Review: I’ll Meet You There

Posted August 19, 2015 / Book Reviews / 14 Comments

Man, what a book. I was a bit hesitant in a general sense for this book – despite all of the hype and excitement everyone else felt for it – just because it didn’t sound like a ME book at all. It seemed like a grittier contemporary with PTSD, poverty – you name it. For some reason books involving the military don’t work for me. However, this book definitely exceeded my personal expectations and I ended up liking it a lot more than expected. I loved that the issues explored within this book really aren’t seen much in other stories. Sky and Josh are from a really poor town called Creek View, where Sky lives in a trailer park with her mom. She works at a little motel that rarely gets visitors and her mom just got let go from Taco Bell. Sky’s dad died in a drunk driving accident. Josh returned from Afghanistan and is down to only one leg. He has nightmares and flashbacks; he’s not the same person he was when he left. See? Lots of things I’m generally not used to seeing or reading about – from socioeconomic status to trailer parks to PTSD. I really liked the small town of Creek View. It reminded me of my hometown in a FEW ways. I can’t lie – my hometown was definitely more towards the upper middle class… but it was very small and everyone knew each other. The setting of the Paradise Motel was pretty amazing […]

Bout of Books 14 Challenge: Scavenger Hunt

Posted August 18, 2015 / Book Challenges, Features / 7 Comments

Check here for my sign-up post, TBR, and tracking of progress. I’ll be updating you with the books I’m currently reading in these challenge posts. Learn more about Bout of Books here. Challenge: Scavenger Hunt Find books that fit into the categories below. Take pictures, share them from Instagram, find them online – either way, show off the books! I decided to do a scavenger hunt through my Instagram page, since I’m completing this one at work without access to my books. Here goes… Book that begins with “B” for Bout of Books A photo posted by Lauren @ Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) on Nov 18, 2014 at 6:15pm PST Book you’re planning to read or currently reading for Bout of Books A photo posted by Lauren @ Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) on Aug 17, 2015 at 8:50am PDT Blue book(s) A photo posted by Lauren @ Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) on Apr 10, 2015 at 5:37pm PDT Books from your favorite genre A photo posted by Lauren @ Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) on Jun 16, 2015 at 6:25pm PDT Book on your TBR shelf or your full TBR shelves A photo posted by Lauren @ Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) on Jul 10, 2015 at 4:58am PDT Currently reading and recently finished CR: Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland This book has been on my TBR for a very, very long time. I started reading it yesterday as my first read for Bout of Books! It’s actually my Book Buddies read for August and it fits perfectly […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #52: Auto-Buy Authors

Posted August 18, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 12 Comments

Ten Auto-Buy Authors 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 think a lot of people will have some major overlap between this list and last week’s list of authors we’ve read the most books from. I am actually not one of them! My most-read authors are definitely more towards my younger years and those loooong series I used to read. I mean, I’ve read everything by Cecily von Ziegesar and, thanks to Gossip Girl and It Girl, that equates to 27 books. And I’m also a Sara Shepard fangirl with 29 books due to super long series. ANYWAYS, here are my auto-buy authors! They’re even different than the TTT earlier this year for all-time favorite authors.

Review: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Posted August 17, 2015 / Book Reviews / 14 Comments

This was so cuuuuute! AH. I finally see what all the hype is about (to an extent…). I started listening to the audiobook of this but eventually decided to finish it up with my copy from the library. I’m so glad I did because I was ridiculously excited to find out who the eff Blue was. So, this book was chock-full of adorable and realistic moments about relationships, friends, and family. I’m SO SO glad I finally read it. It centers around Simon, who has been emailing with a mystery guy named Blue. They know that they both go to the same high school and neither one of them is openly gay. I won’t spoil too much about how things progress, but UGH THE FEELS. “People really are like house with vast rooms and tiny windows. And maybe it’s a good thing, the way we never stop surprising each other.” I started off literally loving this book but my obsession waned a little in the middle. I liked it, but I wasn’t getting the same off-the-charts level of feels as everyone else. That changed back again towards the end! I can’t really count this as an all-time favorite for some reason but it comes super close. This is such an important story about coming out, being yourself, dealing with friends, communicating with your parents… you name it. It was such a realistic story about high school; I felt like I was back there dealing with all of the same issues. […]

Review Writing: How to Stop Hating It

Posted August 14, 2015 / Discussions, Features / 43 Comments

There has been a lot of chatter in the blogosphere about review-writing and how much pretty much everyone hates having to do it. It’s a chore and a daunting task. We just want to READ and not have to stop to write down our thoughts. Do people even read reviews anymore? No one comments on them anymore and bloggers seem to have more fun writing other types of posts – discussions, memes, and original features. People feel pressured to read and review because really, that’s the core point to book blogging. Didn’t everyone start the blog with the purpose of sharing reviews and talking about books? I think the book blogosphere is growing and evolving, but there’s definitely a way to keep reviews in the mix without making it the worst part of blogging. I feel like almost everyone hates it and has been losing an interest in blogging as a result.Honestly? I don’t mind writing reviews. And I like reading other people’s reviews! I’ll admit that overall I am less likely to read a book review compared to a discussion, but I probably read about 70% of the reviews that cross my Bloglovin’ feed. Full disclosure: I do a lot of skimming and checking for the rating, but overall… I still read reviews. And I still like writing them! I have a system worked out where writing reviews is not daunting or scary or time-consuming. I am able to read the book, write the review within the next 24 hours, and […]

