Closing out the Virtual Book Tour for Sophie’s Turn: Thank You All, and check out the Review Highlights

So…. After four cracking months, the virtual blog tour for my masterpiece romantic debut, Sophie’s Turn, is drawing to a close. It’s been a lot of fun, quite a lot of work, and absolutely exhilarating.

I’ve met wonderful bloggers, made new friends, learned an awful lot about publishing, self-promotion, and technology… Yes, I didn’t even have a blog when it all started! So take a look around you and see how far I’ve come.

I’ve had an opportunity to visit many other blogs for interviews or guest blogs, and obviously I gained many reviews. This is a kind of stock-taking exercise for me to tell you all how it went, and to offer my sincere thanks to all my supporters.

Right, let’s have the stats.

The blog tour saw:

17 reviews (and at least one more still to come, possibly more….).  Most of these were either four or five stars (and the others weren’t rated because the reviewers didn’t use ratings systems)!!!   Am I chuffed, or am I chuffed?

11 interviews

3 guest blogs

11 give-aways

1 character interview

1 lounge around a (virtual) pool

Here are the review highlights… and yes, they’re all great (of course!):

“Absolutely loved it and want a sequel.” — Kristin Durham

“The attraction between Sophie and Dan is sizzling…. you can feel the heat coming off the pages!” — Shaz Goodwin

“I loved the British charm that was evident on every page, as well as the plot that kept me reading well past my bedtime.” — Jonita Fex

“Nicky Wells spins her story with a delicate hand that will have readers cheering Sophie on throughout the entire book. I felt Sophie’s confusion, her hesitance to spark up anything with Dan, her dismay at her betrayal to Tim. This was such a real book, with a real woman in a very confusing situation” — Samantha Robey

“The outcome, well what a great ending – not what I expected but totally satisfying.” — Sue Fortin

“…excellent debut novel… I love her style of writing, and this book was an absolute pleasure to read.” — Kim Nash

“Packed full of heated highs but also some very sad lows that might have you reaching for a tissue. (Loved the ending) Nicky has written a perfect ChickLit book that easily stands up against the others available today in the shops.” — Lou Graham

“I found there were also some lovely humorous touches in this novel which were not predictable” — Rea Sinfield

“This is a great debut from Nicky Wells about deciding your fate.” — Christy Goldstein

“…it is really well written with an interesting and entertaining and fun storyline.” — Nikki Bywater

“While this was Nicky Well’s first novel, it’s written so well it doesn’t show at all. In fact, this book is chick-lit at its very best.” — Brittany Roshelle

“I was able to devour this novel almost as fast as I tend to wolf down a chocolate bar when I‘m in need a sugar rush, even having to be literally dragged away from the novel at one point.” — Georgina Scott

“I just love music and rockstars! So what happens when I see these two combined! THE INEVITABLE – I LOVE THE BOOK!”— Ananda

“If you are looking for an entertaining chick lit novel, then you’ve come to the right place with this one.” — Melissa Amster

“It is a delightful ‘chick-lit book; definitely one you will not be able to put down.” — Donna McBroom-theriot

“I knew this book was going to be good because I was hooked from the first chapter. … I can see this book being made into a movie…” — Flo

“I was instantly hooked from the very beginning of the novel and found the writing style to be both easy to read and gripping at the same time.”  — Sarah Taylor

And the result….?

Did it all pay off, you want to know? Did I sell any books? Yes, I have to confess, I did—sort of. I sold a few copies. Not many by a best-selling author’s standards, not enough to make a living or scrape into any charts… but a few. Let’s call it a slow trickle, albeit a fairly steady one. Steady enough to make me realise that word is getting out, slowly; that notice is being taken, seriously; that my work is being talked about, all over the world (oh yes, baby, all over the world); reviews are being read, excitedly; and thus my platform is slowly consolidating.

More importantly, I have just found out that two people nominated “Sophie’s Turn” as their favourite chick-lit read for 2011 in the Chick Lit Central Holiday give-away competition.  OK, so it’s not an end-of-year poll of favourite books, nor is my book likely to be the ‘winner’ here as it were.  But that’s not the point.  The point that’s got me bowled over with awe is that two lovely readers out there enjoyed it so much, it topped their own personal charts.  And that matters to me!

Therefore, I would like to express my deep and heart-felt gratitude to all these lovely bloggers who took the time to read and review Sophie’s Turn, hosted me on their blog with an interview or in some other capacity, and generally guided me on my way. When the sequel is out…. I’ll know where to find you to do it all over again!

The Big Roll of Thank You’s Goes Out, in no particular order, to:

Shaz Goodwin at Jera’s Jamboree; Sue Fortin at lovereadinglovebooks; Georgina Scott at Chick Lit Aholic; Lou Graham at Lou Graham’s Blog; Rea Sinfield at Reabookreview; Christy Goldstein at the Chick Lit Club; Laura Williams at Bookworm Ink.; Nikki Bywater at Books4U; Kim Nash at Kim the Book Worm; Jonita Fex at The Book Chick; Kristin Durham at Kritters Ramblings; Melissa Amster at Chick Lit Central; Mandy Baggot at Mandy Baggot Author; Komal Mansoor at The Review Girl; Brittany Roshelle at The Write Stuff; Sarah Taylor at Today I’m Reading; Flo at Girls Who Love to Read; Ananda at Books to Remember; Donna Mcbroom-theriot at My Life. One Story at a Time.; Pauline M Barclay at Scibbles! and last but not least, Laurie Jenkins at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews.

I can’t tell you how much your support means to me.  Take care of yourselves… and I’ll be back before you know it.

Until then…. cheerio, my friends! xx 🙂