Category: Wrap-Ups

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | May 2025

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | May 2025

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. Thrilled to announce that I busted my reading slump! I read double the amount of books in May than I did in April, and I’m feeling so relieved. I was in the mood to read way more often and prioritized it as well. I don’t expect to read this much going forward as we get busier with moving and stuff, but hopefully close!      10 books in May 10 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Formats: 7 mixed format, 2 egalley, 1 hardcover Status/source: 3 purchased, 2 preordered, 2 review, 2 library, 1 owned Age Target: 10 adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings!      25 in 25: 40% 52 Book Club: 60% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 58% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 75%      Breakdown: 7 hardcovers | 6 paperbacks | 3 egalleys | 2 ebooks | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Physical Books Preordered: One Golden Summer by Fortune, The Missing Half by Flowers, Saga vol. 12 by Vaughan Book Drop Subscription: Time Loops & Meet Cutes by […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 2025

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 2025

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. My reading slump unfortunately continued into April! Good lord. Instead of forcing myself to read random short things or cookbooks, I just let it happen. My reading calendar is a staggered mess because I didn’t even read a book every single day. My goal for May is to actually pick up a book – even for a few pages or driving with an audiobook – every day.      5 books in April 5 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Formats: 5 mixed format Status/source: 2 library, 2 preordered, 1 review Age Target: 5 adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings!      25 in 25: 30% 52 Book Club: 44% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 50% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 67%      Breakdown: 5 hardcovers | 1 paperback | 4 egalleys | 2 ebooks | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Physical Books From Aardvark: Any Trope But You by Lavine, The Tainted Cup and A Drop of Corruption by Bennett Preordered/release event: Great Big Beautiful Life by Henry, Tell Me […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2025

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2025

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. My reading slump unfortunately continued into March. I fell back into some old habits with reading two cookbooks to keep on track lol. I did enjoy a few books but otherwise there were a lot of unfortunate misses. Please cross your fingers April is better.      7 books in March 7 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Formats: 3 mixed, 2 hardcovers, 1 egalley, 1 Netgalley audiobook Status/source: 3 purchased, 2 review, 2 library Age Target: 7 adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings!      25 in 25: 20% 52 Book Club: 35% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 42% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 67%      Breakdown: 4 hardcovers | 3 paperback | 5 egalleys | 1 ebook | 1 audiobook All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Physical Books Purchased: The Official Disney Parks Cookbook and The Official Disney Parks Celebration Cookbook BOTM: Our Infinite Fates by Steven Book Swap: Broken Things by Oliver Purchased: Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Fawcett [audiobook] Blind Date with a Book then purchased: Mistborn trilogy by […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2025

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2025

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 another weird month, and a short one at that. I hit a little bit of a reading slump – I ended up DNFing a book super unexpectedly and almost did the same with another book by a fave author. Luckily I pushed through for that one and ended up enjoying it. All in all…hoping March will be better.      7 books in February 6 read  •  0 reread  •  1 DNF Formats: 5 mixed, 1 egalley Status/source: 2 review, 2 BOTM, 1 preordered, 1 Kindle Unlimited Age Target: 5 adult, 1 young adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings!      25 in 25: 15% 52 Book Club: 25% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 42% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 58%      Breakdown: 4 hardcovers | 0 paperback | 5 egalleys | 1 ebook | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Physical Books Preordered: The Meadowbrook Murders by Goodman, Under the Same Stars by Bray, Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Fawcett BOTM: Famous Last Words by McCallister Review Copies From Penguin/Berkley: […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2025

Posted February 1, 2025 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2025

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. There’s nothing quite like a new reading year to rejuvenate me! 2024 was a weird year – I read way too many novellas and books under 200ish pages to meet my goal and really just don’t feel like I ENJOYED a lot of what I was reading. I decided to put less pressure on myself and make my reading goal 75 books so I don’t feel as stressed or pressured to read a random novella just to hit a quota. That said, January was a pretty great reading month but had some weird outliers. I’m going to start sharing some of the Storygraph monthly graphics here because they help illustrate what I’m talking about.      7 books in December 7 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Formats: 4 mixed, 2 egalley, 1 audiobook Status/source: 2 borrowed, 2 review copies, 2 preordered, 1 BOTM Age Target: 6 adult, 1 young adult Here are all the books I read this month with ratings!      25 in 25: 5% 52 Book Club: 13% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 33% Buzzword Cover Challenge: 33%      Breakdown: 5 hardcovers […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2024

