Tag Archives: #BritishBooksChallenge17

Tales Post – British Books Challenge – August

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Welcome to the British Books Challenge 2017 – August!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

Officially holiday season!  I know I can’t wait for my week off work soon where all the reading is going to happen!

And again so many amazing reviews linked up for the July British Books Challenge (especially considering I put the post up super late!).   You all did SO amazing!  I’m so glad to see you are all enjoying the challenge so much!  I heart you all very much!

47 reviews of books by British Authors were linked up in July!

That makes a grand total of 504 reviews of books by British Authors in total since we all started in January!

*group hugs*

And thank you so much for embracing our author and debut of the month for July as well as all of the other amazing books you all read!

Thank you all!

Lets pull out or sun chair and jump to August!

About The British Books Challenge

The British Books Challenge is a reading challenge that will be running here on Tales Of Yesterday between 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017 and the main focus of the challenge is reading and reviewing books by British authors.

I have created a #BritishBooksChallenge17 summary page here which will also keep track of my own progress in the challenge too.

If you have not signed up yet there’s still plenty of time – find out more about the challenge here

Please note you can sign up to the challenge at any time throughout the year but only sign up entries made on or before the 31st December 2016 will be entered to win the sign up prize.

This is the first time I am hosting this particular challenge and I have lots of things planned for us all!

I have been in touch with lots of publishers who have kindly donated lots of lovely prize packs for us throughout the year for the challenge!

Right lets get the ball for August rolling starting with the winner of the July Prize Pack!

 

With thanks to the lovely people at Gollancz for July’s brilliant bumper prize pack which contained the following four books…..

All valid reviews and links by British Authors that were linked up on the July linky here were eligible to be entered to win the May prize pack. With people who read any books by our Author Of The Month, Lisa Heathfield and/or our Debut of the month, No Filter Book by Orlagh Collins, earning extra entries.

But there can only be one winner!

And the winner is…….

Release by Patrick Ness – Darren @BartsBookshelf

Congratulations!

Please email me your address so that I can arrange for your prize to be sent out to you!

I hope everyone also enjoyed all the extra giveaways and posts I ran on my blog or via twitter over July too 🙂

 

AUGUSTS PRIZE BACK WILL BE ANNOUNCED VERY SOON!

August’s prize pack has been kindly donated by the lovely people at (insert name) and contains the following (insert number) books ……

(Book Cover)

(Book Blurb)

(insert graphic with August Prize Pack and Books)

A huge thank you to (insert name) for donating this super brilliant Prize Pack for August!

I also have a couple of special post from these authors going up throughout August too!

One winner will be picked at random from the list of valid reviews submitted each month and will be announced in the following month’s review link up post. The winner will then have 1 week to contact me to claim their prize or a new winner will be chosen. Obviously the more reviews you enter the greater your chance of winning and don’t forget you gain extra entries for any reviews by Debut or Author of the Month for August! It doesn’t matter if you only review one book (or even skip a month or two in the challenge!) you’ll still be entered for each review you do write.

Please Remember…..

Only participants with a valid sign up page that has been linked here are eligible for entry to the monthly prize packs mentioned on this monthly link up page – you can still sign up here

When you add your link to the Mr. Linky below please make sure you link directly to your review, not just to your blog/vlog (invalid links will be deleted)

Books must have been read and reviewed in 2017 to count towards the challenge so those books you read last year but reviewed in 2017 don’t count!  Only books reviewed in June on your blog will count towards the challenge (you could have read them in earlier in the year though – I’m feeling kind 🙂 )

Also, please make sure that the reviews you link are for books written by British Authors – they can be born in Britain (living here or abroad) or they can be adopted British Authors (who were born elsewhere and now live here) but if they don’t fit into one of those categories then they don’t count. (as above invalid links will be deleted and won’t get you an entry into the prize pack). Please note that Britain includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, I’m afraid authors from Southern Ireland don’t count.

Also see the Author Of The Month and Debut Of The Month section for ways to gain extra entries each month!

And lastly feel free to share your reviews on social media using the #BritishBooksChallenge17 hashtag – it’s not compulsory but it would be fun to share any great British Books you have loved with others!

Lets get chatting and celebrating all of the brilliant British books and authors that we have and all of the wonderful British books that we are reading!

Always remember – never tweet an author into a negative review and be constructive.

For more information about the #BritishBooksChallenge17 click here

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their titles through the British Books Challenge giveaways please contact me by email.

 

And the #BritishBooksChallenge17 Author Of The Month for August is…….

Ben Davis!

 

Ben makes me laugh so much!  He is super funny and his books are fab and I’m so happy that he is our August Author Of The Month!

Not heard of Ben and his books?  I have you covered!

Look out for a Spotlight post in the next few days about Ben and his brilliant books!

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up any books by the author of the month (in the same month that they are author of the month only) then that one review will get you an extra entry into the monthly prize pack draw.  So a double entry for one review!

If the author has multiple books and you read them all you will gain a double entry for each review of each book.

I also have a special treat lined up too!

Look out for a post with the man himself going live at some point in August!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their titles through the British Books Challenge author of the month then please contact me by email.

 

As always there are so many good debuts coming out this month that it was really hard to decide which to pick….

And the #BritishBooksChallenge17 Debut Of The Month for August is…….

S.T.A.G.S by M.A. Bennett

 

I am so hugely excited about this book and am so happy that it is our Debut Of The Month!

Not heard of S.T.A.G.S by M.A. Bennett? I have you covered!

Look out for a Spotlight post in the next few days about this book!

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up a review of S.T.A.G.S by M.A. Bennett (in the same month that they are debut of the month only) then that one review will get you an extra entry into the monthly prize pack draw.  So a double entry for one review!

I also have some special treats lined up too!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their debut through the British Books Challenge debut of the month then please contact me by email.

As well as the above I have lots of other exciting posts and giveaways going up throughout the month too which I will run through twitter and share using the hashtag so do look out for those too!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

As well as following the hashtag #BritishBooksChallenge17 I would also suggest following my blog using your preferred feed subscription (by email by filling in the subscription box at the top of my blog , BlogLovin’ etc) in order to keep up with the latest news and posts regarding this challenge throughout 2017!

Here’s to a wonderful August!

Now for the important part, make sure you link all of your reviews using the Mr. Linky form below. In the Your Name field please include your blog name, the title of the book and the author. Make sure the link takes me directly to your review or your entry won’t count and will be deleted from the list.

Name – Please add your name and blog / YouTube channel e.g Chelley Toy – Tales Of Yesterday

URL – Please add a direct link to your review post here




Tales Post – British Books Challenge – June

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Welcome to the British Books Challenge 2017 – June!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

Have we all enjoyed the glorious sunshine the past few weeks or been stuck in a rain storm?  Either way we are sure to be reading some amazing books in the coming month!

And again so many amazing reviews linked up for the May British Books Challenge! You all did SO amazing!  I’m so glad to see you are all enjoying the challenge so much!  I heart you all very much!

Also a little apology from me for getting this linky up so late – the past couple of weeks have been super busy and blogging has unfortunately suffered in it’s place but onwards and upwards!

48 reviews of books by British Authors were linked up in May!

That makes a grand total of 457 reviews of books by British Authors in total since we all started in January!

*group hug*

And thank you so much for embracing our author and debut of the month for May as well as all of the other amazing books you all read!

Thank you all!

Lets pull out or sun chair and jump to June!

About The British Books Challenge

The British Books Challenge is a reading challenge that will be running here on Tales Of Yesterday between 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017 and the main focus of the challenge is reading and reviewing books by British authors.

I have created a #BritishBooksChallenge17 summary page here which will also keep track of my own progress in the challenge too.

