July 2010 Recap

July has been a pretty tough month for me, but reading has been a good distraction so I've managed to get through quite a few books.  I've got a lot going on at the moment after splitting up with my fiance at the end of June & it's been hard being on my own after spending the last 9 years together.  I'm currently in the middle of trying to find a new place to live as I can't afford to stay where I am now he's moved out so I'm probably going to have some offline time sometime in the next couple of months while I'm moving but at the moment I have no idea when that is going to be.  I've ended up getting very behind replying to comments and returning blog visits but hopefully I'll get back on top of things when I start to feel better.  I'd like to say thanks to everyone for their comments though - they really do help brighten up my day when I read them :o)

Here is the list of books I read in July. (The links will take you to my reviews)

1. Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs
2. On The Prowl - Anthology
3. I Married A Dragon - Beverly Rae
4. Circle of Fire - Keri Arthur
5. Ex Appeal - Cari Quinn (Novella)
6. Fallen - Lauren Kate
7. Speak of the Devil - Jenna Black
8. Restoring Harmony - Joelle Anthony
9. Circle of Death - Keri Arthur
10. Dear Dylan - Siobhan Curham
11. Spirit Bound - Richelle Mead
12. Best Friends Forever - Jennifer Weiner
13. Night Game - Christine Feehan
14. Chasing Brooklyn - Lisa Schroeder
15. Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night - Kresley Cole
16. The Chosen One - Carol Lynch Williams
17. Tempting Evil - Keri Arthur
18. A Safe Harbor - Moira Rogers (Novella)
19. Bone Crossed - Patricia Briggs
20. Claire de Lune - Christine Johnson
21. Circle of Desire - Keri Arthur
22. The Alchemyst - Michael Scott

I was lucky enough to attend the Random House Children's Books Blogger Brunch on 17th July.  It was a really fun day and we got to find out about all their new releases and have a snoop around their offices.  They were incredibly generous and I came home with far too many books but I'm really looking forward to reading them all.  You can read my event report here if you missed it earlier in the month.

With everything I've got going on at the moment I've not got time to organise a post for my Author's Animal Antics feature every week so I'm just going to try and post when I get a chance.  (You can find out more about the feature here).  I've still had a couple of lovely posts this month though (you can click on the link below to read any of this months posts):

1. Lauren Kate
2. Siobhan Curham

I'm doing well with all of my challenges this year apart from the Terry Pratchett & Vampire Diaries ones.  To be honest I'm probably going to skip the Vampire Diaries one for now but I might decide to pick it up again later in the year.  I'm going to start making progress on the Terry Pratchett challenge this month though as I was lucky enough to get copies of quite a few of his books at the RHCB event.

100+ Reading Challenge - Read 143/200

Young Adult Reading Challenge - Read 47/50

Support Your Local Library Challenge - Read 60/25

Terry Pratchett Challenge - Read 1/12
L.J. Smith Reading Challenge (Vampire Diaries) - Read 0/5
Thriller & Suspense Challenge - Read 4/12
2010 Summer Reading Challenge - Read 16/16 COMPLETE
New Author Challenge - Read 50/50 COMPLETE
Awesome Author Challenge - Read 20/20 COMPLETE

Paranormal Reading Challenge - Read 50/50 COMPLETE
Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge - Read 24/24 COMPLETE

NAC April Mini-Challenge Battle Royale - Read 5/5 COMPLETE