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 […]

A Day in the Life (8/14/19)

Posted August 19, 2019 / Currently, Lifestyle, Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

True story: I’ve been attempting to write this post for a while now but I ALWAYS get halfway into my morning routine (or even arrive at work) when I realize I forgot to take photos of my day. I finally remembered to get an early start last Wednesday so here we are with a day in my life! 5:45 AM – 6:00 AM – Alarm goes off, venture downstairs I went to bed fairly early last night so I set my alarm accordingly. I usually like to wake up somewhere within the 6:00 hour but love when I can get up even earlier. I like seven hours of sleep; any more or less than that isn’t great for me haha. I went downstairs and chatted with Chris, who was starting his morning routine. I made my coffee and went back upstairs. 6:00 AM – 7:30 AM – Lounge in bed I will usually do a number of things in the morning before work, like update my bullet journal, watch YouTube or a television show, or read a book. Sometimes I just play Candy Crush and call it a day lol. This morning, I put YouTube on while updating my bullet journal with the book I had finished the day before. I caught up with Kristen and a few others I’ve been into lately for Amazon hauls and more lifestyle-oriented content. When I finished the bujo, I just scrolled on my phone and played Candy Crush while YouTube played in the […]

Lauren Lately | August 2019

Posted August 15, 2019 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ What I’ve Been Up To Weird Al, lots of swimming, and a birthday party | We had a nice mix of weekends over the last month or so. We had a few events and parties sprinkled in, along with casual days swimming and hanging out at Chris’s parents’ house. We went to see Weird Al in concert, which exceeded all of my expectations and I have zero photos of, and then spent the next two days swimming. The following weekend was a birthday party for my friend Alaina and her husband, which was a lot of fun too! Weekend with Jen – Mystic/Westerly/Glastonbury | Chris was away at the bachelor party for his future brother-in-law so I went out and about with his sister! We first went to a small food truck festival in Connecticut, which was decent, and then headed over to Rhode Island. Ivory Ella was having their annual warehouse sale, so we […]

Late ARC Reviews: When the Light Went Out and The Last Resort

Posted August 14, 2019 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I hadn’t seen much about WHEN THE LIGHT WENT OUT, both before I requested it and after the pub date. I went in with no preconceived notions or expectations. I think I did expect it to have more of a mystery/thriller vibe than contemporary, but not enough to have that ruin the book. I love books about scavenger hunts or to-do lists, especially when left behind by someone who has passed away. In this story, a group of neighborhood kids were forever affected when Marley was accidentally shot by Nick five years ago. Olivia, the main character, was the only one of the group who witnessed it. Bigs, Teeny, Ruby, Harrison, and Olivia’s sister Aidy, join in with Olivia and a returning Nick to follow on Marley’s final “Adventure” scavenger hunt for them. To be honest, there’s not much to say about these characters. They were all fine and moderately developed but there’s not much more. Marley was essentially a manic pixie dream girl character throughout most of the book, which was unsurprising – a lot of books like this memorialize and glamorize the lost person. I can’t even say too much about the plot without spoiling how everything ends. I will say that I really didn’t enjoy how it ended. I ended up starting this one on a complete whim one Sunday and finished it before the day was over. I didn’t want to stop reading; the writing style and setup were so intriguing. I’d read more from this […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #248: Characters

Posted August 13, 2019 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 6 Comments

Characters I’d be Besties With Characters I Wanted to Punch in the Head 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 had a character freebie recently where I discussed some of my new favorite characters or friend groups, which kind of answers this question – yes, I’d totally be friends with all of them! Because of that, I decided to change this topic up. I’m doing the opposite. There are many books that end up on my “punchable character” shelf for various reasons and I don’t think I’ve highlighted them before? Away we go! Josh and Kristen from The Friend Zone by Jimenez | While I kind of liked this book overall, it wasn’t what I was hoping for. I wanted to punch Josh because he kept talking about how much Kristen was ~not like other girls~ which is one of my least favorite things for a male character to say. He, overall, was too macho for me in many ways, even though he apparently had many sisters that softened him up in some instances. Kristen’s repetitive internal dialogue about him was super frustrating too. Chloe from Notes from a Former Virgin by Chastain | I usually enjoy these Chloe Snow books, especially […]

