Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Blog Tour: "Tweet Cute" by Emma Lord


Hello all! Today I am very excited to bring another blog tour to you guys! Today I'm discussing Tweet Cute by Emma Lord, a new contemporary that's coming out in just a week! In today's post, you'll find information about the book and author, links to preorder, and an exclusive excerpt. Let's go ahead and dive right in! 



SYNOPSIS

Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming — mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account. 

Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time. 

All’s fair in love and cheese — that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life — on an anonymous chat app Jack built. 

As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate — people on the internet are shipping them?? — their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.



MEET EMMA LORD

Emma Lord is a digital media editor and writer living in New York City, where she spends whatever time she isn’t writing either running or belting show tunes in community theater. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fan fiction from the back row. She was raised on glitter, grilled cheese, and a whole lot of love. Her sun sign is Hufflepuff, but she is a Gryffindor rising. TWEET CUTE is her debut novel. You can find her geeking out online at @dilemmalord on Twitter.


Twitter     |     Instagram



PURCHASE TWEET CUTE




EXCERPT

JACK

“Look.” I glance into the classroom, where Ethan is thoroughly distracted by Stephen and no longer keeping an eye on us. “I may have . . . overreacted.”

Pepper shakes her head. “I told you. I get it. It’s your family.”

“Yeah. But it’s also—well, to be honest, this has been kind of good for business.”

Pepper’s brow furrows, that one little crease returning. “What, the tweets?”

“Yeah.” I scratch the back of my neck, sheepish. “Actually, we had a line out the door yesterday. It was kind of intense.”

“That’s . . . that’s good, right?”

The tone of my voice is clearly not matching up with the words I’m saying, but if I’m being honest, I’m still wary of this whole overnight business boom. And if I’m being honest, I’m even more wary of Pepper. If this really is as much of a family business as she claims it is—to the point where she’s helping run the Twitter handle, when even I know enough about corporate Twitter accounts to know entire teams of experienced people get paid to do that—then she might have had more of a hand in this whole recipe theft thing than she’s letting on.

The fact of the matter is, I can’t trust her. To the point of not knowing whether I can even trust her knowing how our business is doing, or just how badly we need it.

“Yeah, um, I guess.” I try to make it sound noncommittal. My acting skills, much like my breakfast-packing skills, leave much to be desired.

“So . . .”

“So.”

Pepper presses her lips into a thin line, a question in her eyes.

“So, I guess—if your mom really wants you to keep tweeting . . .”

“Wait. Yesterday you were pissed. Two minutes ago you were pissed.”

“I am pissed. You stole from us,” I reiterate. “You stole from an eighty-five-year-old woman.”

“I didn’t—”

“Yeah, yeah, but still. You’re them, and I’m . . . her. It’s like a choose your fighter situation, and we just happen to be the ones up to bat.”

“So you’re saying—you don’t not want me to keep this up?”

“The way I see it, you don’t have to make your mom mad, and we get a few more customers in the door too.”

Pepper takes a breath like she’s going to say something, like she’s going to correct me, but after a moment, she lets it go. Her face can’t quite settle on an expression, toeing the line between dread and relief.

“You’re sure?”

I answer by opening the container she handed me. The smell that immediately wafts out of it should honestly be illegal; it stops kids I’ve never even spoken to in their tracks.

“Are you a witch?” I ask, reaching in and taking a bite of one. It’s like Monster Cake, the Sequel—freaking Christmas in my mouth. I already want more before I’ve even managed to chew. My eyes close as if I’m experiencing an actual drug high—and maybe I am, because I forget myself entirely and say, “This might even be better than our Kitchen Sink Macaroons.”

“Kitchen Sink Macaroons?”

Eyes open again. Yikes. Note to self: dessert is the greatest weapon in Pepper’s arsenal. I swallow my bite so I can answer her.

“It’s kind of well-known, at least in the East Village. It even got in some Hub Seed roundup once. I’d tell you to try some, but you might steal the recipe, so.”

