Top Ten Tuesdays #355: Smile

Posted September 8, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

Books to Put a Smile on Your Face 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. One day late but here we are! These are the ten most recent books I’ve read that made me laugh out loud. I keep a Goodreads shelf for this reason – some feel good books, or stories with very funny/clever main characters. I love some banter!

Review Round Up | Good as Dead and We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This

Posted September 6, 2021 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 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! If I could leave this review as a link to THIS review, I would haha. Basically she said she hated the book from 45% on, but understood the choices that were made, and still rated it around 3 stars. I mean… same. This series has been by go-to during the pandemic. When I’m desperate to kick my reading into gear again, one of these books has helped me do that. I loved the first book so much and didn’t want to wait for the second, so I ordered it (and the third) from Book Depository as the UK versions instead of US. I was eager to read this ASAP when it came in (around a month before the US book publishes) and was somewhat addicted like the other two, but I genuinely had to put it aside for a few days because of the turn the book took in the middle. I had figured out a THING and then it took a major turn and then, as you can see, I took a couple of days off or could only read a little at a time. It’s really hard to review this without completely giving everything away, even if you’ve read the first two books in the […]

September TBR

Posted September 1, 2021 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 0 Comments

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. September TBR August, again, was terrible. I was somewhat busy but honestly it’s mostly just that I don’t prioritize reading. I got super into some new podcasts and listened to very little on audio. I only managed to read 7 books in August because THREE were cookbooks. Currently Reading I am somehow still reading RULE OF WOLVES although I’m pretty sure “reading” is a strong word, since I’ve only read 2-3 chapters since the last time I wrote about this here. I do genuinely need to make a commitment to reading a chapter a day (or listening to an audio chapter) until it’s done. I’m also still working through THE INTUITIVE EATING WORKBOOK because it’s a little repetitive after reading the full book and working in my group coaching. It’ll get done eventually and be a quick boost to my reading numbers when it happens. Physical/Owned Books These are holdovers too, whoops. I got ARSENIC AND ADOBO in my recent BOTM package and it’s been sitting there! I’m excited to read it but I’ve been Kindle-addicted lately. I also got DONUTS AND OTHER PROCLAMATIONS OF LOVE from Laura (the author’s agent) […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #354: Fictional Crushes

Posted August 31, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Fictional Crushes 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. Last week was the first time in my blog’s history that I forgot to write a TTT post – clearly blogging isn’t on my mind lately. Here’s this week’s TTT about my book boyfriends or fictional crushes most recently added to that Goodreads shelf of mine. Tarek from WE CAN’T KEEP MEETING LIKE THIS // Jamar from THE DATING PLAYBOOK Harry from ROSALINE PALMER TAKES THE CAKE Sir from TO SIR WITH LOVE // River from THE SOULMATE EQUATION Dominic from THE EX TALK // Cassian from ACOSF Adrian from LIFE’S TOO SHORT // Neil from TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW // Keane from FLOAT PLAN

Top Ten Tuesdays #353: Places to Read

Posted August 17, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Favorite Places to 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’ve actually posted about this a few times on my blog because I love finding cozy spots to read and talking about them! I think it’s been changed a bit since this post (LOL UGH) so here’s my current updated list, featuring some ooold pics directly from Insta because I’m lazy. On the couch or in bed with my pup This is a more common place I read these days – curled up on the couch with my dog by my side. Lately though, most of my reading has been happening before or after work in my bed. I’ll read my Kindle in the dark before falling asleep or first thing in the morning. I couldn’t find a good picture of reading in bed so we’ll pretend this one covers both spots in my house. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lauren • Bookmark Lit (@bookmark_lit) By the lights of the Christmas tree Reading during the Christmas season is my favorite because our room gets all cozy with the lights on our tree and on the wall. There’s nothing better than a cute holiday romance with […]

