Category: Wrap-Ups

Lauren Lately | July 2018

Posted July 13, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 5 Comments

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 ✨ I’m here a little early this month because I don’t usually post on the weekends, and I have plenty to report as of right now! We successfully moved home this month and enjoyed the remaining days in Portland, so here’s the standard rundown of my life lately! Popham Beach State Park / Bath, ME | We have plenty of time to explore southern Maine (Portland and under), but we probably won’t be venturing north as much as the years go by. We wanted to check out Bath because it’s a cute little town (kind of city maybe?) and there’s an EXCELLENT beach up there called Popham Beach State Park. Sandbars are exposed during low tide and there’s a little island kind of thing you can walk to when the timing is right, which was so fun. We spent the day there and then grabbed dinner at a random oceanside restaurant in Bath. California trip […]

2018 Mid-Year Challenge Progress & Future TBRs

Posted July 4, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features, Wrap-Ups / 6 Comments

I love tracking my TBR and trying to see what else there is to accomplish by halfway through the year. I always hope it shocks me into completing challenges and really focusing in on my bookish goals. I decided to split this year’s check-in into two posts so I could really hone in on some specifics. Today’s post is about about my challenges’ status and TBRs for the rest of the year. Monday’s post was about what I’ve read and my goal progress. Check out last year’s post if you’re curious! I’m a big fan of reading challenges and decided to expand a little bit. Instead of doing ones I’d finish very easily, I wanted to do some more specific ones with categories that would open up my reading a bit more. Netgalley/Edelweiss Challenge Goal: 80% ratio ||| Current ratio: 71% Pretty Dead Girls – Murphy As You Wish – Sedoti The Upside of Falling Down – Crane Surprise Me – Kinsella The Sweetest Kind of Fate – Cestari Legendary – Garber Finding Felicity – Kade Starry Eyes – Bennett Frat Girl – Roache No Filter – Collins The Elizas – Shepard Love Songs & Other – Pennington August/Everything After – Dotorksi Love & Luck – Welch Herons Landing – Ross From Twinkle with Love – Menon Dating Disasters/Emma – Seager Last Summer/Garrett – Spotswood The Summer List – Doan The Similars – Hanover To Catch a Killer – Scarborough Your Destination/Left – Spieller Popsugar Reading Challenge Goal: 40 prompts completed […]

2018 Mid-Year Reading Statistics & Goals

Posted July 2, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments

I love tracking my TBR and trying to see what else there is to accomplish by halfway through the year. I always hope it shocks me into completing challenges and really focusing in on my bookish goals. I decided to split this year’s check-in into two posts so I could really hone in on some specifics. Today’s post is about the usual stuff: what I’ve read and my goal progress. Wednesday’s post is about my challenges’ status and TBRs for the rest of the year. Check out last year’s post if you’re curious! As you see in my monthly wrap-ups, I keep my stats updated each time. The spreadsheet I use is definitely the reason for my organization. I use this time of year (in addition to the end of the year) to REALLY go all-out with my stats. It also helps me create new goals or update existing ones. I may decide I really should read more fantasy or more books from my own shelves. I’ll highlight all of the books I’ve read so far in general too. All of the Books Read So Far Random Fun Smallest book read: Home to Honeymoon Harbor (66) Largest book read: Obsidio (615) Most read author: RaeAnne Thayne (3) Books read 300 pages or under: 24% Books read over 300 pages: 76% Most pages / books in a month: 4,765 pages in January / 14 books in January Least pages / books in a month: 2,624 pages in April / 7 books in June At the beginning of the year, […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | June 2018

Posted June 29, 2018 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments

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 don’t like to post these before the end of the month because I’m always afraid I’ll read/finish more books in between, but I know that won’t be the case here! Since we’re moving TOMORROW (holy crap), I knew I wouldn’t be reading today and tomorrow, most likely. If I do find a few minutes to read, I’m sure I won’t be finishing anything. In any case! June was a buuuuusy month but I still found myself reading in my spare time before bed or in the evening. We traveled to California, which involved me reading half of one book on the first flight and then binge-watching shows instead for the rest. I finished with two books this week though so I got back on track for the GR goal, thanks to reading a lot in May. All of the books read this month: Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge 4 read this month | 22 read total | 71% NG ratio Popsugar Reading Challenge 0 read this month | 25 read total | 63% complete None this month Modern Mrs. Darcy […]