Pepper smiles, then—actually smiles, instead of the little smirk she usually does. It’s not startling, but what it does to me in that moment kind of is.

Before I can examine the unfamiliar lurch in my stomach, the bell rings and knocks the smile right off her face. I follow just behind her, wondering why it suddenly seems too hot in here, like they cranked the air up for December instead of October. I dismiss it by the time I get to my desk—probably just all the Twitter drama and the glory of So Sorry Blondies getting to my head.

“One rule,” she says, as we sit in the last two desks in the back of the room.

I raise my eyebrows at her.

“We don’t take any of it personally.” She leans forward on her desk, leveling with me, her bangs falling into her face. “No more getting mad at each other. Cheese and state.”

“What happens on Twitter stays on Twitter,” I say with a nod of agreement. “Okay, then, second rule: no kid gloves.”

Mrs. Fairchild is giving that stern look over the room that never quite successfully quiets anyone down. Pepper frowns, waiting for me to elaborate.

“I mean—no going easy on each other. If we’re going to play at this, we’re both going to give it our A game, okay? No holding back because we’re . . .”

Friends, I almost say. No, I’m going to say. But then—

“I’d appreciate it if even one of you acknowledged the bell with your silence,” Mrs. Fairchild grumbles.

I turn to Pepper, expecting to find her snapping to attention the way she always does when an adult comes within a hundred feet of disciplining her. But her eyes are still intent on me, like she is sizing something up—like she’s looking forward to something I haven’t anticipated yet.

“All right. No taking it personally. And no holding back.”

She holds her hand out for me to shake again, under the desk so Mrs. Fairchild won’t see it. I smile and shake my head, wondering how someone can be so aggressively seventeen and seventy-five at the same time, and then I take it. Her hand is warm and small in mine, but her grip is surprisingly firm, with a pressure that almost feels like she’s still got her fingers wrapped around mine even after we let go.

I turn back to the whiteboard, a ghost of a smirk on my face. “Let the games begin.”



EARLY PRAISE

"Tweet Cute delivers in every possible way: a perfect enemies-to-lovers romance, a whip-smart plotline, and endearingly real characters. I devoured it.” - Francesca Zappia, author of Eliza and Her Monsters

"Sweet and fun! An adorable debut that updates a classic romantic trope with a buzzy twist." - Jenn Bennett, author of Alex, Approximately and Serious Moonlight

“A witty rom-com reinvention for the Twitter age, Tweet Cute pairs delicious online rivalry with deeply relatable insights on family pressure and growing up. This fresh, funny read had us hitting ‘favorite’ from page one.” - Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, authors of Always Never Yours and If I’m Being Honest 



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



You can follow my bookstagram here for more bookish content!

To get more awesome posts like this post, click the follow button to the right!

I am a "BookishTextDesign" Influencer! Use my code LAUREN10 for a discount off your bookmark purchases! Check out the shop here

Get free worldwide shipping with Book Depository using my affiliate link



Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Favorite Books of 2019


It's now time for one of my favorite annual posts where I discuss my favorite books of the previous year! This past 2019 was an insane year for me in all aspects of life, but especially in reading. I read 138 books in the span of the last twelve months and narrowing down my top 10 was definitely challenging for me. There are so many other books that I could have put on this list, but if you'd like to know more of my favorites, check out my Goodreads shelf here.

A few little things before going in: I narrowed it down to just 10 this year because a longer list would be a lot in a blog post. Additionally, I included books in the same series as one spot because if I'd kept them separate, this list would have been dominated by three series. Now that that's out of the way, without further ado, let's dive into the books I loved in 2019!



#10: Only A Breath Apart by Katie McGarry


I read this back in June and was blown away. This book impacted me in ways I can't even describe. I saw so much of myself in these characters and this story and I felt so seen. While I can relate to characters in other novels, I felt that this story especially hit me hard because I could understand a lot of the situations more. I will admit to crying a lot in this book. I had always enjoyed Katie's books when I'd read them previously but this book really cemented in Katie's place on my favorite authors list.

