Reread Review: Keeping the Moon

Posted September 21, 2015 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Some summer many years ago, I think. I remember bringing a few Dessen books to Maine with me throughout the summer and I’m pretty sure this was one of them. This is the book I remembered the most details about out of all of her books, actually. I remembered the main character working at the Last Chance Cafe and how much I loved Colby, NC. This is the first Dessen book I read that is set in Colby, so it kind of held a special place in my heart. I pretty much forgot all of the other details though. Dessen reread 2015! I was thinking of what audiobook I should start next and decided on this one because I finally tracked it down. I just kept remembering the one book with the restaurant setting and was determined to get to it next. After reading the synopsis again and not seeing a hint of romance, I was kind of excited to see how a book with friendship as the main focus would be. I’ve read plenty of books with friendship as a strong theme, but I feel like it’s usually coupled with family issues and/or romance. This one seemed to be straight up friendship feels.Ah, this was so good. I’m surprised to see that most people don’t count this as a favorite or even like it that much. Colie was an interesting character and I totally forgot about all of the bullying she dealt with. I absolutely loved the friendship storyline in this […]

Football + Books

Posted September 20, 2015 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 11 Comments

It’s not a secret that I love football too much. I will stay up until midnight on a weeknight, watching a game that doesn’t even involve my own team, even if I’m sick and should get 8 hours of sleep. Yes, that has already happened this season. “I went to bed and didn’t catch the end” doesn’t cut it for me. I’ve been trying to think of a way to incorporate a little football into my blog this year, and thought this tag-style post would be a good start. WARNING: This tag is not for the casual football fan! Only die-hards will probably have strong enough feelings about each team to participate 😉 THE RULES: Sort the 32 football teams into the categories listed below based on the feelings that the teams give you. Each category has a certain number of slots available for teams. Pair a book with each team based on which book relates closest to the matching bookish category. Don’t use any team more than once!! * There is a plain text version of the categories and graphics at the bottom of the post! You can copy and paste that section for easier use, if you choose to participate. PICK ONE TEAM & BOOK THIS IS MY TEAM. I love them more than anything and don’t care if the obsession is unhealthy. | Favorite book of all time MY ONE TRUE LOVEEEEE, the Panthers! I’m very happy to see the Panthers sitting next to Anna and the French Kiss. It’s hard […]

Review: Cinder

Posted September 18, 2015 / Book Reviews / 11 Comments

Let me start out by saying, YES I finally read this book! Yes, for the first time. No, I’m not sure what took me this long. When Brittany mentioned a Lunar Chronicles readalong for this year, in preparation for the newest release, I knew that this would be my reason to finally read the series. I’ll say quickly: I’ve never had this much trouble coming up with a Friends connection for my GIF below! It usually takes me forever to find or create the right GIF, but the reference itself comes right into my brain. Regardless, I think this book is just so unique and hard to classify that – for once – my Friends-obsessed brain had some trouble! Well, what did I think? This was a really great series-starter! I’m so intrigued with this world and can’t wait to see what happens in the next installment. Cinder was an interesting character – she’s a cyborg who dealing with the prince’s sudden interest in her and her sister’s sudden illness, all while slowly learning some insane things about herself and her past. I didn’t fully connect with her for some reason, but that didn’t really damper my enjoyment for the book overall. It seems like her story is going to be the one carried through the rest of the series, all while highlighting new characters and, probably, locations. There’s this phenomenon that happens to me sometimes while I’m reading that I call being “mockingbirded.” When I was in high school reading To […]

Protected: Slut-Shaming, Relationships, and Feminism in YA

Posted September 17, 2015 / Discussions, Features / 14 Comments

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Review: The Night We Said Yes (+ Bonus Novella)

Posted September 16, 2015 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

I don’t really know where to start with this one! I enjoyed it overall but I don’t think it’s a book that will stick with me very long. The characters were pretty good, the style of storytelling was excellent, and the overall concept was cool. I think my biggest issue is that I took a break in the middle to read something else and when I came back, it just wasn’t the same. The story alternates between “then” and “now.” In the “then” chapters, it shows the night that Ella met Matt, and they went out with another couple on a night where they said yes to everything. The “now” chapters are a year later, when Ella runs into Matt again for the first time in about six months. The synopsis makes it seem like the two of them had a magical night together and then he took off for a year. In reality, though, they dated for six months and then he left without a word. I had to adjust my expectations a bit once I realized that. Anyways, in the “now” chapters, Matt is trying to win Ella and her friends – Meg and Jake – back, when he returns to their town for college. He tries to recreate the night with Ella from a year before. I loved the alternating chapters with the two different times. It was fun because they lined up nicely with each other. Each one ended on a mini cliffhanger, so I was […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #55: Excuses (Freebie)

Posted September 15, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 22 Comments

Ten Books I’m VERY Excited to Read (and am Running Out of Excuses for Why I Haven’t Read Them Yet) 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. So, awhile back I did a TTT for the ten books I just NEEDED to buy ASAP but still haven’t read yet. I like the idea of that kind of post because it’s fun to make a TTT with books you haven’t read yet, as opposed to repeating the same all-time favorites too often. Next week’s topic is your fall TBR, but this week I’ll be bringing you ten books I was very excited to read but still haven’t for some reason. I’m also going to have a poll at the bottom in case you want to help me decide which I should read by the end of the year. I PROMISE to read at least one of them by the end of 2015 😉 I love this author and don’t want to run out of their books… THE BOOKS: Girl Before a Mirror by Liza Palmer | After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid | The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West ⇒ THE EXCUSE: You know that feeling when you read a PERFECT book by an author, so part of you wants to immediately read ALL of their other books… […]

