ARC Review: The Summer Cottage

Posted May 26, 2021 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I adored the Sweetwater Springs series and it was definitely bittersweet to see it come to an end. However, the setup for the new Somerset Lake “spinoff” series was too perfect. I loved meeting the new MC for book one in Somerset Lake during REUNITED ON DRAGONFLY LANE. Trisha, the ex-sister-in-law of Chase from REUNITED, decides to move her son to “nearby” Somerset Lake. She gets a job as a property manager that includes free rent of one of the cabins onsite. The cabins need a lot of work if they’re going to be rentable again, so she is off to the races while trying to make a new home for her family. She is constantly running from the mistakes of her ex, Peter – you learn in previous books that he was a financial advisor arrested for taking money from his clients. This is something she doesn’t stop thinking about and dwelling on as she goes through life, and it doesn’t help that she and Petey are not going to tell anyone about it in their new town. Somerset Lake is a cute setting so far. Honestly, it doesn’t quite compare to Sweetwater Springs, but I know there will be more glimpses into the town through new characters we meet in this first installment. I can see at least three ladies who will likely be MCs for future stories in this series and I’m HERE for it. One of them even owns a bookstore! I love that Trisha joins […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #341: Book Quotes

Posted May 25, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Book Quotes from… Books I’ve Read Lately 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 have to say, I have been terrible about keeping track of book quotes lately. I used to collect them all the time and make fun graphics for them. The topic for this week is “book quotes about a certain theme” that you can choose yourself. I thought it might be fun to pick a book quote or two that I enjoyed from my most recent reads, since I could hop over to Goodreads and see what others have highlighted 😉 The Ex-Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon “The thing about losing someone is that it doesn’t happen just once. It happens every time you do something great you wish they could see, every time you’re stuck and you need advice. Every time you fail. It erodes your sense of normal, and what grows back is decidedly not normal, and yet you still have to figure out how to trudge forward.” I remember wanting to highlight a lot of quotes in this one but of course, I didn’t. I really adored this book though. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry “I’m on vacation. Vacations always end. It’s […]

Review Round Up | Finlay Donovan is Killing It, The Girls Are All So Nice Here, and The Ex-Talk

Posted May 21, 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! This was so fun and refreshing – exactly what I needed! I’ve been intrigued by the cozy mystery genre, or at least “lighter” mysteries that focus heavily on the amateur sleuth and her personal life, but none have fully hit the mark. They’ve either been not-good in a compulsively readable way, or just straight-up not great in general. This one hit the mark for me in so many ways. Finlay is a struggling romantic suspense author and she finds herself caught up in a murder mystery, along with her babysitter-turned-roommate, Vero. They have a fun relationship – I loved how quickly Vero worked with Finlay to figure out what was happening, even getting involved with some extremely elicit activities. Like many mysteries like this, the crime/murder is a main point of the book, but you learn even more about the main character and their personal life as they try to figure out what’s going on. Finlay is dealing with her shitty ex-husband and his new perfect fiance while trying to be a single working mom of two cute kids. I enjoyed seeing how she attempted to balance it all and how Vero stepped in to help her… in more ways than one. I won’t spoil too much […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #340: Sentences

Posted May 18, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Books Titles that are Complete Sentences 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. This is a unique one! Really fun to go through and see what titles may fit the bill. These are all books I’ve already read, by the way.

Top Ten Tuesdays #339: Nature Covers

Posted May 11, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Books with Nature on the Cover 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. You know I love a cover-related prompt to begin with, but add in the flowers and nature element? Super into it. Some of my favorite covers involve watercolor floral print and other greenery. Here are some recent favorites that include pretty flowers, water/beaches, and other cute nature-based scenes!