If you have not signed up yet there’s still plenty of time – find out more about the challenge here

Please note you can sign up to the challenge at any time throughout the year but only sign up entries made on or before the 31st December 2016 will be entered to win the sign up prize.

This is the first time I am hosting this particular challenge and I have lots of things planned for us all!

I have been in touch with lots of publishers who have kindly donated lots of lovely prize packs for us throughout the year for the challenge!

Right lets get the ball for June rolling starting with the winner of the May Prize Pack!

With thanks to the lovely people at Stripes Publishing for May’s brilliant bumper prize pack contained the following four books…..

All valid reviews and links by British Authors that were linked up on the May linky here were eligible to be entered to win the May prize pack. With people who read any books by our Author Of The Month, Kat Ellis and/or our Debut of the month, Mold and the Poison Plot by Lorraine Gregory, earning extra entries.

But there can only be one winner!

And the winner is…….

**TBA – I’m still catching up on your fab reviews from May so I will randomly pick a winner asap and announce / contact – sorry guys**

Congratulations!

Please email me your address so that I can arrange for your prize to be sent out to you!

I hope everyone also enjoyed all the extra giveaways and posts I ran on my blog or via twitter over May too 🙂

June’s prize pack has been kindly donated by the lovely people at Walker Books and contains the following 5 books (and we snuck some American authors in the prize pack too)……

A powerful and moving novel about bravery from the Guardian’s “writer to watch” Non Pratt, perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell, John Green and Holly Bourne. How far is too far when it comes to the people you love? Claire Casey hates being the centre of attention. But if it means getting Sef Malik to notice her, it’s a risk she’s happy to take. Sef is prepared to do anything to help his recently disabled brother. But this means putting Claire’s love – and life – on the line. Because when you’re willing to risk everything, what is there left to lose?

The dying wish of 16-year-old Lina’s mother was for her daughter to live in Tuscany and get to know her father, whom Lina has never met. “Howard is the best man I’ve ever known,” her mother says, “he’ll keep you safe.” Why did her mother wait so long to tell her about him? Lina has a happy life in Seattle and doesn’t want to leave. Shortly after she arrives at Howard’s home, Lina meets Sonya, who gives Lina a diary that belonged to Lina’s mother, the one she had kept while she was a photography student in Florence. While Lina is living her life and exploring Tuscany with her handsome neighbour, Ren, she follows in the footsteps of her mother and gets to know her as never before. She also finds out the truth about her father. Mostly she finds out about herself.

Combining Jane Austen’s high society and Cassandra Clare’s supernatural underworld, Alison Goodman’s second novel in the Lady Helen trilogy will delight fans of historical fiction and fantasy.

Brighton, July 1812. Lady Helen Wrexhall is spending the summer season in Brighton, where she will continue her Reclaimer training and prepare for her duties as a fully fledged member of the Dark Days Club. Her mentor, Lord Carlston, believes that a Grand Deceiver has arrived in England, and there is no time to lose in preparing Helen to fight it.

As she rushes to complete her training, Helen finds herself torn between her loyalty to Carlston and the orders of the Home Office, who wish to use her to further their own agenda. Meanwhile, the Duke of Selburn seems determined to try and protect her, irrespective of the risk to himself. With so much at stake, Helen must make an agonizing choice between duty and devotion.

A selection of the world’s finest writers for young people – in conjunction with Amnesty International UK – explore the rights and freedoms still lacking in today’s society, covering issues such as gender equality, race hatred, surveillance, identity and freedom of speech. Contributors include: Tony Birch, John Boyne, Sita Brahmachari, Kate Charlesworth, Sarah Crossan, Neil Gaiman, Jack Gantos, Ryan Gattis, Matt Haig, Frances Hardinge, Jackie Kay, AL Kennedy, Liz Kessler, Elizabeth Laird, Amy Leon, Sabrina Mahfouz, Chelsea Manning, Chibundu Onuzo, Bali Rai, Chris Riddell, Mary and Brian Talbot, Christie Watson and Tim Wynne-Jones.

In this YA contemporary romance, a sixteen-year-old boy must learn to swim against an undercurrent of grief – or be swept away by it.

Otis and Meg were inseparable until her family abruptly moved away after the terrible accident that left Otis’s little brother dead and both of their families changed for ever. Since then, it’s been three years of radio silence, during which time Otis has become the unlikely protégé of eighteen-year-old Dara – part drill sergeant, part friend – who’s hell-bent on transforming Otis into the Olympic swimmer she can no longer be. But when Otis learns that Meg is coming back to town, he must face some difficult truths about the girl he’s never forgotten and the brother he’s never stopped grieving. As it becomes achingly clear that he and Meg are not the same people they were, Otis must decide what to hold on to and what to leave behind. Quietly affecting, this compulsively readable debut novel captures all the confusion, heartbreak, and fragile hope of three teens struggling to accept profound absences in their lives.

A huge thank you to Walker Books for donating this super brilliant Prize Pack for June!

I also have a couple of special post from these authors going up throughout June too!

One winner will be picked at random from the list of valid reviews submitted each month and will be announced in the following month’s review link up post. The winner will then have 1 week to contact me to claim their prize or a new winner will be chosen. Obviously the more reviews you enter the greater your chance of winning and don’t forget you gain extra entries for any reviews by Debut or Author of the Month for June! It doesn’t matter if you only review one book (or even skip a month or two in the challenge!) you’ll still be entered for each review you do write.

Please Remember…..

Only participants with a valid sign up page that has been linked here are eligible for entry to the monthly prize packs mentioned on this monthly link up page – you can still sign up here

When you add your link to the Mr. Linky below please make sure you link directly to your review, not just to your blog/vlog (invalid links will be deleted)

Books must have been read and reviewed in 2017 to count towards the challenge so those books you read last year but reviewed in 2017 don’t count!  Only books reviewed in June on your blog will count towards the challenge (you could have read them in earlier in the year though – I’m feeling kind 🙂 )

Also, please make sure that the reviews you link are for books written by British Authors – they can be born in Britain (living here or abroad) or they can be adopted British Authors (who were born elsewhere and now live here) but if they don’t fit into one of those categories then they don’t count. (as above invalid links will be deleted and won’t get you an entry into the prize pack). Please note that Britain includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, I’m afraid authors from Southern Ireland don’t count.

Also see the Author Of The Month and Debut Of The Month section for ways to gain extra entries each month!

And lastly feel free to share your reviews on social media using the #BritishBooksChallenge17 hashtag – it’s not compulsory but it would be fun to share any great British Books you have loved with others!

Lets get chatting and celebrating all of the brilliant British books and authors that we have and all of the wonderful British books that we are reading!

Always remember – never tweet an author into a negative review and be constructive.

For more information about the #BritishBooksChallenge17 click here

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their titles through the British Books Challenge giveaways please contact me by email.

And the #BritishBooksChallenge17 Author Of The Month for June is…….

Non Pratt!

Non is the master of contemporary YA fiction with characters that will feel like you absolute best friends and I’m so happy that she is our June Author Of The Month!

Not heard of Non and her books?  I have you covered!

Look out for a Spotlight post in the next few days about Non and her brilliant books!

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up any books by the author of the month (in the same month that they are author of the month only) then that one review will get you an extra entry into the monthly prize pack draw.  So a double entry for one review!

If the author has multiple books and you read them all you will gain a double entry for each review of each book.

I also have a special treat lined up too!

Look out for a post with the lady herself going live at some point in June!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their titles through the British Books Challenge author of the month then please contact me by email.

As always there are so many good debuts coming out this month that it was really hard to decide which to pick….

And the #BritishBooksChallenge17 Debut Of The Month for June is…….

Being Miss Nobody by Tamsin Winter

I am so hugely excited about this wonderful YA book and am so happy that it is our Debut Of The Month!

Not heard of Being Miss Nobody by Tamsin Winter? I have you covered!

