Category: Features

Summer Plans including TBR and Bucket List

Posted June 22, 2022 / Book Lists, Features, Lifestyle, Personal / Information / Etc., TBR Lists / 0 Comments

I used to make seasonal TBRs and bucket lists (aka the different trips I wanted to take or plans to make during that season) when I was blogging more regularly. I was working on my TTT the other day for my summer TBR and was thinking it would be fun to bring back this “feature” to share what I hope to do and read this summer. It has also been a bit less fun to write posts like this because I’m reading like half as much as I used to, but here’s a “wishful thinking” TBR for this season at least! Summery TBR Review Copies I have a number of review copies that are publishing this season but these three will likely have the most summer vibes! I’m excited to get to all of them within the next couple of months. New Releases I have a TTT post coming up next week that lists some new or upcoming releases on my summer TBR but decided to pick a few summer-specific books to include here. These three books are coming out this summer and will likely be fun and light reads. Summery Stories I reread the first book in Han’s Summer series a couple of years ago and have plans to finish off my reread via audio this summer, since the TV show is now out. They were renewed for season two so I’d like to get books 2-3 done before they catch up to the show! I also hope to […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | May 2022

Posted June 2, 2022 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

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 did a great job in May, especially with the final book being squeaked in at 12:30am on June 1st… but that still counts as May 31, since that’s when I started the reading session… right?! I read more this month than any other this year, I think. I’ve started watching booktube again and it’s inspired me to read more. I’m happy about that! 6 books read in May 6 new books • 0 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 2341 • Average rating: 4.08 stars Sources: 3 review, 1 preordered, 1 BOTM, 1 borrowed Formats: 2 egalley, 2 paperback, 2 mixed Genres: 3 contemporary, 2 mystery, 1 paranormal Age Target: 5 adult, 1 young adult Check out my 2022 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 3 read this month | 21/40 read total About witches, you know nothing about, featuring parallel reality Calendar of Crime Challenge May’s theme – “mother” Breakdown: 10 purchased | 0 borrowed | 1 free/gifted | 6 for review All review copies were provided for free in exchange […]

June TBR

Posted May 30, 2022 / 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. June TBR I got behind yet again in April because I spent the last week of the month with friends on a vacation, which meant I didn’t really have solo time for reading… despite hoping I’d get to enjoy some time with my books in the hot tub! In any case, I hope (as usual) that I can get back on track in May. The month is somewhat busy at the beginning but I’m hoping some car rides will allow for audiobooks… woof. Review Copies I’d love to get ahead on some review copies that are coming out later this summer, like SUMMER ON BLACKBERRY BEACH and THE TRUE LOVE BOOKSHOP. I’m desperately needing some summery romance books so a few of these will hit the mark! SOMETHING WILDER is the latest Christina Lauren and I actually don’t even know what it’s about, but it looks summery. I’ve also been super into thrillers lately so I’m hoping that I’ll keep up with reading those, like VERY BAD PEOPLE and THE COUNSELORS. And finally, I have an audio review copy of I KISSED SHARA WHEELER – I really hope to get to that […]

My Highest Rated Authors

Posted May 20, 2022 / Book Lists, Discussions, Features / 0 Comments

As I wrote yet another glowing review for a Rachel Lynn Solomon book, I wondered if there’s any other author that I consistently rate as high. Taylor Jenkins Reid is up there. Anyone else? Katie Cotugno? I started thinking about this and decided to roll through all of the authors I’ve read and figure out which ones I’ve rated the highest in my years of book blogging. It was a little tedious but my parameters were the following: (1) I needed to have read three or more books by the author to count them for this experiment, since two books can sometimes be a fluke. Novellas or short stories in anthologies did not count as “one book” in the totals to determine if the author should be included, but… (2) …I did include novella book ratings in the rating calculation. For example: I read four books by the author, one of which was a novella, so that was counted for ratings purposes. I didn’t include short stories within anthologies because then I’d have to go into the review post and find the individual story rating. (3) I did not include authors where I’ve only read one series by them (3+ books). Saying I loved the Good Girl’s Guide to Murder trilogy doesn’t necessarily mean that Holly Jackson herself is on my highest rated author list, since I’ve only fallen in love with one series by her. For all I know, her next series may not hit me as hard. I did include […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 2022

Posted May 11, 2022 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

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 had a lovely reading month in April because my books were highly anticipated AND I loved them all. I wish I managed to finish 2 more books before the end of the month, but I didn’t end up doing any reading on my vacation during the final week. Oh well. 4 books read in April 4 new books • 0 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 1376 • Average rating: 4.63 stars Sources: 4 review copies Formats: 4 egalley Genres: 4 contemporary Age Target: 4 adult Check out my 2022 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 4 read this month | 18/40 read total Featuring a party, by latinx author, fulfills prompt from past challenge (written by a woman), title begins with last letter of previous read Calendar of Crime Challenge None this month – all contemps! Breakdown: 1 purchased | 0 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 9 for review All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review From Macmillan: I Kissed Shara Wheeler (audio) by Casey […]

