Category: Book Lists

Top Ten Tuesdays #295: Most-Read Authors

Posted July 7, 2020 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 2 Comments

Most-Read Authors (Recently/Overall) Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I’m always interested in revisiting this stat when the prompt comes around! I feel like I used to read so many long-running series like Gossip Girl and The A-List with millions of books, so those super random authors would be in my top list. Goodreads removed the most read authors feature so I decided to look at some of the books I’ve read in recent years and think about my go-to authors. This isn’t a technical list where I sorted and counted, but a general idea! Sara Shepard I have to include Shepard as my most-read author, even just because of the endless Pretty Little Liars series. I’ve continued to read all of her releases (yes I’m two behind right now) too, so there’s about a million books read by Shepard. Cecily von Ziegesar After reading Gossip Girl and the many spin-offs, I was wondering what she’d write in the future! She finally has a release coming out this October and I’m reading an egalley as we speak. I love the cover and it’s awesome to see her stick to the rich-ish NYC themes I loved so much (and hated because good lord), but it’s definitely more adult. […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #294: Anticipated Releases

Posted June 30, 2020 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 3 Comments

Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of 2020 Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I feel like so many pub dates have shifted that a lot of my books from my post for the first half of 2020 would move into this list! I’ve decided to keep this list away from those books (to highlight more), since I already posted about them. I also am going to avoid review copies AND books from my Summer TBR posts (here and here). Therefore, we’re looking at books being published between late September and December. I absolutely couldn’t put down Dear Martin when I read it so you know Dear Justyce is on my list. I hope it’s equally impactful and quick to read! I’m super excited for A Deadly Education because it sounds similar to Harry Potter with a wizarding school. Gorgeous cover too! Simmer Down focuses on the food truck scene, which is something I’m super into in general, so this will be awesome. Another fun cover too! I love books set over the course of one day, and This Is All Your Fault involves saving an indie bookstore too. Sounds right up my alley. The Truth Project is another one that drew me in because it’s a bit of Lauren-bait. DNA results come back and […]

Summer Bucket List

Posted June 25, 2020 / Book Lists, Features, Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc., TBR Lists / 1 Comment

I write similar posts every year, where I share the items on my summertime bucket list and the summery or beach-setting books I hope to read. While my reading has been shit, I usually can count on my nice porch to bring my reading mojo back. I’m finding that working from home, for some reason, makes me read LESS and not more. I hope the warm weather continuing will help me get into reading. Bucket List & To-Do’s Take a couple of local nice-weather day trips We’re blessed to live about an hour away from Mystic, one of my favorite places in Connecticut. Our state overall has been doing much better than many others from a Covid transmission perspective, so things have been reopening. I’m still not ready for indoor dining personally and have yet to eat outside on a patio (even though that’s been open for multiple weeks already), but I feel ready for that part somewhat soon. Anyways, I hope to take a day trip or two in Connecticut on a nice weekend day (and/or during our Fourth of July week of vacation!) to Mystic and probably Niantic or a similar coastal town. Enjoy friends’ backyards and pools We’re still social distancing to a pretty decent extent, but we’ve been able to see friends from a distance by setting up chairs in backyards and hanging out that way. One of our friends has a nice swimming pool so we’re hoping to spend time over there and grill out […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #293: 10th Anniversary

Posted June 23, 2020 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

Top Ten Tuesday Turns 10! Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. It’s the 10th anniversary of Top Ten Tuesday this year, so we were tasked with looking at old topics and using them for this week. It could be picking an old one you missed, updating a past topic that you’ve done, or adding ten more books to a previous list. I’ve done various posts like slump-busters or books I couldn’t put down, and given that this year has been garbage for reading, I thought I’d do another one of these. Here are the recent books that grabbed me, I couldn’t put them down, and they helped break my slump a little bit.

TTT: Summer TBR Part Two (Aug/Sept)

Posted June 17, 2020 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

I usually don’t mind including more than ten books in a TTT but there are just SO many good summertime releases to highlight on my TBR (like… more than 20)! I thought it would be more fun to spread the love between two posts this week to share the books from June/July yesterday and August/September today. I’m going through the technical end of summer (September 22nd). August They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman | Umm, Gossip Girl meets One of Us is Lying? Sold. Super duper sold on this one. It’s a murder mystery set at a prep school on Long Island. I am SO excited for this – cannot wait. More Than Just a Pretty Face by Syed M. Masood | I’m intrigued by this one – I don’t usually read books from a male POV but this one sounds good. The main character tries to become a “renaissance man” to prove to his longtime crush (and her family) that he’s worth her attention, but he ends up falling for his “tutor.” The Love Scam by Maryjanice Davidson | I have to admit that I love the cover more than the synopsis, but it does seem interesting! I think the gist is that a guy starts getting scammed by someone and then people fall in love… lol. Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim | Okay I’m nervous about this one. I was obsessed with the cover and premise for her debut but I ended up not really loving it […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #292: Summer TBR Part One (June/July)

