Good Deeds Week March 30th – April 5th

Welcome to my weekly roundup of my year long challenge to do one Good deed a day for a year. This challenge began back in April 2013 and is still going strong, I’m now entering my final few weeks. My inspiration came from reading “A Year of Doing Good” by Judith O’Reilly. Here is what I’ve been up to this week.

March 30th – Last night we changed our clocks in line with British Summertime, so I’m a bit late this morning. It’s also Mother’s Day, so I’ve been giving and receiving gifts as all Mothers should.

March 31st – A really busy day today. I’ve just done my morning at school. Now the April Issue of Fleet Life has just dropped through my door, so I’ve written a draft ready to coincide with the online version. http://www.fleetlife.org.uk click on the online directory and fins me on page 18. This months books are;

Please Call Me Derek by Mac Black

The Medea Complex by Rachel Florence Roberts

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Calculated by R.S. Novelle

Spirit Warriors by D.E.L Connor

It’s also my first month writing book reviews for Fleet Life’s sister magazine The Elvetham Heath Directory. http://www.ehd.org.uk, again click on the online directory and find me on page. This months featured books are different to Fleet Life although I will mix and match on occasions.

The Dating Game by Susan Buchanan

Greening of a Heart by Stepheny Houghtlin

Red Clay and Roses by S.K. Nicholls

The Griffin’s Boy by Julia Hughes

The Black Hours by Alison Williams.

With my A to Z Challenge starting tomorrow too, I’m sending out reminders to authors whose books are featuring in the first week. I want it to be a good give and take, I promote their books and they promote me.

April 1st – It’s here the first Day of the April A to Z blogging challenge with well over 1900 bloggers signed up this year it’s going to be huge. I’ve been all over the place visiting blogs and writing comments. My own challenge started with A World Apart by Camelia Miron Skiba. Catch up with posts in my Challenge round-up post, or from the A to Z page at the top of this blog.  The sun has finally burnt off the morning fog so now I’m off out in to the garden for a bit of one on one with nature after all my computing.

April 2nd – Online versions of both local magazines made it up on the internet today, so posted my pieces about them and let all the authors know. Having an absolute blast with the A to Z challenge, I can’t believe how many people are coming to my blog it is fantastic. Today’s book was Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lamb, Lizzie helped promote the post with her Facebook group of friends which I really appreciated. My slideshow on the sidebar is getting plenty of attention and good comments which is great to hear, have been helping a couple of people out with setting up their own gallery.

April 3rd – Met a friend for coffee in town and caught up with all her news. Went out this evening with more friends and took a birthday present with me for one of them whose birthday is in the next few days. Today’s book on the A to Z Challenge was Coronado’s Treasure by Randy Mixter. I’m thrilled to see lots of re-tweeting going on from other authors who will be taking part in my challenge and from followers of my blog, thanks everyone it means a lot.

April 4th – It’s a Derek Day today on the A to Z with Derek’s Revenge by Mac Black and a plug for the whole series. Went to the local market this morning, met a friend who has offered to pick us up in a few weeks time to attend a party. My Good deeds are mainly internet bound this week, visiting lots of blogs and leaving comments, tweeting and sharing posts. Finished reading Chill Factor by Rachel Caine and left a review on Goodreads.

April 5th – Everlasting by Candace Knoebel is the book for letter E in the A to Z today. Went for a quick walk this afternoon and picked up some litter. Am reading the second book in the Wardstone Chronicles, The Spook’s Curse, by Joseph Delaney, finished it late last evening and posted my review on Goodreads.

April Issue of Elvetham Heath Directory

This is my first month writing book reviews for Fleet Life’s sister magazine The Elvetham Heath Directory. For an online edition go to http://www.ehd.org.uk, click on the online directory and find me on page 6. This months featured books are different to Fleet Life although I will mix and match on occasions.

 

The Dating Game by Susan Buchanan

Greening of a Heart by Stepheny Houghtlin

Red Clay and Roses by S.K. Nicholls

The Griffin’s Boy by Julia Hughes

The Black Hours by Alison Williams.