Inside & Out #14: Chris, Mr. Bookmark Lit

Posted September 14, 2015 / Features, Inside and Out / 10 Comments

Admiring book covers and bookmarks, shared by you! Welcome to INSIDE AND OUT. This feature includes two of my absolute favorite book-related things: bookmarks (inside) and book covers (out)! I’ve invited guest posters to share their favorite book covers and bookmarks here on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Sign-ups are always open (see bottom of post)! Check out past posts here. Chris, the wonderful boyfriend of Lauren from Bookmark Lit Instagram: @thebrickbuddy | Flickr: thebrickbuddy Tell me a little about yourself: I’m Chris and I’m a 23 year old old AFOL (adult fan of Lego). Lauren is my girlfriend and forced me to participate in this because someone bailed at the last minute. I like to read graphic novels set in the Marvel universe and build Lego in my spare time. I also like to play video games and watch football. Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): I don’t have a blog at the moment, but I take pictures of my Lego creations on my Flickr and Instagram pages. I’ve been reading comics lately, mostly Marvel. I also listen to audiobooks at work sometimes and am in the process of rereading Harry Potter, the Series of Unfortunate Events, Captain Underpants, and a couple of Lego books. Favorite genre: I like fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero graphic novels. Three books you recommend most often and why: Lego: A Love Story by Jonathan Bender because I think it gives good insight into the Lego hobby and is kind of a “coming of age tale” into […]

ARC Reviews: Most Likely to Succeed and Anne & Henry

Posted September 12, 2015 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

There aren’t a lot of YA books that make me feel old. This is definitely a book that I would have probably LOVED in high school, but the drama was very tiring for a 24 year old to read. This was the book in the trilogy I was most looking forward to; there was a lot of build-up between Sawyer and Kaye throughout the book and their plotline was carried through the first two. I LOVE Sawyer – he’s so goofy, fun, and sweet. The first half of the book got on my nerves a lot. Kaye was kind of a huge idiot when it came to just about everything. I know that she only stayed with Aidan because of the whole “powerful couple” thing, but he infuriated me. I would have dumped his pompous ass in the first book of the series! She was stupid about him and then stupid about Sawyer. He CLEARLY liked her and she kept going back and forth about if he did. Everything was right in front of her eyes and she was fucking annoying. If the book stayed like this, it would have been about 3 stars for me. Then, it improved! A lot of the drama happened during the second half, but I enjoyed it a bit more overall. Kaye finally came to terms with her feelings (and realized he felt the same way, DUH), so there was some major shipping on my end. The second half would have been 4 stars. I […]

Five on Fridays #16

Posted September 11, 2015 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 13 Comments

Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc. Previous posts can be found here! MEEP. The last one of these was done in June, and the previous one was in March. Clearly I’m not on top of things… which is fine. I resolved to do at least two or three of these for September and October, since I have MANY exciting things happening and they deserve to be talked about more than just a paragraph in my monthly wrap-up. LABOR DAY WEEKEND I had a really fantastic weekend with friends over Labor Day. My birthday (Wednesday the 9th) gave us a good excuse to all get together finally. Two of my college roommates live only 20 minutes away and we still manage to never see each other! Another lives in New Jersey and her boyfriend (also from my college friend group) lives in Rhode Island. We all got together for some bowling and drinks at this fun alley nearby. We had dinner at the lane and spent some time outside on the patio bar playing Kanjam and cornhole. It was a lot of fun and I’m really glad they pressured me to have a birthday gathering. I generally don’t like celebrating my birthday before or after the actual day; I like doing something only on my actual birthday. Overall, it was a great night. We had the two […]

Blog Tour Review: Come Away With Me

Posted September 10, 2015 / Book Reviews / 14 Comments

I absolutely raced through and devoured this book. It was the epitome of the “one more chapter” excuse before bed because I literally could not force myself to put the book down and sleep. I wasn’t expecting to be so entranced by the story, but I couldn’t stop. I generally read Young Adult books because I still feel like I am one. I’m 24 years old (officially, as of yesterday!) but relate much more to the YA characters I read than the ones in Adult Fiction. The characters in this book were going through some pretty tough stuff that I truly couldn’t relate to, but I was still SO deeply invested in their stories. For me, that’s a successful book. I love reading books where I have been through similar experiences to the main character(s), because it’s just easier to relate and enjoy it. If a book is able to creep in my mind and never leave, regardless of never experiencing anything like it, it’s wonderful to me. Tegan and her husband, Gabe, had a serious car accident with even more serious consequences. She still hasn’t forgiven him for the accident and the results of it, and she has slipped into a depression for the past few months. Gabe reminds her one day of their “jar of spontaneity” that they put together when they were engaged, and they decide now is the time to pull it out. They wrote various destinations and “bucket list” tasks on slips of paper and would pull […]