Category: Book Lists

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 […]

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 […]

ARCs I’m Excited About

Posted June 21, 2019 / Book Lists, Features / 6 Comments

After writing my TTT about my most anticipated books for the second half of the year (and removing any books I currently have for review), it would be good to highlight some review copies I DO have that I’m excited to read! I need to genuinely be a lot better about reading ARCs and sticking to the schedule I’ve talked about but I just get so goddamn sidetracked all the time. Without further ado, here are some egalleys I have waiting on my Kindle that I’m super pumped to read in the second half of the year! We Came Here to Forget by Dunlop | I requested this a long time ago because I liked the sound of Dunlop’s debut (even bought it!) and wanted to motivate myself to read her books. This one is about a skier who loses everything and moves to Argentina to reinvent herself. Stealing Home by Wallace | I was pitched this one by email and it was a very easy “yes” to make! I love romance books surrounding sports, even if I don’t pay much attention to the sport IRL 😉 I love that the MC is gunning to become the GM of a local minor league team and is thrown a curveball (hehehe). Past Perfect Life by Eulberg | This is another author who I’ve been really meaning to read. The synopsis is perfectly vague, where the MC basically learns that her entire life is a lie and she doesn’t “exist” by the name she knows. […]

A Royal Change of Heart

Posted June 7, 2019 / Book Lists, Discussions, Features / 3 Comments

As I said in my review for the first book in the Royals series, I am not a royal kind of gal. I’m uninterested in the real royal family over in England and haven’t gravitated toward media options about fake royals either. Not faulting anyone who is into it, but it’s just not me. I’ve noticed (I’m sure everyone has at this point) that writing books about royal families around the world has certainly grown in popularity, even just in the few years since I started blogging! The first one I can think of off the top of my head is, of course, The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. I got swept up in the hype of this one, despite my actual lack of interest in it, and own the book. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I obviously haven’t read it yet and truly don’t know if I ever will at this point, but I know many who adored the book. Since its publication, I’ve noticed a huge influx of royal-related books come out. For whatever reason, my generation (some people older and younger too, obviously) is so into this topic right now. I’m guessing it’s because we all thought Prince Harry and William were hot and grew up admiring these young royals. Now that they’re even older, got married, and have families of their own, we’re clamoring for more. I say “we” meaning my group of peers… but not really including me. H o w e v e r, there have […]

Summer Bingo TBR Ideas

Posted June 6, 2019 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

Hosted by Lock & Rose As usual, I’m here with another seasonal bingo TBR post and a quick recap on last month. I’m never married to these TBRs because things change and some books can go in multiple categories, but it always helps to have this post to check on again when I forget what to read next! Last month’s spring bingo card was a success – I ended up reading ALL the books for the prompts. I hope for the same success for summer bingo! I’ll dive into the books I’ve already read or am currently reading first and then get into the TBR part. Currently Reading / Already Completed Orange cover Screen Queens by Goldstein | I got lucky that there are multiple San Francisco books on my TBR for this week! I’ll talk more about that in a couple seconds but I had to read this Silicon Valley-based story for the blog tour this week. I didn’t have as much reading time over the previous weekend as I expected but I was able to get through this one in the nick of time, as well as use it for this prompt! Illustrated cover Aurora Rising by Kaufman/Kristoff | I started this in mid-May and just didn’t end up with a lot of audiobook reading time. I checked the hardcover out from the library though so I do hope to finish it very soon after the current California trip. I’ll hopefully listen to the audio on the plane too, depending […]

June TBR

Posted May 30, 2019 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 5 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. May Progress I did a decent job in May, primarily thanks to blog tours and graphic novels! I also managed to read (or attempt to read) a few review copies. AGAIN, BUT BETTER just didn’t strike my fancy when I read the first few pages and I decided very early on to cut my losses, especially after seeing other similar reviews for the title. I got through SAGA volumes 5 and 6 for my Monthly Motif Challenge, which was for “one-sitting reads”…even though I didn’t technically read them in one sitting. They’re still books you could read in one sitting 😉 Up Next in June FaerieAThon Tithe by Holly Black I eagerly signed up for this readathon when it was half-announced a few months ago (when we all learned that QUEEN OF NOTHING would be happening in November instead of January!). It’s hosted by Jane, Kristin, Alexa, and Mel, and involves reading Holly Black’s backlist from June through November. There are some books I plan to read and reread, while I will possibly not dive in to others. (I could listen to some audiobook rereads during the work day.) I know with […]

