Top Ten Tuesdays #107: Audiobooks

Posted September 20, 2016 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 12 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #107: Audiobooks

Ten Audiobooks on my Upcoming Audio TBR Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, 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 TTT is: All About Audio freebie —  aka top ten audiobooks you should listen to, 10 books I want to listen to on audio, 10 bands you should check out, 10 podcasts you should be listening to, 10 of my all time favorite albums, 10 songs I love, really whatever you can come up with.  I’m definitely an avid audiobook listener but I don’t think I listen as much as other people! I always have one going for the most part, unless I need a break. I usually have a pretty good idea what’s on deck for me to listen to immediately when I finish another one, but sometimes I’m scratching my head about what to get next. I primarily use audiobooks if I whispersync from Amazon, the old audiobooks on my Audible account I bought before cancelling, and – most importantly – Hoopla from the library. They have a fantastic selection for YA books and lots of popular adult ones too. When Scribd switched to non-unlimited, I put that account on pause. Regardless, here are ten audiobooks on my radar that I plan on listening to sometime very soon! On Hoopla through the Library […]

Savoring a Favorite Author’s Books

Posted September 19, 2016 / Discussions, Features / 18 Comments
Savoring a Favorite Author’s Books

I feel like a poser when I think about my favorite authors and their books, because 9 times out of 10 I haven’t read ALL of their books. It’s a weird dichotomy: obviously I WANT to read all of their books… but I also don’t want to run out of their books. You know when you’re just really in the mood for one particular author and nothing else will satisfy you? I’m totally afraid that I’ll run out of books by that author and have nothing new to read from them. This has happened and/or is currently happening with nearly all of my favorite authors. Brittany talked about how there are distinct stages when you find out your favorite author is writing a new book and I think so much of that relates here – the fear and excitement and nervousness and GAH. All the emotions. Why do I wait and hoard the books? 1. I don’t want to run out of their books. I hate the idea that there isn’t a book by my favorite author waiting to be read. What do I do if I’m in the mood for their words but don’t feel like rereading? It’s just a nice comfortable feeling when I think that there’s still an unread book by them on my shelf and I know I can wait on reading it for the PERFECT moment. Kasie West, Morgan Matson, and Kody Keplinger are three of my favorites… yet, at the time of reading this post, I […]

September Things and Autumn Bucket List

Posted September 17, 2016 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 10 Comments
September Things and Autumn Bucket List

It’s no secret that September is my favorite month of the year. I love summertime because the weather in New England isn’t terrible and filled with snow, but the heat and humidity are not friends of mine. September means cooler weather, fall activities, and lots of life events I love – my birthday, my anniversary, football starting up again, the Big E (a New England must), other fairs and festivals, pumpkin and/or apple picking, and so many other things. This post is to share some of my goals for the rest of this month and the season ahead, wrap up some of the things I’ve done so far in September, share my birthday book haul, and talk football. Birthday Recap I didn’t post about my birthday when it happened last week (September 9th) because I had a blog tour that day. I’ve been trying to be better about saving money and budgeting so unfortunately a giveaway didn’t happen either. Regardless, Chris took the day off from work so we could hit up some of my favorite places all day… and end with my favorite food. Here’s how we celebrated throughout the week since I was on vacation all week! Earlier in the week, I went to Dave & Buster’s on half-price-game-Wednesday with my friends. We had some good food then played games all night. Chris and I have been saving our points for about a year and, even though we don’t go that often, we have over 18,000 right now. […]

ARC Review: Leave Me

Posted September 16, 2016 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments
ARC Review: Leave Me