DNF Review: The Heartbreakers

Posted August 13, 2015 / Book Reviews / 5 Comments

When did you decide to DNF? I read 138 pages and then skimmed a little bit to see if anything interesting happened. Why did you quit? After 100+ pages I didn’t care about what was going to happen. I can only assume the main character and the boy band singer fall in love, have a fight, and then get back together. I’m cool with the typical YA storyline if I like the characters and feel invested, but I didn’t really feel that way with this one. The main character seemed to have a sort of “selective” feminism. She called her brother out for using her in a bet as a piece of meat, but she didn’t say anything when the boy she likes is sexist about girls and their favorite movies. She proved him wrong by telling him her favorites aren’t The Notebook and Titanic, but she wasn’t at all insulted that he assumed that. It just seemed weird that she’d yell at her brother for something like that but let the boy she (insta)likes do it without a problem. I’m not sure why this is the biggest thing that bugged me, but I really think it’s the main reason I said “never mind” to this book. The writing style felt a bit off too. It mostly had to do with the somewhat cliched teenager words/phrases that were trying too hard. A lot of the characterization of the triplets (the main character, her brother, and her sister) was very… forced? I’m not sure how […]

Reread Review: What Happened to Goodbye

Posted August 12, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

I read this book for the first time, I think, during the summer of 2012. It may have been a few years earlier, to be honest. I’ve been iffy about which of her books I’ve actually read – there are so many and they all sound similar (even though they aren’t) when I read the synopsis again – but I knew I did read this one back in the day. Honestly, not much. The mini town model is the one thing I remembered the most from this book. The restaurant itself also seemed familiar. For some reason, the Dessen books that take place in restaurants always stick in my mind the most. I’m so glad I revisited this one, especially because I barely remembered anything from the first time I read it. I’m so terrible with remembering book details; rereading is ideal for someone like me. I remember loving the restaurant, the model, the characters, and the whole plot, actually. I also had a vague idea of how the book ended.When Cristina mentioned that she was rereading this one soon, I knew I had to hop on board. I’ve been aiming to read more Sarah Dessen this summer (somewhat failing, I guess) and this was a perfect one to add to the mix. I will say, I miss Colby (as a setting) and hope to get into some of those books by her during the duration of the summer. There was a glimpse at Colby in this book, which was nice, but I need […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #51: Most Read Authors

Posted August 11, 2015 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 20 Comments

Ten of my Most-Read Authors 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 list is certainly not surprising to me! The majority of these authors are from far back in my reading history, back when I pretty much exclusively read REALLY long book series about mean girls and boarding school. The Kate Brian total below also includes the 3 Kieran Scott books I’ve read, since Kate Brian is her other pen-name.

Inside & Out #12: Sarah from What Sarah Read

Posted August 10, 2015 / Features, Inside and Out / 0 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. Sarah from What Sarah Read Twitter: @whatsarahread| Instagram: @whatsarahread| Tumblr| Pinterest | Goodreads Tell me a little about yourself: I feel like my Twitter bio describes me perfectly! I’m a…Boston girl, book blogger, cat lover, diet coke addict, cheeseburger expert, daydreamer, fangirl, disney obsessed, unapologetic goofball and lover of life!! Yep…that’s me in a nutshell. Talk about your blog (what you blog about/kinds of books, features, etc.): What Sarah Read just celebrated it’s one year anniversary back in May and I am so thrilled with how many friends and readers I have met along the way. You’ll find book reviews that are usually accompanied by fun mood boards, as well as special features highlighting my favorite books, weekly memes like Top Ten Tuesday, and my own original feature…Fangirl Friday. It’s a fun way to invite my bookish friends to the blog each week to have them fangirl about their favorite things. Favorite genre: Do I really have to choose? I love young adult contemporary AND fantasy. There are so many amazing books from each that I could never possibly choose. As long as a book has a lot of soul and […]

Review: Three Day Summer

Posted August 8, 2015 / Book Reviews / 10 Comments

I LOVE WOODSTOCK. I love music from the 60’s and 70’s more than any other time period so I knew I was going to at least love that element of this book. I even wrote a research paper on Woodstock back in high school, because obviously it’s the best time period in history. Can we get more books set in this time? Thanks. I thought the atmosphere felt really well-done and representative of the time. I’ve seen countless Woodstock movies and read articles, so I feel like it was definitely historically accurate. I actually believed that these two characters could have been real concertgoers at Woodstock. The MUSIC was perfect. If I had a time machine……. Every time they referenced Janis Joplin or Roger Daltry or the “new guy” Santana, I squealed a little bit. And of course the biggest event of all: Jimi Hendrix. Goosebumps, dude. Cora, a nurse volunteering at the event, and Michael, a hippie concert attendee, hit it off right away. They were interesting characters that came from different backgrounds but were struggling with similar things – primarily their future. Could Cora become a doctor? And what the hell was Michael going to be when he grew up? The two of them were perfect characters to meet and explore the concert together, and again – very representative of the time. I feel like it would have been nice to get to know Michael a bit more. I think Cora was more fleshed out, including her family […]