Bout of Books 22 | Sign-Up, Goals, and TBR

Posted May 4, 2018 / Book Challenges, Features / 3 Comments

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, May 14th and runs through Sunday, May 20th 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 22 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team I’m here for what feels like my millionth round of Bout of Books! I feel like I say this every time, but I definitely need this week of reading. I wanted to participate in the Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon a couple of weeks ago but ended up having a friend come to visit instead. This round of Bout of Books is going to help me boost up my totals so I can prepare for a busy late June/early July. I have so many things to do, between weddings and moving and traveling across the country, so I’m not sure how much I’ll read. I’m sure I will on those flights to and from California but I didn’t want to bank on it. In any case! I have big goals for this week. Goals The biggest goal that I can’t really put numbers to is to get ahead on my Goodreads goal by at least a few books. I’m hoping for it to say somewhere between 3-5 books ahead […]

ARC Review: All of This is True

Posted May 3, 2018 / Book Reviews / 3 Comments

Initial Excitement & Summary I struggled with THE UNSCRIPTED JOSS BYRD because the main character was too young for me. It read like a middle grade, which I don’t read very often, so I decided to put it aside. However, when I saw ALL OF THIS IS TRUE, I was fascinated. I loved the idea of YA readers getting too close to an author and ~scandals~ happening as a result. The story is told through a few different ways: interviews with a TV producer (Miri and Penny’s perspectives), a journal (Soleil’s), newspaper articles, and excerpts from Fatima’s book (essentially Jonah’s POV through Brady, the character she created. Storytelling & Characters This book was suuuuuper meta, which I usually love. It was telling the story of these teens who were duped into being friends with an author, who then turned around and wrote a “fictional” book based on all of the things she learned about them. With the excerpts from that book on top of the interviews/regular story, it was a book within a book that’s also about a book? Confusing but yes, meta. It was also an incredibly quick read since it alternates between all of the different formats and perspectives. I couldn’t stop reading it. You can tell from the synopsis that the four teens that this book is about all have different feelings about what happened with Fatima. Miri still sticks up for her and is okay with what she did. (Miri was frustrating to read about because she […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 2018

Posted May 2, 2018 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 6 Comments

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. Another weird reading month! I’ve been going through these phases where I’ll barely read anything for multiple days, then pick up a book or two and finish them in one day/sitting. It’s very weird. I know this is partly because I got addicted to a few things… primarily watching beauty videos on YouTube. With Wrestlemania weekend happening, there were so many wrestling podcast episodes to listen to that my audio listening was weird. I did listen to bits and pieces of three this month (which is huge considering how few I’ve been listening to). I’m in the middle of an audiobook now and have a loooot of driving, commuting, and taking-a-train-into-NYC to do over this weekend. Hopefully May gets a good jump-start and this is the last slow reading month for a while! All of the books read this month: Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge 2 read this month | 12 read total | 71% NG ratio Popsugar Reading Challenge 1 read this month | 24 read total | 60% complete Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge 0 read this month | […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #181: Early Reads

Posted May 1, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments

Books I’d LOOOVE to Get Early 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. This week’s topic is books I’d slay a lion to get early. There are lot of books I’m eagerly, impatiently waiting for! I wanted to try to keep it to books farther out there, so I apologize for the lack of cover art in some instances. I’m looking only at books that are publishing in late fall/early winter of 2018, or 2019 releases. Favorite Authors Releasing New Books Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young | I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Young so far, so I’m sure this will be no exception. The synopsis as of right now is short, so here: “A teen who attends an all-girl private high school is part of a corporation that trains perfect “girls” for sponsors, until the girls learn their true nature and decide to fight back.” Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes | I still have to read her NATURALS series but man did I love the FIXER books (and want mooooore please somehow?!). This sounds pretty awesome. I didn’t think debutantes would be my thing but was pleasantly surprised by the REBEL BELLE series, so that (combined with JLB’s writing I love) […]

May TBR

Posted April 30, 2018 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 3 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. April Progress April was a shitty reading month overall but I managed to get some books off my TBR. I was struggling to find the desire to read for most of the month, and got super wrapped up in all things wrestling or beauty YouTube. Oh well. It’s nice to find time for other hobbies but as usual, I need BALANCE dude. On Deck for May Books with Due Dates May 10th | Blog Tour | Love & Luck by Welch May 31st | Book Club | Ghostly Echoes by Ritter I recently joined the blog tour for LOVE & LUCK. I enjoyed Welch’s writing style when I tried to read LOVE & GELATO but didn’t like the main character, so I’m excited to give another one of her books a try! I also have book club’s May pick (which we are squeaking in literally in the last day of May) to continue our read of the JACKABY series. May Egalleys A Date with Darcy by Schmidt | August and Everything After by Doktorski Valley Girls by Lemon | From Twinkle, With Love by Menon | Furyborn by Legrand I […]

Current Beauty Faves Part 2: Makeup (My New Routine & Next On My List)

Posted April 27, 2018 / Current Favorites, Health & Beauty, Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