Look out for a Spotlight post in the next few days about this book!

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up a review of Being Miss Nobody by Tamsin Winter (in the same month that they are debut of the month only) then that one review will get you an extra entry into the monthly prize pack draw.  So a double entry for one review!

I also have some special treats lined up too!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their debut through the British Books Challenge debut of the month then please contact me by email.

As well as the above I have lots of other exciting posts and giveaways going up throughout the month too which I will run through twitter and share using the hashtag so do look out for those too!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

As well as following the hashtag #BritishBooksChallenge17 I would also suggest following my blog using your preferred feed subscription (by email by filling in the subscription box at the top of my blog , BlogLovin’ etc) in order to keep up with the latest news and posts regarding this challenge throughout 2017!

Here’s to a wonderful June!

Now for the important part, make sure you link all of your reviews using the Mr. Linky form below. In the Your Name field please include your blog name, the title of the book and the author. Make sure the link takes me directly to your review or your entry won’t count and will be deleted from the list.

Name – Please add your name and blog / YouTube channel e.g Chelley Toy – Tales Of Yesterday

URL – Please add a direct link to your review post here




Spotlight – Author Of The Month – C J Skuse

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I am so excited to have announced on the 1st of April that the awesome C J Skuse is our #BritishBooksChallenge17 Author Of The Month for April 17!

You can find out more about the #BritishBooksChallenge17 here

I am a huge HUGE fan of CJ and her books are the best of the best that will leave you craving more.  CJ Skuse is a HUGE UKYA talent and I am so excited to shine the spotlight on her and her wonderful books as Author Of The Month!

And remember if you read, review and link up any of CJ’s books for our #BritishBooksChallenge17 April link up here you will gain an extra entries into the April Prize Pack Draw!

Today is also a celebration of CJ’s first adult thriller the delicious SweatPea!

Happy Book Birthday CJ!

Also look out for a fab guest post early next week from the lady herself!

About CJ Skuse

C.J. Skuse was born in 1980 in Weston-super-Mare, England. She has First Class degrees in Creative Writing and Writing for Children and, aside from writing novels, works as a freelance children’s fiction consultant and lectures in Writing for Children at Bath Spa University. Sweetpea is CJ’s first adult novel.

You can follow CJ on twitter – CeejaytheAuthor

You can find previous posts from CJ on my blog or by clicking on the links below …

Hot Boys In My Books!

Hidden Easter Eggs In Books

I also love this article by CJ of 10 Things I’s Like My Readers To Know here

The Books And Why We Love C J Skuse

SIXTEEN-YEAR OLD TWINS IN CANDY-STORE CRIME SPREE Twins, Paisley and Beau Argent are in the headlines again. Last time, they were the ‘wonder twins’, when as six-year-olds they were found alive in woods after three days missing following their mother’s death -three days spent looking for their dad. Now at sixteen, life’s not so wonderful. Out-cast and exploited by their money-grabbing grandmother they’re still clueless about their dad’s whereabouts. Until they discover an old letter from him. That’s when they decide to hit the road – and make headlines again. Holding up fast-food joints in Las Vegas might seem extreme but if they can get on the news, and tell their dad they need him, they might get the dream reunion they never thought could happen.

‘It’s so good, I’d recommend it to people I don’t like’ – Kevin Brooks on Pretty Bad Things

Jody loves Jackson Gatlin. At his only UK rock concert, she’s right at the front. But when she’s caught in the crush and carried back stage she has more than concussion to contend with. Throw in a menacing manager, a super-wired super-star, and a curly-wurly, and she finds herself taking home more than just a poster. It’s the accidental kidnapping of the decade. But what happens if you’ve a rock-god in your garage who doesn’t want to leave? Jody’s stuck between a rock-idol and a hard place! From the pen of C.J. Skuse, author of 2010’s super cool debut Pretty Bad Things, comes a tale of rock star obsession gone nuts.

‘A rip roaring story’ – Julia Eccleshare, The Guardian on Rockoholic

‘sharp, funny and knowing…’ – The Telegraph on Rockoholic

Camille wants to find the perfect boy, with an athlete’s body and a poet’s brain. But when she’s mocked at a college party, she knows there isn’t a boy alive who’ll ever measure up. Enter Zoe, her brilliant but strange best friend, who takes biology homework to a whole new level. She can create Camille’s dream boy, Frankenstein-stylee. But can she make him love her?

‘The tension and the comedy crack along with a heart-warming hilarity that is impossible to resist.’- Amanda Craig, The Times on Dead Romantic

At sixteen Nash thought that the fight to become Head Girl of prestigious boarding school Bathory would be the biggest battle she’d face. Until her brother’s disappearance leads to Nash being trapped at the school over Christmas with Bathory’s assorted misfits.

As a blizzard rages outside, strange things are afoot in the school’s hallways, and legends of the mysterious Beast of Bathory – a big cat rumoured to room the moors outside the school – run wild.

Yet when the girls’ Matron goes missing it’s clear that something altogether darker is to blame – and that they’ll have to stick together if they hope to survive.

‘Monster is another rollicking adventure … but you might not want to read the final chapter alone in the house . . . or while you’re eating . . . as you find out the truth about the Beast of Bathory. Great fun.’ – Martin Chilton, Telegraph’s Best YA Books 2015

‘CJ does it again, with a boarding school story packed with tension…Nobody captures the darkness of teenage nightmares quite like CJ Skuse.’ – Sophia Bennett, author of The Look

‘This book is a skillfully crafted rollercoaster of excitement, fear and shocks’
Reading Zone

‘The book has one of the best endings I’ve read.’ – 4.5 stars
The Bookbag

‘Fiendishly dark, with a sense of humour. CJ Skuse always inspires deep author envy’ – Keren David, YA Book Prize Nominee on Monster

‘It’s an absolute page-turner! I gobbled it up in one sitting, and it kept me guessing right till the end. A deliciously creepy horror story, served up with CJ’s trademark humour.’ – Cat Clarke

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves

THEN
Ella, Max, Corey, Fallon and Zane.

The Fearless Five, inseparable as children growing up in a sleepy English seaside town. But when Max’s older sister is killed, the friendship seems to die with her.

NOW

Only Max and Ella are in touch, still best friends and a couple since they were thirteen. But Ella is hiding things – like why she’s afraid to take their relationship to the next level. And when underdog Corey is bullied, the Fearless Five are brought back together again, teaming up to wreak havoc and revenge on those who have wronged them.

But when the secrets they are keeping can no longer be kept quiet, will their fearlessness be enough to save them from themselves?

‘A tale of revenge, righteousness and recovery with a heart-stopping twist – The Guardian

’Electrifying, bold, brilliant’ – Amanda Craig

The last person who called me ‘Sweetpea’ ended up dead…

I haven’t killed anyone for three years and I thought that when it happened again I’d feel bad. Like an alcholic taking a sip of whisky. But no. Nothing. I had a blissful night’s sleep. Didn’t wake up at all. And for once, no bad dream either. This morning I feel balanced. Almost sane, for once.

Rhiannon is your average girl next door, settled with her boyfriend and little dog…but she’s got a killer secret.

Although her childhood was haunted by a famous crime, Rhinannon’s life is normal now that her celebrity has dwindled. By day her job as an editorial assistant is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friend’s plans for marriage and babies whilst secretly making a list.

A kill list.

From the man on the Lidl checkout who always mishandles her apples, to the driver who cuts her off on her way to work, to the people who have got it coming, Rhiannon’s ready to get her revenge.

Because the girl everyone overlooks might be able to get away with murder…

‘This isn’t a book for the squeamish or the faint-hearted … think Bridget Jones meets American Psycho’ – Red

You can buy any of C J Skuse’s books here or from your local bookshop!

