Top Ten Tuesdays #55: Series

Posted September 8, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 24 Comments

Ten Finished Series I NEED to Finish (or Start!) 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. I’m actually not TOO bad at finishing series once I start them. If the books are published and I started the series, there’s a good chance I finished it too. I could only think of five published series that I still need to finish… so, I decided to also show five finished series that I want to read but haven’t yet! Boomerang trilogy by Noelle August Read: Boomerang | To Read: Rebound, Bounce I actually loved the first book, which could be why I’m so nervous to read the next two! I’ve heard some mixed things about both of them. I know they’ll be super quick reads but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. New Adult has been on the back burner! Private series by Kate Brian Read: Books #1-11 | To Read: Book of Spells, Vanished, Ominous, Vengeance I absolutely loved this series and remember buying and reading each book immediately when it came out. It was really the first series (aside from Harry Potter, obviously) that I tracked when each book was coming out and bought them. Once I finished the 11th book and knew I had to read the prequel, I lost some […]

ARC Review: Mirrored

Posted September 7, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

I definitely have some mixed feelings on this one. I’m tempted to lower the rating because of all the things that bugged me, but there were quite a few things I liked as well. The overall story behind this one was really cool, from a retelling standpoint. All of the elements that actually connected to Snow White were really well-done. Some of them made you think a little bit, and I bet I even missed some of the references to the original story. The plot was a really interesting take on that story and didn’t seem too similar. I have to give this book points for that. It was also cool to have the three different perspectives in the story, starting with Violet’s backstory, how that impacts Celine in her part, and how Goose finishes off the book. The characters were pretty good. Again, I liked getting a glimpse at Violet’s backstory so you could really see how and why she got to be the way she was. It was a little bit easier to be KIND OF sympathetic towards her when she starts being insane. Celine was a nice enough main character but was really just (1) smart and (2) obsessed with a singer named Jonah Prince. We don’t get too much more than that. Goose was probably my favorite but even then he wasn’t super memorable. The pacing and writing style really bugged me. There were a few (okay, a lot) of places in the book that draaaaggged on […]

Beat the Heat Readathon Wrap-Up

Posted September 6, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

I finished the Beat the Heat Readathon! Well, this readathon was actually pretty motivating for me! I’ve had weird feelings about reading lately: part of me wants to read every book I see, while the other part of me never wants to read a book again. I’ve just read SO MUCH this year – nonstop- and haven’t given myself much time for anything else. Since I’ve gotten so ahead on my Goodreads challenge, it’s nice knowing that I don’t have to force myself to read when I want to watch TV. It feels nice. I did really want to read this month, though, so this was a nice way to kickstart September, finish up some ARCs, and squeeze in a few more summery books. Here are some details about this two-week long readathon, that was hosted by Novel Heartbeat and Phantasmic Reads: The Beat the Heat Readathon runs from August 24th at 12:00 AM to September 6th at 11:59 PM. What does this readathon entail, you ask? Well, read as much or as little as you want – the main point is to READ! You set your own goal, and for three weeks you read as many books as you can/want to reach your goal! There will be mini-challenges throughout the Readathon for participants, along with a grand prize giveaway at the end! Without further ado, here’s a recap of what my goals were and my progress… Goals and Potential TBR Overall goal → Read between 6-10 books during the two week time […]

Reading Recap #5

Posted September 5, 2015 / Features, Reading Recap / 7 Comments

Because my reviews are usually posted at least a month after I finish the book, I never really talk about what I’m currently reading or just finished reading. This Reading Recap feature will let you know the the books I just finished reading and listening to, as well as the books I’m currently reading and listening to. Past recaps here! It’s been a while since I’ve posted one of these! I won’t bore you with all of the books I’ve read, but I’ve been kind of itching to share some of my reading stats. These posts usually just talk about alllll the books happening in my life. Because my reading challenge is looking wonderful AND I started keeping track of specifics, I want to share some statistics before the end of the year. I just can’t wait, okay? September is my birthday month so I’ll do whateva I want. 2015 has easily been my best reading year of all time. Before blogging, I would be lucky to read a few books a year. Now? My Goodreads challenge is 11 books ahead with a grand total of 129 books read this year, out of my goal of 175 books. Here’s how it’s broken down by types of read and how many books per month I’ve read:Best month: July with 25 books (holy shit) | Worst month: March with 10 books Best month by average rating: January, 4.2 | Worst month by average rating: February & April, 3.67 Most pages read in a month: 7,641 in July […]

ARC Review: Everything, Everything

Posted September 4, 2015 / Book Reviews / 15 Comments

I totally, totally loved this. Is it bad that I spent the entire time thinking about Bubble Boy though? I’m just glad the main character of this book was a little less (okay, a LOT less) weird than Bubble Boy. Otherwise, a looot of the elements were the same… I absolutely looove books that have emails and images and IM conversations… anything that has that sort of element is going to be a-okay in my book. This was so fast and easy to read, because of the aforementioned elements and the incredibly short chapters. Love me some short chapters. Aside from all that fun stuff, the writing was kind of gorgeous. “You can’t predict the future. It turns out that you can’t predict the past either. Time moves in both directions – forward and backward – and what happens here and now changes them both.” The story follows Madeline, a girl with SCID – it basically means she has to live in a bubble-type environment (her completely sterile house) so she doesn’t get sick and die quickly. Her mother and her nurse are the only people who see her… until she meets the new neighbor, Olly. Sigh. So cute. The two of them start talking right away and eventually the nurse sneaks him into the house. Their relationship was adorable and heartbreaking, because you wonder if/how it’ll ever work. I loved her nurse, Carla, because she was so supportive of Madeline in everything she did. Even more so than her […]