Initial Excitement I wasn’t sure what to think when I saw that Gayle Forman was coming out with an adult-oriented contemporary novel. I’ve liked or loved all of her books so far and I personally have been reading more adult books lately instead of YA, so this was a welcome development for me. I had a feeling that she would knock it out of the park. She has a very sophisticated but natural writing style that I figured would lend itself very well to adult fiction as well. Summary in a Second After suffering from a heart attack, Maribeth is so overwhelmed and stressed. She’s trying to get her family up to speed as her husband barely helps, her mom comes in and offers a bizarre style of help, and her kids act like the four-year-olds that they are. One day she just up and leaves. She hides her identity, doesn’t bring a computer or cell phone, and gets an apartment elsewhere. Just like that. Of course, I don’t agree that this is the right move but it’s not hard to see where she’s coming from. Based on her home life at that time, they didn’t deserve her help. It’s really so typical to see a woman that undervalued in her home; she was somehow expected to keep everything going after a serious medical issue. I just couldn’t understand Jason’s thought process. Forman did a great job of making you feel for Maribeth and understand her actions even though abandoning your […]

If You Liked This, Read That

Posted September 15, 2016 / Book Lists, Features / 12 Comments
If You Liked This, Read That

I know a lot of people do this post so I’m not 100% sure if I should be crediting anyone for the idea?? I never felt compelled to do this because I’m pretty bad at recommending books in this way. However, I was inspired when finishing my reread of Before I Fall in August. If you liked some of the books here (some more popular ones), maybe you’d be interested in some of the other (perhaps less popular) other books! The popular one: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver The underrated one: It’s a Wonderful Death by Sarah J. Schmitt Why the rec: Both books have similar themes, but are explored in very different ways. There’s a mean girl who made some mistakes during her life, but a brush with death of some kind makes her rethink what she’s done. She makes amends in one way or another. I liked BEFORE I FALL a bit more, but they’re both seriously unlike anything I’ve ever read! I like anything in that weird “post-life, pre-death” timeframe. The popular one: We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach The underrated one: All We Have is Now by Lisa Schroeder Why the rec: I think both of these are relatively underrated, but more people were buzzing about the first. I highlighted ALL WE HAVE IS NOW on a recent post and remembered how much I enjoyed it. Both books deal with the end of the world / apocalypse coming and explore those final days on earth. Or are they?! The popular one: To […]

Late ARC Review: The Year We Turned Forty

Posted September 14, 2016 / Book Reviews / 6 Comments
Late ARC Review: The Year We Turned Forty

Initial Excitement Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke have been on my list for so long. The plot summaries of their books ALWAYS intrigue me but I haven’t been able to prioritize reading them yet. When I got approved for this one, I knew I had to read it as soon as I could. In this case, ARC August was the perfect time to get it done! I love books about parallel lives and time travel, and this one was a fun combination of both, kind of. Summary in a Second Three friends (Gabriela, Claire, and Jessie) are approached by a magician who offers to send them back in time to when they were 40. They can live the entire year all over again and change how they once handled things. Then, when the year is up, they have to decide to either stay in 2005 and live their “new” lives, or come back to 2015 and continue with their “old” lives. All three have to agree on staying there in order to stay, otherwise they all come back to 2015. Sooooo cool. Like I said, sort of a mix of parallel lives and time travel… but still very much a contemporary fiction/romance book! Storytelling & Setting Because I loved the concept behind this one, I was super eager to see how the story unfolded. I’ll admit that it was all pretty predictable for me. The girls were very obvious about what they’d change in their new 40th year. The pacing was a […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #106: Favorite Paranormal

Posted September 13, 2016 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 12 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #106: Favorite Paranormal

Nine Favorite Paranormal-ish Books Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, 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 TTT is: Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Books Of X Genre (I know, I know. Picking all time faves. I’m MEAN. But I like knowing people’s definitive faves). Can also break it down into sub-genre if that helps?   I decided to go with a category that already doesn’t have a lot of books that I’ve read in it – paranormal-ish. I say ish because I’m pretty terrible about understanding the difference between paranormal, magical realism, sci-fi and fantasy at times. In any case, here’s my list for some of my favorite paranormal-like books. Paranormal & Magical Elements in the Real World I don’t read a lot of straight up paranormal books involving magical creatures. I do, however, like when paranormal or fantasy elements are integrated in the real world. Most of these books have some kind of magical element to them but also take place in our world. I guess that’s the textbook definition of paranormal, but I did keep out the books involving creatures instead of magical/fantastical things or events. Dream a Little Dream by Kerstin Gier • traveling into each other’s dreams Rebel Belle trilogy by Rachel Hawkins • unique paranormal with Paladins and prophecies Down With the Shine […]