A huge thank you to the wonderful C J Skuse fan’s that provided me with quotes for this post.  I highly recommend all of these books with all of my heart and soul from our April Author Of The Month!

And remember if you read, review and link up any of CJ’s  books for our #BritishBooksChallenge17 April link up here you will gain an extra entries into the April Prize Pack Draw!

Are you a C J Skuse Fan?  Do you have a favourite book?  Are you new to C J Skuse?   I would love to hear from you!  Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this review or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy!

Happy Reading!

Tales Post – British Books Challenge 2017 – April

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Welcome to the British Books Challenge 2017 – April!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

It’s now spring and the clocks have sprung forward!  Now we have all caught up on or lost hour I’m sure we all have lots of exciting reading ahead!

And again I’ve been blown away by all of your amazing reviews linked up for the March British Books Challenge! You all did SO amazing!  I’m so glad to see you are all enjoying the challenge so much!  I heart you all very much!

94 reviews of books by British Authors were linked up in March!

That makes a grand total of 334 reviews of books by British Authors in total since we started in January!

*hi fives*

And thank you so much for embracing our author and debut of the month for March as well as all of the other amazing books you all read!

Thank you all!

Lets hop, skip and jump to April!

About The British Books Challenge

The British Books Challenge is a reading challenge that will be running here on Tales Of Yesterday between 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017 and the main focus of the challenge is reading and reviewing books by British authors.

I have created a #BritishBooksChallenge17 summary page here which will also keep track of my own progress in the challenge too.

If you have not signed up yet there’s still plenty of time – find out more about the challenge here

Please note you can sign up to the challenge at any time throughout the year but only sign up entries made on or before the 31st December 2016 will be entered to win the sign up prize.

This is the first time I am hosting this particular challenge and I have lots of things planned for us all!

I have been in touch with lots of publishers who have kindly donated lots of lovely prize packs for us throughout the year for the challenge!

Right lets get the ball for April rolling starting with the winner of the March Prize Pack!

With thanks to the lovely people at HQ March’s prize pack contained the following three books…..

All valid reviews and links by British Authors that were linked up on the March linky here were eligible to be entered to win the March prize pack. With people who read any books by our Author Of The Month, Melinda Salisbury and/or our Debut’s of the month, Open by Gemma Cairney, earning extra entries.

But there can only be one winner!

And the winner is…….

Bibliobeth

With her review of … A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale

Congratulations!

Please email me your address so that I can arrange for your prize to be sent out to you!

**EXCITING NEWS ALERT**

The lovely winner of the February Prize Pack, Mel, and subsequent winner Andrea have kindly said I can pick a runner up for two of the books they already has out of the February Prize pack – please check the February post to see if it was you!

I hope everyone also enjoyed all the extra giveaways I ran on my blog or via twitter over March too 🙂

April’s prize pack has been kindly donated by the lovely people at Egmont / Electric Monkey and contains the following five books…..

The first book in a stunning new fantasy adventure trilogy, perfect for readers aged 9+ and fans of Philip Pullman, Piers Torday, Abi Elphinstone, Katherine Rundell and Frances Hardinge.

In the sky, the fire spirits dance and ripple. Grandma says they showed our Tribe that I’d be a captain, before I was even born.

Ever since Ma died, Mouse has looked after her little brother, Sparrow, dreaming of her destiny as captain of the Huntress. But now Da’s missing, Sparrow is in danger, and a deathly cold is creeping across Trianukka . . .

Sea-churning, beast-chattering, dream-dancing, whale-riding, terrodyl-flying, world-saving adventure. 

Jemma knows who did the murder. She knows because he told her. And she can’t tell anyone. 

Fourteen-year-old Jemma has severe cerebral palsy. Unable to communicate or move, she relies on her family and carer for everything. She has a sharp brain and inquisitive nature, and knows all sorts of things about everyone. But when she is confronted with this terrible secret, she is utterly powerless to do anything. Though that might be about to change…

A page-turning thriller seen through the eyes of a unique narrator, this is a truly original, heart-rending  and compulsive book for young adult readers. Perfect for fans of Wonder, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Looking for JJ.  

What price for peace on Wrath? The blood-curdling sequel to science-fiction epic The Sign of One.

Hiding out in a Gemini stronghold, Kyle is finding out that being a hero is a bit of a let-down. The rebels may have struck a blow against the Slayer army, but victory is far from won and Wrath is as hostile as ever. Kyle finds himself caught between his ident brother Colm, who he saved from certain death, and his friend Sky, who is desperate to follow up a trail that may or may not lead to her lost sister.

When the Slayers offer a peace deal with a sting in its tail, the rebels are split into factions – with Kyle at its centre. There’s no choice but to run – and this time the path leads deep into Reaper territory, into the No-Zone.

A hilariously funny and deliciously romantic ‘clean teen’ book for teens. Perfect for fans of Geek Girl and Girl Online.

Everybody wants to be a famous It Girl. Don’t they?

Anna Huntley’s aims in life:

1) To recreate famous film scenes with Dog (pet Labrador) such as the lift from The Lion King during that Circle of Life song.

2) To not accidentally set Deputy Queen Bee, Josie Graham’s, hair on fire. Again.

3) To keep first and only school friends by not doing anything in usual manner of socially inept dork and outcast.

4) To work out whether 1) and 2) constitute being socially inept – or outcastish.

5) To hide in the cupboard FOR LIFE after her dad gets engaged to one of the most famous actresses EVER, the paparazzi move in and everyone in school (The World) is on the brink of discovering why no one wants to be friends with Anna . . .

A fantastic, laugh-out-loud read for girls aged 11+ who love Louise Rennison and Zoella.

The much anticipated follow-up title from the multi-award winning author of The Bunker Diary, recipient of the 2014 Carnegie Medal for an outstanding book for young adults.

Elliot is terrified of almost everything.

From the moment he was born, his life has been governed by acute fear. The only thing that keeps his terrors in check are the pills that he takes every day.

It’s Christmas Eve, there’s a snowstorm and Elliot’s medication is almost gone. His mum nips out to collect his prescription. She’ll only be 10 minutes – but shen she doesn’t come back, Elliot must face his fears and try to find her. She should only be 400 metres away. It might as well be 400 miles…

Born Scared joins the ranks of Jennifer Niven’s All the Bright Places, Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of A Funny Story, and Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why as an example of teen fiction offering a frank and intelligent portrait of mental illness.

A huge thank you to Egmont / Electric Monkey for donating this super brilliant Prize Pack for April!

I also have a couple of special post from these authors going up throughout April too!

One winner will be picked at random from the list of valid reviews submitted each month and will be announced in the following month’s review link up post. The winner will then have 1 week to contact me to claim their prize or a new winner will be chosen. Obviously the more reviews you enter the greater your chance of winning and don’t forget you gain extra entries for any reviews by Debut or Author of the Month for April! It doesn’t matter if you only review one book (or even skip a month or two in the challenge!) you’ll still be entered for each review you do write.

Please Remember…..

Only participants with a valid sign up page that has been linked here are eligible for entry to the monthly prize packs mentioned on this monthly link up page – you can still sign up here

When you add your link to the Mr. Linky below please make sure you link directly to your review, not just to your blog/vlog (invalid links will be deleted)

Books must have been read and reviewed in 2017 to count towards the challenge so those books you read last year but reviewed in 2017 don’t count!  Only books reviewed in April on your blog will count towards the challenge (you could have read them in earlier in the year though – I’m feeling kind 🙂 )

Also, please make sure that the reviews you link are for books written by British Authors – they can be born in Britain (living here or abroad) or they can be adopted British Authors (who were born elsewhere and now live here) but if they don’t fit into one of those categories then they don’t count. (as above invalid links will be deleted and won’t get you an entry into the prize pack). Please note that Britain includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, I’m afraid authors from Southern Ireland don’t count.

