Category: Features

Spotlight: Backlist Books (2016)

Posted September 20, 2019 / Features, Spotlight / 1 Comment

Backlist Books My new Spotlight feature highlights anything within the bookish world that I feel deserves a spotlight for a few minutes – publishers (or more specifically, imprints!), new or old favorite authors, bookish people/bloggers, covers or cover trends, topics/genres within books, and anything else that should be on your radar. One of the bigger issues with book blogging is that we all tend to chase the new pretties. We get excited for new releases, read advanced copies, and yell about them… until the next new release comes around. I do love having TTT posts to highlight books from ALL reading and blogging years, but I often notice myself reaching for the same titles on those posts too. I’ve tried to bring some old books to the blog with my Nostalgia Project, reread-a-thons with Cristina for books from our pasts, and Backlist Book challenges, but it doesn’t feel like enough. I think now would be a great time to pull out a bunch of Spotlight posts that focus on books I read in specific ~past years~ that I loved, yelled about at the time, and have since not talked about as much. Each Friday of September will feature one year of books/releases from my blogging past, from 2014-2017. BL Favorites from 2016 Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama | I really enjoyed this one and it was completely unexpected! It was recommended to me for a challenge prompt and I ADORED the audiobook especially. Great story! Close Enough to Touch by Colleen […]

#ReadForGrace

Posted September 19, 2019 / Book Challenges, Features / 5 Comments

In July of this year, we lost a beloved member of our bookish community. Grace at Rebel Mommy Book Blog was an absolute light in our corner of the internet. She left positive, sweet, and thoughtful comments on ALL of our blogs. I could always count on kind words from her on a post. We spoke a lot via blog comments and on Twitter, and I grew to really cherish her friendship. I can’t emphasize enough how genuinely lovely she was as a person. When I had the unfortunate task of sharing the news of her passing, after a long and extremely hard-fought battle with breast cancer (twice), my feed was flooded with love for her. The word “kind” was the most common word to describe her, and I wholeheartedly agree. Despite the challenges she faced in the last year or two, she was always positive and bright across our community. She shared her journey and struggles with us and genuinely kept fighting until the VERY end. She sadly left behind a devoted husband and three young children, including her youngest who was only just over a year old at the time of her passing. She was the epitome of what the good in our community can look like and not a single day has passed since she left us that I haven’t thought about her or missed her. In honor of Grace and all the good she brought, I wanted to put forward a simple challenge for those of […]

Lauren Lately | September 2019

Posted September 18, 2019 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ What I’ve Been Up To Reunion and brunch | My family got together for a reunion in mid-August, just to see a few people while they were in town. It was a low-key day with some food and horsehoes, which I am terrible at. The next day, I had brunch with two of my best girlfriends. Family stuff: sister day, tattoos, and wedding | My sister moved into college for the first time at the end of August (!!!!!!) so we had a little day off together. We got lunch, shopped, and got some matching tattoos. We each got each other’s birthday around our ankle area. A few days later, Chris’s sister got married in Mass! We had a wonderful weekend celebrating with everyone and it was genuinely such a fun time. Day trip to Niantic | I made my lobster roll bucket list at the beginning of the summer, aiming to eat 10 lobster rolls […]

Fall Bingo TBR Ideas

Posted September 16, 2019 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 1 Comment

Another season, another round of bookish bingo! Bekka posted the new card on Twitter instead of on her blog this time around, so go check that out! As usual, this is mostly updated (as of 9/13’s finished books and current reads) with what I’ve read for the first half of September. My TBR ideas are subject to change of course! Read or Currently Reading Paranormal | Lair of Dreams by Bray I finished LAIR OF DREAMS this month for the Diviners Readalong. I’ve said it a hundred times by now, but I never should have slept on this series. I love it so much. The first book is my favorite of these two so far, but I am prepared for shit to get real in the next two books. Non-linear narrative | Girls’ Night Out by Steinke / Fenton This story alternated between three friends, but one of them went missing. Her perspective was in the past while the other two characters were primarily in the present day, after she went missing and they’re tying to find her. Definitely non-linear with these snapshots of the past! Author of color | Of Curses and Kisses by Menon I’m currently reading this one and I guess I could say I’m savoring it… but really I just haven’t been in the mood to read anything… even a book by one of my favorite authors. It’s intriguing so far and has a completely different feel than her other books! Reread | The Darkest Part of the […]