Posted June 16, 2020 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Books on my Summer TBR Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I love making TBR posts even when my reading is hot garbage. I ended up with over twenty books to highlight between late June and late-ish September, so I decided to split this summer TBR into two posts! You’ll see the books from late June and July today, and books from August and September (through the 22nd) tomorrow. Late June You Say it First by Katie Cotugno | I’m a huge fan of her work and this cover is adorable. I can’t tell if it’s really the “people from opposite ends of the political spectrum come together and work it out” kind of book – it seems like it’s on the verge but mostly centers around them having conversations about a variety of topics. Summer at Lake Haven by RaeAnne Thayne | Another season, another time I’m surprised by a new Haven Point book! She keeps releasing them and I’m always excited 🙂 I’m jazzed to read about Samantha too! Girl, Unframed by Deb Caletti | I didn’t read her last release, which many people loved, but this one seems more up my alley – it’s a thriller where a girl returns to […]

June TBR

Posted June 3, 2020 / 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. Last month’s progress and approach for June: Lol I read TWO books from my TBR for May. I spent most of my time reading two cookbooks, one graphic novel, and one coffee table book. The others were random picks that I was in the mood for at the time. I’ve decided to follow along with my reading in May and just read whatever comes to mind, but following specific categories (like I used to do). There is one book that I have to read for book club, below, and then I’ll discuss each of the bookish categories I hope to follow and read ten books in June. Must Read THE DECK OF OMENS has been on my TBR since it was released but I just haven’t gotten to it. We chose it for our virtual book club this month since we read the first book together recently. I will definitely be going back-and-forth with the physical copy I ordered and the audiobook. TBR Category Method for June Sometimes it works best for me to choose a bunch of categories and make it a goal to read a book that fits within that […]

May TBR

Posted April 30, 2020 / 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. Last month’s progress: SIGH. WHAT IS READING?! I go through phases where I read a REALLY good book and it inspires me to read 1-2 more in a row, and then I stop reading for like a week. It’s frustrating as hell. I actually didn’t fully stick to my TBR last month either because I kept switching things around for the Magical Readathon, which I did complete! Woohoo! I also managed to read all of the egalleys I listed in my review copy section, except for one. Another score! Non-Review April Leftovers I had this listed last month for the Magical Readathon (and other reasons) but I never got to them. I’m keeping THE DECK OF OMENS, HOUSE OF EARTH AND BLOOD, and THE ART OF LAINEY on my May TBR, but I’m not sure that I’ll read them… as usual. I’m hoping to get to DECK as soon as possible since I have the audio and physical copy to mix in throughout the month. Review Copies Super impressed that I read all of my egalleys last month except one! This month has a lot of new releases but there were quite a few […]

April TBR

Posted March 30, 2020 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 3 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. Last month’s progress: Woof y’all. Yes, I did a good job of sticking directly to my TBR for the most part (especially where it counts, like the review copies and blog tours)… but my reading is still kind of shitty. There are some moments or days where I’m in the mood to read, but the whole COVID-19 thing has not motivated me. I wrote a post on this actually. Anywaysss I’m behind on my reading challenge and just hoping this is a season of poor reading instead of a permanent change in my reading life. We’ll see! Magical Readathon I signed up for the Magical Readathon (OWLS) the other day and listed a whole TBR over there to meet the prompts to become a Professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts 🧙🏼‍♀️🧹🤓 These books all fall under various potential prompts for the readathon, which you can read about on that post instead. THE DECK OF OMENS comes out this month and I’m super excited for it. HOUSE OF EARTH AND BLOOD is from last month – more on that later. THE ART OF LAINEY is a super backlist book I have to read […]

March TBR

Posted February 28, 2020 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 4 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. Last month’s progress: I got so bogged down trying to read KING OF CROWS (which is fine because it was wonderful) that I got super behind on my reading. I wish I was able to finish a book before KoC was published, because then I would have gotten on track. I spent the rest of the month constantly two books behind schedule and trying to catch up. I snuck in a short non-TBR book, which helped during my car rides, but overall it was a weird reading month. I was unmotivated to read for the majority of the month, so some TBR picks will carry over into this month. Review Copies I’ll be reading THE JUNE BOYS for the pub month and then ALL YOUR TWISTED SECRETS and SUPER ADJACENT for blog tours. My backlist choice is MARRIAGE ON MADISON AVENUE and my freebie is UNDERCOVER BROMANCE since it comes out this month too. I also was just added to another blog tour for the end of the month for THE SEA GLASS COTTAGE (not pictured but below). Required Reading Book Clubs We picked GHOSTED for my adult book club because one of the […]