Also see the Author Of The Month and Debut Of The Month section for ways to gain extra entries each month!

And lastly feel free to share your reviews on social media using the #BritishBooksChallenge17 hashtag – it’s not compulsory but it would be fun to share any great British Books you have loved with others!

Lets get chatting and celebrating all of the brilliant British books and authors that we have and all of the wonderful British books that we are reading!

Always remember – never tweet an author into a negative review and be constructive.

For more information about the #BritishBooksChallenge17 click here

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their titles through the British Books Challenge giveaways please contact me by email.

And the #BritishBooksChallenge17 Author Of The Month for April is…….

C J Skuse!

With 5 brilliant YA books under her belt C J is releasing her first Adult book, Sweet Pea this month and I’m so proud that she is our April Author Of The Month!

Not heard of CJ and her books?  I have you covered!

Look out for a Spotlight post in the next few days about CJ and her brilliant books!

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up any books by the author of the month (in the same month that they are author of the month only) then that one review will get you an extra entry into the monthly prize pack draw.  So a double entry for one review!

If the author has multiple books and you read them all you will gain a double entry for each review of each book.

I also have a special treat lined up too!

Look out for a post with the lady herself going live at some point in April with a giveaway!

You can find previous posts from CJ on my blog or by clicking on the links below …

Hot Boys In My Books!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their titles through the British Books Challenge author of the month then please contact me by email.

Again here are so many good debuts coming out this month that it was really hard to decide which to pick, but I thought we would do things a little different this month and have a debut illustrator of the month…..

So the #BritishBooksChallenge17 Debut Illustrator Of The Month for April is…….

The Pavee and the Buffer Girl by Siobhan Dowd Illustrated by Emma Shoard

Siobhan Dowd is obviously not a debut author but the illustrations but our debut Illustrator of the month Emma Shoard are simply gorgeous and full of emotion and I am super excited to read this book!

Not heard of The Pavee and the Buffer Girl by Siobhan Dowd Illustrated by Emma Shoard? I have you covered!

Look out for a Spotlight post in the next few days about this book!

You can find a previous post from Emma Shoard on my blog or by clicking on the link below …

The Pavee and the Buffer Girl Mini Animation – Cave

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up a review of The Pavee and the Buffer Girl by Siobhan Dowd Illustrated by Emma Shoard (in the same month that they are author of the month only) then that one review will get you an extra entry into the monthly prize pack draw.  So a double entry for one review!

I also have some special treats lined up too!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their debut through the British Books Challenge debut of the month then please contact me by email.

As well as the above I have lots of other exciting posts and giveaways going up throughout the month too which I will share using the hashtag so do look out for those too!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

As well as following the hashtag #BritishBooksChallenge17 I would also suggest following my blog using your preferred feed subscription (by email by filling in the subscription box at the top of my blog , BlogLovin’ etc) in order to keep up with the latest news and posts regarding this challenge throughout 2017!

Here’s to a wonderful April!

Now for the important part, make sure you link all of your reviews using the Mr. Linky form below. In the Your Name field please include your blog name, the title of the book and the author. Make sure the link takes me directly to your review or your entry won’t count and will be deleted from the list.

Name – Please add your name and blog / YouTube channel e.g Chelley Toy – Tales Of Yesterday

URL – Please add a direct link to your review post here




Spotlight – Author Of The Month – Melinda Salisbury

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I am so excited to have announced on the 1st of March that the awesome Queen Melinda Salisbury is our #BritishBooksChallenge17 Author Of The Month for March 17!

You can find out more about the #BritishBooksChallenge17 here

I am a huge HUGE fan of Melinda and her books are full of worlds that will leave you breathless by the end.  Melinda’s The Sin Eater’s Daughter trilogy is not to be missed!  Melinda Salisbury is a HUGE UKYA talent and I am so excited to shine the spotlight on her and her wonderful books as Author Of The Month!

And remember if you read, review and link up any of Melinda’s books for our #BritishBooksChallenge17  March link up here you will gain an extra entries into the March Prize Pack Draw!

Today I am honoured that this post is also featuring as part of the fab blog tour and I have a special signed giveaway which will be running through my twitter account.

About Melinda Salisbury

When not working on her next novel Melinda Salisbury is busy reading and travelling, both of which are now more addictions than hobbies.  She lives by the sea, somewhere in the south of England.

You can find out more about Melinda Salisbury on her website – www.melindasalisbury.com

Or why not follow Melinda on Twitter – @MESalisbury

The Books And Why We Love Melinda Salisbury

Seventeen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she’s engaged to the prince, Twylla isn’t exactly a member of the court.

As the Goddess embodied, Twylla instantly kills anyone she touches. Each month she’s taken to the prison and forced to lay her hands on those accused of treason. No one will ever love a girl with murder in her veins. Even the prince, whose royal blood supposedly makes him immune to Twylla’s fatal touch, avoids her company.

But then a new guard arrives, a boy whose easy smile belies his deadly swordsmanship. And unlike the others, he’s able to look past Twylla’s executioner robes and see the girl, not the Goddess. Yet Twylla’s been promised to the prince, and knows what happens to people who cross the queen.

However, a treasonous secret is the least of Twylla’s problems. The queen has a plan to destroy her enemies, a plan that requires a stomach-churning, unthinkable sacrifice. Will Twylla do what it takes to protect her kingdom? Or will she abandon her duty in favour of a doomed love?

You can find my review of The Sin Eater’s Daughter here

Return to the darkly beautiful world of The Sin Eater’s Daughter with a sequel that will leave you awed, terrified . . . and desperate for more. Ever since her brother Lief disappeared, Errin’s life has gone from bad to worse. Not only must she care for her sick mother, she has to scrape together rent money by selling illegal herbal cures. But none of that compares to the threat of the vengeful Sleeping Prince whom the Queen just awoke from his enchanted sleep. When her village is evacuated as part of the war against the Sleeping Prince, Errin is left desperate and homeless. The only person she can turn to is the mysterious Silas, a young man who buys deadly poisons from Errin, but won’t reveal why he needs them. Silas promises to help Errin, but when he vanishes, Errin must journey across a kingdom on the brink of war to seek another way to save her mother and herself. But what she finds splits the world as she knows it apart, and with the Sleeping Prince drawing nearer, Errin must make a heartbreaking choice that could affect the whole kingdom…

You can find my review of The Sleeping Prince here

The final battle is coming… As the Sleeping Prince tightens his hold on Lormere and Tregellan, the net closes in on the ragged band of rebels trying desperately to defeat him. Twylla and Errin are separated, isolated, and running out of time. The final battle is coming, and Aurek will stop at nothing to keep the throne forever… Explosive, rich and darkly addictive, this is the stunning conclusion to Mel Salisbury’s internationally best-selling trilogy that began with THE SIN EATER’S DAUGHTER

The Scarecrow Queen is the highly anticipated and captivating finale in the internationally bestselling trilogy that began with The Sin Eater’s Daughter. Published by Scholastic 2 March 2017.

You can buy any of Melinda Salisbury’s books here or from your local bookshop

Giveaway

With thanks to the lovely people at Scholastic I have one Signed copy of The Scarecrow Queen to giveaway via twitter here

Good Luck!

Blog Tour

You can follow or catch up on the rest of this fab blog tour at the following stops!

A huge thank you to the wonderful Melinda Salisbury fan’s that provided me with quotes for this post.  I highly recommend this trilogy with all of my heart and soul from out March Author Of The Month!

Also a huge thank you to Lorraine at Scholastic for having me as part of the blog tour, for fully embracing all things British Books Challenge and for the giveaway prize!

And remember if you read, review and link up any of Mel’s books for our #BritishBooksChallenge17 March link up here you will gain an extra entries into the March Prize Pack Draw!

