Tales Post – British Books Challenge 2017 – January

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Welcome to the British Books Challenge 2017!

#BritishBooksChallenge17

And Happy January!

I can’t quite believe the New Year is upon us already!

I’m so excited that so many of you have signed up for the #BritishBooksChallenge17!

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 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!

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With thanks to the lovely people at Foyles I had a £25 Foyles gift voucher that can be used in store or online to giveaway to one lucky winner that signed up for the British Books Challenge 2017 on or before the 31st December 2016!

47 people have signed up to the challenge before the 31st December (81 participants in total) so were all entered into the prize draw.

I’ve picked a winner at random….

And the winner is…….

Charlotte @ My Furry Bookshelf

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 Harper Collins Children’s and contains the following four books…..

Can true love’s kiss save the day…?

Electrifying dark magic debut by authors and sisters, Katharine and Elizabeth Corr.

Sixteeen-year-old Meredith is fed-up with her feuding family and feeling invisible at school – not to mention the witch magic that shoots out of her fingernails when she’s stressed. Then sweet, sensitive Jack comes into her life and she falls for him hard. The only problem is that he is periodically possessed by a destructive centuries-old curse.

Meredith has lost her heart, but will she also lose her life? Or in true fairytale tradition, can true love’s kiss save the day?

Can true love’s kiss break your heart…?

The spellbinding sequel to THE WITCH’S KISS by authors and sisters, Katharine and Elizabeth Corr.

It’s not easy being a teenage witch. Just ask Merry. She’s drowning in textbooks and rules set by the coven, drowning in heartbreak after the loss of Jack. But Merry is not the only one whose fairy tale is over.

Big brother Leo is falling apart and everything Merry does seems to push him further to the brink. And everything that happens to Leo makes her ache for revenge. So, when strangers offering friendship show them a different path, they’d be mad not to take it…

Some rules were made to be broken, right?

The darkly magical sequel to THE WITCH’S KISS burns wickedly bright.

For readers who loved Wonder and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time this extraordinary debut will make you laugh and cry.

A story that crosses time and generations, for adventure-loving readers young and old.

“My dad died twice. Once when he was thirty nine and again four years later when he was twelve.”

On Al Chaudhury’s twelfth birthday his beloved Grandpa Byron gives him a letter from Al’s late father. In it Al receives a mission: travel back to 1984 in a secret time machine and save his father’s life.

Al soon discovers that time travel requires daring and imagination. It also requires lies, theft, setting his school on fire and ignoring philosophical advice from Grandpa Byron. All without losing his pet hamster, Alan Shearer…

Time Travelling With a Hamster is a funny, heart-warming race-against-time – and across generations – adventure that you will won’t be able to put down.

From the author of the unforgettable bestseller TIME TRAVELLING WITH A HAMSTER comes another surprising, beautiful and funny novel about a child who, by disappearing, will write herself into your heart forever…

Turning invisible at will: it’s one way of curing your acne. But far more drastic than 13 year-old Ethel Leatherhead intended when she tried a combination of untested medicines and a sunbed.

It’s fun at first, being invisible. And aided by her friend Boydy, she manages to keep her extraordinary ability secret. Or does she…?

When one day the invisibility fails to wear off, Ethel is thrown into a nightmare of lies and deception as she struggles to keep herself safe, to find the remedy that will make her seen again – and solve the mystery of her own birth…

A huge thank you to Harper Collins Children’s for donating this brilliant Prize Pack for January!

I also have a couple of special post from these authors going up throughout January 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 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 2017 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 #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.

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

JUNO DAWSON!

I am the biggest fan of Juno and her books and I am SO excited that she is our very first author of the month!

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

Check out this Spotlight post on Juno and her books – 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 Q&A with the lady herself going live at some point in January with a special giveaway of Juno’s new book Margot & Me!

Find a review of Juno Dawson’s Say Her Name 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.

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There are so many good debuts coming out this month that it was really hard to decide which to pick…..as it’s the first month I picked two!

*cheeky grin*

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

Wing Jones by Katherine Webber

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

Not heard of Wing Jones or Katherine Webber?  I have you covered!

Check out this special spotlight post and why people are loving Wing Jones here

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up a review of Wing Jones by Katherine Webber (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 some Wing Jones related posts over the course of January with a special giveaway!

You can catch a brilliant Photo Guest Post kicking of the #WJPhotoTour here

A signed Wing Jones giveaway on twitter here

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

Gilded Cage by Vic James

I’ve heard nothing but good things about this book and I am fully intrigued by it!  I can’t wait!

Not heard of Gilded Cage or Vic James?  I have you covered!

Check out this special spotlight post and why people are loving Gilded Cage here

Don’t Forget…..

If you read, review and link up a review of Gilded Cage by Vic James  (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 Gilded Cage related post at some point in January with a special giveaway(s)!

#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.

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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!

Thanks for signing up for the British Books Challenge 2017!

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