Category: Uncategorized

Christmas Q&A

Posted December 18, 2019 / Uncategorized / 2 Comments

I was in the mood to do some Christmassy tags on the blog for this season, so I decided to start with The Christmas Tag. It looks like this particular set of questions was developed back in 2012 HERE. I decided to skip a couple and add a few more on my own at the end. What is your favorite Christmas film? This is always such an easy question for me. Since I was a kid it’s always been The Santa Clause. There’s something about this movie from the very first sounds of the opening song that just get me every time. I don’t watch the sequels every year but I do every few years (they’re not great lol the second one isn’t TERRIBLE). I’d have to say my second favorite Christmas movie is definitely National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – just SO funny. Have you ever had a white Christmas? Oh yes, that’s one major benefit of living here! I will say that the amount of white Christmases has decreased in recent years (sup global warming) but it IS the best way to have a Christmas in my opinion. My ideal situation is that it snows December 23rd and stays on the ground but doesn’t snow MORE on the actual holiday. I got places to go, ya’ll. Where do you usually spend your holiday? Phew so we do a lot of running around – too many parents to see. On Christmas Eve, both my dad’s family and Chris’s family get together, so […]

Contemporary Romance Challenge – TBR Update

Posted July 12, 2017 / TBR Lists, Uncategorized / 4 Comments

As usual, I signed up for the Contemporary Romance Reading Challenge, this year hosted by my love Andi. I generally blow this challenge out of the water because over half of the books I read each year would be classified as “contemporary romance” or just plain contemporary fiction. I’ve been trying to make my reading a little more even with fantasy, mystery, and sometimes historical fiction, but it doesn’t happen. I challenged myself this year to read a 21-book-TBR of contemporary romances I couldn’t believe I hadn’t read yet. Here’s how I’ve done so far… HAHAHA nice work, Lauren. So, clearly I have some reading to do. I know it will be nearly impossible, knowing me, to actually read the other 19 remaining books on the TBR between now (mid-July) and the end of the year. I just don’t think I’ll motivate myself to do it, especially when I’m trying to prioritize other genres too. This post really just exists to shame myself into reading these damn books: I do HAVE some of these books with me in Portland (either physical copies I brought, galleys on my Kindle, or found them elsewhere like Scribd, the library, or a library-related app). Some of my physical copies are still in Connecticut but I hope I’ll get to them. I think it’s most likely going to be the summery books I get to somewhat soon, since that’s my favorite thing to read. I’m going to try to split this TBR in half to […]

Summer Bingo (Remaining) TBR

Posted July 7, 2016 / TBR Lists, Uncategorized / 7 Comments

Every season for as long as I can remember, I’ve participated in the Bingo cards by Pretty Deadly Reviews. I don’t usually set out to complete the card and make a special TBR for it, but I always think it’s fun to see how how many books I read automatically end up on the card. For this one, I feel like I’m already killing it right away… so I definitely want to make a PLAN to knock this one out of the park and complete every square. So! Now that it’s mid-July-ish, I’m going to determine which books I’m going to read to finish filling out the card. Progress So Far Name in title | Defending Taylor – Miranda Kenneally F/F or M/M romance | History Is All You Left Me – Adam Silvera Red cover | Me Before You – Jojo Moyes Part of 4+ book series | The Assassin’s Blade – Sarah J Maas Magic | Caraval – Stephanie Garber June/July/August release | One True Loves – Taylor Jenkins Reid Water on cover | The Islanders Vol 1 – Katherine Applegate Folklore or myths | Fables Vol 3: Storybook Love – Bill Willingham Starts with S U M E or R | Run – Kody Keplinger Political intrigue | The Long Game – Jennifer Lynn Barnes Weather words in title | Mystic Summer – Hannah McKinnon Book about books | The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend – Katrina Bivald Yellow cover | Summer Days and Summer Nights – Stephanie Perkins Monsters | Throne of Glass – […]

February TBR and Books & Bloggers Swap Reveal

Posted February 2, 2015 / TBR Lists, Uncategorized / 15 Comments

In honor of being home “working” on this snowy day, I had plenty of time to mess around on the computer and do bloggy things. (Primarily this means making lots of graphics for posts and trying to whittle down that 300-post Bloglovin feed!) I haven’t shared a TBR post in a few months so I figured today would be a great day – especially because of the holiday approaching this month that’s all about LOOOOVE. You can clearly see that I’m planning on packing in the contemporaries this month. I’m currently in the middle of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard and I’m enjoying it… for the most part. I’m definitely invested in the story and interested to see what’s going to happen, but my attention span is struggling. I can only read a few pages before letting myself get distracted by the internet. I’m not sure if it’s just because January was a big fantasy month for me and I’m over it (for now), or because of the book itself. Regardless, today I started Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill and am hoping that’s a nice contemporary break. It should only take me a few sittings to finish it. I have two swoony E-ARCs to read this month too and I’m super excited! Promposal by Rhonda Helms sounds cute and right up my alley; I always am interested to hear how people get asked out to dances! “Promposals” were just starting to get big while I was in school and I […]

