Meet the girl behind the posts

Name and/or Pseudonym: Alex or Raiding Bookshelves
 Age: 21
Location: Melbourne (the best damn city Down Under)
 Favorite Books: I will read almost anything and love a lot but at this point in time my fabourites include: The Hunger Games, Daughter of the Forest, Harry Potter, Rhapsody, Perks of Being a Wallflower
Favorite Movies: I'm not a huge movie person and most of my movie experience comes from being forced to watch them by my boyfriend and his mates. Things I have always loved though are Harry Potter, Voyage of the Unicorn, Tangled, Little Mermaid, Toy Story...anything Disney or Pixar
Favorite TV Shows: Parks and Recreation, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stargate and Seinfeld.
  Favorite Fictional Characters: Ahhh Severus Snape, you sexy, sexy beast. I'd also include Bran from Juliet Marillier's Son of the Shadows and Mr Darcy. I want me a Darcy.
Favorite Actors/Actresses: Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, Charlize Theron and Amy Poehler.
Favorite Music Artists: Ummmm, I'm not a music person either but I'm a big fan of 80s music (thanks to raiding Mum and Dad's music collection) and Barenaked Ladies are awesome....other than that whatever I am listening to.
Fandoms: There aren't my favourite identities within each of the series but I liked most of the choices. I don't follow the Mortal Instruments, Percy Jackson, Dr. Who or Battlestar Galactica series. I'm looking forward to staring the Mortal Instrument books and might watch Dr. Who one day.
Hobbies: Writing book reviews and articles, volunteering at the RSPCA or spending time with my dog or rabbit, and hanging out with friends.
Interests: Everything previously mentioned and I've recently caught the travel bug.
Random Fact About You: I've read 250 books this year on top of all my uni readings and working three days a week. I'm a book addict.
Things You Absolutely Despise: Ben Lee, smoking (I'm allergic to almost everything and cigarette smoke makes me cry), open mouth chewing and Facebook grammar.
Describe Yourself in Four Words: Obsessive Spontaneous Organised and Lazy
Do You Write? (If so, what?) I do! I write short stories (that I hate and never publish), and longer stories that never go anywhere. For about six months earlier this year I wrote regular articles during an internship with Women's Health and Fitness Australia and Australian Natural Health.

Moving into 2012

I succeeded in reading 200 books this year; in fact, I'm close to 250 with a few days to go. Unfortunately, due to responsibilities at home, at uni and at work I didn't manage to review even a quarter of them. I think I gave up around the 50ish mark. In fact, I haven't published much since March.
Pathetic, I know. I'm definitely going to keep the blog going next year. It has been a real asset and helped me get a 6 month internship with a Melbourne based Women's magazine. So, in order to keep my writing skills up to date, I will be creating a review schedule. My NYE resolution will not be to read a certain number of books (and kill it) but to post regularly and with more variety. 2012 will start on a Sunday and so will my posting schedule. 
Sunday: Weekly ReviewMonday: In My MailboxTuesday: Top Ten TuesdayWednesday: Waiting on WednesdayThursday: RestFriday: From Page to ScreenSaturday: Rest
I'll hopefully be posting some early reviews of ARC's and participating in blog tours, but I need to work on my blog first. It will be undergoing some renovations in the next few weeks as I get my brother to do some design work.
Something else I'll be introducing will be monthly genres. Each month will have a theme and the reviews will reflect that theme. I might post a few extra reviews, but it means I won't be as overloaded trying to catch up. I only have four reviews to stick to a month. Here's the monthly schedule:
This year Raiding Bookshelves will have a new format. At least four reviews a month, published every sunday. Each month will have it's own genre.I will also be publishing extra reviews on soon to be released ARCS.
January - Debut AuthorsFebruary - Romance and Bodice RippersMarch - Dystopian April - Young Adult and General FictionMay - FantasyJune - Jane Austen and RegencyJuly - AdventureAugust - Action and ThrillerSeptember - Science FictionOctober - Non-fiction and biographicalNovember - Fables, fairy tales and mytholoyDecember - Picture books and Children's literature
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and enjoy your New Years Eve.

Falling In Between Blog Tour

 "Finally! A private conversation. And all I had to do was throw myself off a cliff, drown in a pond in my undies and let him put his hands on my breasts to bring me back to life. Yay me…(yeah, that’s sarcasm)." 

Yep, that pretty much sums up the most craptastic night of Jenna Baker’s life. She drowns after jumping off a cliff, meets a hotty named Chance in the pearlescent in-between and is brought back to life by her soon-to-be boyfriend Robert. 

Just when things start to move forward with Robert, the guy she'd been crushing on for a year now, in walks the man of her dreams – literally. Chance suddenly appears in her dream every time she closes her eyes. So it's Robert by day and Chance by night. One in the real world and one in the dream world. What could possibly go wrong? 

Absolutely nothing – until she comes face to face with the guy she met in the in-between, and realizes her romantic rendezvous with Chance may be more than just her imagination. 

Note: Jenna's coming of age story is a little edgy. There is mild language and some sexual content. 

I'm participating in Devon Ashley's 'Falling in Between' blog tour starting in 2012. Pop by on January 31st for my review of Falling In Between and again on February 9th for secret Devon Ashley Top Ten.

Stay tuned!