![\"cartoon](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/booksyalove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/birthday-cake-four-candles-md.png\")
<\/a>Celebrate! (c)OCAL<\/p><\/div>\n
1. It’s BooksYALove’s fourth birthday!<\/p>\n
2. I successfully completed all 26 days of the AtoZ April Blog Challenge<\/a> (as entry #785). I didn’t have time to visit many AtoZ bloggers, didn’t get many comments or new followers (all the reasons we usually do blog challenges), but I did post on-time every day according to the alphabet and recommended 25 books, which is why I forced myself to do AtoZ during such a busy time for me.<\/p>\n 3. For the TBR2014 Challenge<\/a> (I’m #30 on list), I’m now up to 30 titles toward my goal of recommending 50+ books with 2013 (or older) copyright dates during this year!<\/p>\n Here are April’s 20 additions to my TBR2013 list – just click on the title to get my no-spoiler review in a new window:<\/p>\n All My Noble Dreams and Then What Happens<\/em><\/a> – India’s independence fight and a young British lady’s heart<\/p>\n Americus<\/a><\/em> – graphic novel about freedom to read, book-banning, and bullies<\/p>\n The Apprentices<\/em><\/a> (Apothecary, book 2) – friends battle Cold War peril to save the world<\/p>\n Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea<\/em><\/a> – beautiful boy, terrible talent, death by the shore<\/p>\n Break These Rules<\/a>: 35 YA Authors on Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself<\/em><\/p>\n The Butterfly Sister<\/em><\/a> – literary mystery as college tragedy repeats itself?<\/p>\n Control<\/em><\/a> – in 2051 un-United States, genetic diversity is illegal and profitable<\/p>\n Dead Ends<\/em><\/a> – missing dads, finding friends as unlikely allies<\/p>\n Forget Me Not<\/em><\/a> – dead to classmates through social media; paranormal limbo<\/p>\n Hypnotize Me<\/em><\/a> (book 1 of The Hypnotists) – a powerful gift, wrong hands grasping for him<\/p>\n Little Fish<\/a>: a Memoir From a Different Kind of Year<\/em> – graphic novel of small town graduate moving to big city college<\/p>\n Mountain Dog<\/em><\/a> – novel-in-verse of lonely boy, rescue dog in training, hope for safety<\/p>\n Riese: Kingdom Falling<\/em><\/a> – princess faces war and treachery<\/p>\n Screwed<\/em><\/a> – pregnant, disowned, rescued, redeemed<\/p>\n When You Were Here<\/em><\/a> – searching in Tokyo to answer California questions<\/p>\n Where Stars Still Shine<\/em><\/a> – kidnapped by mom as tot, returned to family as teen<\/p>\n The Wild Queen<\/a>: The Days and Nights of Mary, Queen of Scots<\/em><\/p>\n Will in Scarlet<\/em><\/a> – young Robin Hood legend begins<\/p>\n William Shakespeare\u2019s Star Wars: Verily, a New Hop<\/a>e<\/em> – first of trilogy, forsooth!<\/p>\n A Wounded Name<\/a>: A Tragedy<\/em> – Hamlet at boarding school, from Ophelia’s perspective<\/p>\n If a blog challenge sounds like fun to you, join me in the WordCount Blogathon<\/a> in June – a very supportive community of bloggers, lots of suggestions for posts, connections to find\/become a guest blogger, and a chance to “build up your blogging muscles” by posting all 30 days of June. Registration opens in mid-May.<\/p>\n Taking a breather from daily postings in May, but still planning to recommend a few books every week,
\n**kmm<\/p>\n