Haven Point Seasonal Companion Series

Posted January 10, 2018 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

When I saw Hannah’s review roundup for the Haven Point series, I knew I had to add it to my list ASAP. She talked about all of the fun reasons to give them a try and every single one appealed to me. I love books set during the holiday season or during the summertime, in a quaint little town that is charming during both times of year. (This is very obvious at this point, I think!) It was tough because I couldn’t figure out how to read them all according to the season. Half of the books happen in the summer while the other half are in the winter/during Christmas. I decided to start the series in December to enjoy the Christmas feels, then feeling a little summery in between as a break. I’m going to keep my reviews short and sweet here, with a few highlights and lowlights about each book. Snow Angel Cove Quick summary: Eliza and her daughter, Maddie, are excited to start over in the new town of Haven Point, where she has a job at an inn. When it burns down exactly when she comes to start work, fate brings her into the home of millionaire Aidan Cane instead. At Snow Angel Cove, she works for Aidan as he prepares for his family to come for the holidays. Seasonal feels: Winter – Christmas Meet cute/backstory: Maddie runs into the road and nearly gets hit by Aidan’s car when he hits black ice. Eliza protects her daughter and […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #165: Meant to Read

Posted January 9, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 13 Comments

Ten Books I Meant to Read in 2017 But Didn’t Get To (and Plan to Get to in 2018) 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 could probably list all of the books on my TBR because good lord, Lauren. I feel like I always get sidetracked about random new books or series instead of ever paying attention to books I’m excited about. I actually own ALL of these freaking books except for the last one, which I have repeatedly checked out from the library and not read. I am the worst. 2018 Priorities Royce Rolls by Margaret Stohl /// A Week of Mondays by Jessica Brody The Fallen Kingdom by Elizabeth May The Cursed Queen by Sarah Fine /// Windwitch by Susan Dennard By Your Side by Kasie West /// In This Moment by Karma Brown If Birds Fly Back by Carlie Sorosiak // Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu Far From the Tree by Robin Benway

If We Were Having Coffee…

Posted January 8, 2018 / If We Were Having Coffee, Personal / Information / Etc. / 9 Comments

I LOVE reading personal posts from other bloggers and seeing Jamie’s “If We Were Having Coffee” feature take off is so fun. Laura and Lindsey also have some great spin-offs of this feature too. I was very tempted to also make mine margarita-related (like Lindsey) but coffee is so ingrained in my daily life that it just makes sense to keep it. If you’re not familiar, it basically involves a fake little conversation about what’s been happening in our lives lately. Read on to see what’s been happening lately and feel free to chat back in the comments! If we were having coffee… I’d tell you that I’m currently participating in Bout of Books and hope to make some good progress this week! I binge-read multiple books over the weekend and will start off the readathon with A TAXONOMY OF LOVE today. I’m off to a great start this year (especially because I started and finished two books yesterday!). What are you currently reading and/or listening to? If we were having coffee… I’d say that I’ve felt super energized by reading again now that my 2017 ban of reading between Christmas and NYE is over. I reached my goal of 150 books on the 26th and didn’t want to finish the year on an random number (I would have had to push to 155 books if I was going to keep reading), so I just stopped for the rest of the year. It felt weird to not read; I ended up binge-watching some […]

Bout of Books 21 Sign-Up & Tracking

Posted January 6, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features / 2 Comments

Bout of Books (January 8-14) I’m here for another round of Bout of Books. I don’t remember if I participated last time it came around (probably) but I wanted to focus up on reading early in 2018. I set my Goodreads goal a lot lower this year so I’m not pressured to read, but for some reason I feel really invigorated to read ASAP. Here are more details about this challenge… The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 8th and runs through Sunday, January 14th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 21 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team My goal: My reading goal for 2018 is 120 books, which equates to 10 per month. I usually average more than 10 per month but I want to take it easy. I don’t mind blowing my reading out of the water, but I would prefer to not stress about it. ANYWAYS, reading 10 books per month means about 2.5 books per week. Bout of Books is a week long, so I’ll set my goal to 4-5 books during Bout of Books, including two specific books (and one category of book) that I’ll be talking about below in the TBR […]

Review Round Up | The Language of Thorns, Every Heart a Doorway, and War of the Cards

Posted January 5, 2018 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 11 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! Ayama and the Thorn Wood This story really hooked me after the first couple of pages; what an interesting collection of stories this already is shaping up to be! I liked this story a lot. I always struggle with reviewing short stories but Bardugo’s writing style is gorgeous and addicting. The Too-Clever Fox Another excellent one. This one was very clever (lolz) and I didn’t expect that ending. Loved it. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be ~learning lessons~ from these but I am so bad about fables haha. The Witch of Duva Another excellent one. This one was very clever (lolz) and I didn’t expect that ending. Loved it. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be ~learning lessons~ from these but I am so bad about fables haha. Little Knife I liked the message of this one. Bardugo is really good at surprising me when I reach the end of each story. The Soldier Prince Gorgeous writing as usual but I’m not 100% sure what happened there, or what the message is? The concept overall was interesting but still don’t know what any of it means or what really happened haha. When Water Sang Fire I wish I had a better memory of the other Grisha […]

Favorite Things of 2017

Posted January 4, 2018 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 10 Comments

