Category: Features

Taking the Guesswork Out of My Book Ratings

Posted February 18, 2016 / Discussions, Features / 29 Comments

You finished the book! WOOO. Now what? You liked most of it, but there were some things that bugged you. Do you think it’s in the 3-star range or would you give it a nice 4-star? Was it as good as that OTHER book you rated 4 stars or was it worse? 3.5 feels like not enough, but 4 feels like too much. THIS IS THE WORST FEELING, especially if you then have to change your whole decision because Goodreads doesn’t even let you use half-stars. If you decide on 3.5 stars, will you round up on Goodreads because you liked it overall, or will you round down because it really doesn’t feel worthy? I deal with this all the time. I’ve previously talked about rating with your head or your heart, rating books critically, and changing ratings… so clearly this is something that plagues me. To mitigate some of the issues I have with determining a rating, I’ve developed a really easy plan when rating my books. It helps me out the vast majority of the time. I like to follow a couple of different steps if the first one doesn’t work out. There are plenty of books that I read where I just know the rating in my gut, right off the bat. When that isn’t the case, I move to step two. If that doesn’t finalize things for me, I move to step three. It’s a really easy system but it’s made my life a LOT easier.As I said, sometimes […]

Consequences of Reading Too Much

Posted February 11, 2016 / Discussions, Features / 25 Comments

I’ve complained plenty lately about how romance in books has been bugging me. I’ve been more nitpicky about what I like, what annoys me, and what feels too cliché. Even though I’ve enjoyed a lot of the romance-oriented books I’ve read in the past few months, there are elements that make me roll my eyes that never bugged me before. I haven’t read a lot of OTP-level stuff since last year. I had another post drafted about genre burnout and how if I read too many books in the same genre in a row, they blend together and/or burn me out. I need to switch to something else. While listening to my audiobook on the way to work, I started thinking about how this was yet another book where I didn’t feel like I really KNEW the characters that well. What kind of personality did they have? What got them up in the morning? Then I realized… this has been happening a LOT lately. I feel like I’m not connecting with characters. It finally kind of hit me that maybe I’m reading too much and the stories aren’t fully clicking or resonating with me. I’m missing something, getting nitpicky, and maybe even getting a bit bored. Does this happen when you read too much?For me, I’ve noticed about three distinct issues recently when I read a lot of books very quickly. For about a week out of the month of January, I read almost a book per day. I just kept getting addicted […]

Blog Tour + Giveaway | Cover Colors: Arrows

Posted February 7, 2016 / Cover Colors, Features / 8 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… Arrows by Melissa Gorzelanczyk I love how simple this cover is! I’m a huge fan of ANYTHING with hearts involved. It’s a super cute cover and very representative of the book inside. The Cupid vibe is just perfect. I tried to capture that with my collage below. The shirt and skirt with the bow reminded me of the cuteness and color of the cover. I just kept picturing this big read heart-shaped bag, and I’m so glad I found such a gorgeous one. I also have some matching beauty products and a cute Cupid-y phone case! The jewelry features hearts and arrows. Arrows by bookmarklit featuring a crop top Arrows by Melissa Gorzelanczyk Publisher: Delacorte Press Release Date: January 26th 2016 Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Fantasy, Mythology, Retellings, Romance A modern cupid story set in present-day Wisconsin combining the fantastical elements of Greek mythology with the contemporary drama of MTV’s Teen Mom. People don’t understand love. If they did, they’d get why dance prodigy Karma Clark just can’t say goodbye to her boyfriend, Danny. No matter […]

Top 10 Authors for Romance Newbies to Start With

Posted February 4, 2016 / Book Challenges, Book Lists, Features / 6 Comments

As you (probably don’t) know, one goal I had when starting this blog was to feature recommendation lists for people seeking new books to read within different topics. Top Ten Tuesday kind of took over for this area for me, which is perfect, but sometimes I like to create my own. The Contemporary Romance Challenge hosts a monthly topic to partake in. Sometimes I’ll be posting these in my Bookmark Lit Bulletin posts and sometimes they’ll get their own post, depending on my blog calendar. More info about February’s post topic: For this month’s topic we wanted to highlight books and/or authors people could start out reading if interested in dipping their toes in contemporary romance. If you’re a newbie to the genre you could talk about which ones you’re starting out with. I’m sticking with young adult contemporary romance, because that’s kinda my thing. I’ve read multiple books by all of these authors and they’re all absolutely auto-buys for me. The links to the reviews or Goodreads pages for the books are featured below the graphics! The speech bubbles should be all the reason you need to give them a try if you’re thinking about it 😉 Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins | The Distance Between Us by Kasie West Just One Day by Gayle Forman | The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen | The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally | Second Chance […]

Organization Part Five: Goodreads

Posted February 3, 2016 / Discussions, Features / 14 Comments

Inspired by my recent organizational acquisitions (and posts by Hannah), I wanted to share some information about how I keep myself organized – primarily for blogging and reading, but also a little about my personal organization, too. Part Five: Organizing My Goodreads Shelves There have been an influx of Goodreads-related posts online lately (Brittany’s post and Bekka’s post for starters!) plus Hannah’s tried-and-true guide that I think everyone has read. Feeling inspired by these posts, I decided to include how I personally use Goodreads to keep organized. I’ve come a longggg way since I first started using the site in 2010. Hopefully some of these methods help you out too! Time for a Change When I first started using Goodreads heavily when blogging, I noticed everyone had fun shelves that they were using to remember certain things about books. They also had them split up by genre, for easy access to certain kinds of books. I think mine was super general, including just read, to-read, and currently-reading. I decided to at least add in genres so that I could keep track of what I was in the mood to read. This was a REALLY LONG PROCESS. I added all of the books I read and all of the books on my TBR to these genre shelves. I also added a few more to keep track of things further. Step One: Genres, Formats, and More I added the shelves you see on the side (thank god for old screenshots from when my Goodreads looked like […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin – January 2016

