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 […]

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

After reading Kate’s TTT recently and leaving a rambling, unnecessary comment about one of the books, I realized that there are a few books out there where I have VERY specific memories attached to them. (I’ve also done this with music!) I can vividly remember and feel the place I was while reading or listening to the audio. I thought it might be fun to share some of them with you! Specific Bookish Memories    I started A Discovery of Witches back in college… and never really finished it. I vividly remember reading this while working out at my school’s gym, for the limited amount of time I actually went to the gym lol. I think I started it while I was home on break and continued when I was at the gym at school. I don’t know why but that specific memory always comes to mind when I see this book. I need to finish/start over someday! Three Day Summer was such a cute book. I always picture this excellent Instagram picture I took at Chris’s parents’ house. I remember laying by the pool and reading it on my float, then drinking a perfect smoothie while reading. I featured the picture here. On the flipside (seasonally), I read Cure for the Common Breakup in the winter months. I was randomly looking for an audio series to start while we went skiing one night, and I remember frantically downloading this on the drive to the mountain. I laughed and smiled to myself like a butthead […]

Each month, Andi poses a monthly topic for the Contemporary Romance challenge. I try to participate in my wrap-up posts if it’s a quick, short list, but I like to have a full post about it when I have A LOT to discuss. This month’s topic involves the contemporary romance releases (publishing in the second half of 2017) that we’re most looking forward to reading. Here we goooo!    Who’s That Girl by Blair Thornburgh | July 11th 16 Ways to Break a Heart by Lauren Strasnick | July 25th Wesley James Ruined My Life by Jennifer Honeybourn | July 18th   Top Ten by Katie Cotugno | October 3rd My New Crush Gave to Me by Shani Petroff | October 31st Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills | December 26th    You Don’t Know Me but I Know You by Rebecca Barrow | August 29th The Chaos of Standing Still by Jessica Brody | November 28th This is Not the End by Chandler Baker | August 8th

Everyone knows that Sarah Dessen is the queen of contemporary romance and adorable, coming-of-age summer stories. I have read and loved most of her books already, but I made it a point recently to read (or in a lot of cases, reread) all of her books. Her books are important to so many people and really are what got many of us into reading contemporary romance books. This summer, Cristina from Girl in the Pages and I have teamed up to talk alllllll about Sarah Dessen – when we started reading her books, our experiences with rereading, and other fun discussions, recommendations, and personal stories. Our feature will take place over four weeks this June, starting today for me and tomorrow for her. Here’s the schedule: Introduction, Our Sarah Stories, and Discussion of Someone Like You June 7th on Bookmark Lit – June 8th on Girl in the Pages Dessen Recommendations and Similar Stories June 14th on Bookmark Lit – June 15th on Girl in the Pages Blog Features: Cover Colors (BL) and Event Recap (GitP) June 21st on Bookmark Lit – June 22nd on Girl in the Pages Once and For All, Dessen Favorites, and Wrap-Up June 28th on Bookmark Lit – June 29th on Girl in the Pages For the final week in our Dessen feature, we wanted to highlight Once and for All, as well as discuss some of our favorites! I’m still in the middle of my reread so I’m not sure I could give a full rank order […]