ARC Review: Malibu Rising

Posted May 10, 2021 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Since TJR has switched up her stories away from portraits of contemporary love or marriage, and into more character studies via historical fiction, I was wondering if they would hit me the same. I adored her first foray into it with EVELYN HUGO. I loved reading about her life and figuring out how the heck she’d manage to get married seven times. I was super excited for DAISY JONES because I’m a big fan of classic rock. However, I found it to be so-so and a bit cliche. Just a classic, somewhat typical portrait of a rock band. I needed this to be more EVELYN HUGO than DAISY JONES. This story is a picture of a family across generations set around Malibu and Hollywood in the early 1980s. Mick Riva, the soon-to-be-famous rockstar, met his wife June, who worked at her family’s restaurant, and they fell in love. They got married, had some kids, broke up, got back together, had another kid, and broke up again. The story switches between past (the parents’ relationship) and present (the day of the big Riva family end-of-summer party) for most of the book. It was neat to have a full picture of the Riva family intertwined with the “present day” of summer 1983. Nina, the eldest daughter, has become a famous surfing model. Her ~twin~ brothers Jay and Hudson make their living off Jay’s surfing and Hudson’s photography of said surfing. The youngest, Kit, is kind of finding her way in the world. From […]

ARC Reviews: People We Meet on Vacation and 10 Truths and a Dare

Posted May 5, 2021 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I read and loved BEACH READ, like many others, but I know that was somewhat polarizing. Lots of readers didn’t think it was really a rom-com, since it centered around some heavier family or career-related elements, and the cover doesn’t totally match the vibe. However, I adored it for what it was and that whole thing didn’t affect my enjoyment whatsoever. I had really high hopes and expectations for PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION as a result. Oh MAN, did this book deliver. Complete banter-y perfection. I saw a few people call Emily Henry’s writing “witty” and that’s such a great way to describe it. The characters in this book especially were so hilarious. I adored getting to know Poppy, Alex, and all of their inside jokes. The story follows the two of them after a two-year friendship hiatus. It goes back and forth between ten summer trips they’ve taken across ten years, and the present day vacation in Palm Springs. It recounts their many years of friendship, where their annual summer trips are the key grounding point in their relationship. There are always tiny hints of what-if-we-were-more, but the two of them also have a few relationships with other people to navigate as well. You also spend most of the book what happened during the dreaded Croatia trip that made them stop speaking for two years. Poppy is so unique and her family life fascinated me. Her parents and brothers sounded wonderful and quirky. She had a fun sense […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #338: Recent Reads

Posted May 4, 2021 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 6 Comments

10 Recent Fiction Reads 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. Talk about an easy prompt, especially since I just posted my Bookmark Lit Bulletin yesterday. I read 9 books total in April so I thought it would be a little lame to include those, plus the one book I’ve read in May. I decided to go back a little bit further by choosing only the 10 most reason fiction books I’ve read… so basically eliminating a few cookbooks lol.

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 2021

Posted May 3, 2021 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 2 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 actually was able to get on track in April by finishing 9 books, but then I was lazy in the last week of the month. I started a new book and just didn’t get around to finishing it. I’m behind again. But it should be easy to catch up, I hope. Lots of good ones in April! 9 books read in April 9 new books • 0 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 3521 • Average rating: 4.28 stars Sources: 4 review, 1 purchased, 1 library Formats: 3 hardcover, 3 audio, 2 egalley, 1 mixed Genres: 3 contemporary, 2 fantasy, 2 mystery/thriller, 2 nonfiction Age Target: 6 adult, 2 young adult, 1 new adult Check out my 2021 challenge sign-up post for more details, goals, etc.! Popsugar Reading Challenge 6 read this month | 20/40 read total Heart on the cover, MC works at dream job, genre hybrid, set mostly outdoors, dark academia, book from TBR that reminds you of favorite person A-Z Reading Challenge 1 read this month: L Calendar of Crime Challenge 1 read this month: word with month’s […]

May TBR

Posted April 30, 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. May TBR I finally caught up on my Goodreads challenge, thanks to an audiobook addiction for a few books AND my new cookbooks that came in. As a result, I did pretty okay with my TBR. The audiobooks I listened two were technically books I HAD on my library hold list, so they’re kind of from my April TBR too. I didn’t do well with review copies because I mostly tried to read my cookbooks and a couple of physical books, but I managed to finish a couple egalleys up by the end of the month too. Owned Books/Audiobooks to Read Yep, these three guys are still here. I do hope to read them sometime in 2021 haha. MAJSETY, SEX AND VANITY, and INSTANT KARMA are all available to me by hard copy and audiobook. I’m keeping this here again and just saying I managed to finally finish ACOSF… only to now add RULE OF WOLVES. I’m going to see if Scribd adds the audio in May, because they’re renewing its predecessor’s audiobook. If not, I’ll just buy it from Libro.fm. Review Copies I didn’t do that well with review copies […]