Blog Tour: The Summer List

Posted June 18, 2018 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

This book was so well-crafted; I loved watching everything unfold and the many secrets fall into place. It did sometimes feel a little disconnected because there were three “points of view” and times that it switched between. There were italicized chapters involving two girls and a religious summer camp, which took place back in the 1970s/1980s; chapters with two different girls throughout their history of friendship in the late 1990s; and chapters with the present day women and their scavenger hunt. The latter two focused on Laura and Casey as they grew closer and then grew apart. The italicized chapters from farther back in time were a slight mystery that eventually tied into everything later. I always forget how much I enjoy stories like this, with multiple generations and different time frames between chapters. This one had light moments about friendship, sweet moments with Laura and her father’s bond, and heavier moments about health, family secrets, and breaking up. It’s a heavier “beach read” if I had to give it that label. I love books about scavenger hunts or bucket lists, especially when there are so many layers to why they were hunting in the first place. The scavenger hunt history was intriguing to read about, and everything fell into place from there. Even when I thought I had most of the secrets figured out, there was more to come. Things that could have been obvious but didn’t click into place until the very end. It was a fascinating journey […]

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 […]

Summer TBR Lists: Bingo and Beach Reads

Posted June 14, 2018 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 4 Comments

You know I’m a big-time seasonal reader. Light, fluffy, easy contemporary books throughout the summer, and the longer fantasy books during the fall and winter. I mix mysteries, thrillers, and sometimes sci-fi or paranormal in throughout the year whenever I need a break. This summer will be kind of weird, reading-wise, because I’m going to be moving and finally have all of my physical books in the same place as me! I wanted to sift through some books I plan on reading over the next few months that suit my bingo card, summertime beach reading, and some ARCs where they apply. Summer Bingo Books already read | Blue cover – The Summer List by Amy Mason Doan LGBT+ – Sam and Isla’s Last Hurrah by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan Science fiction – The Similars by Rebecca Hanover A book you’ve been putting off | Asian author | Illustrations I have been putting off a lot of books and ignoring my physical stack, so there are plenty of options here. I’m sticking SHE REGRETS NOTHING here as a placeholder. I want to read CRAZY RICH ASIANS before I see the movie, so I definitely hope to get on that one as soon as possible. EVERYTHING MUST GO has been sitting on my shelf since I bought it a few months back and I believe there are illustrations because it’s a journal-esque book? Reread | Set during wartime | Realistic fiction I’ve been wanting to reread GOSSIP GIRL for a couple of years […]

Review Round Up | The Complication and Sam & Isla’s Last Hurrah

Posted June 13, 2018 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 3 Comments

In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 books I’ve read or listened to recently. Sometimes they’re newer releases and sometimes they’re all backlist titles. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! I cannot believe this series is over, honestly. I have loved every single book almost as much as the previous. My average rating for all the books is somewhere between 4-4.5 stars because of how PERFECT they are. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: when authors continue to add more books to a series to keep things going, I get nervous that they’ll just stretch things too much and ruin everything. That is 100000% not the case for the PROGRAM series. I have never read one of the six books and thought “this is too much and/or not needed.” The world keeps expanding and I keep gobbling them up. As another piece of intro before the actual review: I was in a big reading slump, mostly with physical copies. I’d pick up my Kindle and binge a book in 1-2 days, while whatever physical copy I had started reading would sit around for weeks. I knew that my library hold coming in would snap my slump for physical copies. One of the major threads that definitely came to a head in this book was the “morally gray” area of The Program and Adjustment doctors. Many of them genuinely thought they were helping, but they […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #187: Travel Bug

Posted June 12, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 5 Comments

Recent Books That Awakened the Travel Bug In Me Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I love books that inspire me to travel, even though I truthfully haven’t ever taken myself up on those urges. I still need to acquire a passport (yikes) but absolutely plan to have an international trip planned within the next 2-3 years. I’ve done posts like this before (some on my TBR and others outside of the US). I decided to expand beyond international travel here because there are plenty of US-based books that inspire me to travel somewhere or by some method. Ireland Love & Luck by Welch | The Upside of Falling Down by Crane Both of these books surprised me by how much I wanted to see Ireland by the time I was done reading! I have to admit, that particular country has been low on my list. After spending 26 years in the US and spending a good portion of that time brainstorming my first international trip, that wouldn’t be high on the list. I have changed my mind a bit now! It seems gorgeous and picturesque. Trips: By Road or By Foot Amy & Roger […]

New Cover Love Additions

Posted June 11, 2018 / Book Lists, Features / 5 Comments

Just use the search bar on the side if you’re looking for more cover-oriented posts because MAN do I post too many to even include links anymore! Today’s installment of Cover Love features some new covers I added to my Goodreads shelf. They’re most likely newer releases or upcoming releases, because I usually add to that shelf as soon as a gorgeous cover makes its appearance. Here are some recent/new/upcoming favorites!

