Tormund from Game of Thrones :-)

(I still prefer the book)

Pimp my Booklikes Design Giveaway

Win a custom booklikes design for your blog.

• Win a custom design ONLY for your booklikes blog
• This design only includes the design, not extra graphics
• This can not be transfered or cashed in
• Design has a value of $150

How to win?

• Leave a comment to win
• Extra entries can be earned by reblogging this image or liking it. Just comment and let me know that you did it with an extra comment

Good luck!

Update - I'll run this giveaway until February 23rd. I'll contact the winner in messages and then post the finished design on my blog and FB pages.

BookExpo America (BEA) is the largest annual book trade fair in the United States. One of the most important events on BEA is Bloggers Conference. This year BEA is held in New York in late May (May 29- 31). And we hope to be in NYC during that time.  We'd love to meet you, chat and hang out :-)

This year's BEA Bloggers Conference topics aren't set yet but we have some ideas for discussion panels. Our session proposal is about creating book blogging communities and supporting mutual relationships, i.e.: Book Bloggers Connect! 

What do you think? Let us know about your ideas and topic suggestions in comments below or send them directly to BEA Bloggers Conference Team here: 2014 Call For Ideas — Now Open!

Let's connect on BEA Bloggers Conference :-) There's no better place to make it happen!

That's kind of... disturbing.

Title:

Lesser Creatures

Who Wrote it?

Pushcart prize nominee and Horror Writers Association member, Peter Giglio.

Plot in a Box:

The dead are coming back to life, but they don't want to eat your brain, they want to destroy the economy.

Invent a New Title for this Book:

Dole of the Dead

Read This If You Like:

Handling the Undead, They Came Back, The Returned

Meet the Book's Leads:

Monika Janus, who has more self-awareness than your average second-lifer; and Eric Cooper, who was her boyfriend before she died and just so happens to be her new co-worker. Talk about awkward!

Said Leads Would Be Portrayed In a Movie By:

Sara Paxton, that cutie-patootie from the Innkeepers for Monika; and—I don't know why, but Patrick Warburton as her older, ad-man boyfriend. It just works for me.

Setting: Would You Want To Live There?

I do not want to live in a world populated by zombies if I am not allowed to kill them videogame style sans repercussion.

What Was Your Favorite Sentence?

"Grandma hunched in the entryway, her pendulous, decomposing breasts hanging low."

The Verdict:

It must be a daunting task to attempt a zombie novel in this day and age, especially if you're trying to do something different. Still, writers continue to rise to the challenge, like the undead from their graves. And just like their decomposed brethren, most of these writers are easily brushed aside without so much as a second thought. It's when they are in large numbers that they are dangerous, wreaking havoc on an already saturated market.

There are a few zombie stories that have managed to stand out, however. Namely, the examples listed above. Each one has approached the genre from a more social, moral, or even practical angle than its predecessors. Zombies aren't a threat to human existence, they an emotional and economic burden on their families, and by extension, society as a whole.

This is what attracted me to Lesser Creatures. It sounded like it was cut from the same cloth. And to a certain extent it is, although based on the synopsis I was expecting something a bit more satirical. The idea of the undead as social leech is ripe for it. A classic tale of the Haves vs. the Have-nots, detailing the plight of those less fortunate—the second-lifers. Instead, Giglio has chosen to tell a simpler story. I'd almost call it a romantic comedy. I definitely see it appealing more to a YA audience than the hardcore horror crowd. It even has a bit of magical realism thrown in, if you can accept a world populated by the walking dead as "real." The satirical elements are there, but mostly to set up the environment in which the characters interact. It is not the primary concern.

Which is fine. Lesser Creatures is still a different type of zombie novel. It was just a different different type of zombie novel than I expected.

Hear ye, hear ye! The Social Potato is looking for two co-bloggers!

I’ve been blogging for about a year now, and submitted more than two hundred reviews. Lately however, I’ve rekindled with some of my… other hobbies… and don’t have as much time to read and review. I am therefore looking for two co-bloggers - ONE international and ONE Filipino / Two Filipinos - to join me and spread our love for books! It’s not a bad job, I swear! There are just some rules that are (unfortunately) set in stone just for quality control:

- You MUST submit a minimum of ONE review a week. It doesn’t have to be an ARC.
- You WILL have access to the ARCs I have. What you want to read and review, I will share it with you. However, I WILL NOT request books in your stead. You are instead welcome to use The Social Potato’s site statistics for requesting. I will give you a list of what I have and you can choose from there, and by borrowing my ARCs, you also give me the right to submit YOUR review to the publisher/s, with that review representing the blog.
- You CANNOT use The Social Potato for blog tours. I have decided to keep this blog a REVIEW-ONLY BLOG, with the occasional essay or two on book topics. I am open to guest posts and interviews, but you need to talk about it with me first. I am only willing to consider this if it were a personal request from the publisher/author.
- NO EROTICA OR HARDCORE ADULT MATERIAL. You can read those at your own discretion, but you’re not allowed to post the review here. We have a particular audience and I don’t want to make the material R18. Sarreh D:
- You MUST have a Twitter account.
- You MUST schedule your review, with at least a 24-hour gap before it gets posted on the site, to give me enough time to edit the formatting and to add a header for the slideshow on the front page. If you wrote a review on a Monday, the earliest it can be posted is Tuesday.
- You MUST be able to express yourself and your arguments clearly. I read serious reviews and write serious reviews and I expect you to do the same. If there’s something you didn’t like about a book, say why. If there’s a book that had a huge impact in your life, say how. If there’s a character you abhor, say who and let’s kill him with fire (JOKE!).
- You MUST have a good grasp of the English language.

Sorry, does it sound harsh? XD But yeah, those are the rules that I must enforce if you’re interested in becoming my co-blogger. In exchange, though, you get access to a LOT of ARCs. Even physical books (this will only be available to a Filipino blogger)! I’m very generous so you don’t have to worry about that.

Interested? Just send an e-mail to emeraldsapphire001@gmail.com with the following details:

Your name
Your age
Your own blog (If you have one. Not mandatory)
Your twitter handle
A little bit about yourself
A link to a POSITIVE REVIEW
A link to a NEGATIVE REVIEW

 

 

 

Please only send an e-mail if you are serious. Thank you so much guys and I really hope I can find these two lovely people soon!

A Cat's Guide To Taking Care Of Your Human

This is the book I'm giving away tomorrow here: http://booklikes.com/giveaways/show/203/the-lord-of-the-rings-based-on-the-50th-anniversa-j-r-r-tolkien :-) Anybody? :-)