Book Blogger Tag

So Kris from A Book From Snowy River tagged me the other day on a dreary London day and I've had so much fun answering the questions it even tempted the sun out of hiding :)

The idea is, you answer ten questions from the person that tagged you and pass your own new questions onto ten other book bloggers. So, without further ado here are my responses to Kris's questions:

1. How did you choose the name for your blog?

I was inspired to start blogging after spending a few days adding all my owned books to Goodreads...and then freaking out about how many I owned but hadn't read. I decided to call my blog Project To Be Read to try to inspire myself to reduce that heap of books.

2. If you could be a character in any book, who would you be and why?

Thea in Enchantress by L.J. Smith (or Spellbinder for any US readers). I love the whole Night World series but Thea is the character I'd most like to be. She is a witch with amazing magic powers and ends up in trouble when she falls in love with the human Eric. He is a total sweetheart and of all the books I've read, Thea is the only one I'd actually want to be.

3. Ever since you started blogging, have you met any authors of your favourite books?

Yep :) I've been lucky enough to meet Becca Fitzpatrick, Maggie Stiefvater and Cassandra Clare. I'm not sure what impressed me more - the cute fallen angel models and free cupcakes at Becca's signing or Jonas and Plunkett plus the fact I actually had a whole conversation about killer water horses with Maggie Stiefvater :)

4. What is your favourite cover art for a book you have seen?

You want me to pick just one?! So not fair! There are way too many gorgeous books out there these days to pick a single favourite, which is part of the reason I love Shelf Candy Saturday so much. However I must say that the Wolves of Mercy Falls have some awesome UK covers:

 
5. Do you have a strict blogging schedule or are you more relaxed? (eg. post 1 review a day, do a weekly meme etc)

I try to have a schedule but I've had a ton of real life stuff on recently so things have gotten a little lax. I really like doing the Teaser Tuesday, Top Ten Tuesday, Booking Through Thursday and Shelf Candy memes, and I'm hoping to get into a routine with a post going up every day.

6. Is there a book you would love to have a sequel?

I'd love a sequel for Witch in the House by Jenna McKnight. It's one of those books that has obviously been written as the first of a trilogy but never got continued. The author has health problems that are stopping her from writing though which is a massive shame.

7. What is your favourite book to tv series adaptation?

The Vampire Diaries :) The books were only okay for me, but I love the TV show! Ian Somerhalder is awesome as Damon and I like all the changes that they've made. Elena in the books drove me nuts whereas she's fine on the show, plus Jeremy is way better than a little girl.

Weirdly I'm the total opposite about True Blood - love the books, but the show is only okay.

8. Everyone likes to shop for books differently, do you buy online or spend hours in a bookstore or library?

All of the above. If my sister is meeting me in our local town, it's going to be in Waterstones. I do a lot of my book shopping online, purely because of the prices and the fact I can get US published books easier. I also enjoy checking out my local library but their selection isn't the best so most of the authors I love aren't even featured.

9. Do you prefer reading paperbacks or ebooks?

Paperbacks win for me hands down. I'm not a big fan of ebooks, mostly because I always seem to end up with a migraine from trying to read them.

10. If you had to write a novel featuring yourself, what kind of character would you play? (eg. leading lady, sidekick, evil villian etc)

Ummm, I think I'd rather be either the leading lady or the evil villian. I'm not really the sidekick type. It really depends on what kind of book I was writing but no matter what I'd definitely be a complex character. I would never write myself as a flawless heroine or completely evil villian - I like my characters to have depth, hidden layers, flaws and all.

My Questions:

1. If you could travel back in time and give yourself a single piece of advice when you started blogging, what would it be?
2. What is your favourite thing about blogging?
3. If you could only read one genre of book for the rest of your life, what would you pick?
4. Of the books you've read so far this year, which one would you recommend and why?
5. If you could have any book character as your real life best friend, who would you pick?
6. Which author would you like most to meet and why?
7. What do you think of book blog memes?
8. What format do you most prefer your books in? (paperback, hardback, e-book, audio etc).
9. Which authors are on your auto-buy list?
10. What is your favourite kind of character? (sleuth, vampire, student, cop etc)

I'm tagging:

1. Books, Biscuits and Tea
2. E & K Family Book Review
3. Bookaholics Book Club
4. Five Alarm Book Reviews
5. Jenni Elyse
6. Alison Can Read
7. Chocolate Chunkie Munkie
8. Magic of Reading
9. My Recent Favorite Books
10. A Book From Snowy River - tag back :)

No obligation guys, but I'd love to see your answers if you have time :)

Guest Blog (6)

My latest guest blog post has just been published over at the awesome E&K Family Book Review where I reviewed Immortality by Maggie Shayne. If you'd like to see what I thought, click here.

Booking Through Thursday (16)

What do you look for when reading a book blog? Does the blogger have to read the same genre? Do you like reviews? Personal posts? Memes? Giveaways? What attracts you to a book blog?

And–what are your favorite book blogs?

I look for a lot of different things in other book blogs and I'm pretty picky when it comes to them. The main thing I look for is a rough compatability in terms of books and reviews. If I find a blog where the blogger has read a lot of the same books I have I'll look at their reviews on a few 'touchstone' books (aka those books that tend to have reviewers divided like Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, Glazed Murder by Jessica Beck). If our views are still similar or they have really justified their opinions I'll hunt down reviews of my favourite books. This gives me the deciding factor - the closer our opinions are on the books I care about, the more likely I am to follow.

