ARC Reviews: The Switch and Accidentally Engaged

Posted March 10, 2021 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

THE FLATSHARE was an interesting reading experience for me, as it was for many others. The chapters from Leon’s POV were super hard to get used to because he basically spoke in sentence fragments. I thought about quitting the book so many dang times but I kept feeling like I would miss out if I did. I ended up giving it 4.5 stars because it was SO CUTE by the end and I had kind of gotten used to his chapters. I was nervous to read THE SWITCH for some of these reasons. Well, THE SWITCH had all of the cuteness and none of the adjustment period. I saw some people say that it was a little slow-moving for them but I was kind of addicted. I read most of it in one sitting, sneaking it in as my last read for February on the final day of the month. I also had a review copy of the audiobook, which was pretty good. I saw other reviewers also complain about some mouth noises and they didn’t enjoy the narration, but I didn’t notice. I always listen on 1.5x speed or higher so it was completely masked for me if it existed. I liked the audio overall and always appreciate multiple narrators for more than one POV. This is the kind of book where I read other people’s reviews and was immediately confused by any negatively. This truly was near-flawless for me and such a cute reading experience. Reading about Eileen, […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #330: Spring Cleaning

Posted March 9, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 4 Comments

Spring Cleaning: TBR Cart 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 been saying for a while that I need to clean off my shelves and donate or sell books I no longer think I’ll read. I used to do a lot of bargain book shopping so many of the books I own are super old backlist titles I barely planned read even though I bought them. I decided that a post where I talk about random old books I plan on getting rid of wouldn’t be fun. Instead, I’m going to show all of the unread books on my TBR cart that I hope to read sometime soon! Most of these have legit been on the cart for a year or more. A Week of Mondays by Jessica Brody | I’ve been meaning to read this forever. I’ve enjoyed some of her other books but the Groundhog Day concept in books is one of my favorites. I think the size of this one has been intimidating, for a “contemporary.” Deadly Obsession and Lethal Redemption by April Hunt | I haven’t read books in the thriller/romance combo genre but these are Forever Romance books – I’ll probably love them. I wanted to read all three books […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | February 2021

Posted March 4, 2021 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 0 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. February is a short month so I didn’t harp on the fact that I finished 7 books instead of 8 this month. I’m partly through a book I started this month so I will be able to finish it and keep reading in March without issue. Hopefully we see 9 books here for March 😉 7 books read in February 5 new books • 2 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 2521 • Average rating: 4.07 stars Sources: 3 review, 2 purchased, 2 borrowed Formats: 3 mixed, 1 audio, 1 egalley, 1 paperback, 1 hardcover Genres: 2 contemporary, 2 fantasy, 2 nonfiction, 1 mystery/thriller Age Target: 3 adult, 2 young adult, 2 new adult Check out my 2020 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 2 read this month | 8/40 read total Different format than usually read (review audiobook), set in a restaurant A-Z Reading Challenge 6 read this month: None Calendar of Crime Challenge None Breakdown: 2 bought | 0 borrowed | 0 free/gifted | 9 for review All review copies were provided for free in exchange […]

ARC Reviews: The Project and A Pho Love Story

Posted March 3, 2021 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I really loved SADIE – it was the kind of addicting read I’m always looking for when it comes to mystery/thrillers. It stuck with me for a long time after reading too. I’ve only read a few (at most) cult-related books so I was intrigued by THE PROJECT. Lo’s parents died in a car accident (she survived) and her sister joined The Unity Project, a group in New York that pretty much screams “cult” to everyone outside it, so she’s been alone for a number of years when the book begins. The story goes back and forth between her POV in present day and Bea’s (her sister) in the past as she is getting deeper in the Project. I enjoyed reading about how Lo tried to make a life for herself, as imperfect or sad as it was, and her time investigating the Project. It took me a really long time to get into this one. It was interesting for the most part but I knew exactly where it was headed. Too many reviews or summaries said the ending was “unexpected” so I kind of knew where it was probably going as a result. I kept mixing up the two characters names in my head and it went back and forth between them, which didn’t help me. While I liked the book overall, it won’t stick with me like SADIE did. I wish I didn’t see parts of the ending coming because I do think it impacted my reading. I […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #329: Jobs

Posted March 2, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Characters Whose Jobs I Want 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. It’s funny because one of the prompts for the Popsugar challenge is to read a book where the MC either has your job or a job you’d love to have (dream job essentially). I’ve done some research already so this is easy! Librarians or Booksellers All of the books below feature people who own or work at bookstores OR as librarians. Most of these are books on my TBR that I hope to read sometime soon, but I read and really enjoyed CHASING LUCKY and RECOMMENDED FOR YOU.

