Category: Features

Reading Rush Sign-Up and TBR/Challenges

Posted July 19, 2019 / Book Challenges, Features / 3 Comments

I’d heard of Booktubeathon on and off over the years, but definitely assumed it was more for Booktubers. With the recent name change to Reading Rush (learn more and sign up there), I decided to finally investigate and participate! The gist is that you just try to read as much as possible during this week. The coolest part of the challenge, in my opinion, is that there’s a website you can sign up for and track your reading progress. All of your stats will populate and you can really see how much reading you got done during the readathon. Add me as a friend HERE! I’d love to hang out and track with ya 🙂 More information is here in the video: Goals This Reading Rush readathon will be taking place from July 22nd through July 28th, so I am trying to mold my July TBR into this challenge without having to skip books I’m supposed to read, or read too much outside of the initial TBR I picked. I can’t imagine that I’ll read 7 books for this one because I do have weekend plans that will hinder reading. I’d love to finish 4-5 books during the readathon and only finish/read books that meet challenges below. A few books from my July TBR will likely get read this week to finish off the month, but I’m hoping to sneak in a few other books I’ve been meaning to read (if I finish everything else in time!). The reason for this is that ARC August […]

Lauren Lately | July 2019

Posted July 17, 2019 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

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 Lobster rolls and local exploring | Chris and I went to a local lobster roll and ice cream shop when exploring into a new county near us. We had great food and walked through the woods to see their fairy gardens! They also sold nice plants and just had a great vibe in general. We went down to a skatepark nearby Chris was meaning to try too. Jen’s Mystic bachelorette | Chris’s sister chose Mystic for her bach location because she wanted something near the ocean and relaxed. It was perfect! I’ve never been on a bachelorette trip with such a small amount (meaning ZERO) of drama. Everyone was a virtual stranger to everyone else and there were no cliques at all. We got along great and had a fun/relaxing time! Book club, grad party, and the beginning of porch time | I’ve been going to book club at a local […]

Reviews Made Me Reconsider

Posted July 12, 2019 / Discussions, Features / 5 Comments

I’ve been thinking of writing this post for a while but was afraid it would come across as mean or bashing these particular books and authors. I know a lot of people don’t enjoy writing bad reviews for books (I love a good rant sometimes, but not all the time!), so I wasn’t sure how to approach this. AND THEN I said screw it, because it’s my blog and I do what I want. There are plenty of books out there that make their way onto my TBR and then the reviews start rolling in… and I change my mind about reading them. Of course, the reverse is also true: I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read a book and then some glowing reviews came in and I decided that I should try it out. Here’s a little list of some of those books and why they’re on or off my radar now, thanks to my favorite bloggers. Again, but Better by Riccio | I did actually start reading this one but didn’t jive with the writing style, to be honest. I stopped reading it because many, many others did not enjoy this one as much. I saw Chelsea discussing her thoughts on it, plus reviews from Madalyn (which wasn’t necessarily bad but just mixed!) and Amber (mostly about the writing and telling instead of showing) that didn’t make me want to prioritize finishing this book. The Wedding Date by Guillory | This is a weird one because I went on to […]

Christmas in July

Posted July 11, 2019 / Book Lists, Features / 1 Comment

You guys know how much I love reading Christmassy books during the holiday season, usually just between November and December. This year I thought it would be fun to do a little “Christmas in July” list to share which holiday books I’m already thinking about for my 2019 reading list. I was somewhat inspired by YA Book Nerd’s recent TTT about Christmas romances! I won’t actually read any of these books prior to November, I’m certain, but here are some early reads for your TBRs 😉 Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella Series: Shopaholic Pub date: October 17, 2019 Celebrate Christmas with the ultimate Shopaholic! The brilliant laugh-out-loud festive novel from the Number One bestselling author. Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) adores Christmas. It’s always the same – Mum and Dad hosting, carols playing, Mum pretending she made the Christmas pudding, and the next-door neighbours coming round for sherry in their terrible festive jumpers. And now it’s even easier with online bargain-shopping sites – if you spend enough you even get free delivery. Sorted! But this year looks set to be different. Unable to resist the draw of craft beer and smashed avocado, Becky’s parents are moving to ultra-trendy Shoreditch and have asked Becky if she’ll host Christmas this year. What could possibly go wrong? With sister Jess demanding a vegan turkey, husband Luke determined that he just wants aftershave again, and little Minnie insisting on a very specific picnic hamper – surely Becky can manage all this, as well as the surprise […]

2019 Mid-Year Challenge Progress & Future TBRs

Posted July 8, 2019 / Book Challenges, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments

I always do a middle-of-the-year recap to see how I’m doing on my goals, challenges, statistics, and TBR plans. Sometimes it’s the kick in the pants I need or the moment when I decide to let myself off the hook for once. Either way, last Wednesday’s post was about all of the books I’ve read and their related statistics, as well as my general goal progress based on the resolutions I created at the beginning of the year. Today, you’ll see my challenge progress and potential TBRs/plans for me to finish things up. I’m a big fan of reading challenges and decided to expand a little bit. Instead of doing ones I’d finish very easily, I wanted to do some more specific ones with categories that would open up my reading a bit more. Monthly Motif Challenge Goal: 2 themed books monthly ||| Current completed: 16 JANUARY – New to you author Pretty in Punx – Crompton This Lie Will Kill You – Pitcher The Last Best Story – Lehrman FEBRUARY – Cover love King of Scars – Bardugo I Owe You One – Kinsella Small Town Hearts – Vale MARCH – Royalty, kingdoms, empires, gov’t Her Royal Highness – Hawkins The Goose Girl – Hale Enchantee – Trelease APRIL – Crack the case Last Girl Lied To – Flynn You Owe Me a Murder – Cook MAY – One sitting reads Saga, Vol. 5 – Vaughn Saga, Vol. 6 – Vaughn JUNE – Diversify your reading What If It’s […]

