Category: Features

Inside & Out #18: Molli from Books and Whimsy

Posted November 9, 2015 / Features, Inside and Out / 2 Comments

Admiring book covers and bookmarks, shared by you! Welcome to INSIDE AND OUT. This feature includes two of my absolute favorite book-related things: bookmarks (inside) and book covers (out)! I’ve invited guest posters to share their favorite book covers and bookmarks here on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Sign-ups are always open (see bottom of post)! Check out past posts here. Molli from Books and Whimsy Twitter: @MissMolliWrites| Instagram: @MissMolliWrites Tell me a little about yourself: Hi, Bookmark Lit readers! Thanks to Lauren for having me today. I’m a blogger, reader, and indie author. I love talking about books (as if that isn’t glaringly obvious), but I also enjoy working out, swimming, movie nights with friends, and spending as much time as I can with my girlfriend. (We’re in a long-distance relationship, so the time we get together is awesome.) Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): I blog at Books and Whimsy and also at The Authorteers (theauthorteers.blogspot.com) about writing and what I’m reading. I include personal posts from time to time at Books and Whimsy! I try to focus on reviewing as many books with marginalized characters from marginalized/diverse authors as I can, with a focus on LGBTQIA+ literature. I love YA, NA, and adult contemporary romance. Favorite genre: Romance! Give me a romance of any kind and I’m super happy. A very close second is fantasy. It’s the first genre I really fell in love with outside of YA contemporary books, so it […]

The Nostalgia Project

Posted November 8, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features / 13 Comments

I recently read Hollywood is Like High School with Money by Zoey Dean because I couldn’t resist a $4 paperback from Amazon. She used to be one of my favorites back in the day because of her super long series (The A-List). I don’t know why, but I had some weird nostalgic feeling about those books and all of the others I would indulge in during high school. When I read the book in question (which wasn’t a reread), those feelings only intensified. I started thinking about how weird it is that our book tastes change over time, and how much that is increased for bloggers compared to regular readers (in my opinion). I’m curious to see how much blogging has changed my reading opinions and tastes, and why. Introducing…It’s pretty common for us as bloggers (and avid readers) to go back and reread books to see if they still “hold up.” Are your old favorites from high school still good now that you’re no longer in high school? How much have your reading tastes changed since then? Do you have a lower tolerance for some plots or character traits now than you did back then? Within the past few months, I’ve been itching to revisit some of my old favorite series, books, and authors to see how much I still enjoy (or maybe not enjoy) them and their style. I thought I would share my little project with everyone and see what their thoughts are. Maybe it’ll be interesting for you too! […]

Nearing the End of 2015…

Posted November 7, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features / 9 Comments

It started to hit me today that 2015 is coming to an end VERY, very soon. That means that the aggressive amount of challenges I’ve signed up for are also ending within the next two months. I set goals for myself at the beginning of the year too. I wanted to revisit some of my challenges again now that it’s really crunch time. Let’s see if I can get going on finishing them up and meeting my other goals! Click here to see all of my challenge tracking specifics. 105 Challenge – 87% complete Goal: Read 105 books in 2015, with allocations for each genre or topic. (Example: read 14 new releases, 13 young adult contemporary, etc. down to 1 book in the final category) Current status: Read 95 books so far and completed 8 out of the 14 the categories. Still need to work on: I have 6 categories that still need to be completed before the end of 2015: → 10 new adult books – 5 more to read → 8 already owned Kindle books – 4 more to read → 6 nonfiction/memoir books – 3 more to read → 5 parallel universe and/or time-bending books – 1 more to read → 4 non-audio rereads – 1 more to read → 3 books owned before college – 2 more to read Fairytale Challenge – 60-90% complete Goal: Read 10-15 books that are classified as fairy tales and/or fairy tale retellings. Current status: Read 9 books so far. Still need to work on: I technically only have one more to […]

