Category: Wrap-Ups

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2024

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2024

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. February was a bit rough. Thank GOD for the series of six novellas that I read in February to make up for spending the literal entire month reading HOFAS. I also quickly read a couple of egalleys toward the end of the month when I was really craving some fast-paced mysteries.      9 books in February 9 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 1,822 •   Average rating: 3.89 stars Genres: 6 contemporary, 1 fantasy, 2 mystery/thriller Formats: 6 mixed format, 2 ebooks, 1 egalley Sources: 7 purchased, 2 review Age Target: 9 adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts! THE IMPROBABLE MEET-CUTE COLLECTION: The Exception to the Rule by Christina Lauren //  Worst Wingman Ever by Abby Jimenez // Rosie and the Dreamboat by Sally Thorne // Drop, Cover, and Hold On by Jasmine Guillory // With Any Luck by Ashley Poston // Royal Valentine by Sariah Wilson //        Popsugar Reading Challenge: 14% 52 Book Club: 19% Book Cover Bingo: 36% 24 in 24: 4%      Breakdown: 6 hardcovers […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2024

Posted February 14, 2024 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2024

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. I didn’t have an amazing reading month in January from a quantity perspective, but man was the quality good! I had a great overall rating. I managed to even finish both of the first two Crescent City books by the end of the month, which was my goal. Now I’m still slogging through the third one…      8 books in January 8 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 3,486 •   Average rating: 4.38 stars Genres: 4 fantasy, 1 contemporary, 1  cookbook, 1 historical fic, 1 mystery/thriller Formats: 6 mixed format, 1 audio, 1 hardcover Sources: 4 purchased, 2 review, 1 preorder, 1 borrowed Age Target: 7 adult, 1 middle grade      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 10% 52 Book Club: 13% Book Cover Bingo: 28% 24 in 24: 4%      Breakdown: 2 hardcovers | 1 egalley | 6 ebooks | 2 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review From Hachette/Forever: Just for the Summer by Jimenez Ebooks Kindle Sale: Defend […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2023

Posted January 10, 2024 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2023

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. I made the executive decision to stop reading once I hit my 115th book of the year, even though there were a few days left in December. I got sick the weekend before NYE and just decided to keep it at a nice round number for the year and give myself a break. I finished the book with 10 books read plus one DNF, which was a nice and easy way to end the year.      10 books in  November 10 read  •  0 reread  •  1 DNF Pages read: 3,114 •   Average rating: 4.05 stars Genres: 6 contemporary, 4 mystery/thriller, 1 graphic novel Formats: 6 mixed format, 2 egalley, 1 ebook, 1 paperback, 1 hardcover Sources: 5 review, 3 purchased, 2 borrowed, 1 library Age Target: 11 adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 76% 52 Book Club: 77% Must Read in 2023: 75% Romanceopoly: 26% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 96%      Breakdown: 4 BOTM | 2 review | 4 gifted | 2 purchased All review copies were provided for free […]

2023 End of Year Wrap-Up and Stats

Posted January 1, 2024 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment
2023 End of Year Wrap-Up and Stats

115 Books Read I’m so happy that I ended the year on a nice cute number like 115! I thought for sure I’d read one more book but I love finishing the year in 0 or 5 lol. I got sick right after I finished my 115th book on the 29th and just decided to totally lay low and not read anything else until 2024. It made life easier so I could work on my wrap-up posts earlier too 😉 This one has my stats about books I read and acquired. Overall, it was the best reading year I’ve had in a few years! Books Read One of my major goals recently has been to continue to diversify my reading from a genre perspective. It’s so exciting to see that I have a huge fantasy chunk this year! Thank you, long ass series! I wanted to read less than 75% contemporary and mystery books, and I finished the year at 69% between those genres. I can’t believe I actually read more mystery/thrillers than contemporary romance too! That’s huge. Fantasy is up from *1%* last year to *19%* this year. Yay!! I love reading books in multiple formats and that’s clear for 2023. I read more “mixed” books this year. This is partially because Everand (FKA Scribd) has more titles, I subscribed to Libby through the Charlotte NC library system, and Spotify rolled out audiobooks. I love having the option to listen to an audiobook in addition to reading it. Okay […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 2023

Posted December 6, 2023 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 2023

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. I definitely planned to read more in November (and didn’t expect for so many of my books to be novellas!). My trip for the last week of the month didn’t involve really any reading, so there are two books I didn’t complete in November that I figured I would. Oh well, it just means December is off to a good start!      9 books in  November 9 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 2,545 •   Average rating: 3.89 stars Genres: 5 mystery/thrillers, 2 contemporary, 2 fantasy Formats: 3 mixed, 2 audiobooks, 2 ebooks, 1 hardcover, 1 paperback Sources: 3 borrowed, 3 purchased, 2 library, 1 preordered Age Target: 8 adult, 1 new adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 76% 52 Book Club: 75% Must Read in 2023: 75% Romanceopoly: 23% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 96%      Breakdown: 4 hardcover | 3 paperback | 2 egalley All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review From Berkley: Summer Romance by Monaghan From […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | October 2023

