Search Results for: read bait

Top Ten Tuesdays #249: Tropes

Posted August 20, 2019 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 5 Comments

Favorite Tropes in Books 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 often talk about my read-bait topics, which surround book plot points or tropes that immediately make me want to read a book. It also includes settings and other bookish elements that aren’t exactly tropes though, so here’s a more fine-tuned list of legit tropes (not just romance!) that I love to read in books. Snowed In / Stuck Somewhere This is probably one of my favorite tropes out of all of these. I will always add these to my TBR! I love when characters (obviously possible romantic partners, primarily) get stuck somewhere together or snowed in. I remember MAGNOLIA had a whole bunch of my favorite tropes, where the characters’ two families kept pushing them together but they hated each other, then got stuck together in a tornado. UGH what a book. Fake Dating This is another classic romance trope that most people tend to like! I think TATBILB is one of my favorite series/books that uses this trope. The couple creates a fake relationship for whatever reason (make an ex jealous, get parents’ off their backs, etc.) and ends up falling for each other for real. BFFs to More […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #245: Settings

Posted July 23, 2019 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 4 Comments

Settings I’d Like to See More (Favorite Settings!) 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 made a super quick list in my head when drafting this post and realized that I really just went ahead and listed my favorite settings. The topic is technically about settings I’d like to see MORE of, and a few of these are fairly popular ones, but still – I’d love to see more of my favorite settings too of course! 😉 Here are some of my favorite settings and/or ones that I don’t see enough and need more of! Boarding School I’m huuuuge fan of books set in boarding school. Yes, I chose a Zoey 101 gif because who didn’t want to attend PCA with them?! Good lord, that was the best show. ANYWAYS I’ve talked about my love for boarding school or private school settings a lot, with recommendation lists and read-bait posts, and could ALWAYS use any and all books set in boarding school. I do feel like it stems from that desire we all had as kids to live at a boarding school with a bunch of other people our age, living on a campus away from parents long before college. Beach […]

Review Round Up | The Lovely and the Lost, Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck & Fortune, and Passion on Park Avenue

Posted July 10, 2019 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 1 Comment

In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 books I’ve read or listened to recently. Sometimes they’re newer releases and sometimes they’re all backlist titles. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! I’ll be 100% honest: if Jennifer Lynn Barnes didn’t write this book, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up based on the synopsis alone. The MC was found in the woods by a family who trains search-and-rescue dogs, and she quickly joins that family business with them. There’s a survival element here that doesn’t usually appeal to me, but I DID like the idea of tracking down a missing child and solving a mystery in that way. It’s purposefully hard to connect with the main character because she had such a closed-off upbringing. She’s meant to be challenging and distant, so I understood why I wasn’t able to connect with her on the level I usually might’ve when reading a book. I loved her though – she was fierce and extremely loyal to her found family. Jude, Free, and her mother Cady were all fascinating characters. I loved getting to know the people surrounding the state park they went to to find Bella. There were a LOT of twists and turns for a book I would generally consider to be more of a contemporary book than a mystery book. I’m totally counting it as mystery for my challenges ? There were a lot of elements at the […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #240: Upcoming Releases

Posted June 18, 2019 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 13 Comments

Most Anticipated Releases of the 2nd Half of 2019 (that I don’t currently have review copies of) 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 always like to do this post excluding my review copies, because I can’t necessarily anticipate them to the same extent if I HAVE them already, right? Here are the TWENTY-NINE WHOOOOPS books I’m most excited about for 2019 that are not currently in my possession! As usual, I’m including a tiny snipped of the synopsis that made me add it to my “jazzed up for this” Goodreads shelf – the selling point or the Lauren-bait. July The Last Book Party by Dukess | “A propulsive tale of ambition and romance, set in the publishing world of 1980’s New York and the timeless beaches of Cape Cod.” Me Myself & Him by Tebbetts | “this story of parallel time lines cleverly explores how our choices can change and shape us–as well as the ways in which choices don’t change the core of our being at all.” The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Waxman | “but she isn’t convinced real life could ever live up to fiction. It’s going to take a brand-new family, a persistent suitor, and the combined effects […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | March 2019

Posted April 1, 2019 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 3 Comments

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’m happy I increased my reading numbers, meaning I’m super ahead on my Goodreads challenge! I read SO many books in March. The middle portion of this year will be challenging for reading, with a decent amount of trips planned and weddings to attend between April and August. In any case, it was a good reading month where I kept up some momentum and continued to love my bullet journal! Related not-as-bookish sidenote: I asked you guys where you want to see wrap-ups for my bujo pages (if you did at all) and there was even split between “yes make a separate post” and “yes wherever you want to post it.” I’ve decided to do a bi-monthly bujo wrap-up post! All of the books from this month: Check out my 2019 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 7 read this month | 20 read total | 50% complete L-R: Zodiac/astrology term in the title, based on a true story, retelling of a classic, extinct or mystical creature, about a hobby, inspired by folklore/myth/etc., weird/no chapter […]

Review Round Up | Field Notes on Love, Girls with Sharp Sticks, and Springtime at Hope Cottage

Posted March 7, 2019 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 4 Comments