Cover Colors: Nowhere But Home

Posted November 6, 2015 / Cover Colors, Features / 7 Comments

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… Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer I love this cover and it’s unique colors. I could never survive in Texas heat, so I tried to pick something I’d wear if I had to get dressed up down there. I picked a blue skirt along the same lines as the one on the cover, and had to represent the stars with some earrings! Nowhere But Home by bookmarklit featuring stainless steel jewelry

Bookmark Lit Bulletin – October 2015

Posted October 31, 2015 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin was created to wrap up each month and prepare for the next. I share my life happenings, 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 and learn more about the feature here. 13 books read → Physical: 5 | eBook: 2 | eARC: 0 | Audio: 1 | ARC: 2 | Format mix: 3 In 2015… 150 books read of 175 Goodreads goal [86% complete, 6 books ahead of schedule] Blog posts this month: 14 books reviewed and 15 other posts | Challenges this month: 1I had a feeling that October would continue to be lazy, but I had a couple of graphic novels help me get back towards reading more! Sometimes you just need to feel good about the number of books you’ve read and a book of any length will help. Overall, great average rating for books too. Average rating for books read in October: 4.21 stars Highlights of the best and worst… Best of the Best | Pleasantly Surprised | Disappointed All of the books read this month: Average rating for books reviewed in October: 3.86 stars Secret Sister Project My Secret Sister is the BEST. This month, I had a Halloween/fall-themed package containing: a little mug with a sweater; Sliding Doors DVD (I’ve been wanting to see this ever since I saw it mentioned on Hannah’s blog!); stickers for my planner; sticky notes and cards; my favorite candies for the season (Reese’s pumpkins […]

Inside & Out #17: Laura from Scribbles & Wanderlust

Posted October 26, 2015 / Features, Inside and Out / 17 Comments

Admiring book covers and bookmarks, shared by you! Welcome to INSIDE AND OUT. This feature includes two of my absolute favorite book-related things: bookmarks (inside) and book covers (out)! I’ve invited guest posters to share their favorite book covers and bookmarks here on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Sign-ups are always open (see bottom of post)! Check out past posts here. Laura from Scribbles & Wanderlust Twitter: @LECrockett| Instagram: @lauraecrock| Goodreads Tell me a little about yourself: I’m a literary agent and bookseller by day, and blogger by night. Whenever my life isn’t consumed with books, music takes over. Also, if I meet someone who’s the least bit interested in Victorian literature, I chat their ears off for days. Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): Scribbles & Wanderlust mostly has book reviews, but I also participate in Top Ten Tuesday, A to Z book survey, End of Year book survey, #ReRead2015, Seasonal Rewind (my own take on the monthly recap), Advance Excitement at a Glance (a glimpse at ARC reviews coming up for the month), and the occasional discussion/observation post on book and reading preferences. Favorite genre: All genres within Young Adult, though I also read and review whimsical Middle Grade and Adult historical fiction. I realize I mentioned categories more so than genres, but I’m across the board! Three books you recommend most often and why: Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (because it has everything),Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (it’s that perfect upper-YA that even younger YA readers can appreciate and enjoy. […]

The Evolution of Blog Tours

Posted October 23, 2015 / Discussions, Features / 17 Comments

Lately I’ve noticed a new trend within blog tours: creative and unique posts. The content within the posts is more interesting to read about, and there are themes for each tour. Now, I’m not necessarily saying that the more traditional blog tours aren’t fun to read, but these ones have taken things to a new level. There are a few lately that piqued my interest. If this is the way blog tours and promotional posts are headed, I consider that a major win. I wanted to recognize some of the more unique and fun tours I’ve seen lately, as well as share some of my feelings about blog tours and their overall improvements. I’ve always had mixed feelings about blog tours. I am the kind of blogger that generally avoids requesting ARCs (and I don’t often get the ones that I do request), so that means I usually find other ways to gain access to these titles if I’m really dying for them. Blog tours usually provide the blogger with an eARC (or sometimes physical ARC!) of the book, so I would sign up for the tours of highly anticipated books. Sometimes this would blow up in my face if the book didn’t hit the mark for me, but other times I’d be extremely glad I got the opportunity to read the book early. Either way, blog tours can be a commitment. If you sign up and don’t like it that much, your post will change at the last minute to a […]