Goodreads     |     Review



#9: The Last Namsara & The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli

The Caged Queen (Iskari, #2)

I'd been wanting to read The Last Namsara since it first came out and I was lucky enough to be sent all three books in this series in exchange for review. I finished the first two in the last bits of 2019 and I'm very much looking forward to the third. What really made these books hit this list was the fact that I definitely binge-read as much of these books as I could. Both of these are pretty different from each other but I thought that really shows Kristen's diverse writing ability. After these two, I'm very excited to see what she does next with the final book.

Goodreads     |     Book 1 Review     |     Book 2 Review



#8: A Wicked Trilogy by Jennifer L. Armentrout


Jennifer is one of my favorite authors of all time and I was so excited to dive into another series of hers. I binge-read this one over the summer and absolutely fell in love with the characters and story. It's set in New Orleans, a place I've always wanted to visit, and is all about fae and fae-hunters. It was a wonderful ride from start to finish that had me laughing, crying, and throwing the book across the room (which, as all readers know, is the highest praise). I'm very excited to dive into the spin-off sequel novellas as soon as the third one is released later this year.

Goodreads     |     Book 1 Review     |     Book 2 Review     |     Book 3 Review



#7: A Fallen Hero by Sara A. Noë

A Fallen Hero (Chronicles of Avilésor: War of the Realms #1)

This was one of the more surprising placements on this list. When I was first contacted about reviewing this book, I was interested in the story but had reservations since I hadn't seen much conversation around it. I'm so glad that I gave it a go because it was a wonderful ride. It's such an interesting story concept and, despite being over 450 pages, I felt like I flew through it. I never wanted it to end and I already can't wait for the sequel to come out later this year.

Goodreads     |     Review



#6: Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Red, White & Royal Blue

Up next I have another surprise placement. I don't tend to reach for or read a lot of contemporaries because I prefer my stories to have something else going on besides just the romance. However, there was a lot of hype surrounding this one and it actually sounded like something I'd be interested in, so I preordered it. I ended up reading it in almost one sitting and absolutely loved it. I was laughing, I was crying, and I was so invested in this book and these characters. I can't wait to reread it soon and also see what the author does next!

Goodreads     |     Review



#5: Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco


While I read the first book back when it came out many years ago, I didn't actually get around to reading the rest of these books until 2019. I don't know why, since Stalking Jack the Ripper was a book that I absolutely loved. However, I finally read them all this year and absolutely fell in love even more than I already was. Every book took the characters on a different journey and development and it was honestly such a joy to read it all.

Goodreads     |     Book 2  Review     |     Book 3 Review



#4: Witchlands series by Susan Dennard

Image result for witchlands series 

While I read Truthwitch at the end of 2018, I read the rest of these books in 2019 to catch up with the series and fell in love with them. I think Bloodwitch is my favorite so far and I can't wait to see what happens in the next few books in the series. These books are just so interesting and fun and suspenseful. The world is interesting, the magic exciting, and the characters compelling. I can't wait to reread them soon!

Goodreads     |     Book 1 Review     |     Book 2 Review



#3: Kingsbane by Claire Legrand


Furyborn was one of my favorite books of 2018 so it's no surprise that Kingsbane also landed a spot on my favorites list. This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2019 and it definitely blew me away. So much happens in this book and there were so many mind-blowing moments. I definitely was completely destroyed by the ending of this book and I can't believe the massive cliffhangers that we got left with. I just have one thing to say...I really need a copy of Lightbringer already.

Goodreads     |     Review



#2: The City of Brass & The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty


These first two books in the Daevabad trilogy also were a complete shock to me when I read them. To be fair, I'd heard nothing but good things about them but I didn't really have the desire to get copies of them until I won a giveaway for the first book and ended up with an ARC of the second. I binged them one after the other and fell in love. There was not a moment while reading these where I wanted to put them down. The characters are phenomenal, the world extremely vivid and interesting, and the political intrigue and social issues kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. I am so excited for the final book to release in 2020, though I am sad to see this trilogy come to an end so soon after I discovered it.

