introductory reading – I’ve spoken about my favorite mystery/thriller reads (I still lump them together because I’m really bad at remembering the difference…) – both adult and young adult – in recent weeks. Way back in the day I also talked about some of my struggles with YA mystery/thrillers (and just had a general discussion about my favorite tropes back then). As for today, I thought I would go through some of my favorite tropes and plot points in mystery/thriller books. (Similar to my read-bait series but I’m being lazy about the formatting and just calling this a discussion 😉 lol). What are some of the keywords, plot points, and tropes in a mystery or thriller synopsis that lead me to pick the book up? Back when I posted my original discussion about YA specifically, I listed the following tropes and types of books within the genre: Historical fiction mysteries Political thrillers Disappearances Memory loss Long series of mystery novels Paranormal elements Boarding school / secret societies I think these are still fairly accurate but not a perfect representation today. For example, I couldn’t tell you the last time I read a historical mystery, paranormal mystery, or political thriller. (Some notable exceptions like The Diviners series, for example). […]

Spring & Summer Review Copies

Posted March 17, 2023 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments
Spring & Summer Review Copies

I always do my seasonal TBRs with new releases coming out that season that I DON’T have review copies for. I thought it would be fun to do a separate TBR here for the spring into summer with review copies that I have and am excited to read. There are so many great books (especially romances) coming out in April and beyond that I want to share what I’ve got waiting for me on my Kindle! April May June July

I’m Reading Hyped/Popular Books This Year

Posted March 15, 2023 / Discussions, Features / 1 Comment
I’m Reading Hyped/Popular Books This Year

I feel like most people fall into two camps: those who keep up with the hottest and most hyped releases, and those who pretty much refuse to do so (with some exceptions). I think I’ve been more of the latter in recent years because my reading time, energy, and interest has been so limited. I’m sick of talking about it and you’re sick of reading about it by now but yes, my reading life has been crappy since mid-2020. This year, it’s like I’m reinvigorated and back to my old self. I’m finding myself more curious about all the books and adding them to my TBR, even when I’m not sure they’re for “me.” I’m going out of my way to read books that are hyped and seeing if they are as good as everyone says. Many of these overhyped releases are usually literary fiction and that’s kind of the main reason I’ve stayed away, especially in recent years. I don’t love books with heavy topics or ones that make me sad (especially for contemporary fiction – it’s different for me if it’s a mystery or thriller). I just don’t gravitate toward those topics when I read because I like to either solve a crime or be happy in a romance haha. I don’t know what it is about this year that has me wanting to keep up with the Joneses but I’m having a lot of fun doing it, if I’m being honest! Instead of saying “ugh I won’t ever […]

An Updated & Brief Bookshelf Tour

Posted March 10, 2023 / Features / 1 Comment
An Updated & Brief Bookshelf Tour

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
Favorite YA Mystery/Thrillers

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 […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2023

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 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. 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
On My List (10)

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
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’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 […]

Series Audit

Posted February 17, 2023 / Discussions, Features / 2 Comments
Series Audit

I’ve been watching a lot of booktube lately and have loved watching people like Meg With Books hold themselves accountable about reading and finishing series. I thought it would be fun (and tedious…) to see how I personally do with reading and completing series. Do I start too many and never finish them? How far along do I get before I lose interest? How many series have I read in my life? Read on to find out these answers and more! Overall Series Stats I’ve engaged with 192 different book series in my lifetime. Yes, this is not super accurate since I only put some of my pre-2014 history in Goodreads when I started using it. I didn’t include random books like Watership Down that I read in high school and is technically in a series, but I did include many/most of the series I read for pleasure back in high school (The Clique, Gossip Girl, etc.). I was going to include books that are kind of a series, like the author wrote one full-length book and then followed it up with a novella epilogue or prequel, but those didn’t make the cut here for obvious reasons. I’ve read a total of 560 books that are a part of a series in my life as well. On average, the book series that I’ve started/read contain 4.18 books in the series. This is probably balanced out a bit because some series are duologies or trilogies while others have a lot more books. I’ve read an average of 2.92 […]

2022 Reading via StoryGraph

Posted February 8, 2023 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments
2022 Reading via StoryGraph

I started using StoryGraph this year in addition to Goodreads. I still use Goodreads for the majority of my book updates because 99% of my friends are still there. Goodreads is where I update reading progress, search for new books and add them to my to-read shelves, and follow what my friends are up to. Storygraph, for me, is for tracking when I start and finish books. I also like using it to better browse my shelves, especially because they have moods and pacing as options for filters – something I love! I also really like their auto-populated charts and graphs, so I thought it would be fun to have a quick wrap-up post from 2022 using specifically information from StoryGraph. It’s no surprise that I read the most pages in December lol even though 6 of my books were graphic novels, I still read the most books within that month overall. I was clearly doing catchup to make sure I finished my reading goal for the year! Again, no surprise here. Pretty sure all of the nonfiction books I read were cookbooks as well. Story of my life! I like how this is more specific than Goodreads because I have to tag my own genres via shelves. Storygraph did it for me! Not surprised whatsoever that my top books were contemporary and romance, followed closely by young adult, and then mystery and thriller. This is another fun part of Storygraph! You can assign moods as you finish reading and […]