Posted January 31, 2016 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 12 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. I don’t know what was going on at the beginning of the month, but I couldn’t stop reading! I read quite a few addicting ebooks in a row and just never let up for the first half of January. I did try to slow it down a little towards the end of the month because my resolutions told me to! Average rating for books read in January: 4.12 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 January: 3.65 stars Secret Sister Project The last fabulous package from my Secret Sister came this month. She also revealed herself to me – Ashley from The Quiet Concert! She’s done such an amazing job of surprising me each month and really getting things I’d love. This package was no exception – two books I’ve been really wanting for a long time, actually – Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella and The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg. She also got some fuzzy socks, an ornament shaped like an L, cupcake […]

Inside & Out #23: Erica from Novel Ink

Posted January 25, 2016 / 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. Erica from Novel Ink Twitter: @novelink_Erica| Instagram: @divingunderthecover Tell me a little about yourself: I’m Erica, 21, lover of books and anything chocolate…among many other things. I have been blogging for a year and it has been such an amazing experience. I love designing, re-organizing my bookshelves and binge watching Netflix (Grey’s Anatomy, Ghost Whisperer and One Tree Hill are my favorites)! Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): I co-blog with my best friend whom I have never met (boo), Christy. She is amazing and we blog about our love for books. We love to discuss so whether it’s a review or a random discussion post it’ll be about books! We don’t have features right now, but 2016 will hold some amazing new things. Favorite genre: Contemporary Romance, but I’m really loving Fantasy. Three books you recommend most often and why: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – this book was gifted to me from my boyfriend and it is was brought me back into the reading world. Not only that, but it made me want to start blogging so it holds something true […]

Organization Part Four: Reading Notebooks

Posted January 22, 2016 / Discussions, Features / 11 Comments

Inspired by my recent organizational acquisitions (and posts by Hannah), I wanted to share some information about how I keep myself organized – primarily for blogging and reading, but also a little about my personal organization, too. Part Four: Revamping & Reorganizing Bookish Notebooks I realize that this is kind of a broad category because I plan to talk about how I take notes while reading as well as where all of my book-related notes exist. I’ve been trying to revamp my TBR creation methods and haven’t had a lot of success. Now that I changed over into a different method that actually helps me take better notes while reading, I revamped my Foxy Dori a little bit. Here’s how I’ve switched everything up lately. The Old Way A major Foxy Dori redo has occurred since you last learned about my traveler’s notebook. I shared how mine contained various sections to hold multiple notebooks and clear pockets to hold things. In case you forgot, here are some of the features of this wonderful invention: Dashboard, including clear pockets and pouch: basically a piece of laminated paper folded in half, to create a separate section inside of your traveler’s notebook – I keep my pockets, bookmarks, notepads, etc. in here. Book notes notebook: a place for me to write notes as I read (and reference later to write better reviews) – this is the biggest issue area for me, and the reason for this entire revamp. Post planning and other notes: a separate notebook that contains graph paper for […]

Blog Tour | Mini Review + Cover Colors: The Impostor Queen (Giveaway!)

Posted January 20, 2016 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 23 Comments

LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | iBooks | The Book Depository 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… The Impostor Queen by Sarah Fine This cover has some cool bright red and peachy tones, mixed with black and very light blue. I usually don’t go ALL out with the makeup aspect, but her makeup on the cover is too pretty to ignore! I thought it would be fun to show some similar colors to the ones she’s wearing on her face. I chose a dress to match the “Queen” font and some black and light blue accessories. The Imposter Queen by bookmarklit featuring a holiday nail polish Mini Review I have been trying to get better about reading more fantasy books. I always say how it’s one of my favorite genres, but I find that over half of the books I read every year are contemporaries. It’s one of my major goals of 2016 to have a better distribution of book genres, and THE IMPOSTOR QUEEN was the first fantasy book I read this year! (Well, aside from finishing up my […]

Inside & Out #22: Monica from Tomes Project

Posted January 11, 2016 / 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. Monica from Tomes Project Twitter: @tomesproject| Instagram: @tomesproject| Goodreads Tell me a little about yourself: I am a freshman in college who drinks way too much coffee and buys way too many books (something I am trying to remedy). I am also an avid believer in libraries (literally it’s free books!) and spending too much time watching book videos (+ Zoella) on YouTube. Thirty second dance parties and Grey’s Anatomy have been essential to my mental health throughout the years, and I am learning to not be ashamed that I love Doctor Who. I think post-it notes and to-do lists are the two things that have saved me the most stress in my life. Current obsession in life: Halsey. Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): I mostly blog about YA books, but I also try and dip my toes into adult fiction–something I have been doing a lot more as of recent–and middle grade. Since I am still a tiny little blogger, I don’t do reviews for publishers, but reviews are some of my favorite posts to write out! I try and make my reviews a little different […]