Spotlight: Backlist Books (2015)

Posted September 13, 2019 / Features, Spotlight / 0 Comments

Backlist Books My new Spotlight feature highlights anything within the bookish world that I feel deserves a spotlight for a few minutes – publishers (or more specifically, imprints!), new or old favorite authors, bookish people/bloggers, covers or cover trends, topics/genres within books, and anything else that should be on your radar. One of the bigger issues with book blogging is that we all tend to chase the new pretties. We get excited for new releases, read advanced copies, and yell about them… until the next new release comes around. I do love having TTT posts to highlight books from ALL reading and blogging years, but I often notice myself reaching for the same titles on those posts too. I’ve tried to bring some old books to the blog with my Nostalgia Project, reread-a-thons with Cristina for books from our pasts, and Backlist Book challenges, but it doesn’t feel like enough. I think now would be a great time to pull out a bunch of Spotlight posts that focus on books I read in specific ~past years~ that I loved, yelled about at the time, and have since not talked about as much. Each Friday of September will feature one year of books/releases from my blogging past, from 2014-2017. BL Favorites from 2015 I had a lot of favorites that I read in 2015 but still talk about, so I’m going to only focus on the ones that I don’t feature on my blog QUITE as much as others! I’m also […]

Blog Tour | Cover Colors: The Babysitter’s Coven

Posted September 12, 2019 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 3 Comments

About the Author Goodreads | Website | Instagram I’m a YA write or die, originally from Kansas but now living in California. I’ve written for Cosmopolitan, NYLON and Seventeen, amongst other magazines, and worked with brands including Urban Outfitters, Vans and Calvin Klein. The Babysitters Coven is my first novel, but fingers crossed it won’t be my last. Blog Tour Stops September 11th The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club – Welcome Post September 12th Moonlight Rendezvous – Review + Favourite Quotes Bookmark Lit – Review + Cover Colours TBR and Beyond – Review + Playlist + Dream Cast The Reading Chemist – Review Musings From An Addicted Reader – Review September 13th Here’s to happy Endings – Review Hauntedbybooks – Review + Favourite Quotes Flipping Through the Pages – Review Phannie the ginger bookworm – Review + Favourite Quotes The Bibliophagist – Review September 14th Confessions of a YA Reader – Review + Favourite Quotes Ambivert words – Review + Favourite Quotes The Art of Living – Review Pages Below the Vaulted Sky – Review The Book Dutchesses – Review + Favourite Quotes September 15th The Book Nut – Review + Playlist Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile – Review The Layaway Dragon – Review + Favourite Quotes Kait Plus Books – Review + Favourite Quotes A Dream Within A Dream – Review September 16th Bookish Geek – Review Artsy Draft – Review + Favourite Quotes We Live and Breathe Books – Review Bookish In Bed – Review + Favourite Quotes The Desert Bibliophile – Review September 17th Wishful Endings – Review Novel Nerd Faction – Review Lili Lost in a Book – Review The Mind of a Book Dragon – Review […]

Spotlight: Backlist Books (2014)

