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Welcome to the British Books Challenge 2018!

#BritishBooksChallenge18 

And Happy January!

Where on earth did last year go?!

I’m so excited that so many of you have signed up for the #BritishBooksChallenge18!  It’s nice seeing some new faces and of course some British Book Challenge regulars.

Thank you all! We are all going to have so much fun!

The British Books Challenge is a reading challenge that will be running here on Tales Of Yesterday between 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2018 and the main focus of the challenge is reading and reviewing books by British authors.

I have created a #BritishBooksChallenge18 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 2017 will be entered to win the sign up prize.

This is the second time I am hosting this particular challenge and I have lots of things planned for us all to discover some amazing British Authors!

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!

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I am treating one lucky sign up winner to start off their New Year in the best bookish way possible with a Waterstones gift card of £15! If you were signed up for the British Books Challenge 2018 on or before the 31st December 2017 then you were entered into the prize draw!

22 people have signed up to the challenge before the 31st December (24 participants in total so far).  These 22 people were all entered into the prize draw.

I’ve picked a winner at random….

And the winner is…….

Dana @ Much Madness is Divinest Sense

Congratulations!

What a lovely New Year Treat!

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

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January’s prize pack has been kindly donated by the lovelies at Electric Monkey and Egmont and contains 5 the following 5 books!

A huge thank you to Electric Monkey and Egmont for donating these brilliant books to kick off our New Year in style!

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.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 January! 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 January 2018 to count towards the challenge so those books you read in December but reviewed in January don’t count!

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 #BritishBooksChallenge18 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 #BritishBooksChallenge18 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.

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And the #BritishBooksChallenge18 Author Of The Month for January is…….

MARTIN STEWART!

Before I was a writer, I was a caddie, barman, recycling technician, wine advisor, university lecturer, and English teacher. My time in the classroom inspired me to turn my pen towards writing for younger readers, and now I love visiting schools to help students develop their own writing, and to encourage them to pursue their creative ambitions. As a writer, I’m interested in the stories that take place in the shadows, and exploring the tension between laughter and fear. I love the work of John Steinbeck and Philip Pullman. More than anything else, I love to edit, because that’s where the real writing gets done. You can read about how I became a writer here. As a human being, I’m interested in spending time with my partner and daughter, running on the beach with the dog, trying to make the perfect Old Fashioned, cooking with eggs, re-watching my favourite films as often as possible, and listening to podcasts whenever I can.

You can find out more about Martin on his website – www.martinstewartwriter.com

Or follow Martin on Twitter – @martinjstewart

An atmospheric, chilling page turner from rising star Martin Stewart, reminiscent of Stand by Me and Stranger Things.

Sep, Arkle, Mack, Lamb and Hadley: five friends thrown together one hot, sultry summer. When they discover an ancient stone box hidden in the forest, they decide to each make a sacrifice: something special to them, committed to the box for ever. And they make a pact: they will never return to the box at night; they’ll never visit it alone; and they’ll never take back their offerings.

Four years later, a series of strange and terrifying events take place. Someone broke the rules, and now everyone has to pay.

But how much are they willing to sacrifice?

 

Fifteen-year-old Wulliam is dreading taking up his family’s mantle of Riverkeep, tending the river and fishing corpses from its treacherous waters. But then everything changes. One night his father is possessed by a dark spirit, and Wull hears that a cure lurks deep within the great sea-beast known as the mormorach. He realizes he must go on an epic journey downriver to find it – or lose Pappa forever.

 

 

Also check out guest posts from Martin on Tales…..

Guest Post – Letting My Nostalgic Spirit Run Free

Tales Post – An Alternative “Easter Egg”

Guest Post – Letting My Nostalgic Spirit Run Free

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.

Look out for a special post from the man himself sometime in January and there may also be a giveaway!

#BritishBooksChallenge18

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.

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

So the our #BritishBooksChallenge18 Debut Of The Month for January is…….

The Fandom by Anna Day

 

‘THE FANDOM is an absolute thrill to read … Highly recommended!’ JAMES DASHNER, AUTHOR OF THE MAZE RUNNER
Violet and her friends love being part of the fandom for The Gallows Dance. But at Comic-Con, they’re somehow catapulted into the story itself – for real. Trapped in a twisted world where they’ve accidentally killed the original hero, Rose, there’s only one way to survive: Violet must fill Rose’s shoes and put the plot back on track. No story is worth dying for … is it?

 

I’m an Author/single mum/Clinical psychologist/Geordie/ lover of stories, music and floaty things.

 

You can find out more about Anna on her website – www.annadaybooks.com

Or follow Anna on Twitter – @annadayauthor

 

Also check out posts featuring The Fandom on Tales…..

Spotlight – The Fandom by Anna Day

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up a review of The Fandom by Anna Day (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!

Look out for a special The Fandom post sometime in January and there may also be a giveaway!

#BritishBooksChallenge18

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.

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As well as following the hashtag #BritishBooksChallenge18 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 2018!

Thanks for signing up for the British Books Challenge 2018!  Happy Reading!

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 British Books Challenge sign up post here