I tend to find new book blogs through memes and they give a bonus of being able to get to know the blogger quickly. There have been a few times when I've been looking through meme posts, seen something I totally disagree with and have left the blog. On the other hand, memes are how I've found some of my favourite blogs.

I also love giveaways but I tend to check out the blog itself to see what it's like before entering, especially if it's a follower only giveaway. It's not fair on the blogger or the other entrants if you have people just following for a chance to win something.

My favourite book blogs are (clicking the buttons will take you to their sites):

Top Ten Tuesday (20)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the Broke and the Bookish where a new top ten list is posted each week. This week is: Top Ten Books I'd Quickly Save if my House Was Going to be Abducted by Aliens. These pretty much fall into two categories - those that are signed and those that have sentimental value.

The Signed Ones:

1. All my Maggie Stiefvater books
2. City of Bones & Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
3. The Demon's Lexicon & The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan

4. All my Becca Fitzpatrick books
5. Bad Moon Rising by Sherrilyn Kenyon
6. Ill Wind by Rachel Caine

The Special Ones:

7. My 'Tomorrow When the War Began' books
When I decided I wanted to read these I quickly realised that several were out of print in the UK and only available used at freakishly high prices. My Mum actually tracked them all down and even ordered the trickier ones from Australia for me for my birthday!

8. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge
This is one of my favourite books from when I was little and I now have the hardback collectors edition which is full of illustrations and maps.

9. My Harry Potter box set
My kid sister brought me these last summer and I ended up hugging the box and stroking all the books. They are so pretty and special and I love them.

10. Noodle's Knitting by Sheryl Webster
This was the first gift ever from my niece that I was given when she was born. It's soooo cute and it has fuzzy bits :) It was the ideal gift for me as I love both reading and knitting...plus it's fuzzy!

Teaser Tuesday (20)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

My teaser:

"And, Claire realised with an icy, horrible, sickening shock, she had just seen him out on the street, going after Myrnin. That was why he'd seemed familiar."

~ Page 118, Bite Club by Rachel Caine

Ghost Town by Rachel Caine

Title: Ghost Town

Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: Allison & Busby
ISBN: 978-0-7490-0804-8
Pages: 479
Series: The Morganville Vampires #9
Type: Young Adult Paranormal
Source: Purchased
Goodreads


Morganville has been left vulnerable ever since the vampire computer Ada went nuts and died. Claire has been tasked with building and programming a new computer to protect the town, preferably one that doesn't require an actual brain. But as soon as Claire gets the new computer online people start to forget. Vampires don't know they are vampires, humans don't know where they are and soon more and more people are lost. Claire needs to figure out a solution before she forgets how to save Morganville.

This is the ninth book in the Morganville vampires series (after Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, Carpe Corpus, Fade Out and Kiss of Death) and is set back in Morganville after the previous book's road trip. The plot is full of twists and turns as usual and gets stuck into the action almost immediately.

The forgetfulness epidemic is really well-written and it creates a level of tension throughout the book. It is interesting seeing who forgets and who doesn't, and great seeing how Claire deals with people stuck three years in the past...especially as she herself has only been in Morganville for about 18 months. The characters who do forget are cleverly written, managing to fit well as the past versions of characters I've grown to know and love.

Claire becomes even more independent in this book and it's great to see her really maturing to a near adult level. Left without the support her friends and family, Claire manages to cope and even seek out help from unexpected sources. She even takes responsibility for the flaw in the computer she helped build in a mature way without whining.

This edition even has a bonus short story called "Worth Living For" which features Shane getting asked for help by Hannah and Richard with a rogue vampire problem. It doesn't really add anything to the Morganville world, but it is a fun read.

All in all this was another great read and I can't wait to start Bite Club.

Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Ending: 9/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Cover: 8/10

Overall: 47/50

Kiss of Death by Rachel Caine

Title: Kiss of Death

Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: Allison & Busby
ISBN: 978-0-7490-0784-3
Pages: 348
Series: The Morganville Vampires #8
Type: Young Adult Paranormal
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

Life in Morganville may be full of vampires, death threats and danger, but for Claire and her friends it isn't enough. They crave the excitement of the real world so when Michael is given the opportunity to record a demo at a music studio in Dallas, the group seize the opportunity to get out of town. But when town leader Amelie insists Oliver accompany them their fun road trip starts to lose its shine and a run in with some small town locals puts all of their lives in danger...

This is the eight book in the Morganville Vampires series (after Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, Carpe Corpus and Fade Out) and is a great return to form after the disappointment of the previous installment.

This time the story is set outside of Morganville and it's great to see how much of a reality shock it is for Morganville natives Michael and Eve. Claire and Shane have lived in the outside world so they don't have to adapt whereas for Michael and Eve all of the rules are different which leads to them getting themselves into more than a little trouble. The pacing is brilliant with the group leaving on their adventure in fair time and running into a stream of trouble almost straight away. There are also some clever twists and turns leading to a tightly plottted read.

In terms of characters Claire and Shane learn to play more to their strengths, with Claire taking some steps forward in terms of confidence and creativity when it comes to making Morganville's rules work for her. Michael and Eve also begin to deal with the realities of a human/vampire relationship, and it is interesting to see how getting out into the real world affects all the characters.

All in all this was an awesome read and I can't wait to get stuck into Ghost Town.

Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Cover: 9/10

Overall: 49/50