Category: Features

Recent Read-Bait: Carnivals, Disappearances, and Lottery/Riches

Posted March 10, 2017 / Book Lists, Features / 12 Comments
Recent Read-Bait: Carnivals, Disappearances, and Lottery/Riches

You may remember my read-bait series from a long time ago, where I talked about certain keywords, phrases, and tropes that call my name. I planned to keep going with these posts because there are many, many topics that suck me right in. My two recent posts discussed reunions, memory loss, and boarding school, then fake dating, bucket lists, and family drama. Here I am today to talk about recent words that have grabbed me…I originally made up a whole post about circus-related books but I really couldn’t come up with enough content. I love the magical feel of the carnival (especially in books, because there’s usually real magic involved). Caraval by Stephanie Garber sealed the deal for me when I read it over the summer. I’ve added so many books to my TBR involving carnivals of some kind. I’m not one for mystery/thriller books usually because I get creeped out easily but I’ve been trying to expand my horizons. I thought The Leaving by Tara Altebrando was super interesting – not perfect – and it made me want to add more to my TBR. There are quite a few books in this “disappearance” category. Something about a person going away/being kidnapped and, in some cases, coming back, really intrigue me because I’m left wondering what happened in the interim! And finally, this makes an appearance again as an old, resurfaced favorite: rich people. I used to read all the classic rich, boarding school stories when I was younger. In this […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2017

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2017

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 had another great reading month! I was surprised to DNF something, but I wasn’t feeling it. I’m glad I got over that fear! Otherwise, I read SO many four star books in a row at the beginning of the month. I was happy to have some good ones but I kept waiting for something interesting! I wanted a book to wow me… or even disappoint me, just for some variety! 😉 Either way, a good month of reading overall. I’m pleased with 2017 so far! Average rating for books read in February: 3.9 stars Highlights & Lowlights All of the books read this month: Year-Long Contemporary Romance Challenge 8 this month | 14 read total | 67% complete Books read from the pre-planned TBR: 1 this month | 1 total Flights of Fantasy Challenge 5 this month | 11 read total | 37% complete Seasonal Winter Bingo Challenge Completed! // All the books: Green cover • The Names They Gave Us – Lord Banned book • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Carroll Not YA • Winter Street – Hilderbrand Crime • […]

March TBR

Posted February 27, 2017 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 15 Comments
March TBR

I used to be terrible at sticking to TBR lists because of mood reading, but I’ve been getting much better at it lately! I want to make TBR lists for each month as a separate post, and hopefully you guys can help me narrow down some choices with a little poll at the bottom too. Here are some options for this month! February Progress     For my first TBR post, I’m actually pretty impressed with myself! Out of the 9 books I shared for February, I read 4 of them! I focused on KISS CAM for Valentine’s Day feels, FROST LIKE NIGHT for book club, REUNION as an audiobook selection, and THE FORGETTING from my TBR poll at the bottom. On Deck for March Lots o’ ARCs – Kindle Edition      The Football Girl / Done Dirt Cheap / Secrets of a Reluctant Princess I’m not sure why I let my review copies get out of control, but good lord! I hope to get ahead on reviews by getting through some March/April releases ASAP. This includes the three books above. All of them are waiting on my Kindle, ready to be read. I hope to keep three books going at once (audio, physical/ARC, and ebook/eARC) so I can crank through more books depending on my mood. I’m really excited about all three of these! Lots o’ ARCs – Borrowed Edition    What to Say Next / Changes in Latitude / Hello, Sunshine I still have a handful of books to read from Marg, but two of […]

February Netflix and Books Challenge Check-In

Posted February 25, 2017 / Book Challenges, Features / 6 Comments
February Netflix and Books Challenge Check-In

