Category: Features

Blog Tour: The Sweetest Kind of Fate

Posted February 16, 2018 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 0 Comments

More purchase links: Book Depository | Kobo | iBooks | IndieBound Author links: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Facebook About Crystal Cestari: With rainbows in my hair and stories in my head, I am a writer drawn to magic in the everyday world. My debut novel, The Best Kind of Magic, arrives May 16, 2017 from Hyperion. Follow Amber Sand, a magical matchmaker who can actually see true love, as she takes off on a fun and romantic adventure toward happily ever after. Cover Colors This is probably one of my favorite Cover Colors! First of all, I love the actual colors from this cover. They were a lot of fun to pull from for the outfit below. Amber is a baker and hoping to get into culinary school, so I was able to include some baking-related accessories for her, including a cupcake phone case, apron, and cute pan. I included a map of Chicago print for the wall, since that’s the setting of the book, and a winter coat to keep her warm during those winters. She’s a very casual dresser so I gave her some ripped jeans, sneakers, and a cute tank top. There are some matching beauty items and accessories too. Sweetest Kind of Fate by bookmarklit featuring chicago wall art Review Another cute installment in this series! I love the Windy City Magic store and all of the paranormal happenings around Chicago. Amber is approached by her enemy, Ivy, because her sister, Iris, is going […]

Lauren Lately | February 2018

Posted February 15, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 0 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 ✨ Thompson’s Point | I’d always heard about this little neighborhood in Portland and had been planning a trip there for a while. It’s this little strip of land that juts out into the ocean and is currently being developed still. They’re going to add some apartments and hotels to make it an actual neighborhood. Anyways, there’s currently a bunch of stuff to do there for a day: brewery, ice skating, fried chicken and waffles restaurant, distillery, paint your own pottery, and a cryptozoology museum. We decided to hit most of those one Saturday afternoon! We got chicken and waffles first, then went to the museum, then went to a yurt near the ice skating for beers (the brewery was way too busy), and then painted pottery. Biddeford / Elements | In an effort to keep exploring the surrounding area, I spent some time one Friday researching local bookstores. I came across a really cool […]

How My 2018 Bookish Planner is Impacting my Reading & Blogging Habits

Posted February 9, 2018 / Discussions, Features / 12 Comments

I did a post about my new 2018 planners earlier this year because yet again, I’m trying something new for them. The bookish planner from Little Inklings has already wormed its way into my heart and impacted my reading, blogging, and book-related organizing this year. It’s only been a month, but I can already see how it’s helping streamline my blogging and reading habits. Planner Breakdown I’m going to write about each section in “chronological” order, which means in the order the section appears in the planner from front to back (or beginning of the monthly section to end). I took pictures of my January pages for this example because it was all I had so far, obviously. TBR Planning Knowing what book to pick up next without having to find my blog post The first section for each month is where you track your TBR plans. I have a blog post feature for this each month so you guys can see what I’m reading, but this is really beneficial to me. I usually have to check my blog whenever I ask myself “wait, what book did I want to read next?” and it’s a pain. I don’t use my computer after work hours usually, so it’s A LOT easier to reference my TBR page of my planner, as it just sits open on my desk. I just fill this page out each month after I write my blog post and can easily find what book I’m looking to […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #169: Old TBR

Posted February 6, 2018 / TBR Lists, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 6 Comments

Books from Way Back on my Goodreads TBR that I STILL Haven’t Read Somehow Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I’m sure I’ve discussed this a few times in the past, but it’s always good to come back and remind myself! I think about the books I couldn’t wait for and HAD to buy but didn’t read right away ALL THE TIME. I’m not including purchased books because I have definitely purged a lot recently; I’ll just be using my Goodreads TBR today. I started my Goodreads account in 2010, so some of the earliest books are from back then. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne | Added to Goodreads: September 2010 My friend’s mom told me about this book back in the day and if I’m being honest, I think it’s the reason I even made a Goodreads account?? I remember that I didn’t want to forget the title so I was looking up book tracking sites, and Goodreads popped up. It’s the first book I ever added to my TBR on there. I own a copy, I think, but I haven’t read the whole thing. Perfect Mistake & Ominous by Kate Brian | Added to Goodreads: September 2010 Kate […]

Seasonal Book Club (Part Two)

Posted February 5, 2018 / Book Lists, Features / 2 Comments

I wrote a TTT a while back where I created a book club that read specific books based on the season or month. I thought it’d be a fun post to revisit now with newer books! I also wanted to add in more details, like the setting for the book club meeting and/or if there’s a specific theme to the month that can go beyond the story itself. I haven’t read any of these books yet because this is my fictional book club where I’m reading everything for the first time with my friends! I also thought it would be fun to do this in December because who knows – maybe I can use some of these as inspiration for my real-life book club in 2018? 😉 Monthly theme: “New Year, New Beginning” Book: People Like Us by Donna Mele Location or activity: Trying a new restaurant for the meeting I wanted to focus on the New Years aspect without actually reading a book about the holiday. I chose PEOPLE LIKE US because it’s about a girl who reinvents herself at a new school in order to cover up some secrets of her past. I love books set at prep schools, plus the murder mystery element. (Let’s pretend this book comes out in January instead of February, okay?) I think this would be a fun way to kick off the year by thinking of reinvention and how it doesn’t always work. For the meeting location, we’d keep it simple by […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2018