Welcome to the first of two posts about my updated makeup and skincare routines, thoughts, etc.! Today’s post will feature my current makeup routine and other items I hope to try soon. Yesterday’s was about my favorite beauty YouTubers of the moment, recent skincare or makeup items I returned or stopped using, and my updated skincare routine. Check that one out if you missed it! The same little background information is below: So I posted recently about the new skincare routine I was trying out, but it wasn’t hitting the mark for me after about two months of religious use. I go through phases (about 1-2 times per year) where I get REALLY into beauty, makeup, skincare, etc. – I watch YouTube constantly, research products, buy and try new things, and inevitably end up returning way too much lol. I’m very much in one of these periods right now. I recently bought a bunch of new things and have been trying them out over the last month. I included some of them in my Lauren Lately post with mini reviews but I’ve since returned, exchanged, and bought more things. Reminder about my skin type: I have oily skin (my nose and cheeks are the first to get oily, followed by a little on my forehead and chin sometimes). My pores are quite large and makeup doesn’t “settle” into my face nicely. When I’m doing my makeup, my sponge or brush will often pick the makeup back off my skin and essentially remove […]

Current Beauty Faves Part 1: YouTubers, Recently Returned, and Updated Skincare

Posted April 26, 2018 / Current Favorites, Health & Beauty, Personal / Information / Etc. / 7 Comments

Welcome to the first of two posts about my updated makeup and skincare routines, thoughts, etc.! Today’s post will feature my favorite beauty YouTubers of the moment, recent skincare or makeup items I returned or stopped using, and my updated skincare routine. Tomorrow’s post will include my current makeup routine and other items I hope to try soon. Be sure to check back for that! So I posted recently about the new skincare routine I was trying out, but it wasn’t hitting the mark for me after about two months of religious use. I go through phases (about 1-2 times per year) where I get REALLY into beauty, makeup, skincare, etc. – I watch YouTube constantly, research products, buy and try new things, and inevitably end up returning way too much lol. I’m very much in one of these periods right now. I recently bought a bunch of new things and have been trying them out over the last month. I included some of them in my Lauren Lately post with mini reviews but I’ve since returned, exchanged, and bought more things. Reminder about my skin type: I have oily skin (my nose and cheeks are the first to get oily, followed by a little on my forehead and chin sometimes). My pores are quite large and makeup doesn’t “settle” into my face nicely. When I’m doing my makeup, my sponge or brush will often pick the makeup back off my skin and essentially remove it, leaving nothing in its place but […]

Love, Simon Book Tag

Posted April 25, 2018 / Book Tags, Features / 5 Comments

I was tagged by Madalyn after basically bothering her twice to tag me in it. Whoops? I’m SO EXCITED because this book and movie are woooonderful. Need to read/watch again for sure. My sister and I saw it as soon as we could (when I was back in town) and swooned nonstop! “I like your boots” | Talk about a cringey book romance If I Fix You by Abigail Johnson This one was tough because there are a few ways to take this. The lighter one is just that the romance was sooo cheesy that it made me cringe. The second, heavier way would be to focus on a problematic romance that made cringe. I decided to go with a book that, to me, featured a little bit of both. There were two romantic prospects that were problematic in various ways, plus the level of cheesiness in the romance plots made me cringe constantly. No thank you to 90% of this book. Liberal University | Shout out your favorite diverse book The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord So the reason I’m specifically calling this book out is because it somewhat changed my opinion on religion in some ways? I am very much not a religious person, was raised with the complete opposite belief system from both of my parents, and have tended to be slightly judgmental on that front in the past. I don’t like books involving religion for a litany of reasons, but this was wonderful. […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #180: Frequent Keywords

Posted April 24, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 10 Comments

Frequently Used Words in my Recent Reads 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. This topic reminds of me of the Book Title Buzzwords that Brittany posts on her blog! These posts are really fun because I’ve definitely noticed trends in book titles, depending on what’s hot in a specific genre. I didn’t want to duplicate hers too much, but there are quite a few popular words out there to choose from! I decided to look through the books I’ve read in recent years and pull from there. Most are in the 2017-8 timeframe but I tossed in good ones from previous years too. Truth and Lies Truth | True | Truly | Lies | Lying | Secret I love reading books about some kind of secret, whether that means a secret society, some kind of criminal activity, hiding things from others… the list goes on. These books have some words in the titles about telling the truth or telling lies. All Things Love Heart(s) | Getting Lucky | Love | Kiss | Kissing | Together No surprise that this category has so many books to share! I’m looking at all things love here – the word itself, plus plenty that goes […]

Review and Cover Colors: Stay Sweet

Posted April 23, 2018 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 3 Comments

Book Review I’ve always been interested Siobhan Vivian’s stories because of her close friendship with Jenny Han (and them writing a series together that I STILL haven’t read! Sigh). I thought THE LIST was pretty good for a younger crowd, somewhere between middle grade and young adult, but didn’t resonate with me that much. However, seeing this title got me excited for a litany of reasons. I LOVE summer job stories, especially this one being at a creamery in a lake town. “A summer read about first love, feminism, and ice cream” was all I needed to see. When I got the most adorable package from Simon & Schuster to celebrate the novel early, I was even MORE excited. It came with an ice cream bowl and spoon set, plus a bunch of cute sprinkles! This book was very Jenny Han-esque for me! I felt like the writing style was incredibly similar – from the descriptions to the “drama,” I could totally tell these two are best friends in real life. The descriptions of the ice cream and the lake down vibes really had me itching for summertime. Overall though, I really enjoyed this story. It was so cute and SWEET (haha I’m so funny). Amelia’s passion for the creamery was awesome and I loved the sisterhood vibes that came along with it. Having a supportive, fun place to work with a bunch of girls must have been life-changing for every creamery alum. From a best-friendship perspective, it’s a little […]