Far, Far Away Books I Literally Cannot Stop Thinking About

Posted May 27, 2019 / Book Lists, Features / 7 Comments

There have been plenty of posts (this one recently) where I talk about unreleased, upcoming books I’m excited about. (If my TBR keeps growing, yours needs to as well!) I usually only do books with covers because reading an entire post about books without a *single* cover image is not my favorite thing, personally. HOWEVER there are so many books that are too far away to have covers that I can genuinely not stop thinking about. I’m going to include some kind of related and/or excited GIF (gotta make up for the lack of covers somehow, no?) for each book and what we know about it so far. St. Rosetta’s Academy series by Sandhya Menon (2020) Jennifer Ung at Simon Pulse has acquired NYT Bestselling author Sandhya Menon’s St. Rosetta’s Academy series, each book a contemporary fairy-tale re-telling, set at a prestigious boarding school for modern royals. The first book, Of Curses and Kisses, is a spin on Beauty and the Beast and follows an Indian princess who must con her worst enemy, a misanthropic British aristocrat, into falling in love with her in order to restore honor to her family. Publication is slated for 2020. The three book deal was brokered by Thao Le at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. Like… excuse my French but are you fucking kidding me? I need this series more than I need the air I breathe. Everything about this is perfect and has me written all over it. The author, the boarding school […]

May TBR

Posted April 29, 2019 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 5 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. April Progress I definitely was successful in reading only ARCs in April, but I didn’t get as much reading done a I usually might. I managed to get my book club choice done as well as some backlist/already published ARCs. I did a buddy read of ROSA with Nick and it was great! Overall, solid month of sticking to the TBR despite not reading as many books in general. Up Next in May Review Copies (Egalleys) Again But Better by Riccio, The Printed Letter Bookshop by Reay, Passion on Park Avenue by Layne, Hungry Hearts edited by Richmond and Chapman, Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune by Lim Blog Tours Romanov by Brandes [also for Retellings Challenge] Only Ever Her by Whalen Physical Books / Review Copies / Audiobooks Review copies: Fame Adjacent by Skilton, Welcome to Last Chance by Ramsay, The Summer House by Hale, The Devouring Gray by Herman, The Lovely and the Lost by Barnes [not pictured] Picky Pledge / audiobook combo: Emerald Green by Gier Picky Pledge: Saga #5-6 by Vaughan [not pictured] Other TBR Business Monthly Motif: One Sitting Reads – I’ll be reading at least […]

Series I’ve Religiously Read

Posted April 8, 2019 / Book Lists, Discussions, Features / 13 Comments

I was thinking about this the other day when I was working on a review round-up post. I realized that one of the books on there is one where I would religiously read the next book, the new release, each year it came out. I tend to get behind on a LOT of series, where I read one or two books and then sleep on the rest like a dummy… but there are some series, in the past few years, where you’d find me reading the next book ASAP (within the first month or so after it came out). I figured I would do a little post to honor those and talk about this phenomenon in general. These are also books where the first book published, I read it ASAP, and then continued the series. I won’t be talking about those like Haven Point or Black Dog Bay where I read a bunch of backlist ones first to catch up. I’m also going to avoid duos or trilogies where the next ones haven’t come out yet. OKAY, here we go! Beautiful Idols by Alyson Noël I really enjoyed some other works by this author back in the day and this series was a bit of a crack-book kind of thing. I couldn’t stop reading them; they were deliciously dramatic and easy to read, like Gossip Girl or The A-List. Any book series that reminds me of those nostalgic, super long and crazy series from high school, will probably be devoured by me […]

[ARC] April TBR

Posted March 29, 2019 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 11 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. March Progress I did a fucking great job with my TBR this past month! I was determined to get some challenges going (okay yes just the Retellings Challenge) while finishing up required reading (book club picks, review copies, blog tour, etc.). I did DNF the first book listed above because I couldn’t get into it. Oh well. I only read one book that wasn’t on my TBR because I didn’t realize I’d be able to get it so quickly through Hoopla. Up Next in April As I’ve done in the past, I’ll use the months starting with A for focusing on reading ARCs! There’s the actual ARC August challenge but sometimes I make my own little ARC April. I’ll be definitely doing that this month, with the exception of audiobooks (unless it’s an already-published review copy I have that now as an audiobook available) and my book club/required reading picks as needed. You’ll see, based on individual goals below, I’m hoping to make at least 6 books review copies during April (but ideally I would read more like 8-10, or all of the books I read) Review Copies (Egalleys) Past […]