Update: Hiatus

Hey guys,

I think this update has had a long time coming. I started Project Read and Review in August 2011 when I was fourteen years old, and I've been dedicated to it ever since. Reading books and writing reviews of them...it felt like I had found my calling, and I fell in love with both the hobby and the blog. However, as the blog grew bigger, I started to post more and more often - which was great until I started my A-Levels. Although throughout secondary school your teachers rant on and on about how stressful they can be, I don't think you fully understand just how stressful it is until that first week of the school year. The jump between GCSEs and A-Levels are huge enough as it is - combine that with the fact I'm taking three heavy subjects, and it can get pretty difficult to find time to pleasure read (especially since I'm taking English Literature, which requires a lot of outside reading). 

There's also the fact that reading has kind of turned into more of a job than a hobby. I've been a bookworm since I can remember, but recently I've been so busy with a backlog of review books that I just can't find the time to read and review them as well as enjoy them. I miss reading books for pleasure, not rushing through them so I can start another one.

Finally, I think I'm slowly outgrowing the Young Adult genre. There, I said it. For a long time, I think I was in denial about this - my blog, my baby, is specifically for YA reads - what was I going to do if I got bored of the genre? Recently (and I mildly blame English Lit for this) I've been yearning to read some of the classics - Pride and Prejudice, The Picture of Dorian Grey, The Great Gatsby - as well as longer, adult novels, like the Game of Thrones series. Whilst I won't completely abandon the genre (I don't think I could do that to John Green) I do want to broaden my reading tastes.

Because of all these factors, I've finally decided that the blog will be on hiatus for a while. I don't know how long for or if it will ever be up and running again. But before I go, I just want to say thank you - thank you to all you 600 individuals out there who have read my reviews, cried with me over TFiOS, and put up with my random text posts containing an extensive amount of gifs. These last three years have been amazing, and I have loved being part of the blogging community. Although I won't be posting reviews on here anymore, I will be posting on my new Goodreads account, so if you fancy still reading my random rants, then you're more than welcome to add me.

Thanks again,

Nina

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Title: Fallen

Author: Lauren Kate

Publisher: Doubleday

Released: January 1st 2009

Pages: 452 (Paperback)

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US

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SOME ANGELS ARE DESTINED TO FALL.

Instant. Intense. Weirdly familiar . . .

The moment Luce looks at Daniel she knows she has never felt like this before. Except she can't shake the feeling that she has . . . and with him - a boy she doesn't remember ever setting eyes on.

Will her attempt to find out why enlighten her - or destroy her?

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic....

The first time I read Fallen was when I was twelve years old and it had first been released. It was love from the very first page, and I remember anxiously waiting a year for the sequel, Torment, to be released. Yet when it was finally released, I didn't feel the same spark I had when reading Fallen, and so I never continued on with the series. However, recently I haven't been able to get the series out of my mind and so I thought hey - why not?

Enders by Lissa Price

Title: Enders

Author: Lissa Price

Publisher: Random House Children's

Released: January 7th 2014

Pages: 288 (eBook)

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US

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Someone is after Starters like Callie and Michael - teens with chips in their brains. They want to experiment on anyone left over from Prime Destinations -With the body bank destroyed, Callie no longer has to rent herself out to creepy Enders. But Enders can still get inside her mind and make her do things she doesn't want to do. Like hurt someone she loves. Having the chip removed could save her life - but it could also silence the voice in her head that might belong to her father. Callie has flashes of her ex-renter Helena's memories, too . . . and the Old Man is back, filling her with fear. Who is real and who is masquerading in a teen body?

No one is ever who they appear to be, not even the Old Man. Determined to find out who he really is and grasping at the hope of a normal life for herself and her younger brother, Callie is ready to fight for the truth. Even if it kills her.

