Category: Features

Fall Bingo TBR Ideas

Posted September 5, 2018 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 2 Comments

Another season, another round of Bookish Bingo (hosted by Pretty Deadly Reviews)! As always, I’m here to sign up for the next card and use it to guide some of my reading choices throughout the next three months. For fall bingo, we’re looking at September, October, and November. I already posted my September TBR so you’ll see a few repeats on here where applicable, but there will be plenty of other books to spread throughout the other two months. I haven’t filled a full card in a few rounds, so I’m aiming to get everything crossed off this time! Also, sometimes I manage to cross a few items off really early with my first reads of the month, or am in the process of reading the book when this posts, so you’ll see that noted below too in italics. Fall Bingo Card TBR Ideas & Progress So Far Made into a movie: You by Caroline Kepnes History with a twist: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee Space or stars: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman/Meagan Spooner Copper/bronze/gold cover: The Towering Sky by Katharine McGee The bingo card rules say that you can also do something developed for the small screen, so YOU was a great choice. I was always mildly interested in the book but nothing more. Seeing the trailer for the new show though? SIGN ME UP. Must read then watch! ♦ I don’t read a lot of books about history, but I DO read ones when there’s […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | August 2018

Posted September 1, 2018 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 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 feel like my wheels are constantly spinning, trying to get my Goodreads goal back on track. I honestly think my ARC August participation was bad for my overall reading numbers, but great for catching up on the intended purpose – reading books for review. The issue was that I wanted to read 75% ARCs, which meant I would NOT read other non-ARCs (aka audiobooks) even when I was in the mood for them. In hindsight, I should have just said I wanted to read 5-7 ARCs and called it a day. There were times I was in the mood for an audiobook and just decided not to listen to it because it would mess up my challenge, which is so not the point. All of the books read this month: Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge 7 read this month | 33 read total | 74% NG ratio Popsugar Reading Challenge 0 read this month | 28 read total | 70% complete None this month Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge 0 read this month | 7 read total | 58% complete […]

ARC August 2018 Wrap-Up

Posted August 31, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

ARC August is over! I signed up because I had some goals to get my ARC percentage to 80% by the end of the year, so this challenge was set to be a nice push for both backlist books and some coming later this year. I planned to focus on egalleys, with maybe a couple of ARCs in between, because I can focus on the NG/EW Challenge I’m working on. All of the details for this challenge can be found here! Challenge Tracking ARCs read: Book title/author: After Nightfall by AJ Banner Dates read: 8/1 – 8/2 Book title/author: Unclaimed Baggage by Jen Doll Dates read: 8/4 – 8/10 Book title/author: Sadie by Courtney Summers Dates read: 8/5 – 8/7 Book title/author: The Last Wish of Sasha Cade by Cheyenne Young Dates read: 8/7 – 8/14 Book title/author: Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Dates read: 8/11 – 8/13 Book title/author: The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle Dates read: 8/15 – 8/22 Book title/author: A Date with Darcy by Tiffany Schmidt Dates read: 8/2 – 8/21 DNF Book title/author: One Was Lost by Natalie D. Richards Dates read: 8/23 – 8/26 Book title/author: The Universe is Expanding and So Am I by Carolyn Mackler Dates read: 8/26 – 8/28 Non-ARCs read: The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han Strange New World by Rachel Vincent Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire Final Numbers Total ARCs read: 9 Total non-ARCs read: 3 Percentage of ARCs: 75% My goal was to have 75% of the books I read this month be ARCs. That way, if I […]

September TBR

Posted August 30, 2018 / 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. August Progress I did a pretty good job of reading books on my TBR from August. I knew that things could change with ARC August depending on what I got approved for during the month, or where my mood reading took me. I also didn’t include ALL of my ARCs in the TBR so I did technically pull from the ARC August TBR and had more success. On Deck for September Possible Series Binge Rose Gardner Mystery Series by Denise Grover Swank This is incredibly random, I know, but here’s the story and the two connected reasons: Reason #1: I randomly got addicted to some Hallmark mystery movies a few months ago when I was still in Maine. I specifically loved the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, starring Candace Cameron Bure. I loved the true-crime-obsessed, small-town librarian and her Real Murders Club, often banding together to solve crimes in the local area. I LOVED the “cozy mystery” vibe of each movie and have been anxiously awaiting the new installments twice per year (I think). Reason #2: My coworker got addicted to a book series – the Rose Gardner Mysteries series above – […]

Bout of Books Wrap-Up

Posted August 27, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 20th and runs through Sunday, August 26th 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 23 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team Instead of posting a million updates or even a kickoff post, I decided to do my tracking in this post (while it was a draft) and just let the final numbers publish at the end of the readathon. I did write a goals and TBR sign-up post though. I usually have a goal to read double the normal amount of books I would in one week but I don’t really see that happening, so I adjusted my plans for the readathon a little bit. Here are my original goals, how I progressed, and the final numbers/bingo cards after completing BoB. Original Goals & Thoughts Because this readathon fell during ARC August, my goal was to read only ARCs during the readathon. This didn’t work out quite as well as I planned because I started a library book the week before BoB started and didn’t have time to finish it over the weekend. I was traveling, watching wrestling, and doing some family stuff all weekend instead. My other goal was to make progress on both […]