Blogging Ebb and Flow

Posted September 12, 2016 / Discussions, Features / 8 Comments
Blogging Ebb and Flow

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that my blogging goes through a lot of ups and downs. There are some months where I have SO many ideas for posts and discussions that I find myself moving things around so I can post them all ASAP instead of waiting. I’m excited, eager, and creative. Then, there are some times where I wonder where that energy went. I look at my month and it only has a bunch of reviews from books I read forever ago, plus a few TTTs and wrap-up posts. These months make me loathe myself because I regret not pacing out some of my discussions a little better, and beefing up later months. I’m usually the person who has too many posts scheduled (especially because I always read ARCs super early then write and schedule my reviews as soon as possible). There is absolutely no in-between for me. My biggest issue in general is how much I schedule ahead. I read a book in April and wasn’t able to schedule the review post until June because of the amount of ARC reviews and other posts I packed in. I love having a full schedule because it means I don’t have to worry. I sit back and chill. AND THEN all of a sudden I look at the calendar and the next few weeks are empty. I don’t have much scheduled because I used it all up. It’s an endless cycle my friends. Sooo instead of continuing this […]

Blog Tour | Review: The Goodbye Year

Posted September 9, 2016 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments
Blog Tour | Review: The Goodbye Year

Initial Excitement When I saw the summary for this one, I knew I wanted to partake in the blog tour. I’m always fascinated by stories like this for some reason. The idea of multiple people and points of view – both the parents and kids – intrigued me. The slice-of-life style always ends up on my TBR because I think it’s really interesting to see how people live their daily lives. Summary in a Second A bunch of parents and their senior year students are gearing up for the final year of high school. Each family has some major familial and relationship issues. The story follows all of them through the first half of their senior year as they try to work through their problems and other craaaazy things happen to them. Storytelling & Setting The story takes place in Crystal Cove, California, which is described as an upscale down with lots of gated communities. It sounded like it could have been a setting for a series of Real Housewives, so I was definitely excited about that! I love reading about smaller communities – whether they’re rich ones or just average – because you can really feel how everyone knows each other. That’s absolutely key in this story. About those Characters Melanie, Keith, Seth, and Dane: Melanie has been dealing with her slacker son, Dane, now that her oldest, Seth, is off at college. She copes by drinking a little too much and is trying to get the lives of her family members […]

The Bedtime Book Tag

Posted September 8, 2016 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments
The Bedtime Book Tag

Lindsey is doing weekly book tags so I decided to join in on one she recently did! The original tag was created by YouTube user Kelly’s BookSpill and can be found here. As always, if you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged! I always choose 99 Days for this category, but I wanted to showcase something a little newer! This book kept me up WAY WAY past my bedtime. I’m pretty sure I read it all in one sitting. It was really addicting even though it wasn’t that great of a book, to be honest. ♥ ReviewI binge-read this series right before I started blogging and it was amazing. A lot of people stopped after book one because it got weird, but this first one was CREEPY. I don’t read a lot of mysteries, especially murder-y ones, because I want to be able to sleep at night thankyouverymuch. ♥ ReviewUgh there are no words for how little I enjoyed this book. I shouldn’t have listened to the audio especially because falling asleep in the shower or while driving is just not ideal at all. Do not recommend. ♥ ReviewThis is tough because I have SO many books I’m excited for. I think this is the one I’m most eager for that happens to be pretty damn far away. Ally Carter always has some cliffhangers but the middle book in this series was a doozie. I can’t wait to see what happens next in this story!I have a lot of book boyfriends – as one does […]