ARC Reviews: From Twinkle with Love, Dating Disasters of Emma Nash, and The Last Summer of the Garrett Girls

Posted June 4, 2018 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Can you tell that my plan to get ahead on May ARCs didn’t exactly work? I did read all of these books IN May, but didn’t give myself enough calendar space to share my reviews in a timely manner. Two of these published last month and one of them publishes tomorrow! This was adorable! I loved DIMPLE and was extremely excited to read Menon’s sophomore novel as a result. Her formula of geeky smart girls plus cinnamon roll boys is a winning combination for me so far. I noticed some mixed early reviews so I was a bit nervous that Twinkle, as a character, would be frustrating for me to read. I like YA books where the characters are flawed and kind of learn / grow up throughout the novel, but I’m always hoping that it stays relatable. I can see why it’s polarizing because Twinkle definitely makes some rough and immature decisions throughout the book. She’s used to being a wallflower and is feeling hurt that her best friend, Maddie, has moved into the ~popular girls~ group at their school, leaving Twinkle for just some scraps of her time. She has an overwhelming crush on Neil while balancing a friendship with his twin, Sahil. The two of them are working on a gender-swapped Dracula film together and very obviously falling for each other. Add in a mysterious secret admirer named “N” via email, and Twinkle is quite confused. There are so many moments in this book where I questioned Dimple but […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | May 2018

Posted June 1, 2018 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

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 was definitely more in the mood to read this month, for once! I managed to get back over my reading hump and finish over 10 books. This keeps me ahead on my Goodreads challenge as well. You’ll see from the breakdown below that I was SUPER addicted to my Kindle. I almost never came up for air with that thing. I genuinely struggled to read physical copies after a while 🙁 All of the books read this month: Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge 6 read this month | 18 read total | 71% NG ratio Popsugar Reading Challenge 1 read this month | 25 read total | 63% complete Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge 1 read this month | 7 read total | 58% complete Seasonal Bingo Breakdown: 5 bought | 2 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 6 for review Egalleys From Netgalley: Herons Landing by Ross, Dating Disasters of Emma Nash by Seager, The Art of Inheriting Secrets by O’Neal, The Summer List by Doan, The Impossibility of Us by Upperman, The Similars by Hanvoer Physical Copies Preordered: ACOFAS […]

June TBR

Posted May 31, 2018 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 4 Comments

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. May Progress I managed to read a few egalleys and my book club selection, but that’s about it. I didn’t manage to finish any books from my physical TBR but I’ve been slowly slogging through one of them without much success. I tried to prioritize some of the deadlines I had (and expiring PDF egalleys), so that was okay. On Deck for June Library Books Puddin by Murphy | I Have Lost My Way by Forman Sam & Isla’s Last Hurrah by Levithan/Cohn I have these final three library books from the Portland library that need to be read and/or returned before June 30th. I definitely think I’ll get to them… at least two out of three, most likely. I’ve been really excited about them so I hope that motivates me. I’m the worst. Blog Tours The Summer List by Doan | Your Destination is on the Left by Spieller I’m actually reading THE SUMMER LIST as we speak but had to put it on hold for my book club read. I have these two blog tours in June, on the 18th and 22nd respectively. One is YA and the […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #185: Bookish Worlds

Posted May 30, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 2 Comments

Bookish Worlds I’d Want to Live In 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 with fun settings! I feel like cute contemporary settings are more likely to resonate with me than ANY fantasy world. I don’t know why but I think a lot of fantasy books have some kind of big war or revolution or violence involved, so they don’t seem fun for me haha. Cute small towns with family-owned shops and restaurants are definitely my favorites to read about. As you saw in the link above, there are plenty I’d live in! I also did a similar TTT topic with book settings I’d like to visit so you’ll see some repeats from all those posts. Haven Point I’m glad this series is still happening because I’m not ready to leave Haven Point yet. It’s a community where all the characters help each other constantly and support one another whenever they’re going through hard times. There are countless cute shops and restaurants to check out and everyone comes together for the summer sailing parade, which sounds awesome. Black Dog Bay This is arguably my favorite fake small town on the list and I’ve talked about it SO […]

Blog Tour | Review: Herons Landing

Posted May 29, 2018 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

Review As you know, companion series involving cozy towns always make it onto my TBR. I love meeting everyone in the town, exploring the local small business, and picturing the scenery. HERONS LANDING was already ticking off a lot of those boxes. In this series, you can also add in a Romeo and Juliet-style “warring families” kind of feud that runs deep throughout the town. The Harpers and the Mannions have been at odds for years and now many of the family members are starting to comingle. There’s a lot of history to unpack and many characters are introduced in this first story, which makes me feel like this will be a nice ongoing thread throughout each upcoming book. This story stars Brianna Mannion, a hospitality specialist returning home to revamp an old building into a B&B, and Seth Harper, operator of the town’s best construction company. Brianna always had a crush on Seth when they were kids, until her new best friend Zoe moved into town and swept him up. After Zoe’s tragic death in the line of duty, Seth has been simply going through the motions until Bri comes back into town with her project. There’s a loooot of tropes here and they’re all ones I love! The warring families, “second chance” unrequited love, childhood best friends, and (one I haven’t dealt with before) the best friend’s widower. Bri and Seth had a pretty open and easy relationship develop throughout the story (until the inevitable moment where things […]