It tied all the knots and ticked all the boxes that Starters created, but despite my complete adoration for the first instalment, Enders left a lot to be desired. I don't know whether it's the fact I've grown up a lot since Starters was released or what, but it just didn't impact me as much as I had hoped it would.

Waiting on Wednesday (#40)

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

Cover Reveal (#17)

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We have a cover.

And I think it is potentially the best cover yet.

And I want to cry.

Please excuse me and look at all the prettiness whilst I compose myself.


ΕRCHOMAI, SEBASTIAN HAD SAID. 

I am coming.

Darkness returns to the Shadowhunter world. As their society falls apart around them, Clary, Jace, Simon and their friends must band together to fight the greatest evil the Nephilim have ever faced: Clary’s own brother. Nothing in the world can defeat him — must they journey to another world to find the chance? Lives will be lost, love sacrificed, and the whole world changed in the sixth and last installment of the Mortal Instruments series!

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Title: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Indigo
Released: September 3rd 2013
Pages: 419 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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Tana lives in a world where walled cities called Coldtowns exist. In them, quarantined monsters and humans mingle in a decadently bloody mix of predator and prey. The only problem is, once you pass through Coldtown’s gates, you can never leave.

One morning, after a perfectly ordinary party, Tana wakes up surrounded by corpses. The only other survivors of this massacre are her exasperatingly endearing ex-boyfriend, infected and on the edge, and a mysterious boy burdened with a terrible secret. Shaken and determined, Tana enters a race against the clock to save the three of them the only way she knows how: by going straight to the wicked, opulent heart of Coldtown itself.

Before I even began this read, I was torn - despite the interesting premise, vampire novels and I do not get along, and haven't since every one has become just another version of Twilight. But like I said, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown had a synopsis that caught my attention, and after picking the book up, putting it back down and picking it back up again, I finally got around to reading it. And now? I'm not sure what to say.

Blog Tour: Stir Me Up by Sabrina Elkins (Review + Giveaway)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am a former journalist who worked for the Los Angeles Daily Newsand other newspapers in the greater Los Angeles area. Prior to this I worked in advertising, writing ad copy for corporate travel accounts and major motion pictures. My first job out of college was as an administrative assistant to an executive chef and a food & beverage director at a Four Seasons hotel. I also spent some time working as a prep cook for Spago in Beverly Hills.

I received my Master's degree in Journalism from the University of Southern California. While in graduate school, I had the privilege of studying fiction writing under renowned author Hubert Selby, Jr., and comedy writing under famed comedian Shelley Berman. I am a past participant of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers Summer Writing Workshop.

Raised in the woods of Vermont, I now live in the greater Los Angeles area with my husband and three children. STIR ME UP is my first novel.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

REVIEW

Title: Stir Me Up

Author: Sabrina Elkins
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Released: October 1st 2013
Pages: 268 (eBook)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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Cami Broussard has her future all figured out. She'll finish her senior year of high school, then go to work full-time as an apprentice chef in her father's French restaurant, alongside her boyfriend, Luke. But then twenty-year-old ex-Marine Julian Wyatt comes to live with Cami's family while recovering from serious injuries. And suddenly Cami finds herself questioning everything she thought she wanted.

Julian's all attitude, challenges and intense green-brown eyes. But beneath that abrasive exterior is a man who just might be as lost as Cami's starting to feel. And Cami can't stop thinking about him. Talking to him. Wanting to kiss him. He's got her seriously stirred up. Her senior year has just gotten a lot more complicated…

I know what you're thinking - Nina, if you know you don't get on with the New Adult genre, then why on earth do you keep signing up for NA blog tours? Well, I guess the answer is that I hope to find out what the masses seem to love with this kind of book, since despite the fact I'm almost at the age NA books are targeted at, I just don't seem to get it. However, Stir Me Up has changed my opinion of this genre - yes, we still see typical NA features throughout the novel, but for once it held the depth I have come to look for in good reads.

