Category: Features

Literary and Slow-Burn Mysteries

Posted February 20, 2026 / Discussions, Features / 0 Comments

I’ve always been a fan of mysteries and thrillers. Some of my first memorable favorites were the Pretty Little Liars and Private series, featuring rich teens behaving badly to various degrees. Sometimes murder and death was involved and other times a little less, but still… I didn’t always just read cute contemporary romances when I was a teen! However, I’ve realized that I’m way more likely to read a classic mystery or, more often, a fast-paced thriller. I like the twists and turns and am often disappointed when the book isn’t giving me whiplash with twists. I’m always expecting more from it and that’s probably not fair. One thing I’ve noticed lately is that – despite my nerves about reading them – I really enjoy the slower-burn literary mysteries. I read BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN thinking that it was a bit out of my comfort zone but for some reason it called to me. It was my first book of the year in 2024 and my brief Goodreads review said: This is going to stick with me. I was on the fence about reading it and hadn’t even marked it as “to read” on Goodreads when I bought it on a whim at the store and started it within the week. I don’t follow serial killer true crime stories or podcasts because the victims aren’t at the forefront so my only knowledge of the man “featured” in this book was the Zac Efron movie (watched only because of said actor). This […]

#75booked – Completed!

Posted February 5, 2026 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

I posted back in November that I was doing my own version of 75 booked. I’ll put some of the basics from the first post below, with a few pieces cut out and simplified to explain my reasonings and approach: It was created originally by emilypaigebooks on Tiktok. As you may have guessed, it’s a spin on the 75 hard or 75 soft fitness challenges that go around every once in a while. I’ve usually had a pretty hard stance against those challenges for a lot of reasons, primarily because I think you should always strive for progress over perfection. Any challenge that you have to start over when you “fail” doesn’t actually set you up for developing habits or living a “healthier” life in the long run. You get frustrated and quit and never make any progress on your goals. This is mostly the case for those challenges about working out, fitness, and/or dieting. However, 75 booked caught my attention because I REALLY need to get going and finish my reading challenge. I started it right before a work trip where I literally did not actually have a spare moment to read (I promise, I truly did not) so I decided to actually start it when I got home and could settle in for the next 75 days. I also reduced some of the goals (two 45 minute sessions felt daunting to me and I decided to go down to 30 minutes to ensure I’d actually do it… progress, […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2026

Posted February 4, 2026 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin wraps up the last month in reading and what was on the blog, as well as what’s coming up next. You can check out my book haul, books read, posts shared, challenge updates, etc. You can read past bulletins here. If you’re looking for more personal updates, you can check out my Lauren Lately feature; it highlights my life events and non-bookish fun from the previous 30 days. I was really excited to get off to the races this month, as I increased my reading challenge goal to 100 books this year. I finished 2025 and started 2026 with #75booked so I knew I’d be reading an hour every day to get off to a good start. I also wanted to read the six novellas in the new Unexpected Meet Cute collection, so that also helped. 14 books in January 14 read • 0 reread • 0 DNF Formats: 2 paperback, 2 egalley, 5 ebook, 1 audiobook, 2 ebook/audio, 2 full mix Status/source: 1 preordered, 2 review, 3 library, 1 borrowed, 1 book box, 6 KU Age Target: 13 adult, 1 middle/young adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings! Shelf Reflection Challenge: 18% Read with Allison Challenge: 15% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 17% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 33% Breakdown: 4 hardcovers | 0 paperbacks | 0 ARC | 4 egalleys | 0 ebooks | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Review Copies From Harlequin: Served […]

February TBR

Posted January 30, 2026 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 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. February TBR I did a great job of reading from my TBR in January – I think it was the first time I read all six books featured on the little TBR graphic I post on Instagram. I have just one review copy to move over to February and a new release I want to read this month too. Review Copies I did a really good job of reading my January review copies – minus one, which was an end-of-the-month release – and have four review copies for February. I’m excited about all of these ones and do hope to read them all in the month! Owned/Physical Copies I have a lot of review copies that are on my Kindle, so that means most of the physical books I pick up in February need to be a different genre. I have MY HUSBAND’S WIFE left from last month. I’ve been in the mood to read some fantasy soon and I read a lot of novellas in January to set me up to read less this month, so perhaps I finally get to THE PRISONER’S THRONE or THE ORNITHOLOGIST’S FIELD GUIDE TO […]

2026 Review Copies

Posted January 26, 2026 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

I’ve got some great review copies on deck for 2026. At the time of writing this, I have one January book left to read and am otherwise on track with January releases! Here’s what I’ve got so far to look forward to for the year.