Things I’ll Be Better About When I Move

Posted June 8, 2018 / Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

As you know, I’ve spent the last 11+ months living in Portland, Maine with my boyfriend. We’re from Connecticut originally and I spent 4 years living outside of Providence, Rhode Island for college. Chris never got away for school so we wanted to have a little adventure for a year, really soaking in a new place. Our time in Portland is coming to an end and I’m so incredibly grateful that we were given this opportunity. I say this because my boss let me work remotely for a full year and didn’t even blink; she’s kind of the best. Anyways! The point of this post isn’t to reminisce on what we’ve done so far, but to think ahead to when we move home in a couple of weeks (eeeek!). We’ll have a house instead of an apartment and TBH I am most excited to not share walls or floors with other people for the first time since basically high school when I lived at home with my parents. We’re moving to a very suburban (almost rural with all the farming around, I guess) area that’s a bit farther from our hometown, so there will be a lot to get used to. We’re actually going to be living 15 minutes from UConn and all of the great restaurants in that area, so I’m pumped. I started to think of all the lifestyle moves and changes I want to make that I just haven’t been able to pull off since we moved here. Everything […]

Currently… On My iPhone

Posted June 7, 2018 / Currently, Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

On My iPhone I really enjoy writing “Currently” posts, where you share the things you’re loving, watching, wearing, etc. in a very straightforward format. Plenty of bloggers do them and they’re some of my favorite posts to read too! I thought it might be fun to share an iPhone-oriented version of this, where I screenshot various things on my iPhone to show what I’m currently seeing on there, favorite apps I’m using, things I’m listening to, etc. On my Lock & Home Screens Lock screen: We attended one of my best friends’ weddings this past weekend and I couldn’t resist updating my lock screen to this picture of us. I love it so much! The more I look at the bridesmaids dress, the more I fall in love with it (the color especially!). Home screen: This is my main group of best friends from college. The one in the white dress is the girl who just got married, but the other two in the photo are engaged too! I just love this photo of us even though I’m squinting – it was way too bright that day. On my Podcast List Currently listening: I started listening to the New Age Insiders wrestling podcast a little bit, whenever they talk about something good or I’m in the mood. I like them for the most part. I was listening an older episode where they discussed if it was “time to panic” about certain wrestlers and their current positioning in the company. Up next: As you can […]

Authors I Keep Adding to my TBR that I STILL Haven’t Read (Part 2)

Posted June 6, 2018 / Book Lists, Features / 2 Comments

In case you couldn’t tell from last week’s post staying “part one” in the top, I clearly have a LOT of authors to include on this shameful list of mine. Here’s the recap and this week’s segment of the alphabet… I can’t be the only one who does this, right?! There are so many authors out there that keep writing books that sound AMAZING, so I add them to my TBR… and then never actually read those books. There are some authors on this list where their DEBUT was right up my alley, I was so pumped, and then never got to it… and now they have five books out and I keep adding them to my overflowing TBR list and still haven’t even read their first story. Here are some of those books and authors… even just to remind myself they exist and I NEED TO READ THEM. Leah Konen Do you have any books on your list where you don’t even realize who the author is, or make connections between their books? That definitely just happened here. I was scrolling through my TBR, looking for good books and authors to include, when I saw all these books in a row. I totally didn’t even connect that they were by the same author. All of them sound SO GOOD; hop to it, Lauren! Emily Henry This one is a little ridiculous, given how freakin excited I was for her debut. I lost some steam for a while but still hope […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #186: DNF

Posted June 5, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 4 Comments

Reasons I DNF Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I don’t DNF very often and I usually do it with good reason. This topic is technically books I DNFed too quickly, but decided to do my own spin. I only have 18 books on my DNF shelf and most of them probably deserved the DNF. I decided instead to explain some of my reasons for DNFing recent books. Bullying / Mean Girl Trope Disliked the MC / Quit the Series Too Simplistic / Not What I Expected Too Cheesy Disliked the MC Tried Twice and Didn’t Stick Quit the Series / Frustrating Trope Too Pretentious Felt Pointless Quit the Series Finally