Posted November 6, 2023 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | October 2023

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. I was hoping to read a little more in October but honestly 8 books is still great! I’m impressed that I stuck to my guns and binge-read TWO series in their entirety. That was my biggest goal for October. I managed to read those 7 books across two series, then read one standalone in between. I know November and December will be big reading months though!      8 books in October 8 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 3,360 •   Average rating: 4 stars Genres: 4 mystery/thrillers, 3 fantasy, 1 science fiction Formats: 5 mixed, 3 paperback Sources: 3 preordered, 1 review, 1 owned, 1 borrowed Age Target: 4 adult, 2 young adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 74% 52 Book Club: 75% Must Read in 2023: 75% Romanceopoly: 23% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 92%      Breakdown: 3 hardcovers | 3 egalleys | 3 ebooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review   From Penguin: Raiders of the Lost Heart […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | September 2023

Posted October 11, 2023 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | September 2023

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. September, as always, wasn’t the best reading month for me. I always have travel and birthday plans on and off throughout the month. I did manage to finish 6 books and one of them was over 900 pages, so I will count it as a major win overall!      6 books in September 6 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 2,789 •   Average rating: 3.83 stars Genres: 3 mystery/thrillers, 1 contemporary, 1 fantasy, 1 nonfiction Formats: 2 hardcover, 2 mixed, 1 paperback, 1 egalley Sources: 3 preordered, 1 review, 1 owned, 1 borrowed Age Target: 4 adult, 2 young adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 74% 52 Book Club: 75% Must Read in 2023: 67% Romanceopoly: 23% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 92%      Breakdown: 4 hardcovers | 3 paperbacks | 1 egalley | 2 ebooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review / Ebooks From St. Martin’s Press: Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Cosimano Kindle Monthly Freebie: Woke Up Like This […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | August 2023

Posted September 6, 2023 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | August 2023

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. August was another good reading month and I met my Goodreads goal of 80 books in August! It’s really exciting to finish it early and read without pressure for the rest of the year… but let’s be honest: my good reading mood has continued so I’m sure I’ll still be reading a lot! I think the biggest difference is now I can read some of the longer fantasy/paranormal books that will take me longer this fall and not worry about quantity of books per month.      11 books in August 10 read  •  0 reread  •  1 DNF Pages read: 4,228 •   Average rating: 4.05 stars Genres: 6 contemporary, 3 mystery/thriller, 1 fantasy, 1 paranormal Formats: 5 egalley, 4 mixed, 1 ebook, 1 audiobook Sources: 6 review, 2 library, 2 borrowed, 1 BOTM Age Target: 8 adult, 3 young adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 72% 52 Book Club: 71% Must Read in 2023: 58% Romanceopoly: 23% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 85%      Breakdown: 4 hardcovers | 4 paperbacks | 4 egalleys […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | July 2023

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | July 2023

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. I had most of my good luck in June because July was mostly just okay for reading. Not a lot of major standouts, with one or two exceptions. I did manage to read 12 books, which is always my secret goal in the back of my mind! (Usually monthly recaps on Instagram have either 9 or 12 book slots on them so I aim for one of those numbers lol.) I had a few disappointments and books I expected would go better for me as well.      12 books in June 12 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 3,932 •   Average rating: 3.83 stars Genres: 5 mystery/thriller, 3 contemporary, 2 fantasy, 1 nonfiction, 1 graphic novel Formats: 4 mixed, 4 ebooks, 2 paperbacks, 1 hardcover, 1 egalley Sources: 53 purchased, 3 review, 3 library, 1 owned, 1 borrowed, 1 BOTM Age Target: 9 adult, 1 young adult, 1 middle grade, 1 new adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 72% 52 Book Club: 67% Must Read in 2023: […]

2023 Midyear Stats

Posted July 10, 2023 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
2023 Midyear Stats

Back again with some of my stats from 2023 now that we’ve (somehow) hit the midpoint! I cannot believe it’s July, you guys… this year is flying by! Here’s where I am on my goals and reading for the year. Books Read 55 Read + 5 Rereads + 2 DNF Approx. 21,769 pages read This is actually a crazy one for me – I always make it a goal to read under 50% contemporary romance/fiction just because I love other genres and want to diversify my reading in that way. The fact that I’m under 30% for contemporary is just insane to me. I love that it’s almost equal between Mystery/Thriller, Fantasy, and Contemporary – with some others squeezed in for the final 15%. Similar breakdown as above, with Fantasy being a little higher from a page perspective… those tend to be longer (especially with my TOG reread/series finish). This is another interesting one! As you’ll see later in the Acquisitions section, I’ve been acquiring less egalleys and review copies than usual (trying to be intentional about only requesting what I am super interested in and can commit to reading within a month or so of release)… but I’ve been reading a little more of them! I’m trying to catch up and make sure I’m on top of them. I love reading books in multiple formats (usually means mixing in the audiobook) so I’m not surprised that’s the biggest percentage. This is probably similar to last year around this time […]