Category: Book Lists

ARC August Sign-Up: Goals and TBR

Posted July 17, 2016 / Personal / Information / Etc., TBR Lists / 2 Comments

ARC August is hosted by Read Sleep Repeat. I debated for a really long time (probably too long of a time) if I should do ARC August. I totally fail at ARC-related challenges in general because honestly? I forget about them. I finally decided to just do it because I have a lot of books that I am genuinely excited to read that are ARCs. I’d love to get a head-start on some of the fall releases I have as well as catch up on already published ARCs I still have sitting around. Goals My goal is pretty simple this time. I’m not going to set a certain number of books because I have no idea how much reading I’ll do in August. My goal is to have a 1:1 ARC to regular/backlist book ratio. If I read one ARC, I can then read a non-ARC next. If I read a total of 10 books in August, 5 of them should be some kind of ARC. I don’t care about allocating the amount of already published ARCs vs. upcoming ARCs, because I’d like to follow my mood reading wherever it takes me! ARCs to focus on Like I just said two seconds ago, I plan to follow my mood when picking books. I don’t want to make a strict TBR as a result. Here are some of the books I’ll likely be focusing on throughout the month because I need to and/or because I’m super excited for them. Below, books published […]

Summer Bingo (Remaining) TBR

Posted July 7, 2016 / TBR Lists, Uncategorized / 7 Comments

Every season for as long as I can remember, I’ve participated in the Bingo cards by Pretty Deadly Reviews. I don’t usually set out to complete the card and make a special TBR for it, but I always think it’s fun to see how how many books I read automatically end up on the card. For this one, I feel like I’m already killing it right away… so I definitely want to make a PLAN to knock this one out of the park and complete every square. So! Now that it’s mid-July-ish, I’m going to determine which books I’m going to read to finish filling out the card. Progress So Far Name in title | Defending Taylor – Miranda Kenneally F/F or M/M romance | History Is All You Left Me – Adam Silvera Red cover | Me Before You – Jojo Moyes Part of 4+ book series | The Assassin’s Blade – Sarah J Maas Magic | Caraval – Stephanie Garber June/July/August release | One True Loves – Taylor Jenkins Reid Water on cover | The Islanders Vol 1 – Katherine Applegate Folklore or myths | Fables Vol 3: Storybook Love – Bill Willingham Starts with S U M E or R | Run – Kody Keplinger Political intrigue | The Long Game – Jennifer Lynn Barnes Weather words in title | Mystic Summer – Hannah McKinnon Book about books | The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend – Katrina Bivald Yellow cover | Summer Days and Summer Nights – Stephanie Perkins Monsters | Throne of Glass – […]

Summer 2016 Goals and TBR List

Posted June 18, 2016 / Book Lists, Discussions, Features, TBR Lists / 14 Comments

When I saw Rachel’s summer bucket list post a few weeks ago, I needed to incorporate some of that into my Summer TBR post that I was planning! I tend to have a lot of summer ideas and then never follow through with them, so this is me holding myself accountable! I have some bookish goals and some personal ones. Then, of course, you’ll see my TBR list for the summer. Read the summery books I planned to read last year As you can tell from the TBR at the bottom, I have some plans to read reaaaally summer-oriented books. There’s nothing like reading a book that takes place on a beach and/or during summertime than in the actual summertime. I made a TBR last year and this year for my beach reads but, as usual, I’m terrible with TBR lists. Go to the Book Barn I adore the Book Barn but it’s about an hour and a half away from me, so I don’t go too often. I actually have some books to sell to them so I really should make that a priority before the summer gets too hot. (Wishful thinking.) We previously enjoyed the Niantic Lobster and Craft Festival and went to the Book Barn after, so maybe we can do that again this year. That ticks off another item on my bucket list too. 😉 Sit on the porch and read more often One of the main reasons we moved from our old apartment to our […]

Make Me Read It | Readathon TBR

Posted June 16, 2016 / Book Challenges, Features, TBR Lists / 14 Comments

Thanks for voting in the poll for this readathon! I laid out all of my potential reads and you guys helped narrow my list down. I pulled some of the top books (more than I’ll actually read, to be honest) and will be reading them in order starting with the most-voted-for book. Hosted by Ely @ Tea & Titles and Val @ The Innocent Smiley /// July 9th through 16th 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. Alright friends, here are the top books that your voting gave […]

Books I’ll Buy When I Have a House with a Library

Posted June 9, 2016 / Book Lists, Features / 25 Comments

I’ve shared my dream library before and honestly, it’s nothing TOO crazy. It’s actually an achievable goal… as long as I someday have a house to put it in. Right now we have a one bedroom apartment. It’s nice and spacious, but Chris and I both have hobbies that take up a lot of space – Lego collecting/building and books. I have two small bookshelves, a medium sized one, and some cubbies in an entertainment unit. I recently purged a lot of books to make more room but I’m already maxed out. I want to buy my some of my favorite books to have as a physical collection, but I just don’t have the space to do it right now. I’m really picky about book buying and acquiring in general, so I don’t have a LOT of books laying around. I’ve preordered some, bought random ones on a whim, and bought favorites after already reading… but there are plenty of my favorite books on my Kindle that deserve a physical space on my shelves. I saved money with the Kindle copy, got it out from the library, or borrowed an audiobook, so now I want to have them for my Instagram! It’s not fun to take a picture of your Kindle screen… So, without further ado – here are some of the books I read, loved, and will buy eventually! I was too lazy to compile pictures with every book in the following series, so I just used the first book’s […]

Top 10 Underrated Contemporary Romances

Posted May 28, 2016 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features / 8 Comments

Why Are You So Far Away?