Everyone is doing some amazing 2017 wrap-ups and I decided that I couldn’t resist. I finally saw Andi’s new Favorite Things feature this week and it was the last straw to inspire this post. I don’t plan on making it monthly like her, because lord knows I already have two monthly wrap-ups that kind of already share this, but I thought it would be fun to round out a “best of 2017” list for me. I won’t be including actual books, but I will definitely be featuring book-related things. I took a scroll back through my Lauren Lately posts to see what was a fave each month. Lush Dark Angels Cleanser | I started to get a little bored of my face cleanser, so I went over to Lush to see what might work better. I really enjoy this charcoal cleanser for my oily skin! I’ve noticed that it takes longer for my face to get oily each day, which is usually my #1 concern. The only issue is that it’s hard to completely wash off in the shower (or in general) because it’s black. However… Spongeables Charcoal Face Sponge | …this sponge does the trick! I like that it has a coarse side and a soft/smooth side. I rub the coarse side to exfoliate a little bit and make sure the cleanser is all gone, then I use the smooth side to finish it off. I think this pairs well with the cleanser overall in making my skin feel really smooth. […]

ARC Review: Meet Cute

Posted January 3, 2018 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Further down you’ll find reviews for each story with their own star ratings, but my overall feelings about the book are right below. I really loved all of these stories overall, and this anthology left me with a really positive feeling… compared to other anthologies I’ve read! Meet Cute anthology Some People are Destined to Meet Edited by Jennifer L. Armentrout Average rating: 3.75 stars Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or love at first sight, every romance has to start somewhere. MEET CUTE is an anthology of original short stories featuring tales of “how they first met” from some of today’s most popular YA authors. Readers will experience Nina LaCour’s beautifully written piece about two Bay Area girls meeting via a cranky customer service Tweet, Sara Shepard’s glossy tale about a magazine intern and a young rock star, Nicola Yoon’s imaginative take on break-ups and make-ups, Katie Cotugno’s story of two teens hiding out from the police at a house party, and Huntley Fitzpatrick’s charming love story that begins over iced teas at a diner. There’s futuristic flirting from Kass Morgan and Katharine McGee, a riveting transgender heroine from Meredith Russo, a subway missed connection moment from Jocelyn Davies, and a girl determined to get out of her small town from Ibi Zoboi. Jennifer Armentrout writes a sweet story about finding love from a missing library book, Emery Lord has a heartwarming and funny tale of two girls stuck in an airport, Dhonielle Clayton takes a […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #164: New Authors

Posted January 2, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 7 Comments

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors Read in 2017 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 read a lot of great books by “new to me” authors this year but decided to really narrow it down to ten! I loved all of these books and can absolutely see myself buying MANY more by them. Some were debut authors and some are more established, but they were all new to Lauren in 2017! Ashley Poston / Sandhya Menon / Alexandra Ballard Wendy Brant / Angie Thomas / Julie Israel / Kristan Higgins Jared Reck / Mackenzi Lee / Karen M. McManus

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | December 2017 + End of Year

Posted January 1, 2018 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 14 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin was created to wrap up each month and prepare for the next. I share my book haul, books I read and reviewed, posts I shared, challenge updates, and more from the previous month. I also let you know what may be coming up on the blog in the coming month. You can read past bulletins here. I recently split out my personal posts into the Lauren Lately feature, so this is a bit shorter! As usual I wish I could go back in time to the holiday season again! ? I read so many cute holiday books and novellas in December that I would have loved to continue into January. They’re so easy and cozy to read. Anyways, I easily met my goal with plenty of time to spare and stopped myself when I hit exactly 150 books for my goal. I don’t like going over unless it’s to a rounder number, like 155 or 160. I feel weird about reading like 151 or 152 books, which are numbers I was likely to hit. So, it was nice to have some wiggle room to fill out the end of year surveys early! Yearly Wrap-Up of Statistics I wanted to keep these graphs in a scroll box because they get a little intense and fill so much space. If you’re curious about my bookish breakdown for 2017, take a look below! Average rating for books read in December: 3.75 stars Highlights & Lowlights This month’s books: Year-Long Contemporary Romance Challenge […]

2017 End of Year and Statistics Surveys

Posted December 30, 2017 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

Happy end of the year! How is it possible?! Honestly this was one of the craziest, busiest, weirdest, and best years of my life. As you know from years past, I hate filling these out unless my year is completely done. I’ve managed to finish my reading a bit early and then pause until the New Year. I loved filling out Jamie’s survey in 2014, 2015, and 2016. This is the 7th time she’s hosted this survey and it’s so fun to see what everyone chooses for the categories. Last year, I didn’t allow myself any duplicates. I’m going to try to keep them to a minimum for this survey, but it feels impossible. I’ll need to have a few. To learn more about it and see a blank set of questions, check here! It was so fun to reread my answers for last year, since I copied that survey here to clean out and fill out. Number of Books You Read: 150 Number of Re-Reads: 16 | Number of DNFs: 7 Genre You Read The Most From: Contemporary 1. Best Book You Read In 2017? Totally cheating and adding multiple categories! (Not including rereads.) See a full list of my “best reads” of the year (5 stars and 4.5 stars) here if you’re curious. Best of the best: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Best contemporary: The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord Best non-contemporary: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black Best adult fiction: The Dirty Book Club by Lisi Harrison Best 2017 debut […]