Library Dreams

Posted October 15, 2015 / Discussions, Features / 13 Comments

Chris and I have been looking into houses, because frankly we have too much shit for our one-bedroom apartment. We both have major hobbies that take up LOTS of space – Lego and reading. We’ve talked about looking into 2 or 3 bedroom houses (hopefully with a finished basement) so I can have a library and he can have a Lego studio. Maybe these are pipe dreams, but we’re certainly looking! We have zero plans for children in the future, so we’re going to let ourselves do whatever we want with our extra rooms!I love Amy’s Nookish posts and have been adding bookshelf pictures to my Pinterest for as long as I can remember. I love planning what I want my library to look like in my nonexistent house, so here are some ideas I’ve been pining over. [Images from Pinterest and/or link to stores] Built-in bookshelves My dad is a great DIY person and has a huge built-in wall of shelving for his CD collection (#dads, amrite?). I plan to have him deck out the walls with built-ins, so I don’t have to worry about buying and assembling a million shelves. I would love to have them around at least three out of the four walls. I know my dad would take care of this for me, so it feels like a pretty achievable goal for this room! I may leave one wall empty (above the bed – more on that in a second) because I’d like to have a […]

Inside & Out #16: Shannon from It Starts at Midnight

Posted October 12, 2015 / Features, Inside and Out / 9 Comments

Admiring book covers and bookmarks, shared by you! Welcome to INSIDE AND OUT. This feature includes two of my absolute favorite book-related things: bookmarks (inside) and book covers (out)! I’ve invited guest posters to share their favorite book covers and bookmarks here on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Sign-ups are always open (see bottom of post)! Check out past posts here. Shannon from It Starts at Midnight Twitter: @ShannonMiz| Instagram: @shannonmiz| Goodreads Tell me a little about yourself: ::Goes to visit past posts to see what kind of stuff other people mention:: Well. Those people didn’t help that much. Let’s see. I have two small humans. I am obsessed with The Hunger Games (this is common knowledge, I think?). I love iced coffee, swimming, and travel. I do 99% of my reading and blogging when normal people would sleep. Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): I blog about… bookish things. And sometimes non bookish things, but there’s usually a tie in somewhere. Basically, I do reviews, discussions, Top Ten Tuesdays because lists are nice and also I like to cheat on them, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I love gifs. I love pictures. I love being ridiculous, so it’s rare to find too much seriousness in any one post. Holly @ The Fox’s Hideaway and I do a feature called “Snark From the Ark” where we chat about The 100 episodes. We’ll be back in January, as will The 100. I host the 2015 Discussion Challenge with Nicole […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin – September 2015

Posted October 1, 2015 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 8 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin was created to wrap up each month and prepare for the next. I share my life happenings, 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 and learn more about the feature here. 10 books read → Physical: 5 | eBook: 2 | eARC: 1 | Audio: 1 | ARC: 1 | Format mix: 0 In 2015… 137 books read of 175 Goodreads goal [78% complete, 7 books ahead of schedule] Blog posts this month: 14 books reviewed and 14 other posts | Challenges this month: 1Well, the time finally came where I decided to get lazy about reading. Definitely not a great month overall, but there was a decent amount of quality over quantity. I enjoyed a lot of the books I read! Average rating for books read in September: 3.9 stars Highlights of the best and worst… Best of the Best | Pleasantly Surprised | Disappointed All of the books read this month: Average rating for books reviewed in September: 3.92 stars I don’t buy a lot of books in general, but I receive a lovely amount from my Secret Sister and through some preordering! I didn’t spend a lot of money on books this month, which is a big win for me. Secret Sister Project New sister’s second box: Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas, Naomi & Eli’s No Kiss List by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier, matching sticky notes […]