Are you a Melinda Salisbury Fan?  Do you have a favourite book out of the trilogy?  Are you new to Melinda Salisbury?   I would love to hear from you!  Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this review or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy!

Happy Reading!

Tales Post – British Books Challenge 2017 – March

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Welcome to the British Books Challenge 2017 – March!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

Did everyone survive Valentines and Pancake Day?

I mean how quick did February go?!

And yet again you all did SO amazing on the February British Books Challenge 2017 !  There was some fantastic reviews yet again this month and I’m so glad to see you are all enjoying the challenge so much!  You guys are all the awesomes!

112 reviews of books by British Authors were linked up in February!

That makes a grand total of 240 reviews of books by British Authors in total since we started in January!

*squeals in excitement*

And thank you so much for embracing our author and debut of the month for February as well as all of the other amazing books you all read!

Thank you all!

Let move onto March!

About The British Books Challenge

The British Books Challenge is a reading challenge that will be running here on Tales Of Yesterday between 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017 and the main focus of the challenge is reading and reviewing books by British authors.

I have created a #BritishBooksChallenge17 summary page here which will also keep track of my own progress in the challenge too.

If you have not signed up yet there’s still plenty of time – find out more about the challenge here

Please note you can sign up to the challenge at any time throughout the year but only sign up entries made on or before the 31st December 2016 will be entered to win the sign up prize.

This is the first time I am hosting this particular challenge and I have lots of things planned for us all!

I have been in touch with lots of publishers who have kindly donated lots of lovely prize packs for us throughout the year for the challenge!

Right lets get the ball for March rolling starting with the winner of the February Prize Pack!

With thanks to the lovely people at Usborne February’s prize pack contained the following three books…..

All valid reviews and links by British Authors that were linked up on the February linky here were eligible to be entered to win the February prize pack. With people who read any books by our Author Of The Month, Abi Elphinstone and/or our Debut’s of the month, Who Let The Gods Out by Maz Evans, earning extra entries.

But there can only be one winner!

And the winner is…….

Mel – The Book Moo

With her review of …And A Happy New Year ? by Holly Bourne

Congratulations!

**EXCITING NEWS ALERT**

The lovely winner Mel has kindly said I can pick a runner up for this prize as she already has two of these books already!

Mel will be receiving a copy of Unconventional from the Prize Pack.

Therefore the winner of What I Couldn’t Tell You and Broken Sky is……

Kelly @ Kelly’s Ramblings

With her review of Margot & Me by Juno Dawson

Congratulations!

Please both email me your address so that I can arrange for your prizes to be sent out to you!

I hope everyone also enjoyed all the extra giveaways I ran on my blog or via twitter over February too 🙂

March’s prize pack has been kindly donated by the lovely people at HQ Stories and contains the following three books (we snuck two non British authors into this prize pack this month – they were that could how could we possibly say no)…..

Beneath the surface lies a terrible secret….

Hollywood, 1975: Tragedy sends troubled film star Vivien Lockhart into the arms of Giovanni Moretti, and it seems her fortunes have finally changed. Until she meets his sister, and learns that dark shadows haunt her new husband’s past…

Tuscany, Present day: Everyone in London is searching for Lucy Whittaker – so Lucy needs to disappear. But her new home, the crumbling Castillo Barbarossa, is far from the secluded paradise it seemed.

Across the decades, Vivien and Lucy find themselves trapped in the idyllic Italian villa.

And if they are ever to truly escape its walls, they must first unearth its secrets…

Rebecca meets Sante Montefiore in this atmospheric tale of lies, obsession, and betrayal…

How far would you go to protect your daughter?

Since the night she was attacked, Jenny Kramer hasn’t been able to recall what happened. Her parents and the doctors saw to that. Her mother couldn’t prevent the terror in the woods, but she’s done all she can to stop it ruining Jenny’s life. The only thing that now bothers Jenny is the scar carved into her lower back. Which she can’t stop touching.

But if Jenny can’t remember her attacker, he can’t be caught. He could be the man next to her right now, the one who caught just her eye.

And he hasn’t forgotten anything…

Fifteen year old Aki Simon has a theory.

And it’s mostly about sex.

No, it isn’t that kind of theory. Aki already knows she’s bisexual–-even if, until now, it’s mostly been in the hypothetical sense.

Aki’s theory is that she’s only got one shot at living an interesting life–-and that means she’s got to stop sitting around and thinking so much. It’s time for her to actually do something. Or at least try.

So when Aki and her friend Lori set off on a trip to a small Mexican town for the summer, and Aki meets Christa–-slightly-older, far-more-experienced–-it seems her theory is prime for the testing.

But something tells her its not going to be that easy…

A huge thank you to HQ Stories for donating this brilliant Prize Pack for March!

I also have a couple of special post from these authors going up throughout March too!

One winner will be picked at random from the list of valid reviews submitted each month and will be announced in the following month’s review link up post. The winner will then have 1 week to contact me to claim their prize or a new winner will be chosen. Obviously the more reviews you enter the greater your chance of winning and don’t forget you gain extra entries for any reviews by Debut or Author of the Month for March! It doesn’t matter if you only review one book (or even skip a month or two in the challenge!) you’ll still be entered for each review you do write.

Please Remember…..

Only participants with a valid sign up page that has been linked here are eligible for entry to the monthly prize packs mentioned on this monthly link up page – you can still sign up here

When you add your link to the Mr. Linky below please make sure you link directly to your review, not just to your blog/vlog (invalid links will be deleted)

Books must have been read and reviewed in 2017 to count towards the challenge so those books you read last year but reviewed in 2017 don’t count!  Only books reviewed in March on your blog will count towards the challenge (you could have read them in January or February though – I’m feeling kind 🙂 )

Also, please make sure that the reviews you link are for books written by British Authors – they can be born in Britain (living here or abroad) or they can be adopted British Authors (who were born elsewhere and now live here) but if they don’t fit into one of those categories then they don’t count. (as above invalid links will be deleted and won’t get you an entry into the prize pack). Please note that Britain includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, I’m afraid authors from Southern Ireland don’t count.

Also see the Author Of The Month and Debut Of The Month section for ways to gain extra entries each month!

And lastly feel free to share your reviews on social media using the #BritishBooksChallenge17 hashtag – it’s not compulsory but it would be fun to share any great British Books you have loved with others!

Lets get chatting and celebrating all of the brilliant British books and authors that we have and all of the wonderful British books that we are reading!

Always remember – never tweet an author into a negative review and be constructive.

For more information about the #BritishBooksChallenge17 click here

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their titles through the British Books Challenge giveaways please contact me by email.

And the #BritishBooksChallenge17 Author Of The Month for March is…….

Melinda Salisbury!

With the final book in the Sin Eaters Daughter Trilogy, The Scarecrow Queen released this month is seems only fitting the Queen Mel is our March author of the month!

Not heard of Mel and her books?  I have you covered!

Check out a this Spotlight post about Melinda, her books and why we love her – here

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up any books by the author of the month (in the same month that they are author of the month only) then that one review will get you an extra entry into the monthly prize pack draw.  So a double entry for one review!

If the author has multiple books and you read them all you will gain a double entry for each review of each book.

I also have a special treat lined up too!

Look out for a guest post with the lady herself going live at some point in March with a special signed giveaway of The Scarecrow Queen!

You can find my review of The Sin Eaters Daughter here and The Sleeping Prince here

You can also find out about a previous Evening with Melinda Salisbury here

#BritishBooksChallenge17

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their titles through the British Books Challenge author of the month then please contact me by email.

Again here are so many good debuts coming out this month that it was really hard to decide which to pick…..

So the #BritishBooksChallenge17 Debut Of The Month for March is…….