May-June Bookish Bullet Journal

Posted July 5, 2019 / Features, Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc., Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments

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. I feel like my bullet journal usage is increasing quite a bit, which is nice! I feel like I was stuck in my rigid selection of page layouts for each month (new release tracker, reading tracker, and TBR), but I’ve been trying to make readathon or challenge-specific pages to enjoy tracking other things! This round-up of layouts will likely be longer and bigger than the previous time I posted about this 😉 May ARCs and New Releases: I really like the way this page turned out at the top! As usual, I tracked my review copies with asterisks next to the titles, highlighted the release weeks, and included other releases I’m excited about. May TBR: Phew this looks like a bad month for reading from my TBR! I don’t remember why I read so off-base but I think this was one of those months where I included too many options, especially review books I wasn’t overly into. May Reading Tracker: Now that I look at how lopsided my tracker is, I can tell […]

2019 Mid-Year Reading Statistics & Goals

Posted July 3, 2019 / Book Challenges, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

I always do a middle-of-the-year recap to see how I’m doing on my goals, challenges, statistics, and TBR plans. Sometimes it’s the kick in the pants I need or the moment when I decide to let myself off the hook for once. Either way, today’s post is about all of the books I’ve read and their related statistics, as well as my general goal progress based on the resolutions I created at the beginning of the year. Next Monday, you’ll see my challenge progress and potential TBRs/plans for me to finish things up. As you see in my monthly wrap-ups, I keep my stats updated each time. The spreadsheet I use is definitely the reason for my organization. I use this time of year (in addition to the end of the year) to REALLY go all-out with my stats. It also helps me create new goals or update existing ones. I may decide I really should read more fantasy or more books from my own shelves. I’ll highlight all of the books I’ve read so far in general too. All of the Books Read So Far I always make a resolutions post to explain the reading, blogging, and personal (but somewhat bookish) goals for the year. I usually don’t revisit these too much but I hope this midpoint check-in is enough to make them top of mind again. I’ll talk about my “progress” on each of these goals/resolutions and let you know if I consider it a pass, fail, or […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | June 2019

Posted July 1, 2019 / 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 start every post like “woah what a weird reading month!” but I have to say… June genuinely was a bizarre reading month. I had one book leftover from mid-May that I FINALLY finished in mid-June, plus another book that took me around three weeks to read throughout the month. I finished a bunch of books in a row after not finishing any for like a week. I finished books every day between 6/16 though 6/19 (even finishing two books on the 19th). So yeah, I was either reading nothing, slogging through something forever, or finishing a million books in rapid succession. I ALSO signed up for Summerathon on a whim this past week so it motivated me to polish off a handful of summery books in a row as well. All of the books from this month: Check out my 2019 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 2 read this month | 31 read total | 78% complete L-R: Reread of a favorite, book that shares same title Monthly […]

July TBR

Posted June 28, 2019 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 2 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 Progress I had a weird reading month for June because of my travel plans AND because I managed to stretch two books for way too long. I’d keep picking other things up for various required reading plans and then putting AURORA and NATALIE TAN aside for days or weeks at a time. I knew I wanted to finish both of them off in June, which I finally managed to do. I read for blog tours, book clubs, readathons, and just for myself! Up Next in July Summer Reads As discussed in my summery TBR post from the other day, I have a bunch of seasonal reads to check out over the next couple of months! I got off to a good start with Summerathon at the end of June, but there are plenty for July. I don’t need to post the same cover images so any of the books HERE will be possibly read in July! FaerieAThon Valiant by Holly Black I read TITHE last month to start FaerieAThon and VALIANT is next for this one. I love that the reading is broken up for each day because it really helps […]

On My List (8)

Posted June 27, 2019 / Features, On My List / 2 Comments

I love Jamie’s New to the Queue feature because it highlights new things she’s added to her different “to do/ read/ watch/ etc.” lists. This new random feature – called simply On My List – will show off the most recent books, movies, shows, podcasts, recipes, crafts, and other things to make it on my to-do list. Currently Available Searching for Sylvie Lee by Kwok | This book sounds utterly fascinating. It’s about three members of a Chinese immigrant family and what happens when the eldest daughter disappears. A bunch of family secrets come out and a mystery develops throughout. Eeek! A Beach Wish by Noble | I’ve been adding a bunch of summery books to my TBR despite the fact that I bet I won’t get to them this year (womp, that’s not a very positive outlook). This one is set in a New England beach town (yes please). When the MC’s mom passes away, she goes there to spread her ashes, and learns that she has relatives she never knew about. The Summer Guests by Monroe | This author is always added to my TBR but I haven’t loved anything yet. Regardless, this story sounds good – it’s about an eclectic group of people who evacuate to a friends’ farm and bring only the essentials. They have a challenging week together and I’m intrigued. Unreleased Books Untitled Panem Novel by Collins | I cannot believe there’s going to be another book in this effing series. I genuinely didn’t see that coming. I have a good feeling […]