Posted September 6, 2019 / Features, Spotlight / 3 Comments

Backlist Books My new Spotlight feature highlights anything within the bookish world that I feel deserves a spotlight for a few minutes – publishers (or more specifically, imprints!), new or old favorite authors, bookish people/bloggers, covers or cover trends, topics/genres within books, and anything else that should be on your radar. One of the bigger issues with book blogging is that we all tend to chase the new pretties. We get excited for new releases, read advanced copies, and yell about them… until the next new release comes around. I do love having TTT posts to highlight books from ALL reading and blogging years, but I often notice myself reaching for the same titles on those posts too. I’ve tried to bring some old books to the blog with my Nostalgia Project, reread-a-thons with Cristina for books from our pasts, and Backlist Book challenges, but it doesn’t feel like enough. I think now would be a great time to pull out a bunch of Spotlight posts that focus on books I read in specific ~past years~ that I loved, yelled about at the time, and have since not talked about as much. Each Friday of September will feature one year of books/releases from my blogging past, from 2014-2017. BL Favorites from 2014 Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver | This is one of my favorite books in general – I’ve even reread it, which I never do. I read it for the first time in 2014 and it’s the book that […]

July-August Bookish Bullet Journal

Posted September 5, 2019 / Features, Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc., Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

When I mentioned the idea of sharing layouts from my reading-related bullet journal on the blog, most of you seemed interested to read about it! I can’t justify making one post each month dedicated to the 3-4 bujo pages I make during that month, so I thought doing a little bullet journal update every two months would be fun instead! In these posts you will see all of the new pages I added during the past two months. July New Releases: I’ve been keeping my spreads super simple lately and this is a leftover picture from last month! The Summerathon page was from June but the next page begins my July-related layouts, obviously. Summer TBR and Bucket List / All Grown Up Book Club: I made a post on the blog where I discussed some of the books I wanted to read this summer, as well as the summery things I was hoping to accomplish outside of reading! I did a decent job in July for some of these. I also included a little schedule for the All Grown Up Book Club’s reading of THE FLATSHARE in July. July TBR: Pretty straightforward TBR and I did really well on it! I had a mix of required reading books, readalongs, book clubs, review copies, etc. As usual, I did the worst at reading owned physical copies of books. Oh well. July Reading Tracker: I read very consistently in July and managed to finish my “reading numbers” in the middle of the month. Everything […]

Contemporary-a-Thon | Sign-Up & TBR

Posted September 4, 2019 / Book Challenges, Features / 1 Comment

Information Despite the fact that I never need motivation to read contemporary fiction, I’m hoping that this read-a-thon will just be a fun reading boost within my favorite genre! I’ve come to really love Chelsea’s channel (video announcement below) and watch literally everything she posts, so I felt very compelled to join in. This read-a-thon goes from Monday 9/23 to Sunday 9/29, and the liveshow on Chelsea’s channel will be Saturday 9/28 at 6pm PST / 9pm EST. I won’t be able to watch live, unfortunately, as I’ll be up at my sister’s college for family weekend and various birthday happenings in Maine, but I still plan to read my buns off. Goals There are seven challenges, which I’ll discuss and plot out below, so my goal is to read seven books during the read-a-thon! I don’t mind if the seventh one is incomplete as long as I manage to start it and make a good dent by the end. My other goal is to read MOSTLY review copies, as that’s an area I always need help in. If it’s not a review copy, it should be an owned book that’s on my shelf and would hopefully apply to my Picky Pledge and/or other challenges I have to complete. I’m also reaaaaally hoping that I can post an Instagram picture for each of the days/challenges. Challenges & TBR I’m basing my TBR completely off of the challenges for this round. A lot of them were pulled from my September TBR but […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | August 2019

Posted September 2, 2019 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 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. Lol if July was impressive as hell (14 books, 10 of which were completed by the midpoint of the month), August was a big ol’ fail for ya girl. I also didn’t enjoy the VAST majority of August’s books. I should have known I wouldn’t be able to read quite as much based on some my plans, but again, I still feel out of sorts? I’m not feeling quite like myself and don’t have a lot of interest in reading, blogging, being on the internet… I can’t shake it. I’m getting better and back into the swing of things now that my favorite month is here! I also think I’m a little burnt out on book blogging specifically, so my second blog I’ve been thinking about may get going by the end of the year. We’ll see! This blog won’t go anywhere though <3 All of the books from this month: Check out my 2019 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 0 read this month | 31 read total | 78% complete This month: Ghost […]