Top Ten Tuesdays #433: Winter TBR

Posted December 12, 2023 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 5 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #433: Winter TBR

Winter TBR (EOY – Feb) 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. We’re right around the middle of December and I know winter “starts” in a week or two, but I fully agree with anyone who thinks winter begins on December 1st. I’ve been working through holiday stories this month and will definitely bang out as many as possible before the end of the month! This TBR will feature some books I hope to get to for the rest of December as well as early next year (January and February). Already Released Publishing Soon Review Copies

Holiday Reviews: The Christmas Appeal and Tide and Punishment

Posted December 8, 2023 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments
Holiday Reviews: The Christmas Appeal and Tide and Punishment

Story I really enjoyed THE APPEAL when I randomly picked it up last year on a vacation. I couldn’t put it down and found it super addicting due to the mixed media format. (I still haven’t read anything else by Hallett but I have multiple books ready to go on my Kindle!) This was a Christmas novella featuring the same Fairway Players from the initial book. They decided to put on a holiday play of Jack and the Beanstalk using a gross old beanstalk from years and years ago. The mystery unfolded in a really neat way, much like THE APPEAL. I didn’t figure it out right away but there were definitely a few elements later in the book that I saw coming. It was a pretty fun mystery in general given its length. Wintery Setting & Holiday Feels There were somewhat limited holiday feels in this one, partially because of the mixed media format and partially because the content itself wasn’t overly holiday-oriented. I liked the “holiday round robin” emails sent out to set the stage and time of year at the beginning, which also reacquainted us with the characters. The play of Jack and the Beanstalk is not really Christmassy… I think it was necessary for the plot and mystery that comes in later, but A Christmas Carol or literally any other holiday play would have upped the seasonal feels for me. Overall I really enjoyed this one, and think the audiobook was done well! I’d recommend readers […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 2023

Posted December 6, 2023 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 Comments
Bookmark Lit Bulletin | November 2023

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. I definitely planned to read more in November (and didn’t expect for so many of my books to be novellas!). My trip for the last week of the month didn’t involve really any reading, so there are two books I didn’t complete in November that I figured I would. Oh well, it just means December is off to a good start!      9 books in  November 9 read  •  0 reread  •  0 DNF Pages read: 2,545 •   Average rating: 3.89 stars Genres: 5 mystery/thrillers, 2 contemporary, 2 fantasy Formats: 3 mixed, 2 audiobooks, 2 ebooks, 1 hardcover, 1 paperback Sources: 3 borrowed, 3 purchased, 2 library, 1 preordered Age Target: 8 adult, 1 new adult      Here are all the books I read this month with ratings and one-line thoughts!      Popsugar Reading Challenge: 76% 52 Book Club: 75% Must Read in 2023: 75% Romanceopoly: 23% Mystery/Thriller Reading Challenge: 96%      Breakdown: 4 hardcover | 3 paperback | 2 egalley All review copies were provided for free in exchange for an honest review. For Review From Berkley: Summer Romance by Monaghan From […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #432: Holiday Covers

Posted December 5, 2023 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment
Top Ten Tuesdays #432: Holiday Covers

Freebie: Favorite Recent Holiday Book Covers 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. A freebie usually means a cover-related post from Bookmark Lit! In the spirit of the holiday season (which I am doing a terrible job of keeping up with so far this year…), I thought I would share some of my favorite holiday book covers that have been released recently.    

Review Roundup | The Maid, Bookshops and Bonedust, and Twilight Falls

Posted November 30, 2023 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments
Review Roundup | The Maid, Bookshops and Bonedust, and Twilight Falls

THE MAID is a book that I’ve debated reading for a while. I wasn’t sure if it would be for me but I ended up snagging a cute little paperback copy and staring at it on my shelves for a long time. I wasn’t sure what to read earlier this month and it was calling to me, so I picked it up. I won’t lie, it took me a while to get into. I wasn’t sure if I could get into Molly’s head. That ended up not being the issue but I’ll get to my thoughts in a second. This story follows Molly the maid, who stumbles upon the dead body of a frequent guest at the hotel she works at. She ends up getting mixed up in everything (a few crimes) without even knowing what’s going on. She struggles with social situations and appears to be neurodivergent (not given a name on page and everyone else seems to think she’s just quirky or “bad” at reading social cues). The book was hard to read for me in the first half. It just felt like she was getting taken advantage of over and over again by bad people, and I was really upset reading it. I don’t pick up books where people like this are being taken advantage of or bullied because honestly it’s one of those things that just hits me too hard. I contemplated DNFing multiple times because it was simply hard to read and I wasn’t sure […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #431: CT Setting