Book Buddies Review: Nantucket Blue

Posted September 3, 2015 / Book Buddies Reviews, Book Reviews / 7 Comments

Book Buddies is a discussion-style review that takes place with one of my two buddies. (Learn more and see past reviews here) We both read the book and then have a private discussion about it. We post our discussion as a review on the last Wednesday of each month. You’ll be able to see our similar/different opinions on the overall book, characters, writing style, etc. – just like a regular review. The first half our discussion will take place right here, and the second half will be on Cristina’s blog! (Link at the bottom) View Cristina’s part of the discussion here. Some spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution. How did you feel about Cricket as a main character? Lauren: I had weird feelings about her at first, to be honest! She started out being very critical about the girls she knew, and there were some major hints of slut-shaming. I was hoping that wouldn’t continue! I also thought it was a bit odd how quickly she decided to go to Nantucket by herself, right after her friend said they wanted family only. At one point she wonders if she should have told her friend she was going first, and I thought “UM yeah of course you should have!” I questioned Cricket’s intelligence and maturity a bit at the beginning and occasionally throughout the rest of the book. I thought she had a weird attitude towards girls (not necessarily full-on slut-shaming, but certain bits and pieces of it). I don’t expect all books with female MCs to be […]

Blog Tour Review: Broken Homes and Gardens

Posted September 2, 2015 / Book Reviews / 8 Comments

This book was such a pleasant surprise! I’ve never seen the movie When Harry Met Sally – I know, shame on me – but judging from the plot I read online, this book does a pretty good job of lining up with that! Joanna and Malcolm are two longtime friends who spend years dancing around the fact that they should probably stop being dummies and get together. The story was incredibly quiet and character-driven, which I couldn’t help but enjoy. Looking back on the actual plot, not much happens – but not in a bad way at all. I like reading stories where the characters feel real and are just kind of going through their regular lives. There weren’t huge areas of drama or angst, which was refreshing. I loved Joanna and found myself relating to her a lot. She struggled with what to do for a career and never felt like she was good enough in any one area to make a career of it. She constantly referenced people’s lives in movies and the whole book had that kind of dreamy I-wish-my-life-was-like-that way. I don’t know how to explain it, but I think this would be a wonderful rom com movie. I loved Malcolm and shipped them from the start. I could see the chemistry from the very first night and Joanna’s reservations about ruining their friendship were pretty silly to me. They were on-and-off friends over the years – living together, writing back and forth long distance, not speaking… I […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #54: Characters

Posted September 1, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 10 Comments

Ten Characters I Didn’t Click With 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. Ah yes, this topic is an interesting one. There are plenty of books where the main character annoys the crap out of me or just doesn’t work for me, so here are ten of them! Jane from Signs Point to Yes by Sandy Hall – These characters were all kinds of awkward, and not in an endearing way. I couldn’t click with them and cringed at a lot of the dialogue. Tamsen from Young Widows Club by Alexandra Coutts – For such a sad topic, this book didn’t give me really any emotions at all. Tam had no interests or hobbies except for her the ones she shared with her deceased husband, and I just didn’t connect with her. Ally from Behind the Scenes by Dahlia Adler – I loved the second book in this series, but the first one wasn’t as good for me because of Ally. She was a bit overdramatic and I liked all of the side characters more than her! Charlotte from Even in Paradise by Chelsey Philpot – I’m still sad about this book. I was so excited for it and it just didn’t work for me. Charlotte was a follower with very little […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin – August 2015

Posted August 31, 2015 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin was created to wrap up each month and prepare for the next. I share my life happenings, 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 and learn more about the feature here. 14 books read → Physical: 5 | eBook: 2 | eARC: 1 | Audio: 0 | ARC: 2 | Format mix: 4 In 2015… 127 books read of 175 Goodreads goal [73% complete, 12 books ahead of schedule] Blog posts this month: 18 books reviewed and 13 other posts | Challenges this month: 3I’m still feeling good about my reading progress! I’m very far ahead on my Goodreads challenge, so I know I’m going to get lazy with reading at some point… Overall, good month but less than last.Average rating for books read in July: 3.96 stars Highlights of the best and worst… Best of the Best | Pleasantly Surprised | Disappointed All of the books read this month: Average rating for books reviewed in July: 3.79 stars I’ve been incredibly good about cutting down on my book buying lately! I wrote recently about how my buying habits have changed, and that’s certainly reflected in my book hauls each month! The Secret Sister project has definitely given me the ability to anticipate a book or two each month, without buying them myself. I love it so much and want to start highlighting […]

ARC August Wrap-Up

Posted August 30, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

Hosted by Read Sleep Repeat Check my sign-up post here Here are the rules: It may be a physical ARC or and eARC but it MUST be an ARC Yes it can be an ARC that has released as long as it’s an ARC I’m not going to nitpick much HAVE FUN WITH THIS! Feeling like you are being “forced” to read is the best way turn a fun event into a yucky obligation. Update post! I personally will do a post for each Saturday in August but that’s just me. You can update once a week, every other week or once for the whole darn event. This update can be in the form of a blog or tumblr post, vlog, link to your “ARC August 2015″ shelf or even an instagram pic! I want to make this as easy and low pressure as possible for you. Personal Goals Because I have a really big potential TBR below, I honestly don’t expect to finish all of these. My goal is to finish about half of the books in each category: At least 3 books from my BEA haul → Finished 0 At least 2 books from my other physical ARC pile → Started 1 At least 2 books on my Kindle (eARCs) → Finished 1, Started 1 TBR to Choose From BOOKS FROM BEA → Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo | The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow | Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld | Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins | Juniors by Kaui Hart Hemmings |Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson | Newt’s Emerald by Garth […]