Category: Features

Lauren Lately | August 2017

Posted August 16, 2017 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 0 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 ✨ Cape Elizabeth / Portland Head Lighthouse | We weren’t sure what to do the day before Jen came to visit (a Saturday) so we decided to take a little trip down to Cape Elizabeth, which is around 20 minutes away from us. There’s a huuuuge land preserve with the Portland Head Lighthouse. Apparently it’s one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world. It was gorgeous, so I can see why. We walked around there a little bit, took pictures, and got a fantastic lobster roll with local Maine sodas. Jen’s visit and first trip home | Chris’s sister was coming to Maine for a few days to take her nursing exam (she passed!) and stay with us. We didn’t do anything too crazy while she was there, since she lived in Portland for two years (literally in the apartment next to ours…) and didn’t need to sightsee. We hung out and watched movies (you’ll see […]

Companion Series in Cozy Towns

Posted August 14, 2017 / Book Lists, Features / 0 Comments

I’ve talked about this love of mine in a few series reviews for the Black Dog Bay and Blue Heron series, but I recently promised a full post about it. I LOVE these companion series with cozy small towns. It’s hard to use any other words (as you can tell from my repeated use of these ones), but I’m sure you get what I mean. Most of them on my TBR or that I’ve read are more ~adult~ contemporary fiction, but there is one YA series that I can think of. My biggest thing about these series though? I love how characters connect to each other and show up again in later books. That’s the biggest reason I refuse to read companion series out of order. I don’t ever want to miss a cameo or easter egg because I didn’t go in order. So, without further ado… here are some of my favorites, including the reasons I love them, and some on my TBR. As always, give me some recommendations if you have them! Black Dog Bay Reviews Why I love it: Out of the series I’ve read here, Black Dog Bay is definitely my favorite setting. Many of the reasons I love it will be below in the unique features section, but just know that this town is definitely the most unique out of these three. I loved getting to know each character and seeing them reappear in the rest of the series. It’s absolutely a setting and series […]

End of Summer Reading Plans

Posted August 10, 2017 / Book Lists, Discussions, Features / 3 Comments

Each summer, I tell myself I’m going to read allll of the beachy books between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It kind of never happens that way. I have the best intentions and even SAVE some books specifically for that time period, but my ARCs, library books, and other required reading always takes precedence. I have decided NOT to allow that to happen this August. I’m going to read the books I genuinely want to read and make me feel super summery. Finish The A-List reread Cristina and I have been binge-reading THE A-LIST for a feature at the end of the month (and just because we needed the nostalgic, easy-to-read binge right now). To give myself a little credit, these books take place in California (and other warm places like Vegas and Mexico sometimes), so I am getting those summer vibes I hoped for. I’ve finished the first half of the series so now I can focus on the rest ASAP. Ignore a readathon I signed up for the Make Me Read It Readathon, which is one of my favorites. I was all prepared to read my three books that were chosen, but I just couldn’t bring myself to stop reading the series above instead. The readathon is almost over and I haven’t touched the books and honestly? I don’t think I’ll bother. I’m always so gung-ho about readathons because they’re fun to sign up for and make a TBR. When the time comes to start reading, I’m rarely […]

Cover Colors: Juniper Lemon’s Happiness Index

Posted August 9, 2017 / Cover Colors, Features / 3 Comments

It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with book covers. I love the colors, the typography, the different designs that cover artists can create. I even have a guest post feature where people share their favorite book covers and bookmarks! I decided to start up this random feature where I draw color inspiration from my favorite book covers. I may create an outfit, pick out some nail polish, or design a quote graphic. Today’s cover is… Juniper Lemon’s Happiness Index by Julie Israel I’m honestly not sure why I love this cover so much. The colors and the confetti really just kill me. I tried to make this outfit kind of muted like the cover is, with touches of confetti or polka dots throughout – the phone case, earrings, notebook, and clutch all remind me of it in different ways. I like that the shirt on the cover is so plain and almost 1950s like. I pictured a dress with a peter pan collar and lucked out with this one below! I had to include a notebook because much of the book involves notecards and writing things down. Juniper Lemon’s Happiness Index by bookmarklit featuring a deborah lippmann nail polish

Weird Reading Habits: Favorite Authors & Binges

Posted August 8, 2017 / Discussions, Features / 5 Comments

I’ve come back to the topic of favorite authors a few times. I’ve wondered what makes and author a favorite to you. I’ve also shared that I often save books by my favorite authors so I always have at least ONE I’ve never read before. Because some fellow bloggers have done some author binge reads lately (like Hannah and Kelly reading Beatriz Williams back-to-back-to-back-etc., or my friend from high school reading all TJR in a row), I started to think about my strange habits with reading books by my favorite authors. I adore the idea of falling in love with an author and enjoying their entire backlist in a row. It sounds like such a great, happy-making binge… but for some reason, I totally could never do it. Do you/can you binge multiple books by the same author in a row, or do you have to separate them? (Not counting a series binge) — Lauren (@bookmarklit) July 12, 2017 It seems like most of you guys can! More power to you. Again, I’m jealous. I just have this thing where unless it’s a full-scale series binge, I can’t read multiple books by the same author in a row. I like the idea of spreading things out more! There are a lot of reasons for this, but the biggest one is to make sure I don’t blend them all together in my head. I have a bad bookish memory as it is! Also, I prefer to keep a couple of books around in […]