Good Deeds Week 2nd – 8th March

Welcome to my weekly roundup of my year long challenge to do one Good deed a day for a year. This challenge began back in April 2013 and is still going strong. My inspiration came from reading “A Year of Doing Good” by Judith O’Reilly. Here is what I’ve been up to this week.

March 2nd – Helped a fellow author out, Rachel Roberts, promote her book in a Kindle Countdown Deal, she was at no.27 in the top 100, with her book Medea Complex.

March 3rd – Helped out at school this morning. Had some wonderful help from fellow bloggers with some of the last letters on my A to Z Challenge. Volunteered to read and review Me and Billy The Kid for author Briana Vedsted.

March 4th – Got up seriously early this morning so that I could get my social networking done before sitting in traffic jams with the kids and finally getting to work. After this morning I really appreciate the fact that usually, I can avoid rush hour. Have been promoting The Griffin’s Boy and author Julia Hughes over the last 2 days. Julia’s been busy herself helping out a fellow author who is fighting cancer. Author Stephen C Spencer writes the Paul Mallory series, America’s answer to James Bond. Julia and Sean Campbell (who was our guest a few weeks ago with his book Cleaver Square) are helping Stephen to re-launch his books. I’ll be helping out on the blog with the re-launch in a few weeks and will appreciate help from you all to spread the word where possible during that time.

March 5th – Bought Land of the Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel book 6 in the Earth’s Children series, for my Mum ready for Mother’s Day. We’ve both enjoyed the series and Mum has been looking for a copy for a while. Started reading The Singing Bowl by Roy Dimond. Good Deeds received; Today I was a guest author over at fellow book reviewer A Woman’s Wisdom.

March 6th – Made a charity donation whilst out shopping today in one of my favourite stores, Lush.

March 7th – Posted my review of Flawed Perfection by Cassandra Giovanni on Goodreads and Amazon inline with the book launch today. Dropped off a birthday gift for a very good friend.

March 8th – Today’s book on the blog is a FREE travel download available from my friends at Blackfrog Publishing. “Overlanding- How, What, Where and Who with…”  by Andy Robinson and Kirsty McGregor. Check out the link to the post here http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4UG

I’m ploughing my way through The Singing Bowl by Roy Dimond it really is an brilliantly epic book full of amazing characters and places, it is about a Tibetan Monk who is given a mystery to solve and a lost book to find as he flees from Chinese communists who want to destroy the ancient religion. It spans many cultures and travels through The Ancient World, The Old World and will end in The New World. The monk learns so much from inspiring people, I feel that I am travelling along with him. My deed today is to spread news of this book to you. May you too, find time to read this book and enjoy it as much as me.

Guest Author Julia Hughes

Today our guest is author Julia Hughes who wrote yesterday’s book “The Griffin’s Boy” here is a link to it if you missed it. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4oS

1) Where is your home town?

London, the most beautiful city in the world.

2) How long have you been writing?

Always, and I’ve always enjoyed writing, but … around six years or so, something clicked. I realised that the books I most enjoy reading are those that allow me as a reader to fill in the gaps. As a fledgling author, I tended to paint the entire picture, but now, I have enough confidence in my stories to allow my readers’ imagination to take flight.

3) Why did you decide to write The Griffin’s Boy?

In “The Griffin Cryer”, my main character, Frankie, is in a hopeless place. Her brother, Michael, is in a coma. He shows no signs of recovery, and has had to be resuscitated several times. Frankie’s estranged father has already given his consent for medical staff to allow his son to die. Frankie’s mum begins to express her doubts that they are doing the right thing in keeping Michael artificially alive. Frankie feels suffocated by her mum’s over-protectiveness, and alienated from her peers at school. When she accidentally summons the griffin and his rider into this world, Frankie is forced out of her own misery. She’s determined to help griffin and rider back to their own world. Then she becomes aware that she can also help her brother back into this world. I wanted to write a story for young adults, and I know that often teenagers can feel very alone, and even powerless. But this isn’t the case, if you believe in yourself, you can change your own world; even something as small as taking up a new hobby, or learning a new art or craft can make a difference. Originally, the griffin and his rider served to illustrate the premise that out of the blue, something very special can happen in anyone’s life. But the griffin was awfully mischievous, and his rider was fantastically proud, and really quite arrogant (as befits someone who rides a griffin), and even while I was sketching out “The Griffin Cryer”, I knew I had to write their story.