Goodreads     |     Book 1 Review     |     Book 2 Review



#1: Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin


My favorite book of the year definitely goes to Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin. Not only is this book extremely gorgeous, but the story itself is a perfect combination of a lot of my favorite tropes and genres. We have a fantasy romance with some enemies-to-lovers, arranged marriage, witch vs witch hunter, and even more. I read this book so quickly and I think about it all the time. I've been wanting to reread it from the moment that I finished the last page and I can't wait to actually be able to reread it later this year.

Goodreads     |     Review



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



You can follow my bookstagram here for more bookish content!

To get more awesome posts like this post, click the follow button to the right!

I am a "BookishTextDesign" Influencer! Use my code LAUREN10 for a discount off your bookmark purchases! Check out the shop here

Get free worldwide shipping with Book Depository using my affiliate link



Friday, January 3, 2020

Book Series I Finished in 2019


You know, I'm actually really happy with my 2019 reading year. I read 138 books (!) and I finished NINE series! I still can't believe I managed to do that and that I'm aiming to read even more in 2020. However, today's post is all about those series that I did finish and I can't wait to share them all with you! As I have nine of them to talk about, let's just dive straight in! 




The first series I finished in 2019 was the My Pack trilogy by Lane Whitt. This is a reverse harem series that I started reading all the way back in 2016 and fell in love with. The final book finally came out this past spring and I was so excited to finally get to read the finale. I'm a lot older than when I first started reading it and I can definitely acknowledge the issues with it this time around, though. Still, it was fun and so nostalgic to get to reread the first two books and finally finish off this series.

Goodreads     |     Book 1 Review     |     Book 2 Review     |     Book 3 Review




Next up I finished the Dark Artifices trilogy by Cassandra Clare. I absolutely loved Lady Midnight when it first came out and on my reread last December, however Lord of Shadows was a big disappointment for me. However, since my expectations had been lowered by book 2, I went into Queen of Air and Darkness without much hope. I will say the final book was better than the second, but I still think that Lady Midnight was the best one. Overall, I'm a bit disappointed in how everything ended but I did enjoy the trilogy as a whole.

Goodreads     |     Book 1 Review     |     Book 2 Review     |     Book 3 Review




A complete surprise to me this year was the Wires and Nerves graphic novel duology by Marissa Meyer. This is a companion sequel to The Lunar Chronicles and I really enjoyed getting to revisit these characters and see physical representations of them to match the previous ideas in my head. I will say I definitely enjoyed the original series more, but these were fun and I was able to get them through my library so I got to read them for free.

Goodreads     |     Volume 1 Review




The next series I have to talk about is one that I binged over the summer: the Something Strange and Deadly trilogy by Susan Dennard. Susan is most known for her Witchlands series, which is one of my favorites, but I also really wanted to read some of her other works. After finishing this series I am convinced on how great of a writer Susan is. Her two series are so vastly different and both so good. After finishing this series, Susan has definitely earned a place on my auto-buy author list.

Goodreads     |     Book 1 Review     |     Book 2 Review     |     Book 3 Review




The next series I finished this year was the Rich Boys of Burberry Prep series by C.M. Stunich. This is a reverse harem bully romance series and, I just have to say, I would never want to live in this book series. It's so addicting and full of drama and such a guilty pleasure read. I'd compare it to watching reality television. It's fun to watch but I never want to be in those situations. This is kind of the same. I will say that I am looking forward to the sequel series that the author has hinted at, though.

Goodreads     |     Series Review




Up next I binged A Wicked Trilogy by Jennifer L. Armentrout. Jennifer is one of my favorite authors and has made her way onto my auto-buy list. This is my third series I've finished from her and it was so much fun. I actually think it might be my second-favorite! The characters were just so fun to read about and I can't wait to dive into the sequel novella spin-offs when the third one gets published this year.