Erica and I introduced our Netflix and Books Challenge for 2017 as a way of making progress on books we want to read and TV shows we want to watch. The TBR lists were chosen by matching books up to various TV shows based on characters, plots, etc. You can learn all about the challenge and join in anytime here! Don’t forget, you can also still participate in our Netflix and Books Tag that we debuted in 2016; it’ll give you some points in this challenge too! Reading Progress I’m glad I managed to finish two more books so quickly! I’m now 1/3 of the way through the book portion of this challenge. Three more of the books haven’t been released yet, so they’re delayed regardless. The final three books here include two rereads and one already published book. I won’t be too mad if I don’t finish one next month because I’m already ahead! Completed books so far: January   Book main character has the same name as a TV show MC: Book: Take the Key & Lock Her Up TV Show: Will & Grace Connection: MC named Grace February Still to read: TV Watching Progress Dang. I’m terrible. I have no idea if and when I’ll get to some of these shows! I know Chris and I will likely focus on finishing off Community and catching up on Atlanta once we’re doing binge-watching Shameless. I need to work on Sailor Moon and Bob’s Burgers! I’m on the fence about actually watching Parenthood, to be […]

DNFs and Reading Challenges

Posted February 23, 2017 / Discussions, Features / 28 Comments
DNFs and Reading Challenges

I liked Shannon’s post a while ago about giving books a fair chance. Sometimes, despite all the warnings, we read books we know we probably won’t like. We want to read them because just MAYBE we will like them. We read and read and read, and (some of us) refuse to DNF. I’m usually one of these people. I always push myself to just finish the thing, especially when I’ve read nearly half of it. The biggest thing with DNFing books usually – for avid Goodreads users – has to do with the challenge. Do I include it in my numbers for the year because I read some of it, or does it not count because I didn’t finish the book? How do you decide? Books I’ve DNFed in my Life The list of books I’ve marked “DNF” is so small, I can include literally all of them here. There are probably a few more from my childhood but I don’t remember at this point. These all happened between college and now. All of these books except two of them were DNFed before the 50% mark. The other two were after.            How many of these will I come back to someday? I would think less than half. Some of them were probably mood-related while others… there’s no coming back to. I usually have a decent idea of what I want from a book. If a bad book can hold my interest, I’ll keep reading. The minute I start losing focus […]

You Haven’t Let Me Down Yet

Posted February 17, 2017 / Discussions, Features / 16 Comments
You Haven’t Let Me Down Yet

There have been a few TTT topics about debut authors and their sophomore novels (like one’s we’re excited about, can’t wait for, etc.). I was thinking about revisiting some of those posts and reflecting on the authors who haven’t let me down yet, based on their debut and sophomore novels. There’s nothing worse than reading a near-perfect debut and then being disappointed by the author’s second novel. Luckily, there are quite a few authors who absolutely did NOT let me down with their sophomore novel! FYI, some authors here have published adult and/or middle grade books before these YA books, so I’m including them here as debut YA authors (or in one situation, debut adult contemporary authors). First & Then   |   This Adventure Ends  I’m a HUGE fan of these covers obviously, but the books inside? Near perfect. I adored FIRST & THEN because of how cute and addictive it was. The football obviously helped too 😉 THIS ADVENTURE ENDS was pretty amazing because of the friend feels and cute slow-burn romance. The only problem with both of these books is that the romance and kissing came waaaaay too late in the book. We’ll see what her next book does! The One That Got Away   |   Results May Vary Oh, Bethany Chase. You are way too good. I don’t deserve you. Both of her books have been complete hits for me. There was a liiiittle something missing from THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY, but RESULTS MAY VARY was amazing. Easily a favorite of 2016. […]

Lauren Lately | February 2017

Posted February 16, 2017 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 8 Comments
Lauren Lately | February 2017

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 hiking | It was 50 degrees a few weeks ago, so we went on a nice hike in one of our new favorite spots. There are so many different trails throughout, so you can really choose how long you want to be out there. The weather was perfect and I was able to try out my new Vans All-Weather MTEs. So good!   Busy weekends… | The last weekend of January was a busy one! We went hiking and had all-you-can-eat sushi for Chris’s dad’s birthday on Saturday. It was a mess at the end of the night because LONG story short: they left the car key at home when we drove an hour and a half away, so Chris’s uncle had to drive us home at the end of the night. Sunday, our LUG and the New England Lego Users Group got together for a display at the Railroad Hobby Show […]