Posted January 8, 2025 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 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 wanted to finish the year strong and managed to include five novellas to help me reach my reading goal with about a week to spare. I finished the year with 103 books, which is not a pretty number, but it’s fine. I feel like the past couple of months have had a LOT of mid books so I’m hoping to start the year in a better spot with the books on my TBR.      11 books in December 11 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 2,288  •  Average rating: 3.36 stars Genres: 8 contemporary, 2 mystery/thriller, 1 nonfiction Formats: 5 ebook, 3 mixed format, 2 hardcover, 1 egalley Sources: 5 Kindle Unlimited, 3 library, 2 review, 1 preordered Age Target: 11 adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts! Least Favorite Short Story Collection // // // // //      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 44% 52 Book Club: 71% Book Cover Bingo: 84% 24 in 24: 33%      Breakdown: 4 hardcovers | 1 paperback | 1 egalley | 0 ebooks | 0 audiobooks All review […]

2024 End of Year Wrap-Up and Stats

Posted January 2, 2025 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
2024 End of Year Wrap-Up and Stats

103 Books Read I don’t like finishing the year with a number ending in three (I prefer a 0 or 5) but whatever, let’s get over that and move on. As always, I’d like to share some final statistics for the year! Books Read Yet again I’ve had some success in keeping my combined romance/mystery/thriller section under 75% – this year I finished around 67% between those genres. I think I’d like to read a lot more fantasy next year – I’m just kind of feeling it. I’d also like to increase my literary fiction category. As always, “mixed” format was my biggest category. This will continue to increase as time goes on because I’ve found myself mixing in the Spotify Audiobooks more and more. It’s just so easy! I was thinking I’d find a better way to track that next year but I’m too lazy. Maybe that’s for 2026… I still need to prioritize reading books on my shelves and the ones I keep buying… but I really loved Libby and my Kindle this year, clearly! This was a weird year for me, especially at the end – I read a ton of mid books in November/December. I feel like 4 stars is usually my most popular rating but I am a little alarmed that 3.5 is so close this year. Hopefully I can focus on reading some really good stuff for next year. So yes generally speaking I can read 8 books a month with a few exceptions […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 2024

Posted December 10, 2024 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 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. This was a rough reading month. It was really hard to even decide what my favorites were! My overall rating is a full star less than last month’s rating. I know I’ll be finishing the year strong because I have plenty of other books to read that I’m looking forward to.      9 books in November 8 read  •  0 reread  •  1 DNF Pages read: 1,873  •  Average rating: 3.06 stars Genres: 5 mystery/thriller, 2 fantasy, 1 contemporary, 1 nonfiction Formats: 4 ebook, 3 mixed format, 2 hardcover Sources: 4 Kindle Unlimited, 2 library, 1 purchased, 1 preordered, 1 BOTM Age Target: 8 adult, 1 young adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 40% 52 Book Club: 71% Book Cover Bingo: 84% 24 in 24: 33%      Breakdown: 5 hardcovers | 1 paperback | 5 egalley | 0 ebooks | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Physical Books Preordered: Games Untold by Barnes, HBH Quick and Cozy by Gerard Purchased: What To Cook When You […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | October 2024

Posted November 6, 2024 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | October 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. Another weird month for October but generally read a decent amount quantity-wise… just not length-wise! I read a few novellas to flesh out the month since I just never got in a good rhythm with full-length books. I’ll see how the rest of the year goes, I guess. I don’t doubt I’ll reach my Goodreads goal but I do think there will be a lot more novellas unfortunately. I have so many novels I’m excited to read but just can’t make the time!      8 books in October 8 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 1,952 •  Average rating: 4.06 stars Genres: 5 mystery/thriller, 2 contemporary, 1 historical fiction Formats: 4 ebook, 3 mixed format, 1 hardcover Sources: 4 Kindle Unlimited, 1 BOTM, 1 library, 1 preordered, 1 purchased Age Target: 7 adult, 1 young adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 40% 52 Book Club: 69% Book Cover Bingo: 84% 24 in 24: 33%      Breakdown: 3 hardcovers | 1 paperback | 1 egalley | 2 ebooks | […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | September 2024

Posted October 9, 2024 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | September 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 had a weird reading month in September, which is kind of par for the course – I always expect to do less reading when I’m bopping around for my birthday and beginning-of-fall plans. I read nearly an entire graphic novel series and just a few full-length novels so my numbers look good at least.      10 books in September 9 read  •  0 reread  •  1 DNF Pages read: 3,143 •  Average rating: 3.9 stars Genres: 5 graphic novel, 3 mystery/thriller, 2 contemporary Formats: 5 paperback, 2 ebook, 2 mixed, 1 egalley Sources: 5 purchased, 2 preordered, 2 library, 1 review Age Target: 5 young adult, 4 adult, 1 middle grade      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!           ADORED This Series binge // // //        Popsugar Reading Challenge: 36% 52 Book Club: 65% Book Cover Bingo: 84% 24 in 24: 29%      Breakdown: 7 hardcovers | 10 paperbacks | 1 egalley | 1 ebook | 0 audiobooks All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest […]