Category: Features

ARC August 2018 Kick-Off and Tracking

Posted August 2, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features / 1 Comment

I’m excited to join another round of ARC August! 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. 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. I’m going to include 3-5 books in each category below so I have a good mix to pick from. I’ll let my mood reading guide me so I’m not going to make restrictions about how many from each section. TBR for 1st Half of August I’m adjusting my TBR a little bit based on books […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | July 2018

Posted August 1, 2018 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

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. Wooof what a garbage reading month. I knew it was going to be somewhat tough since I’d be settling into our new place, but I didn’t realize just how bad the slump was going to be. I was able to cover a little more ground within the last week of the month but not as much as I’d hoped. I saw the “1-2 books behind” warning on Goodreads for the first time in honestly over a year. Regardless, my life is mostly calming down and settling now, so fingers crossed I make up for some lost ground in August. All of the books read this month: Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge 4 read this month | 26 read total | 72% NG ratio Popsugar Reading Challenge 1 read this month | 28 read total | 70% complete Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge 0 read this month | 7 read total | 58% complete None this month Seasonal Bingo Breakdown: 1 bought | 0 borrowed | 3 free/gifted | 6 for review Egalleys Blog tour: The Witch of Willow Hall by […]

August TBR

Posted July 30, 2018 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 5 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. July Progress I’m impressed at myself for getting to four books from my TBR, especially because that’s basically half of what I read in July. It was a crappy month but I got some egalleys completely out of the way (for blog tours and other due dates), so that was great. I checked out a couple of library books that I hope to get to but never made time for them. I was all about the ebooks and audiobooks in July! On Deck for August ARC August The Impossibility of Us by Upperman | Broken Things by Oliver | Sadie by Summers The Last Wish of Sasha Cade by Young | Toil & Trouble edited by Spotswood/Sharpe I did a full ARC August post and TBR list this month, so you can see all of the books here. I’m highlighting the stories I’m most likely to read based on my latest moods and due dates. These are all egalleys (which is my main focus for the month). I’m hoping to get to all of them and keep my ratio at 75% review books and 25% non-review books, hence the section […]

ARC August 2018 Sign-Up and TBR

Posted July 19, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features, TBR Lists / 5 Comments

I’m excited to join another round of ARC August! 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. 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. I’m going to include 3-5 books in each category below so I have a good mix to pick from. I’ll let my mood reading guide me so I’m not going to make restrictions about how many from each section. Possible TBR Backlist or Pre-July Egalleys Upcoming or August Egalleys Physical ARCs Readathon (August 4-5th) There […]

Lauren Lately | July 2018

Posted July 13, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 5 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 ✨ I’m here a little early this month because I don’t usually post on the weekends, and I have plenty to report as of right now! We successfully moved home this month and enjoyed the remaining days in Portland, so here’s the standard rundown of my life lately! Popham Beach State Park / Bath, ME | We have plenty of time to explore southern Maine (Portland and under), but we probably won’t be venturing north as much as the years go by. We wanted to check out Bath because it’s a cute little town (kind of city maybe?) and there’s an EXCELLENT beach up there called Popham Beach State Park. Sandbars are exposed during low tide and there’s a little island kind of thing you can walk to when the timing is right, which was so fun. We spent the day there and then grabbed dinner at a random oceanside restaurant in Bath. California trip […]

On My List (5)

Posted July 12, 2018 / Features, On My List / 6 Comments

I love Jamie’s New to the Queue feature because it highlights new things she’s added to her different “to do/ read/ watch/ etc.” lists. This new random feature – called simply On My List – will show off the most recent books, movies, shows, podcasts, recipes, crafts, and other things to make it on my to-do list. Blog Posts & Goodreads Those Other Women by Nicola Moriarty | This is the first of two books I added to my TBR, thanks to Hannah’s cute summer adventure TBR post. I read and LOVED another Nicola Moriarty book within the last year so it’s odd to me that I never went through her Goodreads page for more reads by her! I was excited to see this one and add it immediately to my TBR. Matchmaking For Beginners by Maddie Dawson | I loved the sound of this one from Hannah’s post too! When the main character’s marriage ends and her great aunt passes away, she inherits her Brooklyn brownstone… and her matchmaking ways. Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren | Despite her popularity in the book blogging world, I haven’t been overly interested in reading a book by this author. I know a lot of friends love her! This synopsis really appeals to me and Ginger’s Goodreads review made me add it to my TBR. It doesn’t come out until September, despite being in this section, because I wanted to call out her review as inspiration! Dreams of Falling by Karen White | I […]

