Category: Book Lists

Companion Series in Cozy Towns

Posted August 14, 2017 / Book Lists, Features / 3 Comments
Companion Series in Cozy Towns

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 / 4 Comments
End of Summer Reading Plans

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 […]

Best Covers of Books I Didn’t Like Much

Posted August 4, 2017 / Book Lists, Features / 14 Comments
Best Covers of Books I Didn’t Like Much

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

August TBR

August TBR

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 […]

Bookish Memories

Posted July 25, 2017 / Book Lists, Features / 8 Comments
Bookish Memories

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 […]

Make Me Read It Readathon | Poll, TBR, and Tracking

Posted July 17, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features, TBR Lists / 8 Comments
Make Me Read It Readathon | Poll, TBR, and Tracking

Hosted by Ely @ Tea & Titles and Val @ The Innocent Smiley /// August 6th to 13th Look at the books you own, either physical, e-book or ones you’ve borrowed from the library and pick out a few you really want to read, or feel like you should read. It’s up to you how many you pick, personally I’d pick a few more than you expect to be able to read in a week. Example: if you think you’ll only read two, pick out five books or if you think you can read seven, pick out ten. Make a list of these books on your blog, or make a video, or a Goodreads shelf or post a picture on Instagram—whatever is easiest for you. Then get friends, other bloggers/booktubers etc. to vote on which books you HAVE to read. When the readathon comes along, you read the books in the order of most votes. For example, if one book gets 10 votes—you read that first, then the one that got 7 and so on. If there’s a tie, then it’s your preference. The goal is to read as many as possible. I’m excited to participate in this readathon for the third year in a row! (See other years here and here if you’re curious.) In the past, I’ve exclusively used books from my shelves and library books. This year, I definitely want to mix in some egalleys and ebooks (since I’m working with less physical copies lately!). I usually rank the books in order […]

Contemporary Romance Challenge – TBR Update

Posted July 12, 2017 / TBR Lists, Uncategorized / 4 Comments
Contemporary Romance Challenge – TBR Update

As usual, I signed up for the Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge, this year hosted by my love Andi. I generally blow this challenge out of the water because over half of the books I read each year would be classified as “contemporary romance” or just plain contemporary fiction. I’ve been trying to make my reading a little more even with fantasy, mystery, and sometimes historical fiction, but it doesn’t happen. I challenged myself this year to read a 21-book-TBR of contemporary romances I couldn’t believe I hadn’t read yet. Here’s how I’ve done so far…   HAHAHA nice work, Lauren.  So, clearly I have some reading to do. I know it will be nearly impossible, knowing me, to actually read the other 19 remaining books on the TBR between now (mid-July) and the end of the year. I just don’t think I’ll motivate myself to do it, especially when I’m trying to prioritize other genres too. This post really just exists to shame myself into reading these damn books: I do HAVE some of these books with me in Portland (either physical copies I brought, galleys on my Kindle, or found them elsewhere like Scribd, the library, or a library-related app). Some of my physical copies are still in Connecticut but I hope I’ll get to them. I think it’s most likely going to be the summery books I get to somewhat soon, since that’s my favorite thing to read. I’m going to try to split this TBR in half to […]

ContRom Challenge Topic: Anticipated Releases

Posted July 7, 2017 / Book Lists, Features / 8 Comments
ContRom Challenge Topic: Anticipated Releases

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

July TBR

July TBR

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… June Progress     June was apparently when I read all of my highly anticipated books! Between finally reading JUNIPER LEMON, diving immediately into ONCE AND FOR ALL, and also finally starting LUCKY IN LOVE (at the end of May), it felt nice to read a bunch of solid books in a row. I didn’t do too bad on my TBR. June – toward the end of the month – definitely got a bit crazy, but I managed to keep reading. On Deck for July ARCs to Read    The Possible by Tara Altebrando I Believe In a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo In Some Other Life by Jessica Brody So yes these are repeats from previous TBR posts, but whatever. I am bringing all three to Portland tomorrow (eek!) so they’ll be read soonish. I need to send IN SOME OTHER LIFE back to Marg before it’s published as well. I’m not sure why I keep putting these ones off.  Egalleys    A Short History of the Girl Next […]

(Re)Reading Sarah Dessen | Wrap-Up – Once and for All and Dessen Favorites

Posted June 28, 2017 / Book Lists, Features / 4 Comments
(Re)Reading Sarah Dessen | Wrap-Up – Once and for All and Dessen Favorites

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 […]