Category: Features

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | August 2024

Posted September 5, 2024 / 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 can’t get past the eight-book hump which always puts me on track or one book behind on my reading challenge! I know September will be harder because of my birthday and the usual things I do in early fall. I hope to get another 8-9 books done at least! 8 books in August 8 read • 0 reread • 0 DNF Pages read: 2,776 • Average rating: 3.44 stars Genres: 4 mystery/thriller, 2 contemporary, 1 nonfiction, 1 magical realism Formats: 4 mixed, 3 egalley, 1 hardcover Sources: 4 review, 2 preordered, 1 purchased, 1 borrowed Age Target: 6 adult, 2 young adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts! Popsugar Reading Challenge: 36% 52 Book Club: 63% Book Cover Bingo: 84% 24 in 24: 29% Breakdown: 5 hardcovers | 1 paperback | 0 egalley | 1 ebook | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Physical Books Purchased at RJ Julia event: East Coasting by Chitnis, The Pairing by McQuiston BOTM: Like Mother, […]

September TBR

Posted August 30, 2024 / 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. September TBR I was generally okay in August but had some stretches where I didn’t read very much. September is typically a tough reading month for me because it’s my birthday and usually I do a lot of things to enjoy the end of summer and hopefully some fall-like weather. You’ll definitely also see a lot of holdovers from last month… Egalleys I have some already published egalleys I didn’t include here even though I definitely should do a recap on that at some point. I had THE EXAMINER and TILL DEATH DO US PART on here last month and I’m kind of shocked to still have the former on my TBR. I thought I would have read it asap because of how much I love Hallett. I just had a lot of mysteries to read in August and it meant that I couldn’t double up with my formats like I do. I also hope to maybe get ahead with REMEMBER ME TOMORROW since it publishes in October. Preordered & New Releases Again, the first three are from last month. I definitely assumed I’d get to them but alas. […]

Ranking Books by Favorite Authors | Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Posted August 22, 2024 / Book Lists, Features / 2 Comments

I thought this was going to be a more common series on my blog but I basically wrote one post and never tried it again! The idea came from the late Grace at Rebel Mommy Book Blog. I still miss her positivity in the book community and hope I can keep doing this post justice! Previous installments include Sandhya Menon, Rachel Lynn Solomon, and Christina Lauren. Today I’ll be featuring… Jennifer Lynn Barnes I wrote my review for the latest Jennifer Lynn Barnes book and realized that she’s definitely one of my favorite authors. I always forget that she wrote one of my favorite YA duologies THE FIXER – that series is due for a resurgence like THE NATURALS has gotten! I’m not going to rank series (since that’s what she usually writes!) – I’m going to actually rank individual books across all of her series, much like I did in the TTT the other day. 5 Stars The Long Game // Clearly JLB knows how to finish a series! The sequel to THE FIXER is one of my favorite books by her. I just remember wishing she’d continue this series and let’s hold out hope she could if people start reading it again, okay?? The Final Gambit // I really enjoyed the way she initially wrapped up THE INHERITANCE GAMES series, before writing some spinoffs. I think it had a super satisfying ending with lots of final twists along the way. 4.5 Stars The Fixer // If you actually look at average […]

Most Anticipated Reads of 2023 – How Did I Do?

Posted August 15, 2024 / Book Lists, Features / 2 Comments

I started to draft this post AGES ago and decided I’d finally finish it up… now that we’re more than halfway through 2024 lol. There are always a few “most anticipated” posts on the blog each year to pull from so let’s see how I did. Did I actually read all the books I thought I would? Overall Stats 39 books on my most anticipated lists for 2023 Read 17 books (44%) | Didn’t read 22 books (56%) Ratings of books read: 5 stars = 3 books = 18% 4.5 stars = 4 books = 24% 4 stars = 9 books = 53% 2.5 stars = 1 book = 5% Books I Managed to Read Overall, a pretty good job here! I feel like the books I did read are not surprising: they’re by favorite authors that I never miss, or the premise was THAT exciting to me that I knew I’d certainly read it. 13 out of the 17 completed books were authors I’d read and loved books from before. 5 Stars 4.5 Stars 4 Stars Under 4 Stars Books I Didn’t Get to There are a lot of books on here lol I think again the main issue with MOST of these were that they were new-to-me authors, or authors I haven’t had success with in a while but used to love. For example, I DNFed my last Kasie West book so I was nervous to read this one.