Open: A Toolkit for How Magic and Messed Up Life Can Be by Gemma Cairney

I am super excited to read this book!  I have a feeling it’s going to be amazing!

Not heard of Open: A Toolkit for How Magic and Messed Up Life Can Be or Gemma Cairney? I have you covered!

Check out a Spotlight post going live on Tales on the 5th March!

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up a review of Open: A Toolkit for How Magic and Messed Up Life Can Be by Gemma Cairney (in the same month that they are author of the month only) then that one review will get you an extra entry into the monthly prize pack draw.  So a double entry for one review!

I also have some special treats lined up too!

Look out for a Q&A with the lady herself, Gemma Cairney at some point in March!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their debut through the British Books Challenge debut of the month then please contact me by email.

As well as the above I have lots of other exciting posts and giveaways going up throughout the month too which I will share using the hashtag so do look out for those too!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

As well as following the hashtag #BritishBooksChallenge17 I would also suggest following my blog using your preferred feed subscription (by email by filling in the subscription box at the top of my blog , BlogLovin’ etc) in order to keep up with the latest news and posts regarding this challenge throughout 2017!

Here’s to a wonderful March!

Now for the important part, make sure you link all of your reviews using the Mr. Linky form below. In the Your Name field please include your blog name, the title of the book and the author. Make sure the link takes me directly to your review or your entry won’t count and will be deleted from the list.

Name – Please add your name and blog / YouTube channel e.g Chelley Toy – Tales Of Yesterday

URL – Please add a direct link to your review post here




Spotlight – Debut Of The Month – Who Let The Gods Out? by Maz Evans

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I am so excited to have announced on February 1st that the super awesome Maz Evans is our #BritishBooksChallenge17 Debut Of The Month for February 17 with her debut Who Let The Gods Out?!

You can find out more about the #BritishBooksChallenge17 here

Who Let The Gods Out? was released on the 2nd Febraury 2017 published by the awesome Chicken House and is set to be a runaway success!

Who Let The Gods Out is currently sitting very high on my February TBR and from what I have heard already I’m in for a huge treat!  Maz Evans is super funny and I’m sure that her debut is going to make me smile from ear to ear.

I’m super excited to be shining the spotlight on Maz and Who Let The Gods Out today along with some love for Who Let The Gods Out from some lovely people.

And remember if you read, review and link up Who Let The Gods Out? for our #BritishBooksChallenge17  February link up here you will gain an extra entry into the February Prize Pack Draw!

Look out for a special Who Let The Gods Out post from Maz this February…..and there may even be a giveaway!

About Maz Evans

Maz’s writing career began in journalism as a TV critic and feature writer. She has written for many national titles and is a regular pundit on The Jeremy Vine Show. After working as a creative writing lecturer, she founded Story Stew, an anarchic creative writing programme that has visited primary schools and literary festivals around the UK, including Hay and Imagine. Maz lives in London with her husband and four children.

You can find out more about Maz on her website – www.maz.world

Or why not follow her on twitter – @MaryAliceEvans

About Who Let The Gods Out?

Elliot’s mum is ill and his home is under threat, but a shooting star crashes to earth and changes his life forever. The star is Virgo – a young Zodiac goddess on a mission. But the pair accidentally release Thanatos, a wicked death daemon imprisoned beneath Stonehenge, and must then turn to the old Olympian gods for help. After centuries of cushy retirement on earth, are Zeus and his crew up to the task of saving the world – and solving Elliot’s problems too?

You can buy a copy of Who Let The Gods Out here or from you local bookshop

Praise for Who Let The Gods Out?

I managed to catch some quotes from some lovely people about Who Let The Gods Out….

A huge thank you to the lovely Who Let The Gods out fan’s that provided me with quotes for this post.  Who Let The Gods Out comes highly recommend as our Debut Of The Month!

Look out for a special Who Let The Gods Out post from Maz this February…..and there may even be a giveaway!

And remember if you read, review and link up Who Let The Gods Out? for our #BritishBooksChallenge17  February link up here you will gain an extra entry into the February Prize Pack Draw!

Have you read Who Let The Gods Out?  What did you think?  What was your favourite part?  If you have not read it yet have we tempted you to go and grab a copy?   I would love to hear from you!  Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this review or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy!

Happy Reading!

Tales Post – British Books Challenge 2017 – February

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Welcome to the British Books Challenge 2017 – February!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

And where on earth did January go?!  It zoomed past us so quick!

I can’t quite believe it’s now February!

You all did SO amazing on the January #BritishBooksChallenge17 !  I was overwhelmed and so proud of all of the reviews that were linked up and all of the British reading everyone did!

128 reviews of books by British Authors were linked up in January!

*proud face*

128!

And it was so so lovely that so many of you embraced our author and debuts of the month for January as well as all of the other amazing books you all read!

Thank you all!

Forward march to February!

About The British Books Challenge

The British Books Challenge is a reading challenge that will be running here on Tales Of Yesterday between 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2017 and the main focus of the challenge is reading and reviewing books by British authors.

I have created a #BritishBooksChallenge17 summary page here which will also keep track of my own progress in the challenge too.

If you have not signed up yet there’s still plenty of time – find out more about the challenge here

Please note you can sign up to the challenge at any time throughout the year but only sign up entries made on or before the 31st December 2016 will be entered to win the sign up prize.

This is the first time I am hosting this particular challenge and I have lots of things planned for us all!

I have been in touch with lots of publishers who have kindly donated lots of lovely prize packs for us throughout the year for the challenge!

Right lets get started with February starting with the winner of the January Prize Pack!

With thanks to the lovely people at Harper Collins Children’s January’s prize pack contained the following four books…..

All valid reviews and links by British Authors that were linked up on the January linky here were eligible to be entered to win the January prize pack. With people who read any books by our Author Of The Month, Juno Dawson and/or our Debut’s of the month, Wing Jones and Gilded Cage, earning extra entries.

But there can only be one winner!

And the winner is…….

Lizzie at HuxTales – @littlehux

With her review of Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard

Congratulations!

Please email me your address so that I can arrange for your prize to be sent out to you!

I hope everyone also enjoyed all the extra giveaways I ran on my blog or via twitter over January too 🙂

February’s prize pack has been kindly donated by the lovely people at Usborne and contains the following three books…..

Perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell and Stephanie Perkins.

Lexi Angelo has grown up helping her dad with his events business. She likes to stay behind the scenes, planning and organizing…until author Aidan Green – messy haired and annoyingly arrogant – arrives unannounced at the first event of the year. Then Lexi’s life is thrown into disarray.

In a flurry of late-night conversations, mixed messages and butterflies, Lexi discovers that some things can’t be planned. Things like falling in love…

When love turns to jealousy, when jealousy turns to rage, when rage turns to destruction…

Laura was head over heels in love with Joe. But now Laura lies in a coma and Joe has gone missing. Was he the one who attacked her?

Laura’s sister Tessie is selectively mute. She can’t talk but she can listen. And as people tell her their secrets, she thinks she’s getting close to understanding what happened on that fateful night.

Welcome to a ‘perfect’ world.  Where war is illegal, where harmony rules. And where your date of birth marks your destiny. But nothing is perfect. And in a world this broken, who can Amity trust?

From the bestselling author of the Angel trilogy comes Broken Sky – an exhilarating epic set in a daring and distorted echo of 1940s America and first in a new trilogy.

A huge thank you to Usborne for donating this brilliant Prize Pack for February!

I also have a couple of special post from these authors going up throughout February too!

One winner will be picked at random from the list of valid reviews submitted each month and will be announced in the following month’s review link up post. The winner will then have 1 week to contact me to claim their prize or a new winner will be chosen. Obviously the more reviews you enter the greater your chance of winning and don’t forget you gain extra entries for any reviews by Debut or Author of the Month for February! It doesn’t matter if you only review one book (or even skip a month or two in the challenge!) you’ll still be entered for each review you do write.