4) Can you tell us more about the training a Griffin and his Rider would expect to get?

I put this question to Griffin Master Romulus. His response was “work hard and study, and who knows – maybe you’ll be selected as one of my recruits and discover for yourself what makes a griffin rider.”

5) How long is the training and what are their roles afterwards?

Again, Griffin Master Romulus answered: “Once a recruit is selected, training will continue until they can demonstrate their ability to patrol and protect both as a team, and individually.”

6) Where and when is the book set?

“The Griffin’s Boy” is set a few years before “The Griffin Cryer”, and takes place on Ella-Earth. Set in a parallel universe, Ella-Earth is our world’s twin, except evolution has taken a different path, and mythical beasts exist.

7) Can you explain ley lines in more detail?

Ley lines are another name for the telluric currents that criss-cross both this world, and our twin, Ella-Earth. They’re invisible to the human eye, but our ancestors were aware of them, and built many monuments along these ley lines to mark them, the most famous example being Stonehenge. In our world, birds and other animals use them to navigate. In Ella-Earth, they are used as conduits by spirits, both good and bad. Ley lines are visible to griffins, who are the sworn enemies of demons and bad spirits; and so griffins are the natural guardians of ley lines.

8) For those who haven’t read The Griffin Cryer how does it link to The Griffin’s Boy?

There are hints in “The Griffin Cryer” that the mysterious rider summoned by Frankie has no right to be a griffin rider. Once in a single generation, a person is born with the talent to cry down or summons griffins. However, it’s unheard of for a nameless nobody to be invited to join the elite Griffin Riders. I knew that Balkind’s rider must have achieved something very special for Romulus to select him as a recruit. This is his story.

9) Do you intend to write any more adventures for the Griffin Rider?
One of the Guardians of the Stones is still missing, as is his crystal. I’m certain there are still stories to be told. In particular, Samara is a strong character, and I’ve a feeling sparks will definitely fly when she meets Frankie.

10) Where can readers find out more about you and your writing?

Drop by my site anytime: JuliaHughes.co.uk, or visit my Amazon author page, it’s been a delight to meet with your readers, and I hope to stay in touch!

Find a copy of this book from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

The Griffin’s Boy by Julia Hughes

The Griffin’s Boy by Julia Hughes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having previously read the Griffin Cryer, I was delighted to be able to read The Griffin’s Boy, a companion book which tells us the story behind the Griffin Rider. Balkind is a young Griffin selected for special training, but a mishap with one of the new recruits put his training chances at risk. Neb is that boy who grooms the Griffins and he is determined to help Balkind.

Disobeying orders, Neb and Balkind set off to follow Griffin Master Romulus, but on the way they end up making a daring rescue of a young boy from the village of Darkling. By the time the Griffin Master arrives in the village Neb and Balkind are heroes. They make new friends and soon Neb finds himself disobeying more orders in a desperate attempt to save Samara from danger and a very unpleasant marriage.

There are some great details about the Griffins, their wings, feathers and flight veins, plus we get to read about how the Griffins patrol the ancient Ley lines, sensing the energy from the lines and keeping demons at bay. You can almost feel the magic that flows from Balkind when he faces and destroys a demon.

This book was a pleasure to read, Julia Hughes has written another great book.

Find a copy of this book from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

Julia will be joining us on the blog tomorrow as our guest author.