Posted May 11, 2016 / Book Lists, Features / 14 Comments

Like most bloggers, I get pretty darn excited when I see what books have been acquired and promptly added to Goodreads. Sometimes I read synopsis and think OH MY GOD I NEED IT NOW. Why is 2017 (or even 2018) so freaking far away? I want them in my hands. Immediately. I’m sharing some of the books I’m reallllly excited about that aren’t publishing for what feels like millions of years. (Is this title here an exaggeration? BARELY. MILLIONS OF YEARS I TELL YA!) So, in other words, here are some of the books coming out in 2017 and 2018 that I’m a bit too jazzed up about. Some of them don’t even have a real synopsis yet and exactly zero of them have a pretty cover to share here. So please enjoy my makeshift covers and JOIN ME in impatiently waiting for these booooooks. Comics Will Break Your Heart by Faith Erin Hicks • “the story of two teenagers who find out that their families are the authors on opposite sides of a legal battle over the creation of a comic that’s about to be turned into a big-budget Hollywood movie” BYE. A Line in the Dark by Malinda Lo • It’s a “murder mystery about the shifting boundary between young and adult and the half-seen spaces where friendship slides into love, where love twists into jealousy, and where life crosses over to death.” EEK. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black • This has been on my TBR forever because DUH Holly Black. I’m […]

Bout of Books TBR and Tracking

Posted May 8, 2016 / Book Challenges, Features, TBR Lists / 10 Comments

Bout of Books 16 is Coming Tomorrow! I signed up for Bout of Books again! What else is new? I love participating even if my reading doesn’t increase as much as I always think it will. At least it motivates me to finish some things! More details on Bout of Books: The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 9th and runs through Sunday, May 15th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 16 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team Goal and TBR Original goal: Read only ARCs during Bout of Books! Newish goal: Read ARCs and required reading books (whoops?) So I wanted to get a good start for the Clean Sweep ARC Challenge this month by reading only ARCs during Bout of Books… but it looks like that will get derailed. Based on books I just got and books I NEED to read, my TBR will be a little stricter and a little less ARC-oriented. I plan to read between 3 and 6 books this week! This TBR is subject to change because I may read/finish these earlier than I thought. Let’s see what I’ll be potentially picking from: Because they’re ARCs I […]

Bout of Books 16 Sign-Up | Clean Sweep ARC Challenge TBR

Posted April 29, 2016 / Book Challenges, Features, TBR Lists / 10 Comments

Bout of Books 16 Sign-Up & TBR Options First things first, I am going to be signing up for Bout of Books again! What else is new? This is a pretty great post to tack this onto because it’s going to tie in directly with the Clean Sweep ARC Challenge. More details on Bout of Books: The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 9th and runs through Sunday, May 15th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 16 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team Goal: Read only ARCs (below) during Bout of Books! I would love to get a jump start on the Clean Sweep ARC Challenge by reading only ARCs from the TBR below during Bout of Books. It takes place during the second full week of May, so it’ll be a good way of ensuring that I get off on the right foot. Because I have an actual TBR to choose from, I don’t want to set a specific goal for how many books I’d want to read. As usual, I’d like to read 2-4 books in a week. This is pretty standard for me so let’s see how it goes! […]

Top 10 Favorite Contemporary Romances

Posted April 18, 2016 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features / 7 Comments

As you (probably don’t) know, one goal I had when starting this blog was to feature recommendation lists for people seeking new books to read within different topics. Top Ten Tuesday kind of took over for this area for me, which is perfect, but sometimes I like to create my own. The Contemporary Romance Challenge hosts a monthly topic to partake in. Past topics this year: Anticipated Early ’16 Romances • Recs for Newbies • Favorite Tropes Here’s April’s topic: Favorite Romances EVER Ummm, come on guys this is like impossible for the girl who reads 50% contemporary romance each year out of my reading total. I’m going to keep this very basic with some that I always recommend, no matter what. Sigh, the swooooons… After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid • Yep, I shipped them immediately and wished throughout the entire book that they would get back together in the end. The One That Got Away by Bethany Chase • Huge fan of this book in general, but I really loved the second chance romance element. That always gets me! Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid • Not sorry that TJR is here twice. I loved the friendship in this book even more than the romance, but I actually loved the way this ended. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins • I know that a lot of people obviously love this book (myself included) but don’t agree with how the romance happened. It just never bothered me that much and I ship Anna x […]