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | July 2024

Posted August 5, 2024 / 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 had a super solid start to the month thanks to Summerween… which also explains the high number of mysteries and thrillers this month! I also just was in the MOOD for them. You’ll see a ton of them next month too because most of the books on my immediate TBR are mysteries. Hopefully I can mix in some romance too otherwise I may burn out lol. Two books at the end of July were a slog so that’s why I didn’t read as many as initially expected. And this was easily my worst reading month maybe ever rating-wise. 8 books in July 8 read • 0 reread • 0 DNF Pages read: 2,745 • Average rating: 3.25 stars Genres: 4 mystery/thriller, 2 contemporary Formats: 5 mixed, 1 ebook, 1 egalley, 1 paperback Sources: 2 purchased, 2 review copies, 1 library, 1 owned, 1 borrowed, 1 BOTM Age Target: 8 adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts! Popsugar Reading Challenge: 32% 52 Book Club: 56% Book Cover Bingo: 76% 24 in 24: 25% […]

August TBR

Posted August 1, 2024 / 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. August TBR I did a good job of keeping on track in July for the most part and hopefully will keep rolling with a lot of fast-paced thrillers in August. I’d love to get ahead on my reading this summer so I can read some bigger/longer books later on. It seems like the bulk of the books on my TBR are mystery/thrillers or suspense so hopefully I can find a way to include some romances! Woof. Egalleys – ARC August I have some already published egalleys I didn’t include here even though I definitely should do a recap on that at some point. I hope to read A NOVEL LOVE STORY finally (despite its mid reviews) and know for a fact I’ll be getting in some favorite mystery authors this month too. I usually participate in ARC August, where I want the vast majority of my reads to be review copies in the month. There’s a decent chance I make it happen because I can guarantee a few of these will get read… let’s say my ARC August goal is that 1/3 of my books this month are review copies. Preordered […]

Christmas in July: Upcoming 2024 Holiday Books

Posted July 31, 2024 / Book Lists, Features / 0 Comments

I’m really sneaking this in right at the end of the month because honestly time has not been REAL this year! I can’t believe we’re at the end of July already. I still thought it would be helpful to some folks to write my upcoming holiday releases post, even if it’s half-assed with no links or descriptions. Contemporary Holiday/Christmas Romance Holiday-Themed Fantasies Christmas Mysteries

10 Years of Book Blogging!

Posted July 17, 2024 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments

Believe it or not, this little blog is officially ten years old today yesterday. I started it one summer after finishing BEFORE I FALL by Lauren Oliver, reading some Goodreads reviews and seeing blog links in the reviews, and thinking… I could do that too! Why not? I like to read, I like to write, and I love starting and abandoning new hobbies. Well, joke is on 2014-Lauren because somehow, against all odds, 2024-Lauren still semi-regularly blogs here. The pandemic took a bit of a toll on this space for me and I’ve seen SO many blog friends come and go over the last ten years, and here I still am! Throwback to the OG header as I dive into some of the reading stats across this fucking decade. Note: stats are thanks to Storygraph, since all of my data has been imported there and is the best place to find everything. I can’t promise that it’s 100% accurate but I feel fairly confident in these numbers lol. Ten Years of Reading According to Storygraph, I’ve read over 1200 books since July 16, 2024. That’s insane. It equates to over 404k pages. I also included the fun mood chart here to give you a sense for my reading life over this ten year time period. Clearly I’m still a romance girlie (despite the fact that the bulk of those books are from the first 7ish years lol). My average time-to-finish is 5 days, which checks out in the grand scheme […]

2024 Midyear Reflection and Stats

Posted July 5, 2024 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments

Midyear Reflection, Book Stats, and Challenges I’ve been doing midyear “wrap-ups” for years now and they’ve taken many forms. This year I’m going to expand a little more than just showing my stats and moving on, since I set a lot of goals and TBRs that I REALLY need to check in on. I’ve been failing miserably at a few and doing okay at others. Midyear Book Stats 50 / 100 Books Read Annual Goal Check-In Stay on track or ahead of my Goodreads challenge 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’m currently on target because my goal was to get to 50 books read by the midpoint of the year, which is halfway to my 100-book goal, and I did! It says I’m a book ahead even though I’m kind of not so we’ll see. I’ve spent most of the year on track or behind, not on track or ahead. Keep up Instagram stories about TBRs and completed reads ✅ I’ve been amazing at this. Book reviews, monthly TBRs, and monthly wrap-ups are all present on my Instagram stories in highlights. Read my 24 in 24 😬 I’ve only read five of these but I do have plans to attack them as noted in my challenge check-in area below. I went ahead and planned which months I’ll read certain books in to ensure I complete the challenge, since I was really hoping to! Read bigger books ✅ I was going to give myself a shrug-emoji rating here but then I remembered that […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | June 2024

Posted July 3, 2024 / 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. June had some help because I finished a May holdover on the first day of the month, and then kept momentum going from there! Our vacation helped; I think I finished two books that weekend alone. 10 books in June 10 read • 0 reread • 0 DNF Pages read: 3,554 • Average rating: 4 stars Genres: 4 mystery/thriller, 3 contemporary, 2 dystopia, 1 graphic novel Formats: 7 mixed, 2 egalley, 1 paperback Sources: 3 owned, 2 library, 2 review, 2 preordered, 1 purchased Age Target: 6 adult, 3 young adult, 1 middle grade Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts! Popsugar Reading Challenge: 26% 52 Book Club: 46% Book Cover Bingo: 72% 24 in 24: 21% Breakdown: 12 hardcovers | 0 paperbacks | 3 egalleys | 1 ebook | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Physical Books BOTM: Jackpot Summer by Friedland, A Talent for Murder by Swanson, One Perfect Couple by Ware Preordered or purchased: Past Present Future by Solomon, What Happened to […]