Category: Wrap-Ups

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2020

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2020

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. March was a bit off too still, which is okay. I’m going to give myself some grace during this time. I know I tend to read more when the weather is nice and I can go on the porch, so hopefully that turns out to be true this summer. We’re dealing with a lot right now and, as I discussed HERE, reading can be hard at times. I’m excited to begin the OWLS next month so I can be motivated to read more!      9 books read in March 8 new books  •  0 rereads  •  1 DNF Pages read: 3,102   •   Average rating: 3.7 stars Sources: 6 for review, 1 library book, 1 borrowed, 1 owned Formats:  [Review] 3 egalleys and 0 physical ARCs 0 hardcover, 0 paperbacks, 0 ebook, 0 audio, 6 combos Genres: 4 contemporary, 3 mystery/thriller, 1 fantasy, 1 paranormal Age Target: 4 adult, 5 young adult, 0 middle grade Check out my 2020 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 3 read this month | 20/40 read total Prompts read: Published in 2020, about a book […]

Lauren Lately | March 2020

Posted March 13, 2020 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments
Lauren Lately | March 2020

You can read my monthly Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups to learn about the bookish and blog-related things I’ve accomplished. Lauren Lately was created 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. What I’ve Been Up To When I last shared some updates, I had just headed to Maine to visit my sister and watch the new TATBILB movie. We’re into mid-March, so here’s what I’ve been doing over the last month! We went to the Sugar Factory in Foxwoods Casino for Valentine’s Day and got some apps and a huuuge drink to share. We roamed the casino afterwards and played a bit of video roulette. Chris had bought me flowers a few days early too! We’ve been trying to get out of the house more, as usual, so we had our Friday date night at Mill on the River and followed it up with our favorite brewery. Chris went to the skatepark one weekend and I read my book at Starbucks nearby for a bit. We’ve been back to our other favorite brewery for a snack and a few beers, ran some errands, and followed it up with milkshakes at a local old-school diner kind of place. We went for a nice walk on the trail near our house on a nice Sunday. We’ve been watching the XFL and some movies, plus I got addicted to Love is Blind – more on those later. We had some breakfast in bed last weekend before heading to the Eric Carle Museum of […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2020

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2020

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 reading month was ROUGH for a few reasons. I obviously spent some good time reading THE KING OF CROWS and didn’t manage to finish a book before its release, so I was kind of behind from the get-go. I wasn’t ever in the mood to read and most books didn’t grab me after finishing KoC. I finally got through a few toward the end of the month but I’m definitely behind at this point. Here’s hoping March is better!      7 books read in February 7 new books  •  0 rereads  •  1 DNF   Pages read: 3,077   •   Average rating: 3.6 stars Sources: 6 for review, 1 library book, 3 borrowed Formats:  [Review] 2 egalleys and 0 physical ARCs 1 hardcover, 0 paperbacks, 0 ebook, 1 audio, 4 combos Genres: 4 contemporary, 2 mystery/thriller, 1 paranormal, 1 historical Age Target: 3 adult, 5 young adult, 0 middle grade Check out my 2020 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 7 read this month | 17/40 read total    Prompts read: Passes the Bechdel test, bout a woman in STEM, […]

Lauren Lately | February 2020

Posted February 14, 2020 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments
Lauren Lately | February 2020

You can read my monthly Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups to learn about the bookish and blog-related things I’ve accomplished. Lauren Lately was created 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. What I’ve Been Up To In mid-January, we continued to tour wedding venues… and ended up picking one this month! We’re really excited about it – it’s the one place we both genuinely loved and could see us getting married at. While out and about that day, we stopped at Hogan’s Cider Mill for some cider tasting! I always find that most ciders are too wine-like for me and I hate that taste, so we really enjoyed 1-2 of them only haha. There were some nice days of reading in the car while Chris skated for a bit! I don’t know why it was so dang warm in January. I attended a surprise party for my friend’s birthday, which was amazing for the most part… it was in the middle of the worst snowstorm we’ve had so far so I had to take Chris’s Subaru and drive in smart timeframes. Woof. We got our new TV to watch the Royal Rumble on AND we hosted Chris’s family for a Superbowl party the following weekend. I took on a grocery/food-related project that involved inventorying all of my food. More to come on that at the end of the month! On Sunday we went to this place for brunch with Chris’s sister – they […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2020

Posted February 3, 2020 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | January 2020

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 always like to kick off the year strong and end the month ahead on my Goodreads goal! I usually manage to finish an entire book on January 1st when I’m chilling at home but this year that was not the case. Nonetheless, I still had a good reading month. I had a slow period around the midpoint but ended up getting back on track every once in a while.      10 books read in January 10 new books  •  0 rereads  •  0 DNFs Pages read: 3,811   •   Average rating: 4.0 stars Sources: 6 for review, 1 library book, 3 borrowed Formats:  [Review] 4 egalleys and 1 physical ARC 1 hardcover, 0 paperbacks, 1 ebook, 1 audio, 2 combos Genres: 5 contemporary, 3 mystery/thriller, 1 fantasy, 1 sci-fi Age Target: 3 adult, 7 young adult, 0 middle grade Check out my 2020 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 10 read this month | 10/40 read total Prompts read: Great first line, with a map, same title as show, author with flora or fauna in their name, set in […]

Lauren Lately | December 2019 – January 2020

Posted January 10, 2020 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 8 Comments
Lauren Lately | December 2019 – January 2020

