Category: Wrap-Ups

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 […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | June 2023

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | June 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 think June may be considered one of my best reading months ever from a rating perspective?! I have multiple new favorite books of all time, including multiple 4.5 and 5 star reads. I can’t think of a time where I had so much goodness in one month! Yes, I had one DNF and a couple of 3-3.5 star reads, but overall… I will definitely be happy with June when I look back on 2023!      11 books in June 10 read  •  0 reread  •  1 DNF Pages read: 3,787 •   Average rating: 4.3 stars Genres: 6 contemporary, 2 fantasy, 2 mystery/thriller, 1 science fiction Formats: 3 mixed, 3 ebook, 3 egalley, 1 audio, 1 hardcover Sources: 5 review, 4 library, 1 preordered, 1 purchased Age Target: 9 adult, 1 young adult, 1 childrens      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 66% 52 Book Club: 65% Must Read in 2023: 50% Romanceopoly: 8% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 73%      Breakdown: 13 purchased  | 1 free/gifted | 5 review copies All review copies were provided […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | May 2023

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | May 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 learned that I’m totally annoying anal about my reading wrap-ups. I either want to finish 9 books or 12 books because of the Instagram story template options. If I read 10 or 11 books, there are blank boxes on the template and I don’t like it! This led me to completely overachieve in May because I decided to bang out two books in the last two and a half days of the month to get to 12!      12 books in May 11 read  •  1 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 4951 •   Average rating: 3.96 stars Genres: 5 fantasy, 3 contemporary, 1 literary fiction Formats: 6 mixed, 3 egalley, 1 hardcover, 1 ebook, 1 audio Sources: 4 review, 3 purchased, 2 library, 2 owned, 1 borrowed Age Target: 7 adult, 4 young adult, 1 new adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 62% 52 Book Club: 60% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 8% Must Read in 2023: 50% Romanceopoly: 8% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 73%      Breakdown: 25 purchased  | 0 free/gifted | 8 review […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 2023

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 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. April was a pretty good month again, all things considered! We went to the Bahamas with a couple of friends for 5 days so I did a little bit of reading by the beach… but not as much as I would have if we were solo! I definitely failed at my readathons and am just too busy over the next month to think about completing any others. In any case, let’s see how April went!      9 books in April 5 read  •  3 reread  •  1 DNF Pages read: 3310 •   Average rating: 4.25 stars Genres: 4 mystery/thriller, 4 fantasy, 1 contemporary Formats: 6 mixed, 1 hardcover, 1 ebook, 1 egalley Sources: 3 borrowed, 3 owned, 2 library, 1 review Age Target: 5 adult, 3 young adult, 1 middle grade      Here are all the books I read this month and the challenges they applied to! Kicked off the Series Reread Popsugar Reading Challenge: With a love triangle (TOG) 52 Book Club: High fantasy and April challenge – contains chocolate (TOG) Buzzword Reading Challenge: N/A Must Read in 2023: N/A Romanceopoly: N/A Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: N/A      Popsugar […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2023

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 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 really cruised in March! If I thought January and February were good reading months, March totally killed it. I’m excited to be at an even thirty books read to this point, averaging to 10 books per month. I really think I’m going to blow my reading challenge out of the water haha. I planned for 80 books but at this rate, I’ll hit the goal around August and keep rolling. The secret goal in my head is 100 books but I don’t want to update my Goodreads challenge.      12 books in March 11 read  •  1 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 3771 •   Average rating: 4.04 stars Genres: 5 mystery/thriller, 4 contemporary, 1 nonfiction, 1 historical fiction, 1 literary fiction Formats: 4 egalley, 3 mixed format, 3 paperback, 1 ebook, 1 hardcover Sources: 4 purchased, 4 review, 4 library Age Target: 11 adult, 1 young adult      Here are all the books I read this month and the challenges they applied to!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 50% 52 Book Club: 48% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 8% Must Read in 2023: 25% Romanceopoly: 8% Mystery/Thriller […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2023

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 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. Still in a great reading place this month! I managed to read the same number of books in February as January, even with 3 less days in the month! I also had a really great reading month overall with the vast majority of books at 4 stars and above. Feeling really great so far 🙂      9 books in February 9 read  •  0 rereads  •  0 DNF Pages read: 2894 •   Average rating: 4 stars Genres: 5 mystery/thriller, 2 contemporary, 1 paranormal, 1 fantasy Formats: 2 paperback, 2 egalley, 2 ebook, 2 mixed format, 1 hardcover Sources: 4 borrowed, 2 library, 2 review, 1 purchased Age Target: 7 adult, 2 young adult      Here are all the books I read this month and the challenges they applied to!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 34% 52 Book Club: 33% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 8% Must Read in 2023: 8% Romanceopoly: 8% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 35%      Breakdown: 22 purchased  | 0 free/gifted | 5 review copies | 1 BOTM All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review From Penguin: Meet Me at the Lake […]