Goodreads     |     Book 1 Review     |     Book 2 Review     |     Book 3 Review




Over the summer, in the span of less than a week, I also binged the entire Redemption Saga by Kristen Banet. I got a free 3-month Kindle Unlimited subscription and I figured I would give the first book a try when I could read it for free. I ended up being sucked in and immediately downloaded the rest. I spent all my free time reading this series and I definitely want to reread it at some point in the future.

Goodreads     |     Series Review




Another series that I binged over the summer was the Dark Elements trilogy by Jennifer L. Armentrout. This was a reread for me, but since I read the entirety of the series in 2019, I figured I would include it on this list. The Dark Elements trilogy is definitely my favorite of Jennifer's series and that was only solidified after rereading them. I am so excited to read the spin-off companion series following one of the bigger characters in this series, though I think I'll wait to start it until after the second book comes out later this year.

Goodreads     |     Book 1 Review     |     Book  3 Review




The last series that I finished this year was the Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco. I read the first book back when it came out in 2016 and absolutely loved it. For some reason, though, it took me until this year to finally read the second book. However, that just meant that I could be caught up in time for the final book (which absolutely blew my mind by the way). This is definitely one of my favorite series and I can't wait to see what Kerri does next!

Goodreads     |     Book 2  Review     |     Book 3 Review



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



You can follow my bookstagram here for more bookish content!

To get more awesome posts like this post, click the follow button to the right!

I am a "BookishTextDesign" Influencer! Use my code LAUREN10 for a discount off your bookmark purchases! Check out the shop here

Get free worldwide shipping with Book Depository using my affiliate link



Bookish Resolutions for 2020


The new year is upon us and I have a list of bookish-themed goals for the new year. I definitely like making goals periodically throughout the year, but today I'm going to be talking about a list of more general things that I hope to accomplish during 2020. A lot of these are things that I was working on in 2019, too, so I think that this list is entirely achievable. But, without further ado, here's my goals for 2020:
  • Reading
    • Read 100 books
      • I read 138 books in 2019, so I think this should be achievable and in-line with previous years. I was thinking of making it 150 books and pushing myself, but I want to focus more on quality instead of quantity and I don't want to make myself hate reading. 
    • Finish 10 book series
      • I finished 9 series this past year and, as I have a lot of series on my TBR, I think that a goal of finishing 10 series is manageable. 
    • Read more backlist TBR books
      • My TBR is insane. I'm admitting it here first. I have way too many books that are unread so this is one of the bigger priorities for me. 
  • Bookstagram
    • Be more active
      • I was very active in 2019 before I fell off a bit but I do want to get back to that level again. This includes posting regularly, responding to comments and DM's, and engaging more with other community members.
    • Hit 3,500 followers
      • I currently have 2,355 followers and, if I look at previous growth rates for each year, this is definitely doable, I think, as long as I can keep with my previous resolution to be more active. 
  • Blog
    • Average 3 posts a week
      • This is something I'm bringing over from both 2018 and 2019. A consistent schedule is the one thing I've found that boosts my page views and engagement, so I'm going to continue with the goal of averaging three posts a week. 
    • 70,000 new blog views 
      • This is one of my more ambitious goals as well as I had ~58,000 views in 2019. It's a bit ambitious to add a higher goal, but I think that if I do a bit more promoting of my blog with my other social media channels and post regularly, it can be done. 
  • Book Collection
    • Buy less books
      • This is a big one for me. I love buying books but there's a line between a healthy amount and irresponsible. I've fluctuated in the past year with book buying and I've definitely been more responsible the past few months. I want to keep the number of books I acquire low so that I can focus on my backlist TBR and saving money. 
    • Unhaul over 100 books
      • This should be easy for me. My collection currently stands at 760 which is a big number. I've already gone through and made a list of books I think I could get rid of and it's already over 100 books. However, now it's onto the task of actually getting them out of storage boxes and selling/donating them. That's the one part of this goal that will be difficult.
  • Writing
    • Continue working on my novel
      • I've been working on multiple novels throughout my life and I've never finished one.  There's one, though, that always finds its way back to me. I'd ideally like to finish the first draft this year, but if I don't manage to achieve that with everything else I'm trying to do then as long as I make progress in it I'll be happy. 
    • Work on short story craft 
      • This is a new one for me. I like long works or short blog posts. However, most of my creative writing classes focus on short stories or excerpts of longer ones. Just once I'd like to write a short story and be somewhat happy with how it turned out and not want to make it longer or get rid of it completely.

