5 Bookmarks On My Wishlist (AKA I Want Right Now)

Through the joys of Instagram, I've discovered a bunch of fantastic small businesses. One kind of shop in particular that is very popular right now is bookmark shops. I never realized how many kinds of bookmarks there are and how many I need in my life! Two bookmarks shops I bought from and would recommend are MyBookmark and Beedooto. Below are five more shops I've discovered recently that I want to get a bookmark or two from. 

Authored Adornments

Authored Adornments creates mostly jewelry (necklaces, rings, bracelets, keychains) featuring book page quotes. I think this little bookmark sticking out of a book is so cute and I love the fun quote. 

Marked by Mary

Marked by Mary is a shop that makes woodburned, handlettered bookmarks and wood slices. I love the look of the woodburned letters. She creates custom bookmarks, so you can get one that says anything you like. 

Tiny Felt Heart

Looking for cute handmade felt creations (bookmarks, hair pins, phone cases, and more) then Tiny Felt Heart is the place you want to shop. I don't have any felt bookmarks, so clearly I need one stat and these are adorable.

Bookmarky

Bookmarky has all the colorful literary and fandom bookmarks you could possibly want. There are bookmarks for all of the most popular books right now and a ton for Harry Potter. I am dying over how wonderful this Platform 9 3/4 ticket bookmark is. 

Read and Wonder

I love magnetic bookmarks and have several character-shaped ones, but I adore Read and Wonder's pretty watercolor quote bookmarks. But not to worry, this shop also has a ton of super cute character magnetic ones as well. 

Do you have unique bookmarks?

Where do you shop for them?

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Favorite 2016 Reads (So Far)

We're more than halfway through the year and I've managed to read both newly-published books and books I've been wanting to read for years. Since an avalanche of fantastic books have been published in 2016, I wanted to share my favorite reads of the year in case you're looking for a new book or want to get a second opinion about these fresh fiction selections. 

Below are new books (in no particular order) that I adore along with a quote from my book review:

NEW FAVORITES:

♥ Love Charms & Others Catastrophes -- "I really loved Hijiri's POV because we got to see how love charms are actually made."

♥ Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here -- "I found myself laughing out loud (literally!) on almost every single page. I like that this book is a darker, raunchier, sassier version of Fangirl."

♥ I Am Princess X -- "I got so into it that I read it in 24 hours! I literally couldn't put this book down because I had to know what would happen and whether Libby really was alive." 

♥ The Forbidden Wish -- "The Forbidden Wish took the main plotline from Aladdin and made it better. I don't want to give too much away because the joy is in seeing it unfold as you read it."

♥ A Study in Charlotte -- "This book is delightful and smart and focuses on deduction (obviously) and the growing, at times strained, and strange relationship between Charlotte Holmes and James Watson."

♥ Lois Lane Double Down -- "The story is exciting and fun and suspenseful and has a modern-meets-1940s investigative feel with a bad ass heroine!"

♥ Madly -- "It's set in the 21st century, but magic and potions and fantastical creatures (unicorns!) exist. It could be weird, but somehow it works. It didn't feel forced or strange."

♥ Jane Steele -- "Is it horrible if I like this fresh, Gothic retelling of Jane Eyre more than the original? (Probably. But I do.) Jane Steele is Eyre's story for a modern audience. It's raw, emotional, sensual, bloody, thought-provoking, and a damn good read."

♥ This Savage Song -- "This book is an absolute gem! It's dark, strange, scary, thought-provoking, and beautiful. The characters are what make this story sing (pun intended). I would follow these characters anywhere!"

♥ P.S. I Like You -- "How do I even express how much I liked this book? It's simply too cute for words!"

♥ My Lady Jane -- "My Lady Jane is a mix of tweaked history, humor, and magic--and it's so well done. It sounds like an odd combination and yet it works because the three wonderful main characters."

So far I've read a nice mix of fantasy and contemporary, and funnily enough, every book listed was written by a woman! I used to read more books by men than women, but now it's the reverse. Not that it really matters since it's the synopsis that makes me want to read a book and not the gender of an author, but it's amusing how things have changed. 

2016 BOOKS I WANT TO READ: 
♥ A Court of Mist and Fury
♥ All The Feels
♥ Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
♥ Nevernight
♥ The Woman in Cabin 10
♥ The Yoga of Max's Discontent
♥ Ghostly Echoes (pub date: August 23)
♥ The Call (pub date: August 30)
♥ The Thousandth Floor (pub date: August 30)
♥ Three Dark Crowns (pub date: September 20)
♥ Vassa in the Night (pub date: September 20)
♥ Crooked Kingdom (pub date: September 27)
♥ Frost (pub date: October 11)
♥ Timekeeper (pub date: November 1)
♥ Heartless (pub date: November 8)
♥ Ever the Hunted (pub date: December 27)

My list of books that I want to read (and just the ones published this year!) could go on forever, so I tried to keep it short. You can see all of the books I want to read on my TBR Goodreads list. 