Book and Blog Traditions

Posted August 8, 2019 / Discussions, Features / 1 Comment

There are quite a few traditions I participate in annually/seasonally on my blog. I always sign up for certain challenges, readalongs, and readathons, but I also have my own personal traditions that I’ve kept up for at least a couple of years. These could be reading habits or something else. Here are some of the bookish and blog-related things I do each year! Read Emma Mills’ latest book on New Years Day in one sitting This is a newer tradition but one I have really grown to love. I definitely plan on keeping it up as long as humanly possible! I have a tendency to breeze through and adore each of Emma Mills’ books so far. What better way to kick off the year than with a guaranteed good book, and one I can finish in one sitting? I love having my bookish year start off that way (ahead on my Goodreads goal!). I read FOOLISH YEARTS on New Years Day 2018 and FAMOUS IN A SMALL TOWN for 2019. I’m a little concerned that her next book, LUCKY CALLER, doesn’t appear to come out until January 14th, so I’ll have to get my hands on an ARC to keep my momentum going. Create and curate seasonal bucket lists and TBRs I’ve talked about my love for seasonal TBRs (especially holiday ones in December and summery ones for June through August) on multiple occasions. I also have come to enjoy making personal bucket lists for some seasons as […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #247: Cover Redesigns

Posted August 6, 2019 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

Cover Redesigns I 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 have had such a busy week that I forgot I didn’t pre-write this post! I usually do TTTs a bunch at a time, for the month or whatever, and I got halfway through the day and realized my post had two words on it. OH WELL. Here’s a quick roundup of some of my favorite cover redesigns! Summer trilogy by Jenny Han The Start of Me and You redesign and matching The Map From Here to There by Emery Lord Allllll the Katie Cotugno books! Little Blue Envelopes duo by Maureen Johnson Prince Charming (formerly Royals) and matching Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins

Disney-a-Thon

Posted August 5, 2019 / Book Challenges, Features / 0 Comments

As I shared in my August TBR, I’m participating in Disney-a-thon! More information can be found in this thread on Twitter. It goes the entire month of August and is based around joining specific teams, reading a set TBR, and moving through other teams’ TBRs if you have the chance! Despite The Lion King and Mulan being my top two favorite Disney movies, I went with Team Tangled because the TBR most closely aligned with my own plans for ARC August. Truthfully, the “team books” that needed to be read were the biggest deciding factor. Team Tangled is reading A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY, which is my book club selection for August and is an old ARC I desperately want/need to read. It was the only team read that I had on my TBR, period, let alone for ARC August. So there we go! TBR Rapunzel – Read a book with glowing reviews (10) For this one, because all of my books are review copies, there are plenty that haven’t been published yet. I went onto Goodreads and found which book had the highest rating and most positive reviews that I was able to reasonably see. WELL MET doesn’t come out for a little while but many friends have loved it already and it has a 4.27 rating on Goodreads. Yes, there are only 184 ratings, but it counts when most friends rated it 4 stars. Flynn Ryder – Read a dark/mysterious book (10) I originally put IRONSIDE for […]

Review Round Up | The Life Lucy Knew, The Devouring Gray, and The Last Book Party

Posted August 2, 2019 / 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! I was destroyed by the first Karma Brown book I read years ago and she’s one of those authors where I can’t believe I’ve only read ONE book by. All of her stories sound so intriguing! When I started up yet another book club with a couple of friends, they were looking for TJR-esque books/authors. I knew Karma Brown would be perfect, so I shared a few options. We settled on this title for our first meeting! I was completely addicted to this. I read the vast majority of the book in one sitting and was so enthralled by the characters. I do feel like the overall premise is a bit simplistic; sometimes the “memory loss” trope can be a little boring or not overly inventive. I’m drawn to these books usually, so I knew there’d be some level of interest for me. I think Lucy and Matt made this book because I was SO invested in them, wanting them to make it work despite the memory loss erasing their relationship from her mind. So I definitely enjoyed this one overall, but the ending was incredibly bizarre and out of nowhere. I don’t mean what happened was out of nowhere, but the book literally ended so abruptly. I […]

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | July 2019

Posted August 1, 2019 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 4 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 have to be completely transparent with you guys. I am still straight-up reeling from the loss of Grace last week. I can’t get her off my mind. I can’t focus on much of anything, especially blogging or reading. It’s like… how can I keep doing these things when she can’t? This is ridiculous because I’m SURE she would NEVER want anyone/me to feel that way. She was just the most positive person. The brightest light in our community and in our comment sections. She stayed so strong and fought through the very, very end. I know she did. I want to also be completely honest despite sounding like I’m trying to make this about ME. I was the person who broke the news to everyone in the community because I had just become Facebook friends with her the week prior. I followed her journey there for not nearly long enough before she was taken. My mentions on Twitter were absolutely flooded with grief, messages about her kindness, and a lot of love. Which was simultaneously wonderful, because Grace was […]