Posted November 28, 2023 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #431: CT Setting

Setting Freebie: Favorite Books Set in Connecticut 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. I live in Connecticut and grew up here (minus one year in Maine and four years for college in Rhode Island) so any book set in Connecticut is going to make it on my TBR! It’s not the most common book setting unless the author has some ties to the area. I decided I would share my ten favorite books or series set in my home state.

Books I Can’t Believe I Didn’t Read This Year

Posted November 23, 2023 / Book Lists, Features / 2 Comments
Books I Can’t Believe I Didn’t Read This Year

There were so many books I was totally convinced I would get to in 2023 and even included them on multiple monthly TBRs. Eventually I got sick of seeing them and just knew it wouldn’t happen so they were removed in favor of other books I hopefully will read someday. I do plan on creating a “24 in 24” list of books I need to read next year, so many of these books will appear on that, but hopefully not all of them. I’m aware that I’m posting this in November so anything can happen but honestly… I could have added like 5 more books to this. I’m DETERMINED to read them instead of include them here lol.

Holiday Reviews: The Christmas Guest and Emergency Contact

Posted November 20, 2023 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments
Holiday Reviews: The Christmas Guest and Emergency Contact

Story This was my first holiday-themed mystery and I’m really excited for the others I have on my TBR now! This story follows Ashley, an American girl studying in England, who is invited to her friend’s family estate for the holidays. She immediately falls for her friend’s charming older brother and is brought into their cold, not-so-comforting home (and family) for the holidays. The brother, Adam, has been accused of murdering a local girl but this doesn’t really deter Ashley. Surely he had nothing to do with it? This is a story-within-a-story where someone is reading  a diary years and years later. I really enjoyed the twist in this one! After it was revealed, I did lose interest for a few pages, but Swanson brought me back in somewhat quickly. I think the story took a few interesting turns and I really enjoyed how everything was revealed. Wintery Setting & Holiday Feels The holiday feels are interesting in this subgenre. Yes, it was creepy and gothic and had a mystery element. But it definitely also had cozy scenes in pubs and festive decor around the dinner table. It was a fun mix, to be honest! It creates a different kind of holiday feel but the setting was cold and wintery for sure. Overall I’m really glad that Swanson made this short as a novella – I truly think it was the perfect length and format for this kind of story. The twist packed more of a punch for me. Going […]

2024 Review Copies

Posted November 16, 2023 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 2 Comments
2024 Review Copies

I’ve gotten a few exciting review copies already for 2024 and thought I would do a little post to share what those are so far! Some of these have been waiting on my Kindle for a long time and I can’t believe I haven’t been tempted to dive in… Mystery/Thriller and Fantasy   Contemporary and Literary  

Top Ten Tuesdays #430: Popular Authors

Posted November 14, 2023 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 3 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #430: Popular Authors

Mainstream/Popular Authors I Haven’t Read 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. I’m going to use this to discuss mainstream and bestselling authors who are clearly popular, but also some of the more “super hyped on booktube and booktok” authors as well. I know that’s less “mainstream” but usually these authors gain a ton of popularity and the hype becomes super intense. R.F. Kuang / I’ve said this before but her books intimidate me a bit! Between BABEL’s length and YELLOWFACE’s hard-hitting topic, I just have not plucked up the courage to read her books yet. Mona Awad / She’s another one on that list of books/authors who scare me. I know BUNNY is a mindfuck and I’m super curious to read it, but her books seem complicated lol. Stephen King / I promise I won’t spend the whole TTT referencing the same blog post but Stephen King is another intimidating, major bestselling author. I’m not a huge horror reader so a lot of his books aren’t on my list, but I would love to read a few (FAIRY TALE, BILLY SUMMERS, and 11/22/63).   Simone St. James, Ruth Ware, Shari Lapenia, and Alex Finlay / There are a ton of super popular, bestselling mystery/thriller authors […]