In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 books I’ve read or listened to recently. Sometimes they’re newer releases and sometimes they’re all backlist titles. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! THIS WAS SO CUTE. I was determined to finish another book in February to keep up with 10 books per month, so I ended up scrambling to read this between the last two days. I read so much of it in one sitting on the 28th, both because I “had to” and definitely because I wanted to. Seriously, let me say again, it was ADORABLE. I’m a sucker for those weird circumstances where people meet, especially when traveling. In this case, Hugo was planning a cross-country train trip with his girlfriend (Margaret Campell), when she surprisingly broke up with him. He decided to continue on the trip with the one caveat that that whole thing was nontransferable and booked under HER name. He needed a new Margaret Campbell, put out an ad, and found Mae. The vast majority of the book takes place on the train. I love the idea of this kind of journey, so reading about it was almost as good as doing it myself. I didn’t find it boring or repetitive to read about them talking and spending time one-on-one. Even though the side characters weren’t IN the story that much, they felt fully fleshed out. Alfie’s siblings (he’s a sextuplet!) and cute parents, […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #224: Places to Visit

Posted February 26, 2019 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 2 Comments

Places Mentioned in Books I’d Like to Visit 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 always talk about the book settings I love or places I’d want to move, but this is a little more specific? I love a good, cozy, small town. ALWAYS. I also love books in boarding schools or at resorts or in beach towns. Vivid settings are some of my favorite things to talk about. The vast majority of these are RECENT books I’ve read because I literally went through my “read” list on Goodreads, in order. My grandfather was from Punxsutawney, PA… and VERY proud of that fact. I’ve always wanted to visit there for that reason (I don’t care much about the groundhog but obviously it’d be cool to see). Pretty in Punxsutawney being set there definitely got my wheels turning on making a visit happen someday for him. It sounds like there isn’t a hell of a lot to do but it would be worth it for me and my family. (My mom went a bit as a kid!) As I said in my little intro, I’m a huge fan of small town stories. They remind me of my hometown and high school years. Hindsight definitely […]

Picky Pledge

Posted February 25, 2019 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 2 Comments

I noted in a couple of wrap-up posts that I wanted to join Hannah and Alexa in their Picky Pledge, which is where they read books from their shelves and limit book buying. I’ll admit that I definitely don’t have a book buying problem because of how picky I already am, but I DO have a problem with not reading backlist books on my shelves. I *used to* have a book buying issue, which has led to a lot of books on my shelves that I either (a) will never read or (b) still definitely want to read but haven’t yet. I’ve already embarked on this for January and February, as you saw in the linked Bulletins, but I thought I’d run through some ideas for a Picky Pledge TBR. For more details on the project, be sure to read Alexa and Hannah’s posts I linked earlier! Both of the books below could be interchanged because they fit both categories – I bought both books because they’re book two in a series or duo, and I love both of the authors. I just put them this way arbitrarily. Because there are 12 prompts for the Picky Pledge, I decided to read one book from my shelves each month to finish up the challenge. Below are some ideas that I pulled from combining and cross-referencing my “to read” and “own physical” shelves on Goodreads. A book you bought for the cover The Last Little Blue Envelope by Johnson | The […]

On My List (7)

Posted February 4, 2019 / Features, On My List / 6 Comments

I love Jamie’s New to the Queue feature because it highlights new things she’s added to her different “to do/ read/ watch/ etc.” lists. This new random feature – called simply On My List – will show off the most recent books, movies, shows, podcasts, recipes, crafts, and other things to make it on my to-do list. Currently Available The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Meyerson | I added a few books to my TBR because of the Popsugar reading challenge, and this is one of them. I love books involving books/bookstores/libraries/etc. so this was a fun one! It involves a scavenger hunt too. The Iron King by Kagawa | I saw some bloggers reading and rereading these lately and was inspired to finally add it to my TBR. I’m a huge fae fan and these are considered some classics in the genre, from what I understand. The Dreamers by Walker | This keeps getting compared to STATION ELEVEN, which was a fascinating “outside of my norm” read… so you could say I’m intrigued! I love the idea of people just falling asleep but I have a bad feeling there won’t be much closure at the end? Unreleased Books Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered by Kilgariff/Hardstark | I went through a huuuuuge MFM podcast phase, but got SO burnt out after a while. I haven’t listened to an episode in over a year by now. I think I’ll pick it up again at some point and just listen when they come out. I DIGRESS – they have a […]

2018 End of Year Survey

Posted December 30, 2018 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

I loved filling out Jamie’s survey in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. This is the 9th time she’s hosted this survey and it’s so fun to see what everyone chooses for the categories. Last year, I didn’t allow myself any duplicates. I’m going to try to keep them to a minimum for this survey, but it feels impossible. I’ll need to have a few. To learn more about it and see a blank set of questions, check here! It was so fun to reread my answers for last year, since I copied that survey here to clean out and fill out. Number of Books You Read: 120 Number of Re-Reads: 2 | Number of DNFs: 5 Genre You Read The Most From: Contemporary 1. Best Book You Read In 2018? Totally cheating and adding multiple categories! (Not including rereads.) See a full list of my “best reads” of the year (5 stars and 4.5 stars) here if you’re curious. Best of the best: Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills Best contemporary: Love a la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm Best non-contemporary: The Wicked King by Holly Black Best adult fiction: Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid Best sequel or companion: 9 Days and 9 Nights by Katie Cotugno Best diverse read: Dear Martin by Nic Stone 2. Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love more but didn’t? My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows just, for me, was not as good as the previous companion. I enjoyed that it followed a […]