Monday, 5 May 2014

A to Z 2014 ~ a REFLECTION post (plus BROKEN BRANCH FALLS cover reveal!)



These things happened during April:
  • My blog hit 100k of views.
  • I hit 600 followers - woo! thanks guys! ;)
  • I took on 2 new foster kittens - arrrrgh, help me, I'm drowning!
  • My cat, Smog, sat down on one of my printed out chapters (thankfully already edited) and dragged his bum across it, leaving a distinctly brown poo smear behind.

Just so you know, I decided not to hold the poo smear against my little boy, but it did make me wonder if he was trying to tell me something ... ha.

Oh, and you know what? Something else important happened during April ...

The A to Z challenge!


This year my theme was to revisit 2012's A-Z TBR selection and report on which books I'd got around to reading. I featured the same 26 titles spotlighted in 2012, and sometimes highlighted other books I'd read during the last 2 years. If I hadn't read any books starting with that letter, or hadn't read many, I also featured some other titles still on my TBR.

So how many books of those original 26 had I got around to reading since April 2012? Here are the stats:
  • Read = 8
  • Not Read = 18
I have to say that during April this year, I actually read one of the "not read" books - my "A" book, The Anatomy of Wings. It was a 4 out of 5 star book for me. So a revised count leaves me with 9 books read and 17 still to go. That's a fairly poor effort, but then I have read a lot of other books since April 2012. ;) So there you go. The verdict is in!

To conclude I will say I am an A to Z '14 survivor, and I can't see any reason not to do it all again next year. :) It's always a blast.


I'm stoked to be participating in the cover reveal for Tara Tyler's
BROKEN BRANCH FALLS.
Her cover promises a rather beast-tastic read! ;) What do you think?


Welcome to the Forest!

It's time for the highly anticipated, most spectacular cover reveal of the day!

BROKEN BRANCH FALLS (MG Fantasy)
by Tara Tyler
Release Date: June 24, 2014
Publisher: Curiosity Quills

Gabe is an average fifteen-year-old goblin. He’s in the marching band, breezes through calculus, and gets picked on daily by the other kids at school, especially the ogres. Gabe’s closest friends are goblins like him, but Gabe is tired of being a goblin – he’d like to try other things. And he has his eye on the new ogress at school. It’s against all beastly rules, but there’s just something about her.

When a prank goes wrong, Gabe is forced to join the football team as punishment – but finds a way to make it work. Soon the whole school is getting in on the fad of mingling with other species. Too bad the adults have to step in and ruin things by threatening to destroy the school and split up Broken Branch Falls. And Gabe is their scapegoat. With help from friends, old and new, Gabe sets out on a quest for the Book of Ages, which holds the laws of all beastkind and hopefully the key to saving Broken Branch Falls. After all that trouble, it better work.

Add it to your GOODREADS list!

Twitter ~~~ Facebook ~~~ Blog

Also by Tara Tyler, techno-thriller detective series,
The Cooper Chronicles, Book One: POP TRAVEL

Tara Tyler started out as a math teacher. After having a hand in everything from waitressing to rocket engineering and living up and down the Eastern US, she now writes and teaches in Ohio with her three active boys and Coach Husband. Currently, she has two series, The Cooper Chronicles (techno-thriller detective capers) and Beast World (MG fantasy) She's an adventure writer who believes every good story should have action, a moral, and a few laughs!

AND you can get up to five entries in this fun raffle just for commenting on five of the many cover reveal posts (see below) - This week only!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

25 comments:

  1. Just laughed out loud-don't we just love our cats lol :)

    Congrats on getting through the challenge and hitting the 600 follower mark, that's a great blogging milestone!

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  2. Get that cat a tushie-wipe!
    If you got any reading done during the Challenge, I am impressed. Thanks for participating.
    And awesome cover, Tara!

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  3. Hi, Trisha,

    Congrats on completing the A-Z!! YAY! ME too! At least you read quite a bit over the past few years. I haven't and that is something I need to do more of... there's just not enough hours in the day...

    CONGRATS TARA.... Your cover is SPOOKTACULAR.... Such fun! All the best!

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  4. Congratulations on surviving the challenge! So happy to go through it with you! ♥

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  5. Congrats on surviving the Challenge! You had a great April. :) And yay for Tara! She has a great new cover.

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  6. Always good to hear the positives. Glad you made it through another one.

    Good cover Tara.

    Lee
    Wrote By Rote
    An A to Z Co-host blog

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  7. Ew! I'm sorry about your printed chapters.

    600 followers is amazing! And I thought passing 100 was a big deal. :P

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  8. LOL, cats can be so charming sometimes!

    Congrats on all the followers!

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  9. I'm thinking Smog's saying something about fostering two kittens. Not very charitable, cats. ;-)

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  10. ugh on the cat and congrats on the other stuff.

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  11. Loved your four comments. Bad kitty! Tara's plot sounds really fun. Didn't those species every hear of diversity.

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  12. Congrats A to Z champ and we made it.
    Cheerz

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  13. Congrats to Tara on the fantastic cover!

    And getting some of those 26 books read is a good thing. After all, it's not like you only read seven books between last year's A-Z to this year's.

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  14. I enjoyed your bookish posts.

    Congrats to Tara.

    Cats sure do love paper.

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  15. Bad Smog! Congrats Tara on the cool story and amazing cover. Trust me my TBR is way worse. A-Z was amazing this year and congrats on finishing Trish.

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  16. 100K of blog views and 600 followers? That's excellent!
    Tara's book cover is awesome!
    Which middle-grader will be able to resist those cute, green faces?
    Congrats Tara!

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  17. I switched my cat to food with no red dye in it, just boring brown for her. She pukes less and scoots less. The vet said the red dye can give them an allergic reaction and causes a gland near their tushie to swell and makes it itchy.

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  18. Yay for Tara!

    100k views! Yippee! I'll be there in just a couple more days, and I'm stoked. I loved the posts I got here for. My TBR list is pretty scary. If I looked back on it last year, I've burned through 100 books since then, but added about 150, so I'm not sure which ones would still be lingering. Why are there so many amazing books?

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  19. Smog is an awesome name for a dominant cat, who showed his dislike of extraneous cats... ha!

    thanks so much for the cover blast! and congrats on your new numbers and completing the challenge - woot for us!

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  20. Trish, you've been busy as usual. I'm glad you've had such a good month. Tara's cover is fantastic!

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  21. Love the Survivor button! Well-deserved. I haven't been able to participate in the A-Z challenge for a couple of years, now. Bad, me. :)

    Yes, those Maine Coons get big! We have a cousin in Ohio who breeds them. They're like little tigers.

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  22. Hi, Trish
    Congrats to Tara :) Great cover!

    And I loved your A to Z theme. I tried it for the first time this year and went themeless. What a great experience.
    You hit some amazing numbers. Wow!

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  23. What a great idea for the A-Z! Can't believe I'm only getting around to commenting now...

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  24. Hi Trisha .. it's now June .. but I'm glad to see Deniz made it in late May.

    Well done on finishing the A-Z and for all the book reading and the new followers getting past the 00 mark is good isn't it .. I'm slowly heading towards your 600 ...

    Cheers and glad you'll be doing it next year - Hilary

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Thanks for your words, me hearties! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog somewhere I can find it!