So those are my bookish-related goals for 2020. I think this is definitely doable, but I may have to adjust them once I actually get back to school this semester and try to fit things it around everything else. 



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



You can follow my bookstagram here. A brand new giveaway will be posted soon!

To get more awesome content like this post, click the follow button to the right!

I am a "BookishTextDesign" Influencer! Use my code LAUREN10 for a discount off your bookmark purchases! Check out the shop here

Get free worldwide shipping with Book Depository using my affiliate link



Wednesday, January 1, 2020

December 2019 Wrap-Up!


December was such a whirlwind month for me. SO MUCH happened and I was so busy throughout. I only read three books, but I got halfway through two others so I'd say I'm pretty happy with that since this month was so busy that I didn't even finish a book until December 21st.

The beginning of this month was filled with me finishing up final papers and projects and then finishing up my time abroad in London. I had a wonderful last few weeks there and it's so bittersweet being home--I miss London so much already. It was a really tough few first days transitioning back--harder than when I had to initially adjust to London--and I know there's still a lot of adjusting to do. I'm just not ready at all to return to regular schooling and responsibilities.

It was also Christmas, which is a big thing for my family since I have a huge family. I was all over to different houses and whatnot for Christmas. Then came New Year's and I was prepping for that and hanging out with friends I hadn't seen in a while. Add on top that this is my busiest time of the year on my blog because of all the posts wrapping up 2019 and heading into 2020.

Of course, this is also my favorite time of the year. I love wrapping up the year and looking forward to the next one. I love meeting up with all of my family and friends. I just love this time of year and so, even though I didn't read very many books this month, I'm still really happy with December.



BOOKS READ
1.
Title: Trying to Live with the Dead
Author: B.L. Brunnemer
Rating: 5 // 5 stars
Review
-reread-
I was so glad to do this reread. It's always so nice to be back with these characters and it seems fitting that I read it towards the end of December as the first time I read it was around this time a few years ago. This was my sixth reread but each time I'm always finding things I'd forgotten or didn't notice the first times around. I'm not going to jump straight into rereading the second book, but I do know that I'm excited for when that time comes.

2.
Title: The Caged Queen
Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
Rating: 4 // 5 stars
Review
The Caged Queen by Kristen Ciccarelli

3.
Title: Queer Eye: Love Yourself, Love Your Life
Authors: Bobby Berk, Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Jonathan Van Ness, and Karamo Brown
Rating: 4 // 5 stars
Queer Eye by Antoni Porowski
Really fun to listen to and insightful. I think having the physical book would have been better, though, since it is more of a coffee-table book and is very visual. Still, I enjoyed getting to hear from all of my Fab 5!



BLOG POSTS

Book Review: "The Last Namsara" by Kristen Ciccarelli
November 2019 Wrap-Up!
Studying Abroad in London: Strikes & A British Thanksgiving
Studying Abroad in London: Date Nights & Gift Giving
Studying Abroad in London: Last Days & An Early Christmas
Studying Abroad in London: The End of London
Twelve Days of Christmas Book Tag
Book Review: "The Caged Queen" by Kristen Ciccarelli
Anticipated 2020 Book Releases
Disappointing Reads of 2019



Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren



You can follow my bookstagram here. A brand new giveaway will be posted soon!

To get more awesome content like this post, click the follow button to the right!

I am a "BookishTextDesign" Influencer! Use my code LAUREN10 for a discount off your bookmark purchases! Check out the shop here

Get free worldwide shipping with Book Depository using my affiliate link