Jan-June Releases I’m Surprised I Haven’t Read Yet

Posted July 11, 2018 / Book Lists, Features / 5 Comments

I usually do these kind of “midyear recap/review” posts, as evidenced by everything last week, and I thought this would be another fun addition. I always get to this point and wonder why the hell I’m so behind on new releases that I was dying to read. I’m trying to keep this list somewhat short by mostly including books on my “jazzed up for this” shelf instead of ALL the new releases. I’m also not going to feature books I thought I wanted to read but have since seen meh reviews about. (Looking at you, THE WEDDING DATE…) January and February Releases Love and Other Train Wrecks by Leah Konen | I love the whole “meeting someone unexpectedly” trope, as I’ve discussed many times… and this book was on my list for a WHILE. I almost started reading it a few months ago but got sidetracked somehow. All We Can Do is Wait by Richard Lawson | I could probably say the same thing about this book as I just said above. I was super excited, love the premise, etc. etc. I will be requesting this from the library ASAP when I get home. People Like Us by Donna Mele | I’m not sure why I didn’t get into this one earlier because I’m pretty sure I had it out from the library? I must not have been in the mood at the time. April Releases I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman | I got this one out from the […]

Takeaways from my Mid-Year Stats

Posted July 9, 2018 / Discussions, Features / 2 Comments

I didn’t plan to do another post about my stats (goals and numbers post HERE and challenge post HERE), but I noticed a few things as I was reading it through again and analyzing the numbers. Keep in mind, I had read 77 books in total by this time last year. I’ve only read 60 this year because my challenge is down. This shouldn’t skew the numbers THAT much (especially not the averages), so I still think these are valid conclusions. My average star rating is higher than last year’s so far, but I have less books that I would call a “favorite.” In 2017, my average rating after the midway point was 3.3 stars and I had 8 books that I put on my “favorites” shelf on Goodreads. However, 2018 has the opposite situation. My average rating is 3.7 stars and I only have THREE books on my “favorites” shelf. I feel like this is the result of a few different things. I’m reading less overall so it could just be that I haven’t hit as many favorite books yet. I am reading better quality books overall (or being more picky about the books I pick up in the first place), but just less of them. I think I’m trying to be a bit more discerning in what I’d consider an all-time favorite book too. It’s also worth mentioning that my whole theory of favorites can differ in some spots. I don’t know how I got the 8 number […]

Blog Tour | The Year of Living Awkwardly: Sophomore Year

Posted July 6, 2018 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 1 Comment

I was extremely excited to see the opportunity to join the blog tour for this one, since I SPED THROUGH and LOVED the first book so much. I really put myself in Chloe’s shoes as a freshman in high school. I even said in my review that I wished the author would write a book for each school year! Needless to say, I hopped on this quickly. Chloe had some immaturity and normal-ish “high school related” flaws to work through in the first book. I rooted for her so much in both stories because I could really see her growing and changing. She constantly recognized how privileged she was and how she was often complaining about silly (in the grand scheme of things) issues, but they were still HER issues to work through. I absolutely LOVE her voice and her authenticity. I don’t think I’ve ever read a YA book that feels more real. The diary format helps but the overall voice in the story is so natural. I remember feeling so many of the same emotions throughout my early high school years. She goes through illogical and logical reactions to what’s happening around her, and has her mature and immature moments. Like the first book, I placed myself right in her shoes and remembered what I felt like during those years. I LOVED the ending so incredibly much, but I need more. PLEASE let there be a junior year book next. Please. Keep em coming for the next two years […]

2018 Mid-Year Challenge Progress & Future TBRs

Posted July 4, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features, Wrap-Ups / 6 Comments

I love tracking my TBR and trying to see what else there is to accomplish by halfway through the year. I always hope it shocks me into completing challenges and really focusing in on my bookish goals. I decided to split this year’s check-in into two posts so I could really hone in on some specifics. Today’s post is about about my challenges’ status and TBRs for the rest of the year. Monday’s post was about what I’ve read and my goal progress. Check out last year’s post if you’re curious! I’m a big fan of reading challenges and decided to expand a little bit. Instead of doing ones I’d finish very easily, I wanted to do some more specific ones with categories that would open up my reading a bit more. Netgalley/Edelweiss Challenge Goal: 80% ratio ||| Current ratio: 71% Pretty Dead Girls – Murphy As You Wish – Sedoti The Upside of Falling Down – Crane Surprise Me – Kinsella The Sweetest Kind of Fate – Cestari Legendary – Garber Finding Felicity – Kade Starry Eyes – Bennett Frat Girl – Roache No Filter – Collins The Elizas – Shepard Love Songs & Other – Pennington August/Everything After – Dotorksi Love & Luck – Welch Herons Landing – Ross From Twinkle with Love – Menon Dating Disasters/Emma – Seager Last Summer/Garrett – Spotswood The Summer List – Doan The Similars – Hanover To Catch a Killer – Scarborough Your Destination/Left – Spieller Popsugar Reading Challenge Goal: 40 prompts completed […]