Authors I Keep Adding to my TBR that I STILL Haven’t Read (Part 1)

Posted May 28, 2018 / Book Lists, Features / 4 Comments

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. Stephanie Kate Strohm This was the author that inspired this list because GOD her books sound soo wonderful and adorable, yet I have yet to read one. She just keeps announcing more and more excellent books and here I am, still waiting to read PRINCE IN DISGUISE sometime in this century. Jen Wilde Wilde writes a good amount of books involving music and movies, which sometimes work for me… but not all the time. I think that’s why I’ve hesitated on her works? The synopses sound so great overall though, so I keep adding them and adding them! Kara Thomas I don’t read a lot of darker books and I think Thomas’s new releases always scare me a little bit. I’m never fully turned off because clearly I add them to my TBR and continue to find them intriguing, but I […]

Gimme the Books (3)

Posted May 24, 2018 / Features, Gimme the Books / 6 Comments

I’ve written a few posts to talk about books I’m super excited about that haven’t been released yet, but I felt like adding to that title repeatedly like I had been doing was a bit much. See early posts here: 1, 2, and 3. I decided to make this into a realistic regular feature where I do kind of a Waiting on Wednesday wrap-up post for when I add books to my TBR and “jazzed up for this” Goodreads shelf. Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen McManus Pub date: February 5th 2019 Synopsis: Ellery Corcoran has never been to Echo Ridge, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen, and five years ago the town became notorious when its Homecoming Queen was killed. Now Ellery has to move there with a grandmother she barely knows. Malcolm Kelly grew up in the shadow of the Homecoming Queen’s death, his older brother the prime suspect. His mother’s remarriage vaults the Kellys into Echo Ridge’s upper crust—but nobody has forgotten what Malcolm’s brother might have done. The town looks picture perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. Before senior year even begins, someone’s declared open season on Homecoming. They’ve promised to make the dance as dangerous as it was five years ago. And, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing. Ellery and Malcolm, the last people to see her, are on a hunt for the truth. But the thing is, secrets are dangerous—and knowing them can be the most […]

Trip to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park

Posted May 23, 2018 / Lifestyle, Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

This past weekend was our trip to the Bar Harbor, ME area, which includes Acadia National Park. This was actually the first national park I’ve ever been to (!!) so I was super excited to see everything I could. I thought a full recap with pictures would be fun here because the sights were just gorgeous and we did SO much. Friday May 18th We left Portland around 9 AM on Friday with the intention of getting up there by 12 PM-ish. Our campground where we rented a cabin was outside of Mount Desert Island (just over the bridge) so it was about 2 hours and 45 minutes away from home. The Bar Harbor area and parts of Acadia were about 20-40 minutes away from where we stayed, depending on where we were heading. The best part was that half of that time was spent actually driving within Acadia, so the time flew by and the views were constantly gorgeous. Anyways! We were able to check into our cabin early, put our stuff in the fridge, then head to our first stop. We purposely stayed at the Narrows Too Campground because they had small cabins with just a microwave and fridge; we wanted to actually camp (without having to use a tent). Jordan Pond blueberry lemonade, view from the start of the trail, us! I made a reservation at the Jordan Pond House restaurant for 1 PM, which was perfect timing. They have views over Jordan Pond and are the […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #184: Best Character Names

Posted May 22, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 5 Comments

Best Character Names 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 definitely never remember character names well enough to do this topic in any extensive way. My memory is rough. I’ve noticed an uptick in unique character names but that doesn’t necessarily mean GOOD names. I have a list of some names I love in general that I would consider naming a child someday, if I decided to take that life path, so I’m going to match some books to those… and just pull a few more favorites out if I can remember them! I did a good job of not duplicating too much from this post, but I had to pull in a couple at least.

ARC Review: Save the Date

Posted May 21, 2018 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

Initial Excitement & Summary Morgan Matson is one of those authors that I always savor their books, trying to make sure I have one of them hanging around to read if I’m really in the mood. I jumped on reading SAVE THE DATE pretty quickly though because books about weddings and/or wedding and event planning are so fun for me. My friends who read it even earlier had alllll good things to say, so I hopped on board. In this story set in Connecticut (yay!), Charlie is excited to have all of the Grants under one roof for her sister’s wedding, which is a last hurrah in their childhood home before its sold. Her sister Linnie and brothers JJ, Mike, and Danny will all be home for the wedding weekend. It also corresponds with the final famous comic strip about their family that their mother is publishing that weekend. It’s a comedy of errors, with everything going wrong that possibly could go wrong. Storytelling & Characters I absolutely loved this book. The chaotic weekend was captured so perfectly and made me quickly fall in love with the Grants. They’re the very best part of their book. They’re not a perfect family, even if Charlie thinks so and the comic strip says otherwise. She was so stuck in her ways and absolutely clueless about some things. Each family member was interesting and fun in their own way; I loved the scenes where certain groupings of them were together to show their […]