Posted February 1, 2018 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin was created to wrap up each month and prepare for the next. I share my book haul, books I read and reviewed, posts I shared, challenge updates, and more from the previous month. I also let you know what may be coming up on the blog in the coming month. You can read past bulletins here. I recently split out my personal posts into the Lauren Lately feature, so this is a bit shorter! I love kicking off the year with a solid reading month because it just gives me some breathing room. Even though my goal is much lower this year, I still have been in the mood to read like a crazy person. I did read a few books in one day or over the course of two sittings. Snow days and skiing lead to a lot of audiobook listening and/or reading, depending. I’m starting to get a littleee stir crazy though, so hopefully we can pull together some activities for the rest of the winter. Average rating for books read this month: 3.8 stars Highlights & Lowlights This month’s books: Year-Long Netgalley/Edelweiss Challenge 4 this month | 4 read total | Current NG ratio: 73% Popsugar Reading Challenge 10 this month | 10 read total | 25% complete Prompts from L-R: Next book in started series, book set in fascinating country, book with a time of day in the title, book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist, book is also a stage play/musical, book with […]

February TBR

Posted January 31, 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. January Progress GUYS THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED – for the first time ever, I read every single book on my TBR list from the previous month! I can’t believe it. So yes, I managed to read seven books out of the seven I picked out for January. I started the Hope’s Crossing series with BLACKBERRY SUMMER, read all three of my January egalleys, started my reading year with FOOLISH HEARTS, and read other books I’d been meaning to get to. I’m going to pat myself on the back all month. I also read a handful of books I picked out from my winter bingo TBR ideas! So that’s another two books, plus some of the ones up here that double-counted. YES. On Deck for February Finishing Bingo Black author: Dear Martin by Nic Stone Science fiction: Wires and Nerve by Marissa Meyer Buddy read: TBD if Cristina and I do Book Buddies 2018 debut: Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke Music themes: Noteworthy by Riley Redgate Library Books Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire Book from my library holds list on the left, if something comes in! I picked up DATSAB the other […]

The Cruel Prince Celebration and Giveaway

Posted January 29, 2018 / Cover Colors, Features, Food & Drink, Personal / Information / Etc. / 10 Comments

I am absurdly excited to be partnering with NOVL in today’s celebration for THE CRUEL PRINCE. They were kind enough to send me a gorgeous finished copy too. I absolutely adored this book – check out my full review here to see why! Holly Black is the queen of fae stories and this was no exception. I can’t believe I have to wait a year for the next book. In the meantime, I’ll keep getting excited about THE CRUEL PRINCE and planning my inevitable reread 😉 Today I’ll be sharing faerie fruit recipes and my Cover Colors feature. About the Book & Author The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black Young Adult Fantasy – In stores January 2, 2018 By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue. Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever. And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe. Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the […]

Potential 2018 Rereads

Posted January 26, 2018 / Book Lists, Features / 8 Comments

I don’t do as much rereading as I could, should, or want to. I always tell myself I don’t have enough time with all of the other NEW books out there. However, the best kinds of rereads that sort of take away from this issue are (a) audio rereads because it’s like bonus reading time anyways and (b) rereads of books I read for the first time a VERY long time ago, so it’s like I’m reading it again for the first time. I’ve had success with some nostalgic series in the past. I hope to reread some more recent releases this year though, because lots of books have sequels coming out and I decided I wanted to be prepared! MY LADY JANE by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows Reason: It was SO good and I got the audiobook on sale recently; companion story coming out soon Format: Like I said, I got the audiobook on sale after Black Friday! When: Probably sometime close to the release of the new book? They’re not an actual series so I don’t HAVE to do it this way, but I’m guessing I’ll read it sometime around April. I realistically could hold off on rereading this because I don’t have a NEED, but I may as well let myself have some fun 🙂 CARAVAL by Stephanie Garber Reason: I don’t remember much from my first read of the book (what else is new though?) and I preordered the second book in the series. I remember there […]

Library Love | January

Posted January 25, 2018 / Features, Library Love, Weekly Memes / 9 Comments

I’ve been wanting to share some library hauls on the blog, since I don’t include them in my monthly wrap-ups. I go through phases where I use the library A LOT and phases where I forget it exists somehow. Whenever the mood strikes, I’ll share what I’m working on from the library during any given month. I’ve been using the ebook section of my new library quite a bit, but I got motivated to get some physical copies this month as well. Whenever I have a robust hold list and a few books checked out, I know it’s enough to share here. Here we go! Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire | I read the first book a while back and generally enjoyed it, even if I found it a bit predictable. The series is very diverse, which is something I’ve been looking for lately. These books are so tiny too! I read an ebook for the first one so it was weird to see how short they are in a physical copy. Public Relations by Katie Heaney and Arianna Rebolini | I saw Estelle and many others talking about this book on Twitter, and I think she started a movement with a few us! I requested it from the library (it was already on my Goodreads TBR but just not high enough up) and it came in quickly. I’ll be reading it when I need something cute and addicting. The Wonder of Us by Kim Culbertson | I’ll admit that this is […]