The Queer Eye Book Tag

Posted August 22, 2018 / Book Tags, Features / 1 Comment

This tag was created by Ayla @ Books and Babbles and I saw it for the first time on Of Wonderland! (Banner above created by me.) I loveeee Queer Eye (so much that I’m hoarding the second season episodes a bit, watching them sloooowly over time, because I binged the first season in one sitting). I’ve been looking for a new book tag to complete for this month and this definitely fit the bill. How it works: the book tag consists of five categories for each member of the Fab Five. For each category, you pick a book (or more!) that come to mind to match the category. Then, there’s a category at the bottom inspired by the #QEHipTips at the end of the episodes – here called #QEBookTip. You recommend your favorite queer books. Food & Wine ||| Antoni Even though Antoni makes some silly food items at times, he’s the cutest and I love him so much. Look at that face ugh I stan. ANYWAYS, the food topic was bound to be the easiest for me on here! So many books I read make me crave something specific, and I’m highlighting three of the top ones below. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han | I have to include this one, in honor of the movie debuting on Netflix this month! This trilogy always made me crave cookies and I’m not the biggest sweet tooth (compared to many of my friends/most people!). I suck at baking and never […]

ARC August 2018 Midpoint Check-In

Posted August 16, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

ARC August is halfway over! I signed up because I have some goals to get my ARC percentage to 80% by the end of the year, so this challenge will be a nice push for both backlist books and some coming later this year. I will probably focus mostly on egalleys, with maybe 2-4 physical ARCs in between, so I can focus on the NG/EW Challenge I’m working on. Here is where I’ll outline my goals, TBR, readathon plans, and bookish bingo. All of the details for this challenge can be found here! Goals and Plans I really would love to somehow get my Netgalley percentage up to 80% this month but I don’t think it’ll be super feasible. I’m currently stuck around 71% and definitely need to read more than 10 books to improve. (ETA: after completing the books below, I’m at 73%!) I hope to read mostly ARCs throughout the month, again primarily egalleys. My goal is for 75% of the books I read in August to be ARCs, that way I don’t have a set number to stress about. I have been reading 10+ books each month so that looks like 7 or 8 if I stick to what I assume will happen. Challenge Tracking Book title/author: After Nightfall by AJ Banner Dates read: 8/1 – 8/2 Book title/author: Unclaimed Baggage by Jen Doll Dates read: 8/4 – 8/10 Book title/author: Sadie by Courtney Summers Dates read: 8/5 – 8/7 Book title/author: The Last Wish of Sasha Cade by Cheyenne Young Dates read: 8/7 – […]

Lauren Lately | August 2018

Posted August 15, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 6 Comments

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ More exploring, Jack & Jill, and quick trip to Boston | We’ve been slowly settling into the new place and we’re now able to explore more. Mid-July had a busy weekend involving a friends’ Jack & Jill on Saturday and a trip up to the Boston area on Sunday. My friend getting married next year wanted me to try on some dresses so I visited her for the day and we went to town. Otherwise, that week brought our first try of rolled ice cream (not worth the hype and way too expensive), and a local restaurant on the water I’ve been dying to try. We found that an ice cream shop in our hometown has DOLE WHIP now so clearly I hopped on that. Hamptons bachelorette weekend | My friend who is getting married Labor Day weekend (eek!!) had her bachelorette weekend in the Hamptons. I was honestly not sure how it would […]

I’d Rather Be Reading – Favorite Books and More

Posted August 10, 2018 / Book Lists, Features / 2 Comments

Rachel recently shared the book I’d Rather Be Reading: A Library of Art for Book Lovers, which is a nice coffee table book with essays about reading and pieces of bookish art. I definitely hope to get my hands on a copy at some point! In any case, the book brings up a lot of questions about bookish preferences and challenged one of the contributors to name their top 25 books. I thought this would be a really fun “book tag” of sorts, so here are my answers to many of the questions Rachel shared and answered. What are you reading right now? As of July 18th when I’m writing this post, I am reading three books in different formats. I started CRAZY RICH ASIANS by Kevin Kwan as an audiobook, have been slowly working on THE WICKED KING by Holly Black as a physical book/ARC, and just started reading my egalley of KISS ME IN PARIS by Catherine Rider. I’m behind on my Goodreads challenge so I wanted to blitz out the aforementioned egalley and get ahead (it’s only 200 pages). What was your favorite children’s book? Why? I can think of a lot of examples for this one, but the one that sticks out the most is HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON by Crockett Johnson. I loved that so much and read it multiple times, which was kind of rare for me. It’s a short book (kind of an advanced reader picture book almost?), but I loved the premise […]

Bout of Books Sign-Up

Posted August 9, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features / 2 Comments

Of course I’m signing up for Bout of Books, y’all! When do I not? I happen to love when this falls during ARC August because then I can usually get hyper-specific about my goals and make sure ARC August is successful. Here’s more info on the readathon in case you aren’t aware: The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 20th and runs through Sunday, August 26th 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 23 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team The good thing about this one is that I actually don’t have any plans that week, as of right now. My life has been quite busy since moving home and I find myself with SO many packed weeks and weekends. I wanted to do the ARC August Readathon earlier this month but I ended up having zero free time to read. I hope to really knock out some reading during Bout of Books week and enjoy my newly furnished porch! Goals Because its happening during ARC August, I’m going to only read ARCs during Bout of Books. I’ve done this in the past and it’s very helpful. My usual goals for ARC August involve reading a certain percentage of […]