Best Covers of Books I Didn’t Like Much

Posted August 4, 2017 / Book Lists, Features / 14 Comments

Because I’m crazy about book covers, there are plenty of books I read JUST because the cover is pretty. Of course, there are also lots of books with shitty covers that are worth reading. I just hate when I read a book with a nice cover and the book ends up not meeting my expectations. Not everything that glitters is gold, eh? I just hate that I fall for certain covers and then never really get to use them for anything fun, since the book didn’t meet my expectations. Here are some of the best covers of books that I didn’t end up liking very much. All of these are 3.5 stars or under – so not too bad – but it does go in order from the “worst” books to the “best” books of the bunch, in terms of my ratings for them. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender | Even When You Lie to Me Meet Me Here | Love Letters to the Dead Things We Know by Heart | I’ll Give You the Sun Kiss Cam | A Little Something Different The Summer of Chasing Mermaids | Even in Paradise

The Reading Quest Sign-Up

Posted August 2, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features / 10 Comments

Hosted by Read at Midnight | August 13th through September 10th | Info I kept seeing the adorable graphics being teased for this readathon and had to sign up. Not gonna lie, I’m really not a gamer or anything. I just think these cute people are worth having on my blog and it seems like a really fun one. I had the hardest time deciding between the Knight and the Mage tracks on the board, based on my TBR I was thinking of for August. Anyways, here are some more details and some of my plans for it! Some Rules to Track Experience Points Pick a path and stay on it; complete the side quests in the middle for more EXP Each character starts with +10EXP from the beginning Books give you +10EXP, graphic novels give +5EXP, marginalized authors give +20EXP Completing the quest before the challenge is over gives you +50EXP; complete another character’s quest on the board and get +30EXP Characters level up with every +50EXP they earn Health Points Each character starts with +10HP from the beginning Every 10 pages read give +1HP (graphic novels give +1HP for 20 pages) Tweeting with #TheReadingQuest gives +1HP (maximum of +20HP allowed from social media) Photos of books from the quest give +1HP (still max of +20HP for social media) Probable TBR I decided to (tentatively?) go with the Knight character for this quest. I think that path best describes what I might be reading in the next few months. If […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | July 2017

Posted August 1, 2017 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin was created to wrap up each month and prepare for the next. I share my book haul, books I read and reviewed, posts I shared, challenge updates, and more from the previous month. I also let you know what may be coming up on the blog in the coming month. You can read past bulletins here. I recently split out my personal posts into the Lauren Lately feature, so this is a bit shorter! My goal was to at least make it to ten books this month and I really didn’t care how I did it. I started reading two books toward the end of the month that didn’t fully grab my attention and/or were too long, so I kept picking up quick and short contemporaries in between to meet my goal. Oh well! I’m hoping for some more reading soon because I want to hit the beach and parks and such. Hope you guys had a nice month of reading! Mine was so weird haha. Also, worth mentioning that I read five 4-star books in a row and it made me uncomfortable 🙃 Average rating for books read in June: 3.75 stars Highlights & Lowlights This month’s books: Year-Long Contemporary Romance Challenge 7 this month | 51 read total | 510% complete Books read from the pre-planned TBR: 0 this month | 2 total Series Enders Challenge 3 this month | 12 read total | 120% complete Spring Bingo Challenge Book Reviews Discussions, Memes, and More Breakdown: 25 bought | 1 borrowed | […]

August TBR

Posted July 31, 2017 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features / 8 Comments

I recently started a monthly TBR feature, where I try to pin down which books I plan to read in the upcoming month. It also helps remind me throughout the month which books I’m supposed to be reading, for various reasons. I add a little poll at the bottom too, so you guys can vote and help me narrow down some of my options as well. Here are my top TBR choices for this month and how I did last month… July Progress I definitely went a little off-book for July! I kept reading random ebooks from the library or my Kindle without really thinking about what was on my TBR for the month. Oh well! I was happy to bang out the above egalleys – one was wonderful and heartbreaking (GIRL NEXT DOOR)… the other was terrible (36 QUESTIONS). Here’s hoping I read more summery books in August (especially ones on the TBR. Cough). I also started IN SOME OTHER LIFE before the end of the month, so I’m counting it here, of course! On Deck for August For Review All Things New by Lauren Miller The Dirty Book Club by Lisi Harrison The F Word by Liza Palmer I recently got quite a few books on Negalley, because of course I decide to ruin my percentage JUST when I was getting incredibly close to the 80% pipe dream. I hope to bang out a few of them since I’ve been liking my digital reads lately. I’m not […]

I Need More Books Like THESE

Posted July 26, 2017 / Discussions, Features / 9 Comments

Lately I’ve been finishing books and thinking, MAN I could use another book just like that. It’s either because the topic or story was so unique that I can’t stop thinking about it, or the book itself just fully encompasses what I look for in a certain type of book. Today I’m sharing three books or series I’ve read recently that I’m hoping you can provide some comp titles for. Think you can help me out!?