Waiting on Wednesday (#22)

'Waiting on Wednesday' is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Midnight Alley by Rachel Caine

Title: Midnight Alley
Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Released: September 5th 2008
Pages: 384 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon


When Claire Danvers learnt that her college town was run by vampires, she did what any intelligent, self-preserving student would do: she applied for a transfer and stocked up on garlic. The transfer is no longer an option, but that garlic may come in handy. 

Now Claire has pledged herself to Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town. The protection her contract secures does little to reassure her friends. All of a sudden, people are turning up dead, a stalker resurfaces from Claire’s past, and an ancient bloodsucker extends a chilling invitation for private lessons in his secluded home.

Teaser Tuesdays (#1)

Well, I guess I'm joining another meme! Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Bloggers crack open their current reads, flip to a random page, and post a teaser or two, which should hopefully encourage others to add it to their TBR list.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Title: I Am Number Four
Authors: James Frey and Jobie Hughes
Publisher: Penguin
Released: August 3rd 2010
Pages: 375 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon

Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. Bue we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books - but we are real.
Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you without you knowing.
But they know.
They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They killed them all.
I am Number Four.
I am next

Red Leech by Andrew Lane

Title: Red Leech
Author: Andrew Lane
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Released: November 1st 2010
Pages: 338 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon

Fourteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes knows that Amyus Crowe, his mysterious American tutor, has some dark secrets. But he didn’t expect to find John Wilkes Booth, the notorious assassin, apparently alive and well in England—and Crowe somehow mixed up in it. When no one will tell you the truth, sometimes you have to risk all to discover it for yourself. And so begins an adventure that will take Sherlock across the Atlantic, to the center of a deadly web—where a friend is in peril and a defeated army threatens to rise again.

Waiting on Wednesday (#21)

Waiting on Wednesday' is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Our One-Year Blogaversary!

I just wanted to make a quick post to express my thanks to every single one of you who have followed Project Read and Review throughout this amazing first year - whether you have been subscribed since the beginning, or whether you have just followed over the previous week. I am so proud of this blog, and it is one of the best things I think I have done in my life so far. I hope there will be many more successful years to come. So thank you once again, please excuse my mumbling's in the video below, and happy reading.

Go and enter our giveaway! Don't forget, it's international!

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Title: The Selection
Author: Kiera Cass
Publisher: Harper Collins
Released: April 24th 2012
Pages: 327 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.
But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.
Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Follow Friday (#12)

Feature & Follow Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read where you meet and follow different bloggers.

Question of the Week: What blogger inspires you? It can be any kind, it doesn't have to be a book blog.

A few different ones. I've always been inspired by Youtube vloggers - for example, Charlieissocoollike, Vlogbrothers, Danisnotonfire, Yogscast, and many more. They've always made such great and inspiring videos, that I often watch whilst writing random pieces of fiction, or when writing up my blog.

I've also been inspired by a few book bloggers, who I hope I'll one day be able to be similar too. There are so many, but the main ones are Haley at YA-Aholic, Alison at Alison Can Read, and LC's Adventures In Libraryland. They are all so brilliant and successful, and Haley especially has helped me an awful lot to get my blog up and running. If you don't follow them - and I will be very surprised if you don't - then go and do it now! They're fantastic!

So what about you? Who inspires you? Don't forget to check out our International giveaway - link is in the sidebar!

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Title: Hate List
Author: Jennifer Brown
Publisher: Little Brown Books
Released: October 5th 2010
Pages: 432 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets.

Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Title: Lolita
Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Publisher: Penguin Books
Released: 1955
Pages: 361 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon

The book chronicles the life of its narrator and protagonist, Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged, fastidious college professor, focusing on his disastrous love affair with a young girl (he happens to like little girls), named Lolita, whom he'll do anything to possess. In this dark, comic novel, Nabokov paints a complex portrait of obsession that reveals Humbert to be both a monster and a wild romantic who fails to attain his ideal. Is he in love or insane? A silver-tongued poet or a pervert? A tortured soul or a monster? Or is he all of these?

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K.Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Author: J.K.Rowling
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Released: June 30th 1997
Pages: 223 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon

Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy. He lives with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley, who make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. Then Harry starts receiving mysterious letters and his life is changed for ever. He is whisked away by a beetle-eyed giant of a man and enrolled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The reason: Harry Potter is a wizard!

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Title: Delirium
Author: Lauren Oliver
Publisher: Hodder
Released: February 1st 2011
Pages: 393 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon


Ninety-five days, and then I’ll be safe.
I wonder whether the procedure will hurt.
I want to get it over with.
It’s hard to be patient.
It’s hard not to be afraid while I’m still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn’t touched me yet.
Still, I worry.
They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness.
The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don’t.

Death Cloud by Andrew Lane

Title: Death Cloud
Author: Andrew Lane
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Released: January 1st 2010
Pages: 306 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon

The year is 1868, and Sherlock Holmes is fourteen. His life is that of a perfectly ordinary army officer’s son: boarding school, good manners, a classical education – the backbone of the British Empire. But all that is about to change. With his father suddenly posted to India, and his mother mysteriously ‘unwell’, Sherlock is sent to stay with his eccentric uncle and aunt in their vast house in Hampshire. So begins a summer that leads Sherlock to uncover his first murder, a kidnap, corruption and a brilliantly sinister villain of exquisitely malign intent...

Waiting on Wednesday (#20)

'Waiting on Wednesday' is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Released: March 1st 2012
Pages: 452 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger. She wakes from a coma in hospital with no memory of how she got there or of the bizarre accident that caused the deaths of her best friends and her boyfriend, yet left her mysteriously unharmed. The doctors suggest that starting over in a new city, a new school, would be good for her and just to let the memories gradually come back on their own.

But Mara’s new start is anything but comforting. She sees the faces of her dead friends everywhere, and when she suddenly begins to see other people’s deaths right before they happen, Mara wonders whether she’s going crazy! And if dealing with all this wasn’t enough, Noah Shaw, the most beautiful boy she has ever seen can’t seem to leave her alone… but as her life unravels around her, Mara can’t help but wonder if Noah has another agenda altogether…

Book of the Month: July

This month I have read so many great books, I honestly can't decide. I like to think of myself as a fair critic, and to give books a review and rating they deserve. So I'm pretty surprised that I've read a lot of books I've rated 5 stars - Vampire Academy, Starters, The Night Circus, All These Things I've Done, and Wither. Each of the books are completely different, ranging from vampires to criminals to magicians to dystopian futures. But even though I rated them all the same, the two that really stuck out for me were Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. However, after consideration, I think I'm going to choose Vampire Academy - The Night Circus was amazing, but it did have it's slightly slow moments.

Although Vampire Academy has been out for years, I have only just recently come around to reading it, and I can't believe that it has taken me so long. The plot is imaginative and addictive, and the background story is so well thought through that it seems pretty realistic. I mean, after reading it, I could imagine that vampire's actually exist in the present world - we're just all too oblivious to notice it - and that is a pretty awesome skill for a writer to have. Whether you do or don't like vampires, I really recommend that you give this a series a try - if only this installment. I'm pretty certain that you will not regret it.