Please Remember…..

Only participants with a valid sign up page that has been linked here are eligible for entry to the monthly prize packs mentioned on this monthly link up page – you can still sign up here

When you add your link to the Mr. Linky below please make sure you link directly to your review, not just to your blog/vlog (invalid links will be deleted)

Books must have been read and reviewed in 2017 to count towards the challenge so those books you read last year but reviewed in 2017 don’t count!  Only books reviewed in February on your blog will count towards the challenge (you could have read them in January though – I’m feeling kind 🙂 )

Also, please make sure that the reviews you link are for books written by British Authors – they can be born in Britain (living here or abroad) or they can be adopted British Authors (who were born elsewhere and now live here) but if they don’t fit into one of those categories then they don’t count. (as above invalid links will be deleted and won’t get you an entry into the prize pack). Please note that Britain includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, I’m afraid authors from Southern Ireland don’t count.

Also see the Author Of The Month and Debut Of The Month section for ways to gain extra entries each month!

And lastly feel free to share your reviews on social media using the #BritishBooksChallenge17 hashtag – it’s not compulsory but it would be fun to share any great British Books you have loved with others!

Lets get chatting and celebrating all of the brilliant British books and authors that we have and all of the wonderful British books that we are reading!

Always remember – never tweet an author into a negative review and be constructive.

For more information about the #BritishBooksChallenge17 click here

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their titles through the British Books Challenge giveaways please contact me by email.

And the #BritishBooksChallenge17 Author Of The Month for February is…….

Abi Elphinstone!

I am the biggest fan of Abi and her books and I am SO excited that she is our February author of the month!

Not heard of Abi and her books?  I have you covered!

Check out a Spotlight post going live on Tales on the 2nd February!

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up any books by the author of the month (in the same month that they are author of the month only) then that one review will get you an extra entry into the monthly prize pack draw.  So a double entry for one review!

If the author has multiple books and you read them all you will gain a double entry for each review of each book.

I also have a special treat lined up too!

Look out for a guest post with the lady herself going live at some point in January with a special giveaway of Abi’s brilliant books!

Find a review of The Dreamsnatcher here or a review of The Dreamsnatcher by my son Corey here

You can also find out about the research behind The Dreamsnatcher here

Or Top 10 Shadowkeeper songs here

#BritishBooksChallenge17

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their titles through the British Books Challenge author of the month then please contact me by email.

There are so many good debuts coming out again this month that it was really hard to decide which to pick…..

So the #BritishBooksChallenge17 Debut Of The Month for February is…….

Who Let The Gods Out?  by Maz Evans

I am super excited to read this book!  I have a feeling it’s going to be amazing!

Not heard of Who Let The Gods Out? or Maz Evans?  I have you covered!

Check out a Spotlight post going live on Tales on the 3rd February!

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up a review of Who Let The Gods Out? by Maz Evans (in the same month that they are author of the month only) then that one review will get you an extra entry into the monthly prize pack draw.  So a double entry for one review!

I also have some special treats lined up too!

Look out for a Who Let The Gods Out related post some point in February with a special giveaway!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

If you are a publisher who publishes books by British authors or British author who would be interesting in promoting their debut through the British Books Challenge debut of the month then please contact me by email.

As well as the above I have lots of other exciting posts and giveaways going up throughout the month too which I will share using the hashtag so do look out for those too!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

As well as following the hashtag #BritishBooksChallenge17 I would also suggest following my blog using your preferred feed subscription (by email by filling in the subscription box at the top of my blog , BlogLovin’ etc) in order to keep up with the latest news and posts regarding this challenge throughout 2017!

Here’s to a wonderful February!

Now for the important part, make sure you link all of your reviews using the Mr. Linky form below. In the Your Name field please include your blog name, the title of the book and the author. Make sure the link takes me directly to your review or your entry won’t count and will be deleted from the list.

Name – Please add your name and blog / YouTube channel e.g Chelley Toy – Tales Of Yesterday

URL – Please add a direct link to your review post here




Spotlight – Debut Of The Month – Gilded Cage by Vic James

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I am over the moon to have announced on January 1st that the wonderful Vic James is our #BritishBooksChallenge17 Debut Of The Month for January 17 with her intriguing debut Gilded Cage which if the first book in the Dark Gifts trilogy!

You can find out more about the #BritishBooksChallenge17 here

Gilded Cage is due to be released on the 26th January 2017 published by the fantastic Pan Macmillan and is set to be an unforgettable read!

Gilded Cage is currently sitting very high on my January TBR and from what I have heard already I’m in for one hell of a ride!  Vic is always so lovely and supportive on twitter and I just cannot wait to read her writing and jump into the world she has created!

I’m super excited to be shining the spotlight on Vic and Gilded Cage today along with some love for Gilded Cage from fellow bloggers and authors alike.

And remember if you read, review and link up Gilded Cage for our #BritishBooksChallenge17  January link up here you will gain an extra entry into the January Prize Pack Draw!

Look out for a special Gilded Cage related post with Vic this January…..and there may even be a (massive)  giveaway!

*winks*

About Vic James

Vic lives in London’s Notting Hill, but her life is more action-adventure than rom-com

She studied History and English at Merton College, Oxford where Tolkien was once professor. Relocating to Rome, she completed her doctorate in the Vatican Secret Archives (they’re nothing like The Da Vinci Code), then spent five years living in Tokyo as a Daiwa Scholar. There she learned Japanese and worked as a journalist.

Returning to the UK, Vic became investigations producer for Channel 4 news, then began directing current affairs documentaries for BBC1 and BBC2. She now writes full time.

Vic has scuba-dived on Easter Island, camped at Everest Base Camp , voyaged on one of the last mail boats to St Helena, frolicked with sea-lions in the Galapagos,, slept in a shipping container in the Falklands, driven a dog-sled in the Artic, hang-glided across Rio de Janeiro, and swum the Hellespont from Europe to Asia.

But there’s still little she loves more than lying in bed till midday with a good book and a supply of her favourite biscuits. 

You can find out more about Vic James on her website – www.vicjames.co.uk

Or why not follow her on twitter – @DrVictoriaJames

About Gilded Cage

A thrilling Orwellian vision of Britain, with a rebellious Hunger Games heart, Gilded Cage is the astonishing debut novel from Vic James, and the first title in her electrifying The Dark Gifts Trilogy.

A modern Britain
An age-old cruelty

Britain’s magically skilled aristocracy compels all commoners to serve them for ten years – and now it’s the Hadleys’ turn. Abi Hadley is assigned to England’s most ruthless noble family. The secrets she uncovers could win her freedom – or break her heart. Her brother Luke is enslaved in a brutal factory town, where new friends’ ideals might cost him everything.

Then while the elite vie for power, a young aristocrat plots to remake the world with his dark gifts. As Britain moves from anger to defiance, all three must take sides. And the consequences of their choices will change everything, forever.

You can buy a copy of Gilded Cage here or from your local bookshop

Praise for Gilded Cage

I managed to catch some quotes from some lovely bloggers and authors about Gilded Cage….

A huge thank you to the lovely Gilded Cage fan’s that provided me with quotes for this post.  Gilded Cage comes highly recommend as our Debut Of The Month!

Look out for a special Gilded Cage related post with Vic this January…..and there may even be a (massive)  giveaway!

And remember if you read, review and link up Gilded Cage for our #BritishBooksChallenge17  January link up here you will gain an extra entry into the January Prize Pack Draw!

Have you read Gilded Cage?  What did you think?  What was your favourite part?  If you have not read it yet have we tempted you to go and grab a copy?   I would love to hear from you!  Why not leave a comment using the reply button at the top of this review or tweet me on twitter using @chelleytoy!

Happy Reading!

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