2022 Reading via StoryGraph

Posted February 8, 2023 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments
2022 Reading via StoryGraph

I started using StoryGraph this year in addition to Goodreads. I still use Goodreads for the majority of my book updates because 99% of my friends are still there. Goodreads is where I update reading progress, search for new books and add them to my to-read shelves, and follow what my friends are up to. Storygraph, for me, is for tracking when I start and finish books. I also like using it to better browse my shelves, especially because they have moods and pacing as options for filters – something I love! I also really like their auto-populated charts and graphs, so I thought it would be fun to have a quick wrap-up post from 2022 using specifically information from StoryGraph. It’s no surprise that I read the most pages in December lol even though 6 of my books were graphic novels, I still read the most books within that month overall. I was clearly doing catchup to make sure I finished my reading goal for the year! Again, no surprise here. Pretty sure all of the nonfiction books I read were cookbooks as well. Story of my life! I like how this is more specific than Goodreads because I have to tag my own genres via shelves. Storygraph did it for me! Not surprised whatsoever that my top books were contemporary and romance, followed closely by young adult, and then mystery and thriller. This is another fun part of Storygraph! You can assign moods as you finish reading and […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2023

Posted February 3, 2023 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 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. 2023 started and it’s like I’m a new woman (or older version of myself from pre-pandemic days when I read a lot more than I have the last two years…)! I’m off to the races. 9 books may not seem like a lot when you think about my 17-book-January, but I’m currently 3 books ahead on my Goodreads challenge. That’s all I could hope for. Even better? I’m really in the MOOD to read. Like all the time! Books are exciting again!      9 books in January 9 read  •  0 rereads  •  0 DNF Pages read: 3056 •   Average rating: 4 stars Genres: 3 mystery/thriller, 2 contemporary, 2 fantasy, 1 nonfiction, 1 literary fiction Formats: 4 egalley, 2 paperback, 1 hardcover, 1 audiobook, 1 review audio Sources: 12 borrowed, 2 review, 2 purchased, 1 BOTM Age Target: 6 adult, 3 young adult      Here are all the books I read this month and the challenges they applied to!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 16% 52 Book Club: 15% Buzzword Reading Challenge: 0% Must Read in 2023: 0% Romanceopoly: 5% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 12%      Breakdown: 10 purchased  | 1 […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2022

Posted January 16, 2023 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2022

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’m an annoying person that feels like they have to complete everything… so even though we’re halfway through January, here’s my December wrap-up. To be fair, I read a HUGE amount of books to finish off 2022 strong and complete my Goodreads challenge, so I can let myself get some credit here! I read 7 books in November and *17* books in December lol.      17 books in November 17 read  •  0 rereads  •  0 DNF Pages read: 4068 •   Average rating: 3.97 stars Sources: 12 borrowed, 2 review, 2 purchased, 1 BOTM Formats: 9 ebooks, 3 mixed, 2 egalleys, 1 hardcover, 1 paperback, 1 audiobook Genres: 9 contemporary, 6 science fiction, 2 mystery/thriller Age Target: 11 adult, 6 young adult Check out my 2022 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 1 read this month | 33/40 read total Sapphic book Calendar of Crime Challenge  Holiday in the month Breakdown: 4 purchased  | 0 library books | 1 free/gifted | 4 for review All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For […]

2022 End of Year Wrap-Up and Stats

Posted January 2, 2023 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments
2022 End of Year Wrap-Up and Stats

75 Books Read I managed to absolutely crank through my reading in December – I read way more books in order to meet my challenge. You’d think that would deter me from choosing the same amount of books for 2023 but believe it or not, I’ve added five MORE books to my goal for the year. Regardless, here’s my usual wrap-up for the year! Books Read I continued my path of reading slightly less than 50% contemporary! I’m also thinking of splitting out true romance books but I’m not great about determining what’s truly romance compared to just contemporary fiction, which is why I lump everything together. Either way, 49% contemporary! Not surprised to see my mystery/thriller category around a quarter of my reads for the year. I like seeing a more even split here. Not super even but closer than usual, I’d say. I also did a lot more mixed reading this year because Scribd is a lifesaver when I want to crank through a book in multiple ways. I read more owned/purchased books and ebooks this year but egalleys are still my top format. Not an abnormal split here. Most of my reading happens with my Kindle and/or via audiobooks. If I read a physical book and also listen to an audiobook, I’ll choose the format I utilized more while reading. This chart actually just inspired me to add another category (mixed) for when I read a little bit of each. Not surprising again! Most contemporary romance books […]