ARC Reviews: Wait for It and The Dating Playbook

Posted August 16, 2021 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The cover of this book completely sucked me in right off the bat. Super obsessed, but who’s surprised? I decided to, very randomly, read this book ASAP when I was approved on Netgalley. I read it in just a few sittings because honestly it was pretty addicting and enjoyable! The setup here is that Annabelle’s friends invite her out to Arizona to work at their up-and-coming graphic design studio. They’ve hooked her up with a rental on the property of a mysterious retired man named Nick. She doesn’t lay eyes on him for a long time and incorrectly assumes (because he’s retired and he writes her curmudgeonly letters) he’s an old guy. Wrong – he’s her age and super hot. I enjoyed that there were a lot of things happening in this book – each character had a ton going on in their life and all of the side characters did too. Lots of history and current drama with work or family/friends. At times it felt like a bit much, but for the most part it made everyone feel very fleshed out. I always appreciate that. I also liked that the POVs went back and forth between Anna and Nick – it was important to actually get in his head to understand why he was acting a certain way. On the surface he just seemed super terrible. The writing style was a little repetitive and sometimes annoying (there were a number of things that rubbed me the wrong way). As […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #352: Secondary Characters

Posted August 10, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Secondary Characters who Deserve More Love 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 read a ton of companion series, obviously, and one of my favorite activities is to guess who will get their own books. I also am a big fan of companion spinoffs when it’s obvious that one of the side characters deserves their own love story. Here are some prime examples of that! Deserve Their Own Books/Spinoffs Imani from HOW SWEET IT IS // Imani, the MC’s best friend, is the whole reason for the book and Kate working for Drake. There’s some chemistry between Imani and Drake’s brother, so it would be fun to see these characters all come back in a spinoff/companion book. Multiple characters from SANDCASTLE BEACH // In my review for this, I wrote: “there are at least 3 new characters that totally could get their own books! Two women move to town in this installment and Maya’s brother also returns home. I would love to learn more about any combination of these people in more books ” Sinclair from SECOND CHANCE ON CYPRESS LANE // I know I’m cheating a little here because this a companion series-starter and she could very well have her own book coming next. […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | July 2021

Posted August 5, 2021 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

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 don’t even know why I bother blogging or acting like I’ll be getting back on track any time soon lol. I am STILLLL reading RULE OF WOLVES and a couple of other nonfiction books I was hoping to get through faster. However, I do anticipate finishing a couple of those this week and hopefully a quick rom-com to start the month off in August. I usually can blitz out one more book or try to finish two I’m currently reading in the final weekend of the month but my best friend got married and I was super busy the whole last week of July. SIGH. 5 books read in July 5 new books • 0 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 1692 • Average rating: 3.7 stars Sources: 5 review, 1 purchased Formats: 4 egalley, 1 mixed Genres: 2 contemporary, 2 mystery/thriller, 1 fantasy Age Target: 3 young adult, 2 adult Check out my 2021 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge None read this month | 23/40 read total A-Z Reading Challenge None read this […]

August TBR

Posted August 4, 2021 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 2 Comments

My monthly TBR feature here shows my progress based on last month’s TBR, my plans for this month, and anything else I might be thinking about from a reading perspective. Sometimes I feature a little poll at the bottom so you guys can help me figure out a certain title I should read from a group of books. August TBR July was another rough month. I did manage to check some books off my list but when I would have usually finished 1-2 books in the final weekend of the month, I was at my friend’s wedding and didn’t have any time to read for quite a few days. There are at least two books I’ll be able to finish off ASAP this month at least. Currently Reading and Just Finished Yes, RULE OF WOLVES is here for the millionth time. Really hoping I can actually finally follow through on my plan to listen to one chapter or read one chapter per day until it’s done this month. I’m just sick of having it on here and really hope once I get rolling and things start happening in the book a little more, I’ll be itching to just finish it off. I’m almost done with INTUITIVE EATING and plan to finish off the INTUITIVE EATING WORKBOOK soon as well. Physical/Owned Books I got ARSENIC AND ADOBO in my recent BOTM package and it’s been sitting there! I’m excited to read it but I’ve been Kindle-addicted lately. I also got […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #351: Titles/Covers

Posted August 3, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Titles and/or Covers of Books that Made Me Want to Read the Book 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 am the biggest sucker for book covers so none of these will be surprising. I did enjoy tracking down some fun titles and trying to remember if that’s what motivated me to read the book too! Cover Made Me Want to Read Title Made Me Want to Read