Lauren Lately | June 2018

Posted June 15, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 5 Comments

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 ✨ June marks the super busy time for me! We’re moving at the end of the month and had soooo much to do in the interim. There’s more to come after this posts, where things get even busier. Here’s my life from mid-May to mid-June! Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor | I know I already did a full recap of this trip, but I wanted to include a few pictures here. Definitely read the whole thing if you want more details! It was so much fun. It’s genuinely the most beautiful place I’ve been. If you have a chance to go, please do. Victoria Mansion and food spots | We went to a Portland attraction, the Victoria Mansion, this month. It’s really cool because they kept most of it authentic to the time people lived there. We went to Highroller Lobster Company after, which was amazing. We split fries, a “lobby pop” (piece of lobster […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | May 2018

Posted June 1, 2018 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

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 definitely more in the mood to read this month, for once! I managed to get back over my reading hump and finish over 10 books. This keeps me ahead on my Goodreads challenge as well. You’ll see from the breakdown below that I was SUPER addicted to my Kindle. I almost never came up for air with that thing. I genuinely struggled to read physical copies after a while 🙁 All of the books read this month: Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge 6 read this month | 18 read total | 71% NG ratio Popsugar Reading Challenge 1 read this month | 25 read total | 63% complete Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge 1 read this month | 7 read total | 58% complete Seasonal Bingo Breakdown: 5 bought | 2 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 6 for review Egalleys From Netgalley: Herons Landing by Ross, Dating Disasters of Emma Nash by Seager, The Art of Inheriting Secrets by O’Neal, The Summer List by Doan, The Impossibility of Us by Upperman, The Similars by Hanvoer Physical Copies Preordered: ACOFAS […]

Lauren Lately | May 2018

Posted May 16, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 6 Comments

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 ✨ This has been a crazier month than usual, my friends. I’ve done a lot things and traveled to many places between the end of April and beginning of May! Here’s a big ol recap: Week 1: Hikes, Makeup, and Food The weather started warming up again and we tried to get out as much as possible for a little while… before our crazy few months started up! We went to Mackworth Island for our favorite local hike. We need to keep getting out there but it’s been tough! I started to get heavily into makeup and beauty things again, as evidenced by many of my recent posts/sections. I’ve spent a lot of money on it lately and I MUST BE STOPPED. Week 2: Home in Connecticut (Lots of Celebrations) My sister and mom have the same birthday, which happened to fall the same weekend as my cousin’s bridal shower in Connecticut, so it […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 2018

Posted May 2, 2018 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 6 Comments

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 reading month! I’ve been going through these phases where I’ll barely read anything for multiple days, then pick up a book or two and finish them in one day/sitting. It’s very weird. I know this is partly because I got addicted to a few things… primarily watching beauty videos on YouTube. With Wrestlemania weekend happening, there were so many wrestling podcast episodes to listen to that my audio listening was weird. I did listen to bits and pieces of three this month (which is huge considering how few I’ve been listening to). I’m in the middle of an audiobook now and have a loooot of driving, commuting, and taking-a-train-into-NYC to do over this weekend. Hopefully May gets a good jump-start and this is the last slow reading month for a while! All of the books read this month: Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge 2 read this month | 12 read total | 71% NG ratio Popsugar Reading Challenge 1 read this month | 24 read total | 60% complete Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge 0 read this month | […]

Lauren Lately | April 2018

Posted April 16, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 7 Comments

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 ✨ Crazy weekend home – bridal shower, secret santa, birthdays, and all the lies | Before we headed home, we spent one night at our favorite dine-in theater and saw Game Night. So funny! Then, our mid-March journey home was fillllled with plans. My friend wanted a surprise bridal shower, so we had our very late Secret Santa the night before as an excuse for all of us to be in Connecticut. We had this immense web of lies I won’t get into, but it paid off! She was definitely surprised and it was a fun day… well, as fun as a bridal shower could be, I guess! (So not my thing.) The next day, we had dinner out for my dad’s belated birthday and then my sister and I went to see Love, Simon and its PERFECTION. We both read the book and loved the movie just as much. I got my hair done […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2018

Posted April 1, 2018 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 7 Comments

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 did a pretty good job of maintaining my reading numbers for March. I finally finished some huuuuge books and got them out of the way, so that was nice. MY PLAIN JANE and OBSIDIO took up a lot of time (because of their size and because I took breaks to read other books too). I also balanced those with a few smaller, quick reads (like the four hour audiobook for DOWN AMONG THE STICKS AND BONES). I read FINDING FELICITY in a day because it was just so addicting and readable (not perfect, but good!). I enjoyed my reads this month overall but definitely pushed myself to get to 10 by the final week. All of the books read this month: Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge 5 read this month | 10 read total | 70% NG ratio Popsugar Reading Challenge 5 read this month | 22 read total | 55% complete Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge 0 read this month | 6 read total | 50% complete None this month Seasonal Bingo Breakdown: 3 bought | 0 borrowed | […]