Blog Tour | Cover Colors: Dreamland Burning

Posted February 14, 2017 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 4 Comments
Blog Tour | Cover Colors: Dreamland Burning

Hello friends! I’m here today for my stop on the DREAMLAND BURNING blog tour. (If you’re visiting my blog for Top Ten Tuesday, you can see the belated post tomorrow!) This book has some really important and interesting connections to previously overlooked historical events, so I hope you like what I put together today. You can find more information about the book and a mini review from me at the bottom of the post. It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with book covers. I love the colors, the typography, the different designs that cover artists can create. I even have a guest post feature where people share their favorite book covers and bookmarks! I decided to start up this random feature where I draw color inspiration from my favorite book covers. I may create an outfit, pick out some nail polish, or design a quote graphic. Today’s cover is… Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham I’ve never done such a muted cover before for this feature, but I love how these colors use the sepia tones to imply history. I don’t read a lot of historical fiction, but the connections between past and present for this story really intrigued me. I pulled colors from the backgrounds, text, and hair to create the old-timey palette. I grabbed the above quote from a section of the synopsis before even reading the book. This quote could not be more relevant to feature here, both from a historical perspective and from the book itself. This book is […]

Getting Older and Pickier with my Reading Choices

Posted February 10, 2017 / Discussions, Features / 12 Comments
Getting Older and Pickier with my Reading Choices

Since I started reading, I’ve always reached for the same books. I like young adult contemporary with some fantasy books mixed in – maybe a few paranormal/etc. ones if the mood strikes. I also read a lot of adult contemporary (“chick lit” – ugh) because, back when I started reading YA, there weren’t nearly as many options as there are now. I was reading Sophie Kinsella when I was 14 years old. You can pretty much tell that my reading habits and preferences haven’t really changed; I’m still reading young adult books with some adult books mixed in. However, I can say that a few more specific preferences have changed over time. I wrote a draft a long time ago wondering if I was older and wiser, or if I’ve just read too many YA books. I found that I can easily pick up on certain twists. Is it because I’m getting too old for YA? Is YA getting more predictable? Is is only more “predictable” because I’ve read so many of them at this point? This post isn’t about plot twists and predictability necessarily (I sort of already talked about that) – it’s about how I’ve adjusted my reading based on my age and reading experience. I’m fine-tuning what I want to read and figuring out my reading life as a 25 year old person who still enjoys young adult literature. I don’t want to overstep and judge certain books harshly because I’m older than the characters; I always try to […]

Even MORE Upcoming Books I’m Super Excited For

Posted February 3, 2017 / Discussions, Features / 18 Comments
Even MORE Upcoming Books I’m Super Excited For

I hope you’re ready for even MORE (x2 basically) unreleased books I’m super excited about! Back in March, I talked about some other new and upcoming books I was excited for and then I also shared books that aren’t releasing for a loooong time but I wanted them immediately. I also did another installment in November. I’ve been trying to highlight newer and upcoming releases (both in the far future and the near future) lately because I have a lot of fun putting bookish lists together and never doing anything with them. I always love adding new books to my TBR and creeping on other people’s posts like this! Without further ado, here are some more upcoming releases (2017 books that now have cover art) that I need.    180 Seconds by Jessica Park • April 2017 This book involves a social experiment where you have to spend 180 seconds with someone. Naturally, the MC and the guy hit it off and you wonder what will happen next. I’ve read articles about dating and how if you maintain eye contact for a certain amount of time then ask specific questions, it helps you fall in love? I think that premise is what intrigues me about this book! Margot & Me by Juno Dawson • January 2017 The premise of moving to her grandmother’s (Margot) house for a few months and having to deal with a new school is usually appealing enough for me. However, the MC then finds her grandmother’s diary from the 1940s and uncovers a […]