July 2011 Recap

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

1. Tiger's Quest - Colleen Houck (read in June, reviewed in July)
2. Long Lankin - Lindsey Barraclough (read in June, reviewed in July)
3. Dead Deep - Justin Somper (Novella) (read in June, reviewed in July)
4. Sister - Rosamund Lupton (read in June, reviewed in July)
5. The Case of the Deadly Desperados - Caroline Lawrence (read in June, reviewed in July)
6. Deadly Desire - Keri Arthur (read in June, reviewed in July)
7. Shadows on the Moon - Zoe Marriott (read in June, reviewed in July)
8. Crushed Seraphim - Debra Anastasia
9. Evermore - Alyson Noel
10. Iron Crowned - Richelle Mead
11. Fury - Elizabeth Miles (review coming soon)
12. Prisoner of the Inquisition - Theresa Breslin
13. Falling, Freestyle - Vivian Arend (Novella)
14. In the Sea there are Crocodiles - Fabio Geda
15. Haunting Violet - Alyxandra Harvey
16. Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton (review coming soon)
17. Six Days - Philip Webb (review coming soon)
18. The Poison Diaries - Maryrose Wood
19. Texas Gothic - Rosemary Clement-Moore (review coming soon)
20. Fallen Grace - Mary Hooper (review coming soon)
21. The Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater (review coming soon)
22. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling (review coming soon)
23. Nightshade - Maryrose Wood (review coming soon)

July Books of the Month:
(Choices are made from books reviewed this month)

My top YA read in July:

Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott (read my review here)

My top adult read in July:

Sister by Rosamund Lupton (read my review here)

Event Reports:

• I finally posted my write up from the Puffin Summer Party in June and you can read all about it here
• I was very excited to attend the RHCB Blogger's Brunch on the 9th of July, we always have an amazing time when we attend an RHCB event and this time was no exception!  We got to find out about all the new titles RHCB have coming soon and meet some fab authors - Lindsey Barraclough and Andy Mulligan.  You can read my write up of the event here
• On the 11th of July I got to go to the Macmillan offices for a blogger brunch with Alyson Noel and then in the evening we went to the amazing launch party for Everlasting (the last book in Alyson's Immortals series).  We had a fab day and you can read all about it here
• Last week I was lucky enough to be one of the bloggers invited to the Poison Diaries event at Alnwick Castle (the castle they used as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films!).  We had the most amazing time getting to see things that aren't usually open to the public and meeting the Duchess of Northumberland and even got to spend the night in the castle.  I went a bit crazy with my camera and you can read all about the event in the posts here, here & here.
• July was a really busy month for events and I was also very excited to attend the Orion preview for their new Indigo imprint.  We got to meet Marcus Sedgwick, Kate Harrison, Sara Grant and Sally Gardner and hear readings from their new books (watch out for my event report next week including videos of the readings) and also find out about the amazing new books Orion are publishing soon.

Author's Animal Antics:

The Author's Animal Antics feature is kind of on hold at the moment, I am planning on bringing it back as a more regular feature soon but I just don't have as much time to organise it right now.  If you are an author who is interested in taking part though please get in contact (you can find out more about the feature here).

Challenge Updates:

So these are the challenges I've decided to sign up for in 2011 (I may well end up adding others as the year goes on but we'll see what happens)

2011 100+ Reading Challenge - Read 100/100 COMPLETE

2011 Horror & Urban Fantasy Challenge - Read 24/24 COMPLETE 

2011 Support Your Local Library Challenge - Read 13/25

2011 Debut Author Challenge - Read 12/12 COMPLETE

2011 British Books Challenge - Read 35/50

2011 New Author Challenge - Read 50/50 COMPLETE

NAC Mini Challenge - Steampunk (Feb 2011) - Read 2/5 COMPLETE (This challenge was to read up to 5 steampunk books in February, I knew I wouldn't have time to read 5 so I'm happy with my total of 2)

NAC Mini Challenge - TBR Newbies (April & May 2011) - READ 6/6 COMPLETE (I actually managed to read 8 books for this challenge but only the first 6 count)