Rosie’s Good Read Collections – Children’s books

Welcome to “Rosie’s Good read Collections”, I’ve put together the books I’ve read into subject headings that I think the books belong to, for you to browse. Some of these books would easily cross over into the Young Adult market too.

Hurrah! This is the first in the Becoming Anorak Nid series by Alix B macey. Perfect for 8+ children + reluctant readers. Nid avoids water at all costs – in whatever form it takes; puddles, ice-bergs, baths, even spit – do you? In the face of all this, for goodness sake don’t spill the beans, but Nid has a job to do – will he be able to pull it off though? Purposefully, with a touch of mysterious silence, lurking in the corner of Mr. Busy’s bumble sale – underneath holey socks, smelly jumpers and odd knickers, is the magical answer to all of Nid’s bonkers thinking – that could change his life forever… Joined by his astonishing mute ant friend, Sile Ant – who for obvious reasons has no speaking part (quite odd in a book really?), Nid heads off on one of the most challenging adventures he will ever have to undertake –ever, in the whole world of England. Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk. Amazon.com. My Review;http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-2MN Alix is a local author and I was very pleased to support her work.

 Whoopee! Phew..the story thankfully continues in this, the 2nd in the exciting fictional children’s adventure “Becoming Anorak Nid” Series by Alix. B Macey.
Has he become Anorak Nid, or has he began to become? Is he becoming… or just beginning? When we left Nid things were getting very strange indeed. Where had Cricket the cricket mysteriously disappeared to? What was that ribboned scroll in his inside toffee wrapper pocket of his new anorak and just who were those mysteriously vague words intended for?
If you think this is all strange enough (or absolutely boring) you haven’t even started yet! Things are really starting to get a wee bit kooky in “Becoming Anorak Nid, in a second – and why orange marmalade really isn’t his colour!” Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, My Review;http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-2Qs

Explosions, sabotage, caves, deadly warnings and a dangerous red-haired man. Imagine The Hardy Boys meet Tom Sawyer. Add a layer of teen angst and excitement plus a mysterious group trying to stop a new dam while stirring up racial tensions. That’s STEPS INTO DARKNESS, the next book in the Shakertown Adventure Series by Ben Woodard. Fourteen-year-old Tom Wallace again makes plans to escape the small town in the 1923 Kentucky countryside. The town that won’t let him forget his past, when a horrific event changes his mind. He teams with his cousin Will and young FBI agent Rick Sweeney to try to solve a perplexing mystery. Attempts on the boys’ lives and a bewildering list of suspects keep them on edge and confused. An old man gives them a clue that leads to a false accusation and embarrassment until they discover the real villain, and then wish they hadn’t. STEPS INTO DARKNESS is a fun, page-turning thriller with a hint of romance that delivers adventure and mystery while exploring the fears of a teen living with a frightful memory. Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, My Review; http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-2MC

Rhyllann Jones’s geeky cousin Wren is convinced an ancient diary can lead them to the mythical treasure of Bad King John, last seen 900 years ago. Trouble is, “The Brotherhood” will stop at nothing to get to it first. Even more dangerous in Rhyllann’s eyes is Detective Inspector Crombie. This father of four daughters knows Rhyllann is lying, and is certain Wren is a master manipulator. Crombie is determined to keep the boys safe at any costs. This leads “The Brotherhood” to take desperate action to learn the secrets Wren keeps, plunging Crombie and Rhyllann into a race against time across the wild Cornish moors. “But the treasure is guarded. He who wishes to enter the secret chamber must first ensure he knows of the Celtic rites and mysteries. No other hand is permitted to touch Caliburn, sacred sword of the Celtic Nations.” The Celtic Cousin Adventures continue with A Ripple in Time, a time travelling fantasy, and An Explosive Time in which Crombie makes a comeback, along with a surprising guest star. Goodreads, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com. Several of Julia’s other books would also fit here, The Griffin Cryer appeared in my YA collection, and Julia has a new book out The Griffin’s Boy, which I am planning on reviewing in March.