You can read my monthly Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups to learn about the bookish and blog-related things I’ve accomplished. Lauren Lately was created 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. Ummm you know it’s been a while when you need to include TWO months in your recap post title! I usually try to do this post or a Five on Friday every week but clearly the holiday season derailed that quite a bit. Here’s a big ol recap of my life. What I’ve Been Up To I usually go weekend by weekend but simultaneously a lot has happened and not a lot, so I’ll do some categorizing instead through the holiday season! Jonas Brothers concert • I went to see the Jonas Brothers concert with Chris’s sister and mom way back before Thanksgiving. We had some annoying people around us (that’s my life, every time I go anywhere) but the show itself was WONDERFUL. The next day, Jen and I grabbed lunch at our favorite spot. Thanksgiving • We always do a fun, comfy Thanksgiving at Chris’s parents house, so this year was no exception. We did onesies! I had a nice day at my nana’s house in the morning before heading to their house after. We made apple cider mimosas. My favorite part of Thanksgiving though? The post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches with everything on it. Breweries and brunch • Chris and I have been […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2019

Posted January 2, 2020 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 6 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2019

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. December involved just enough reading to satisfy my Goodreads Challenge, as well as my Christmas-loving heart. I managed to finish 8 Christmas books (I started 2 more but DNFed them, unfortunately)! It was so nice to just get lost in the holiday feels over the month and not worry about the challenges I decided not to finish for the year.      All of the books from this month: Check out my 2019 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 0 read this month | 38 read total | 95% complete Monthly Motif Challenge 2 read this month | 28 read total This month: Last chance Retellings Reading Challenge 0 read this month | 7 read total | 70% complete Picky Pledge My goal is to work on Alexa and Hannah’s Picky Pledge, reading one book from my shelves per month that fits a category on this TBR idea list. (I may read more each month but I’ll just highlight one book and category.) This month: None [/one_half_last] Breakdown: 1 bought  | 0 borrowed  | 0 free/gifted | 4 […]

2019 Reflection / Wrap-Up

Posted January 1, 2020 / Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments
2019 Reflection / Wrap-Up

I usually do a few end-of-year bookish surveys to mark the end of another reading year, but I decided to swap one of those out, keep Jamie’s EOY survey, and do something different. I’ll share stats and highs/lows from both my reading year. I participated in the Statistics Survey in years past (2014, 2015, and 2016), created and hosted by Brittany and Andi, two of my all-time favorite bloggers and friends. They didn’t move forward with hosting it for this year and I decided to make some adjustments to their questions for my own purposes. I always share stats and EOY information at this time anyways, but there are bits and pieces sprinkled in from their survey as well! Monthly Reads and Stats, Book Buying Habits Average book rating for 2019: 3.8 stars Average number of pages per month: 3,757 pages Average books acquired per month: 11.3 books Most books/pages read in a month: March, July  – 14 books (5,568 pages, 4,422 pages) Least books/pages read in a month: September – 7 books (2,562 pages) I usually read the most in January because I tend to get reinvigorated by a new reading year. I like being able to get ahead of my challenge early. However, this year’s biggest reading months were March and July! Looking back at my monthly recap, it seems like I was just excited to read in March for some reason. I got into a groove, listened to a lot of audiobooks, and enjoyed my reading. July was another solid reading month where I met […]

Lauren Lately | Nov-Dec 2019

Posted December 7, 2019 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment
Lauren Lately | Nov-Dec 2019

You can read my monthly Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups to learn about the bookish and blog-related things I’ve accomplished. Lauren Lately was created 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. What I’ve Been Up To Since my last post in mid-November, I had brunch with Chris’s sister, her husband, and Chris. We were supposed to try this place with bottomless mimosas but they had some weird reason for shutting down. Instead, we went to one of my favorite places and there was an amazing buffet. I drove myself over to An Unlikely Story for the QUEEN OF NOTHING release event (which I’ve already posted about) and took the following day off from work. I had some amazing wings for dinner with my friends, who I’ve been trying to see monthly. Right before Thanksgiving was the Jonas Brothers concert with Chris’s sister and mom! It was so fun despite the issues we had with the people who were sitting near us. The next morning, Jen and I got lunch at our favorite spot… and yes we ordered the exact same meal. Thanksgiving followed shortly after. We did my Nana’s house in the morning with my family and then went over to Chris’s parents’ house in the afternoon. We made it into a comfy/onesie-themed event. I wore a deer onesie, his sister was a koala, brother-in-law was a monkey, and Chris was Snorlax. We […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 2019

Posted December 2, 2019 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 2019

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. Woof, the end of the month totally snuck up on me! I know it had to do with Thanksgiving being so late, but for some reason I was convinced that Monday was the first instead of Sunday. I therefore ended up finishing less books in November than expected. I had hoped to squeeze in two more but my reading was weird throughout the month. Oh well! On to a lot of Christmas books in December!      All of the books from this month: Check out my 2019 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 2 read this month | 38 read total | 95% complete Monthly Motif Challenge 2 read this month | 26 read total This month: Seasons, elements, weather Retellings Reading Challenge 0 read this month | 7 read total | 70% complete Picky Pledge My goal is to work on Alexa and Hannah’s Picky Pledge, reading one book from my shelves per month that fits a category on this TBR idea list. (I may read more each month but I’ll just highlight one book […]