Have you read any of these?

What 2016 books are on your TBR?

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6 #Bookstagram Props To Use

If you're on Instagram and a book nerd, then there's a good chance you've taken a #boostagram picture because it's just plain fun! It's not just setting up the picture that's enjoyable, it's writing the caption and adding hashtags and then perusing those hashtags for people with similar tastes in books. It's an awesome community right at your fingertips, which is why I love it! 

So whether you're a bookstagram pro or a newbie, I thought I'd share my favorite props to use in my Instagram pictures. 

ONE | Candles

Obviously, I don't just use candles for bookstagram pictures because who wouldn't want their home to smell like a cafe or Winterfell? But I love including candles because they always add a warm glow to all of my pictures and add a little extra coziness. 

My favorites: Frostbeard Studio, Form and Flux, and Novelly Yours.

TWO | Mugs & Teacups

Doesn't matter whether you drink coffee, tea, or all of the tears you shed from your latest read, adding a cute mug full of liquid heaven (I prefer iced tea!) looks great next to a book and adds that "Oh, I'm just sitting here reading and I happened to take a picture of it" look. 

My favorites: Barnes & Noble, Driinky, Melville House, and Marshall's. 

THREE | Brooches & Pins

If you're like me and somehow manage to acquire more and more bookish pins every single day, but somehow also manage to forget to wear them outside then show them in your bookstagram pictures. Genius, right? They're too cool not to show off!

My favorites: Hot Topic, Taryn Draws, Kookoobird, and Etsy. 

FOUR | Bookmarks

Magnetic, wooden, paper, or metal—if you've got 'em flaunt 'em. Don't hide your pretty, little bookmarks; include them in your pictures, especially if they correspond to the picture, like pairing a Belle magnetic bookmark with Beauty, a Beauty and the Beast retelling. 

My favorites: My Bookmark, BeedooTO, Lilly Tales, and The Sticker Alley. 

FIVE | Fandom Merch

Tell the world you love [fill in the blank here], whether it's Harry Potter, Jane Austen, Supernatural, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Star Trek, or Rainbow Rowell, show off your nerdy side with all of the cool stuff you've collected. Because we know you've got it. I sometimes like to include Hermione's wand, my Funkos, my Pride and Prejudice stickers, my Chocolate Frog cards, or my fandom jewelry to my pictures. There's nothing better than connecting with people who love the same fandom as you!

My favorites: Funko, Jordanene, Frostbeard Studio, florealpolla, and Hot Topic. 

SIX | Whatever You Have Lying Around The House

Sometimes the best props are everyday things you have in your house that you use every all the time. Here are some ideas: plants, blankets or scarves to use as backdrops, fairy lights, headphones, necklaces, mini chalkboards, magnifying glasses, nail polish, lipstick, serving trays, mini globes, tea, your phone, or even food. Seriously, if you have it in your home and you think it looks cool, then use it in your bookstagram pictures!

What are your favorite props to use? 

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Review: Frostbeard Studio Candles

My fellow book nerds (AKA you guys) know that us book lovers like to collect anything remotely bookish, whether it's bookshelf prints, pillows with quotes, Funko Pops (hello Harry Potter!) or cute jewelry. I'm also obsessed with collecting hoarding bookish candles and my favorite place to get them is from Frostbeard Studio. 

On my own, I've bought Reading at the Cafe (my favorite because it smells like chocolate and coffee!), Sexy Librarian, Winterfell, and three of their one-month-only candles: Divination Classroom, Wordsmith, and Sherwood Forest. Yeah, as you can tell I really, really love their candles, so I was thrilled when the lovely owners, Roxie and Tom, wanted to send me two more! I got Sherlock's Study and Pemberely Gardens. 

So why do I love their candles? The main reason is because they're so fragrant! Lit or unlit, they have a strong smell that fills the whole room. The second reason is because the scents are based on books and what book lover could refuse that? Certainly not me!

Plus, they have scents for everyone; candles that smell like tea or florals or coffee or books themselves. And they also have soy tarts if you can't burn a candle and sample packs if you're indecisive. 

Shop | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter 

**Thanks to Frostbeard Studio for sending these candles. All opinions are my own.**

P.S. -- For more bookish pictures like these follow me on Instagram!

