Firstly I just want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! I can't quite believe that it is 2013 already - this last year has just flown by at a scary rate. Today is actually my third blogoversary and never in a million years did I think I'd still be blogging after all this time. I just want to say a massive thank you to all of the wonderful people I've met through blogging - the bloggers, authors and publicists - and every single person who has visited and / or commented on my blog over the last 3 years. You are what makes blogging worthwhile for me and I have loved making so many fantastic friends thanks to this blog. I still can't quite believe that people take the time to stop by and read my rambling!
Anyway, I'm very excited to start my fourth year of blogging by hosting my first ever challenge. I have to say a huge thanks to Kirsty from The Overflowing Library for all her hard work running the challenge in 2012 and for allowing me to steal huge chunks of her sign up and FAQ pages which saved me a lot of work when it came to hosting the challenge this year.
If you haven't already signed up for the 2013 British Books Challenge it's not to late, you can sign up at any point throughout the year and it doesn't matter if you read 1 book by a British author or 100 - just the fact that you're showing your support is wonderful. You can visit the Sign Up Page here and if you have any questions about the challenge you should be able to find the answers in the FAQ Page here.
Finally I'd just like to say welcome to the 2013 British Books Challenge, I'm looking forward to discovering lots of old and new British authors this year, making new blogging friends and reading all of your reviews. I'm excited that so many people are already signed up to take part and I'm hoping we might have a few last minute sign ups (I haven't even written my sign up page yet lol). Let's make 2013 the year for British books!
January Prize Pack:
There is going to be a monthly prize pack for the challenge, unfortunately due to my complete lack of organisation in the run up to Christmas I don't have the details confirmed for the January prize pack yet. My contact is currently on holiday but I'll be adding the prize pack information ASAP so keep an eye out when you come back to link your January reviews.
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. Obviously the more reviews you enter the greater your chance of winning but 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.
UPDATE:
Unfortunately I wasn't able to sort out the details for the prize pack originally planned but I'm not going to let January pass without offering a fabulous prize. I decided to pick 5 of my favourite books by British authors and I'm going to let 2 winners each pick a book of their choice. I'll be sending the prizes using the Book Depository so I'm going to make this month's pack available internationally as long as the Book Depository offers free shipping to your country. The 5 books I've chosen are:
15 Days Without A Head by Dave Cousins - read my review here
Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma - read my review here
Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson - read my review here
Nation by Terry Pratchett - read my review here
Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott - read my review here
Important Information:
- Please make sure you sign up for the challenge before you start linking your reviews, I will delete links from people who aren't registered. You can sign up HERE if you haven't already.
- When you add your link to the Mr. Linky below please make sure you link directly to your review, not just to your blog (invalid links will be deleted)
- Books must have been read in 2013 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.
- If you need ideas for books by British Authors check out the FAQ page for lots of suggestions. You don't have to choose books from these lists though - they are just to give you ideas if you need help!
Link Your Reviews:
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.
Haha! Our first review of the year, our first ever joint review and it looks like it's the first review up on the British Books Challenge 2013 too! Yay, yay, yay.
ReplyDeleteLOL that's a lot of firsts M! I'm so excited people have started posting reviews for the challenge already :o)
ReplyDeleteHehe. Good start to the year - I'm pretty sure Alison Croggon is Australian and that AE Rought is American :)
ReplyDeleteClover is right on both those authors!
ReplyDeleteYay, my first review of the year that counts towards this challenge (now to work through the rest of the ones already read last year)
ReplyDeleteLovely to see people posting reviews already
First review of the year done :)
ReplyDeleteShould have another review up early next week! I love seeing a book that I bought & wanted to read - The Lost Girl :D The debut of an author who I've actually talked to ~ fabulous British author there!
ReplyDeleteJust posted my first british author review! Soo excited about this! I hope to get at least another one done by the end of the month!
ReplyDeleteYay, I remembered to link one through :) *wonders how long this good habit will last* :)
ReplyDeleteTwo fab UK MG novels for this week, yay! Great start to the BBC.
ReplyDeleteJust posted my first review here, hopefully I'll read another one this month!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I just added my sign up link here. I have a link to add here and got confused. (I did go put the sign up link on the correct page.)
ReplyDeleteJust posted my first review! Bit of a late starter but I won't let that stop me! :-)
ReplyDeleteGetting off to a good start with this one! :-) Thanks for hosting this challenge!
ReplyDeleteI've read a few but this is the first review I've got up on the blog! Must find more british books :)
ReplyDeleteFound a new UK author :) Always good :)
ReplyDeleteBit of a slow start for me, but I've linked my first BBC read of the year :) I've been reviewing books I read in December all month, none of which count.
ReplyDelete@ Clover - thanks for checking these for me Michelle, I hadn't got around to updating the links until today but I'm just going through now and deleting any that are wrong :o)
ReplyDelete@ Kirsty - thanks for the confirmation :o)
@ Lucy - Yay for posting your first link, I'm really impressed with how many reviews people have already posted!
@ Nikki-Ann - congratulations :o) I'm going to start reading my way through the reviews now!
@ AwesomeAmy - I'm reading The Lost Girl now and loving it so far, the echoes are such a scary concept and I can't imagine how hard it must be for Eva! I have absolutely no idea how the story is going to end LOL
@ Sophie Lily - Everyone seems to be getting off to a great start to the challenge!
@ chrissireads - Everyone is doing so much better than I am at posting their links! I think I've actually managed to review 3 books by British authors now though & am just reading my 4th book :o)
@ Jesse - I have that same problem with the challenges I'm taking part in Jesse! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one LOL
@ Beth - Yay, I'm glad you're getting off to such a great start, I have a feeling that 2013 is going to be a great year for British books!
@ Mel - there's no such thing as a late starter :o) You've posted a review in January which is getting off to a great start! I'm sure we'll have some last minute people who don't even join the challenge until later on in the year LOL
@ TracyK - thanks for letting me know but don't worry about it. I've removed the incorrect link for you :o)
@ Victoria - I'm glad the challenge is going well so far & hope it continues!
@ Sarah Elizabeth - I'm glad you've found a few books to read and a new to you author too! If you need more ideas you can have a look at the suggestions on the FAQ page.
@ Clover - I was still catching up with 2012 reviews for most of the month so I have the same problem Michelle! I know once you get going with your 2013 reviews you're going to impress me with the number of books you read LOL