Panic by Lauren Oliver

Title: Panic

Author: Lauren Oliver

Publisher: Hodder

Release: March 4th 2014

Pages: 416 (eBook)

Pre-Order: Amazon UK / Amazon US

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Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

I was so excited when I received an ARC of Panic. Having read Before I Fall and the entire Delirium trilogy, I have become a solid fan of Oliver's writing and imagination, and as soon as I saw the synopsis for this, I knew I was going to love it. Whether she is writing a series or a stand-alone, Oliver delivers.

Follow Friday (#33)

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: Resolutions: Put together your blogger resolution list for all of us to see!

1. Participate in at least one meme per week
2. Attempt to read at least two books every week
3. Comment on other blogs more often
4. Request less on Netgalley (because I request so much and it's building up)

A very boring list I'm afraid, but I need to do all these things! I've let a lot of the blog slide, especially since beginning my A-Levels. I need to make it more active again.

So what are your blogging resolutions? Leave a comment below!

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

Title: Monument 14

Author: Emmy Laybourne
Publisher: Hachette Children's Books
Released: June 5th 2012
Pages: 352 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong ...
Fourteen kids stranded inside a superstore. Inside they have everything they could ever need. There's junk food and clothes, computer games and books, drugs and alcohol ... and without adult supervision they can do whatever they want.
Sounds like fun? 

But outside the world is being ripped apart by violent storms and chemicals leaking into the atmosphere that, depending on blood type, leave victims paranoid, violent or dead. 

The kids must remain inside, forced to create their own community, unsure if they'll ever be able to leave. Can they stop the world they've created inside from self-destructing too?

As a kid - and I'm sure I'm not alone in this - I dreamt of being locked up overnight in a superstore. I mean, just imagine all the different items at your disposal (and how many games of The Floor is Lava you could play in the bedroom section); it'd be the best sleepover ever. Laybourne brings this childhood fantasy to life, but with a dark twist: the world outside is suffering from some of the most extreme natural disasters on record, and you are not trapped in the superstore for one night, oh no. You are in there for almost two weeks.

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Title: Angelfall
Author: Susan Ee
Publisher: Hodder
Released: May 21st 2011
Pages: 325 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Travelling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

I get the hype. I so totally get the hype. As soon as Angelfall was published, it was all that the blogasphere could talk about - an indie novel that no one could believe was just in eBook form. Earlier this year it finally got released as a physical copy, so I've had this on my shelf for a while. I wish I'd picked it up sooner.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Title: The Importance of Being Earnest
Author: Oscar Wilde
Publisher: Penguin
Released: 1895
Pages: 67 (Paperback)
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US
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Oscar Wilde's brilliant play makes fun of the English upper classes with light-hearted satire and dazzling humour. It is 1890's England and two young gentlemen are being somewhat limited with the truth. To inject some excitement into their lives, Mr Worthing invents a brother, Earnest, as an excuse to leave his dull country life behind him to pursue the object of his desire, the ravishing Gwendolyn. While across town Algernon Montecrieff decides to take the name Earnest, when visiting Worthing's young ward Cecily. The real fun and confusion begins when the two end up together and their deceptions are in danger of being revealed.

If I could go back in time and have tea with just one writer, it'd have to be Oscar Wilde.  This man was an utter genius, and I swear I have never laughed so hard at a play. Writing in the Victorian era, Wilde somehow managed to come up with pieces that not only kept his audience entertained, but also proved a point about the society he was living in. In this case, it's the behaviour of the upper class.

Book of the Month: December

This month it was a close call between two YA contemporary reads: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, and This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales. However, TSWSYL has got to take the crown.

This is one of those books that somehow manages to change your life. I knew it'd be good, and I knew for certain I'd enjoy it - however, I didn't realise quite the extent of my adoration. Sales manages to dive into the minds of every teen, plucking out their hopes and dreams and fears and mashes it all together in this breathtaking piece. If there's one book you need to pick up this year, it's this.