Are you a bookish candle lover?

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6 Ways To Support An Author

ONE | Buy their books!

It seems obvious, but it should still be said that authors are able to write more books if their current one is doing well in sales. It's just a sad fact of life. That doesn't mean you should buy every single book that comes out ever, but if you really, really love an author then you should consider buying their books, especially if you want them to write more. And the plus side is that you have a pretty book to add to your collection and show off! 

If you're not able to buy books, then get them at the library. I heard that publishers know when books are requested and read at local libraries, so I hope that's true.

TWO | Go to their local events

There's nothing better than when an author comes to you! If an author you like will be at your local bookstore then drive, take a bus, hop a train, bike ride, or use a jetpack to get there to see them read in person. You might even get that beautiful book signed. And you get to talk with people who also love that author. Win-win!

THREE | Write a review

It doesn't necessarily have to be five stars and the most positive review ever, but just having a good review means a lot to an author, whether they're a new author and not. Write that review on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, NetGalley, wherever. Just tell people you read a really cool book and that they should read it too.

Even though I won an ARC, I bought @Gwenda's latest book, #LoisLaneDoubleDown! ❤️ Gotta support your fave authors! pic.twitter.com/J2rdFokeug

— Sara Strauss (@sincerelysara22) May 8, 2016

FOUR | Use social media to express how excited you are about their books

Social media is such a great way to connect with authors and publishers. You could tweet about the books you've read, tweet about the books you want to read, tweet the author, tell the publisher how amazing the cover art is, post something to Facebook, show the book off on Snapchat, and/or take a picture to share on Instagram (#bookstagram for the win!). Authors and publishers like seeing the book "in the wild." 

FIVE | Start a conversation with the author on Twitter

This kind of goes hand-in-hand with #4, but authors like interacting with their readers, so start a conversation. Go into detail about what you loved, share how this book inspired you, tell the author how their book made you feel better on a crappy day, share a quote you loved from their book, etc. 

SIX | Be creative

Write fanfiction, draw the characters, recreate the cover, buy merchandise based on the book, create a graphic with a quote from the book and then put it a mug or a tote bag or a t-shirt, read the book in a book club, leave the book in a little free library so more people can read it, and so much more; the options are endless. 

Go forth and read! 

How do you support your favorite authors? 

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6 Bookstagrammers You Should Follow

As you know, book anything is my jam. Books themselves, movies based on books (sometimes), booktube, and #bookstagram. If you're new to the phrase, bookstagram is bookish pictures on Instagram. But most bookstagrammers don't just put down their copy of a book and snap a picture. Oh no. These awesome book nerds take it to a whole new level, so if you like your bookstagram pictures to look like carefully curated art, then these are six accounts you should follow. 

ONE | ursula_uriate

The Holy Grail of bookstagram! I absolutely swoon over Ursula of @ursula_uriate's pictures every time one pops up on my Instagram feed because they are pure bookish pleasure! She just has a way with artfully arranging her books and the fact that she has an obsession with Alice in Wonderland means her pictures have a whimsical feel. 

TWO | bookloversnest

Allison of @bookloversnest loves YA books just as much as I do and every time one of her pictures comes up I find a new book I want to read. I adore how bright and colorful her feed is; it's like a rainbow of bookishness. And she's also a writer!

THREE | bookotter

How cool are these pictures? Liza of @bookotter has a wonderfully minimalist picture style that to me evokes a Gothic feel (check out more of her pictures to see what I mean). She arranges flowers and leaves and objects like a pro. It helps that we have the same taste in books. 

FOUR | twirlingpages

Can I please have her room? Alexandra of @twirlingpages not only reads the best books (totally jealous of the awesome ARCs that she gets), but her gallery wall is to die for and she's a freaking ballerina! I love that her Instagram feed has a feminine feel it it. 

FIVE | booksandteacups_

Hodan of @booksandteacups_'s combines two fantastic things: books and food! She makes me wish I could eat breakfast in bed every single morning while reading. And everything she eats looks so delicious too. 

SIX | foldedpagesdistillery

Hikari of @foldedpagesdistillery's collection of mugs, bookmarks, candles, bookish jewelry, and Harry Potter gear is seriously swoon-worthy. I wish I had a million dollars so I could have the same collection of awesome things. I love that she includes objects that have something to do with the book. Everything she adds is so clever, especially when you've read the book and understand why she included it. 

Honorary mention: @bookwormboutique makes the BEST book nerd items!

Which bookstagrammers do you follow?

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