Books I’ve Preordered (2021 So Far/Upcoming)

Posted March 1, 2021 / Uncategorized / 2 Comments

I know the cardinal rule of being a good supporter of favorite authors is to preorder their books. I’ll admit that I’m pretty bad at this, because I (a) straight up do not have enough space for all the books I’d like to buy, (b) am annoying about which formats I own, (c) don’t like having only one or two books in a series – I need all of them, and (d) don’t want to buy a Kindle book when I know I’ll be buying a physical copy later when I have a real library room. I only preorder books when I know the author (and love them), have other books in the series or plan to acquire them at some point very soon, and/or know I need to read the book ASAP. There are a few interesting exceptions for my 2021 list of preorders, which is why I thought it would be fun to discuss! Fiction A COURT OF SILVER FLAMES by Sarah J. Maas /// February 2021 Yes, I know, this is a problematic fave of a series and author. I don’t love her writing anymore – it’s seriously declined. I don’t know why I feel compelled to own this book but honestly I think it has to do with the fact that I own the others in the series and want to read it soon after it comes out. Let’s move along… RULE OF WOVLES by Leigh Bardugo /// March 2021 I was preordering this from Target […]

March TBR

Posted February 26, 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. March TBR I finally got a TBR post up and running in time! There are a ton of books on here, including holdovers from last month and a bunch of review copies, so we’ll see how I fare. I did a good job of reading most of the review copies I promised last time… Owned Books/Audiobooks to Read Yet again: repeats from previous months. Good lord, Lauren. Please read one of these books. INSTANT KARMA, SEX AND VANITY, and MAJESTY are all physical copies I have, plus the first and third are audiobooks I could listen to either on Scribd or Libro.fm. Review Copies I posted an egalley reading plan the other day to inspire me to read my review copies within a reasonable amount of time. FLOAT PLAN, ACCIDENTALLY ENGAGED, AND IT’S KIND OF A CHEESY LOVE STORY are all books publishing in March. THE SUMMER COTTAGE and TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT publish in May and OF PRINCES AND PROMISES comes out in June, but I know I’ll want to read it as soon as possible. Library Books I posted a Library Love post the other day that outlines all of […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #328: LOL

Posted February 23, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 2 Comments

Books That Made Me LOL 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 keep a “laughed out loud” shelf up on Goodreads for this kind of prompt! I found that whenever I did my year-end summaries (a while back) I would always have to sift through a ton of books to remember which ones made me laugh out loud (or cry or had a nice friendship or had a shock ending etc.). I got sick of it, so I made shelves I could add books to when completed. Here are the ten most recent books that made me laugh out loud. Believe it or not, most of these are prior to 2020!

10 May Releases for Review

Posted February 22, 2021 / Book Lists, Features / 4 Comments

I finally updated my review copy spreadsheet with some of the books I’ve acquired and never put in from 2020. I’ve been great about updating as things happen in 2021 too. This is my process: when I get a book approval from Netgalley, I immediately send it to my Kindle and update Goodreads shelves (“ARC Kindle” and “owned Kindle” – I know it’s not the same to have a review copy as owning the book, but the “owned” shelf represents ALL of the books I have on my Kindle, so when I need a Kindle book to read I can just select the one shelf). I then go to my 2021 Books spreadsheet and add it in the Acquired tab. And finally, go to my Database of Review Copies spreadsheet and add it in there according to the pub date. I did this the other day when I got four approvals within two days (woof) and realized I currently have TEN review copies to read that are May releases. I share my acquired books and review copies each month, but thought it would be fun to do a round-up of these books, why I’m excited, and when I think I’ll read them! Yes, part of the reason I’m posting this is to hold myself accountable to some kind of schedule to be on time with all of these. I have four publishing on the 4th, three on the 11th, one on the 18th, and two on the 25th, and technically […]

Library Love | February 2021

Posted February 18, 2021 / Features, Library Love, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

I created this Library Love series on my blog so I could share current checkouts from the library as well as some of the books I have on hold, hopefully coming into my greedy hands as soon as possible. I thought it would be fun to bring it back around since it’s been so long! I currently have THE COUSINS and VANESSA YU’S MAGICAL TEA SHOP checked out. I read the first one already and haven’t returned it yet lol but the latter is still on my TBR! I’m hoping to get to it very soon. I have a super small town library so the VAST majority of these books are requested through interlibrary loan. That’s why so many are a certain position out of a large number of books. Even when I’m hold #3 on 6 books, for example, I still usually have a while to wait for whatever reason. Here are the books in my queue! A VOW SO BOLD AND DEADLY by Brigid Kemmerer January 2021 – Hold #3 on 6 copies The first two books here have been on hold the longest. I’ve really enjoyed the Cursebreakers series so far and am really excited to read the final book. I’m annoying in that I prefer to own all the books or none of the books (sometimes I’ll buy an ebook depending on price), so I’ve decided to just get this installment from the library. ACROSS THE GREEN GRASS FIELDS by Seanan McGuire January 2021 – Hold #1 on […]