Trusting Your Gut vs. Taking Risks

Posted November 6, 2014 / Uncategorized / 16 Comments

Like any good book reader and blogger, I LOVE to creep on what others are reading and take recommendations from people. Who better to tell me what books to read than the people who (a) equally creep on my Goodreads and (b) know what the general YA-reading population would like? This can be a beautiful thing; I love this community for that! HOWEVER, I’ve been thinking lately about the books everyone is going crazy for, giving great reviews, or explicitly recommending to you that you DON’T think you’d like. How often do you trust your gut about a book, and how often do you take a risk? It’s pretty safe to say that every review I saw for Rites of Passage by Joy N. Hensley was glowing. Everyone loved this book or at least really, really liked it… but I was totally turned off from it based on the description. The military school vibe didn’t appeal to me for whatever reason. Once I saw the reviews start rolling in and it seemed that EVERYONE loved it, I started to second guess myself. I figured, if all of these people who usually have similar tastes to mine end up liking it, maybe I will too. I also convinced myself that the military school aspect could be reminiscent of the boarding school books I loved (wrong). I learned that the main character was a badass girl who tried to change the gender norms at military school.. that’s one aspect I could get on […]

30 Day Book Challenge – Day 30

Posted August 30, 2014 / Book Challenges, Features, Uncategorized / 1 Comment

Your favourite book of all time (Don’t make me do this!!!! How does a girl pick?!) Looking for Alaska by John Green I remember finishing this book and just staring off into space, thinking. I’m not sure how or why the book affected me so much, but it left such an impression on me. It’s so insanely quotable and characters were interesting and unique. I can’t put to words how I feel about this book, but I highly recommend you give it a shot. I’m a John Green hipster and read all of his books years before he was popular, so he holds a special place in my heart. Here are some of my favorite Looking for Alaska quotes. “It always shocked me when I realized that I wasn’t the only person in the world who thought and felt such strange and awful things.” “Francois Rabelais. He was a poet. And his last words were “I go to seek a Great Perhaps.” That’s why I’m going. So I don’t have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps.” “I wanted to be one of those people who have streaks to maintain, who scorch the ground with their intensity. But for now, at least I knew such people, and they needed me, just like comets need tails.” “Thomas Edison’s last words were ‘It’s very beautiful over there’. I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.” I hope you’ve enjoyed following along […]

30 Day Book Challenge – Day 29

Posted August 29, 2014 / Book Challenges, Features, Uncategorized / 0 Comments

A book that is most like your life Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close Okay so despite not really liking this book that much, it is certainly the closest to my life. It’s about a bunch of 20-somethings who are growing up, getting jobs, and having all of their friends get married. I’m coming to that point in my life where plenty of people are getting engaged or having kids. It’s a weird place to be and this book captured a lot of that awkwardness.

30 Day Book Challenge – Day 28

Posted August 28, 2014 / Book Challenges, Features, Uncategorized / 0 Comments

Favorite Title A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall I haven’t read this one yet, but the title of this book seems to really capture what it’s about. The story features two best friends who are avoiding the fact that they’re in love. A Little Something Different shows all of the different perspectives that people surrounding them have; it includes chapters from a squirrel, a bench, and the Starbucks baristas. It seems like a really cool concept that reflects the title pretty well. This is fairly high up on my TBR list, so I’ll see for sure how appropriate the title is!

30 Day Book Challenge – Day 27

Posted August 27, 2014 / Book Challenges, Features, Uncategorized / 6 Comments

The most surprising plot twist or ending Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Dang. This book had more plot twists and surprises than I thought were possible. Every time I finished a chapter, something wild happened or was about to happen. The ending was pretty wild (and not what I was hoping for). It’s not easy to give any kind of plot summary because the spoilers and twists start happening within the first few chapters (primarily starting in the second part). This book was amazing.

30 Day Book Challenge – Day 23

Posted August 23, 2014 / Book Challenges, Features, Uncategorized / 1 Comment

A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t Dissonance by Erica O’Rourke I knew I wanted to read this book the moment I saw it. Granted, that was only about a month ago, but still. Parallel universes are my JAM. Anyone remember the episode of So Weird where this was the plot line? Every decision she made created an alternate universe – in the morning she chose OJ instead of grapefruit juice, and that led to this whole other world where she became a badass that skipped school. Eventually, somehow, the universes merged into one and she had to get rid of her alternate self. Sorry for the blow by blow but I always thought that concept was SO cool. This book is pretty much the same thing and I can’t wait to read it.