Authors I Must Read for the First Time in 2026

Posted January 16, 2026 / Discussions, Features / 0 Comments

I actually started to draft this post with authors for 2026, thinking it would be a fun idea… and realized I did this exact post last year. As a result, I’m going to update on my success rate from 2025 and then share the authors I hope to read in 2026 below. How Many Did I Read from 2025? I had nine authors on my list last year including the book I assumed I’d read by them. I ended up reading 6 out of 9 authors, but only 3 of those 6 books were the ones I chose. I really enjoyed A KILLING COLD and PARENTS WEEKEND for my first experiences with Kate Alice Marshall and Alex Finlay, but I didn’t enjoy my first Shari Lapena. I will probably read more of hers to see if this was a fluke though… As for the authors I read but chose different books for, a couple of them ended up being random holiday novellas! I wanted to read Richard Osman but apparently thought I’d try his new series first. The new movie version of THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB on Netflix inspired me to just read his OG, so that’s what I did! The other two authors – Lisa Unger and Ali Brady – released Christmas/Hanukkah novellas that I ended up reading to finish off the year… very much not part of the plan, but still some exposure to their writing styles. The three authors I didn’t get around to were Stephen King, Brandon […]

2026 Series Goals & TBR

Posted January 8, 2026 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

I wrote a post a few years ago about some series I was hoping to read/finish before the end of 2023. I was just filling out my book journal for 2026 and decided to share something similar for the full year. I am still using the spreadsheet I developed a way to track all of my series, which has continued to be helpful as I plan what to read. Started in 2025, Next Book in 2026 I started three series that came out with book one in 2025 and am eager to continue in 2026 with their second installment. ALCHEMY OF SECRETS second book doesn’t have a release date on Goodreads but I believe it will be this year. THE ACADEMY and GOOD SPIRITS both have sequels confirmed for this upcoming fall and I can guarantee I’ll be reading both as soon as possible. (Note I usually include the cover of the next book to read but these haven’t been released yet!) Started This Year, Backlist to Continue I finally read THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB because the movie came out and really enjoyed it. I hope to progress in this series (there are now five books out) this year. I can’t promise reading beyond book two, but that’s the main goal at a minimum. Same could be said for the Veronica Speedwell books; I really enjoyed A CURIOUS BEGINNING and would love to read 1-2 more this year since it’s a long series with TEN books as of now. Started […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2025

Posted January 5, 2026 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin wraps up the last month in reading and what was on the blog, as well as what’s coming up next. You can check out my book haul, books read, posts shared, challenge updates, etc. You can read past bulletins here. If you’re looking for more personal updates, you can check out my Lauren Lately feature; it highlights my life events and non-bookish fun from the previous 30 days. Finally! A good reading month! It’s amazing what a deadline can do to a girl. I was determined to read enough books to catch up and I am now only one book behind instead of 3-4! On top of that, I should be able to finish another one or two really quickly this week and continue along with 8 books in December to hit 75. 8 books in December 13 read • 0 reread • 0 DNF Formats: 6 mixed, 2 ebook, 2 egalley, 1 hardcover, 1 paperback Status/source: 4 purchased, 2 review, 2 book box, 2 review, 2 Kindle Unlimited, 1 gifted, 1 owned Age Target: 11 adult, 1 young adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings! 25 in 25: 75% 52 Book Club: 85% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 67% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 100% Breakdown: 3 hardcovers | 4 paperbacks | 0 ARC | 3 egalleys | 0 ebooks | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Review Copies From Macmillan: The Anniversary by Finlay From Penguin: […]

2025 End of Year Wrap-Up and Stats

Posted January 2, 2026 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

80 Books Read I really cranked out a few extra books at the end of the year because I knew I’d be surpassing my reading goal of 75 books but hate finishing on an odd or weird number, so I was hoping to get to 80! Books Read This was really a pleasant surprise, but not as much once I started thinking about it! I feel like this is the most mystery/thrillers I’ve read in a year before… almost half of my books read! I can’t believe it. Contemporary really took a dive in 2025 but I think I was just a little sick of reading similar books or tropes. As always, “mixed” format was my biggest category. This will continue to increase as time goes on because I’ve found myself mixing in the Spotify Audiobooks more and more. It’s just so easy! I did update my 2026 spreadsheet format so this will look a little different in the future. I do so many mixed formatted books that Not surprising really but I have so many books on my shelves I need to organize and read, so hopefully this physical number increases. Note that this is based on the main format I used when I mix it up. Looking back, I felt like this was a pretty mid reading year overall. It looks like I had an equal-ish number of five-star reads along with 3, 3.5, and even 4.5 stars. My biggest category as always is 4 stars. This is […]

January TBR

Posted December 31, 2025 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 1 Comment

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. January TBR There is truly nothing like the beginning of a new reading year! I’ve already decided which book will be my first of the year, which is a critically important selection to kick off the year right. Like many other years, I want to keep up with my review copies and really lock in on reading them before or during the release month. Seriously. Please, Lauren. Review Copies I have a couple January review copies here – my hope is/was to read THE LUST CRUSADE as my last book of the year but as of writing this, I haven’t started yet… and don’t think I’ll get to it. I also have THE STORM and THE FUTURE SAINTS, from two of my auto-read authors. Owned/Physical Copies I preordered IN YOUR DREAMS months and months ago and it will be arriving this week. I plan to have this be my first book of the year so fingers crossed it comes by the 1st! I also grabbed HAVEN’T KILLED IN YEARS from Aardvark (I think) so hopefully that’s a good mystery in the new year. New Releases I usually listen to the new Wayward […]