May TBR

Posted May 4, 2022 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 1 Comment

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. May TBR I got behind yet again in April because I spent the last week of the month with friends on a vacation, which meant I didn’t really have solo time for reading… despite hoping I’d get to enjoy some time with my books in the hot tub! In any case, I hope (as usual) that I can get back on track in May. The month is somewhat busy at the beginning but I’m hoping some car rides will allow for audiobooks… woof. Review Copies I did a great job of focusing on upcoming releases in April – I love when I can delete covers from the previous month’s TBR here! The only holdover is ALWAYS JANE. Usually I dive right into Jenn Bennett books but this one hasn’t had amazing reviews, so I’ve been hesitating. I recently got a review copy of THE CHANGE and it’s actually already been published so hopefully I’ll get to it soon. Seems intriguing! Otherwise, VERY BAD PEOPLE and SEE YOU YESTERDAY are early May pubs so I should hop on them as well. I have other May egalleys I want to read but I’ll leave […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2022

Posted April 6, 2022 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

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. March was a better reading month than February but I’m definitely still behind. I managed to finish four books in two days to finish off the month strong. I had preordered two cookbooks that published the last week of the month so I was able to read both of them, then finished off the audiobook I’d been listening to and the egalley I’d been reading. 6 books read in March 6 new books • 0 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 1872 • Average rating: 3.92 stars Sources: 2 preordered, 2 review copies, 2 borrowed Formats: 2 egalley, 1 hardcover, 1 paperback, 1 audio, 1 mixed Genres: 3 mystery/thriller, 2 nonfiction, 1 contemporary Age Target: 5 adult, 1 young adult Check out my 2022 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 4 read this month | 13/40 read total Set during a holiday, with a recipe in it, reflected image, becoming a 2022 movie Calendar of Crime Challenge Pub month, money/fortune Breakdown: 7 purchased | 0 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 6 for review […]

April TBR

Posted April 4, 2022 / 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. April TBR March was not the worst, thanks to some cookbooks, but I still got behind on my reading challenge. I finished one egalley, one audiobook, and two cookbooks within the last two days of the month to get somewhat back on track. It just took me forever to read things and I wasn’t ever in the mood to read. Review Copies I’m still playing catchup from March review copies and need to get ahead in April. I have IN A NEW YORK MINUTE, ALWAYS JANE, THE NO-SHOW and THE SUITE SPOT on deck. Audiobooks and/or Owned I have a copy of MAJESTY as an audiobook and maybe an ebook? Not sure. I have a copy of THE PARIS APARTMENT coming in my Book of the Month box so I hope to read that and also listen to the audiobook on Scribd. We’re hopefully going to read FRIENDS LIKE THESE for my book club this month and I bought the ebook on sale recently.

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2022

Posted March 10, 2022 / 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 didn’t do all that well in February but I’m going to blame the short month. I could’ve had one more book completed if there was a normal amount of days in February like every other month! 3 books read in February 3 new books • 0 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 1008 • Average rating: 3.83 stars Sources: 2 review, 1 purchased Formats: 2 mixed, 1 hardcover Genres: 2 mystery/thriller, 1 retelling/contemporary Age Target: 2 adult, 1 young adult Check out my 2022 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 2 read this month | 8/40 read total Two POVs, cutlery on the cover, set on a boat Tackle My TBR February: Romantic Read (Didn’t Read) Calendar of Crime Challenge Cover item (flowers): Reckless Girls by Hawkins Breakdown: 0 purchased | 0 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 2 for review All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review From St. Martins: Home Field Advantage by Adler From Hachette: All Fired Up by Newton How was your reading month? What do you have […]

March TBR

Posted March 2, 2022 / 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 January was a good month where I got ahead on reading! Here’s hoping February is some of the same. I’ll be focusing on some review copies, as always, and the two library books I’ve had forever. Review Copies I did a terrible job with reading in February. Yes, it’s a short month, but WOOF. Here are the same review copies from last month I didn’t get to. Luckily I think my review copy load for this month is a bit smaller so I can catch up and get back on track there. Audiobooks and/or Owned I have some audio/physical/etc. combos for the month as well. I’ve been dying to read the next FINLAY book but I don’t like reading more than one book of the same genre at the same time. I’ve had a ton of review copies in the mystery/thriller space so I haven’t been able to listen to this via audio. That’s a top priority for me. I also have a copy of MAJESTY as an audiobook and maybe an ebook? Not sure. And finally, I have a copy of THE PARIS APARTMENT coming in my Book […]