HUGE YA Giveaway from #bibliopunkk

Fellow book blogger and all-around awesome person, the Bibliopunkk, is hosting a FANTASTIC giveaway over on her blog. Seventeen books total are up for grabs to one lucky winner! The books include:

• Heaven by Alexandra Adornetto
• Outpost by Ann Aguirre
• The Rising by Kelley Armstrong
• The Dead Girls Detective Agency by Suzy Cox
• Spirit's Chosen by Esther Friesner
• Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon
• The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton
• Through to You by Emily Hainsworth
• The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore
• Arcadia Burns by Kai Meyer
• The Innocents by Lili Peloquin
• Feedback by Robison Wells
• Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin
• Kiss Me Again by Rachel Vail
• Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone
• Quaranteen: The Loners by Lex Thomas
• Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Not a bad haul, is it? So, if you're interested in trying your hand at winning this bunch of great books, stop over to Bibliopunkk and enter the giveaway, which is open until the end of August.

Good luck!

Lost Worlds, Coveted Ones | Shelf Awareness

Beth Kephart is the author of Small Damages (Philomel), about 18-year-old Kenzie, sent to Spain to hide her pregnancy, who learns to love the country, its people and herself

Lost Worlds, Coveted Ones

Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol: The Night That Changed the Life of Eliza Scrooge adapted and illustrated by Rod Espinosa

Title: Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol: The Night That Changed the Life of Eliza Scrooge
Author: Adapted and illustrated by Rod Espinosa
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 99
ISBN: 9781595829917
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Author Website:Rod Espinosa
Twitter: @DarkHorseComics, @Rod_Espinosa
Format: eBook provided through NetGalley for review
Available: October 3, 2012
Rating: 3/5 stars

Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol: The Night That Changed the Life of Eliza Scrooge adapted and illustrated by Rod Espinosa is a rather straightforward graphic novel adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, with the rather obvious change being that Ebenezer Scrooge is now Eliza Scrooge, running a textiles shop instead of a banker/solicitor. Why this change was made, I'm not entirely sure. When I read the premise, that Ebenezer was now going to be portrayed as Eliza, I assumed that there were going to be some significant changes to the story, but there aren't. I guess I think if you're going to make a change that significant, it should have some sort of ramification on how the story is told. I mean, if all you're doing is changing the gender, just stick with the original and Ebenezer. Maybe Espinosa like drawing women more?

That said, the art isn't bad. Espinosa has a nice clean style, reminiscent of an anime/manga look. I actually wouldn't be put off checking out some of his other works, but as far as this volume is concerned, it just didn't seem to be necessary to make such a drastic change.

Rose of Fire by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Title: Rose of Fire
Series: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books Prequel
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 42
ISBN: 9780062237040
Publisher: HarperCollins
Author Website: carlosruizzafon.com
Twitter: @HarperCollins, @ZafonOficial
Format: eBook 
Rating: 4/5 stars

Rose of Fire is a free ebook prequel to the Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. The story is described as telling the history of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, which intrigued me as this remains on of the main mysteries for me in the first two books of the series, The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game. However, while the story does tell the origins, it doesn't tell the complete history of the Cemetery, so while it answers some questions, it really just leaves as many questions. Part of me would like a more complete history of the Cemetery, but there's still a part of me that doesn't want it explained, that feels that the origins of the Cemetery should remain shrouded in mystery.

The ebook also includes the first four chapters of the final book, The Prisoner of Heaven, so if you are a fan of Zafón and the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, this would be an excellent read. Of course, the ebook is free, so really, how can you go wrong?

The Templeton Twins Have An Idea, Book 1 by Ellis Weiner, illustrated by Jeremy Holmes

Title: The Templeton Twins Have An Idea, Book 1
Series: The Templeton Twins
Authors: Ellis Weiner, illustrated by Jeremy Holmes
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 232
ISBN: 978-0811866798
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Book Website: templetontwins.tumblr.com
Author Website: www.ellisweiner.com
Artist Website: Mutt Ink, Jeremy Holmes Templeton Twins page on dribbble.com
Twitter: @ChronicleBooks, @EllisWeiner, @jeremydraws 
Format: eBook provided through Edelweiss for review
Available: August 15, 2012
Rating: 3/5 stars

This was a cute and clever quick little read. I'd place this somewhere between A Series of Unfortunate Events (which I certainly liked) and The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (which I distinctly did not). It's not surprising then that this book fell somewhere in between as far as my enjoying it. One thing that this book has going for it, above and beyond its story is the actual look of the book. Everything in the book is printed in a blue tone, almost giving the book the feeling of blueprints, which is apropos given the Twins' father is an inventor of some renown and the Twins like to pride themselves of coming up with ideas of their own.

When their father is accused of stealing an idea that is used in his latest invention, the Twins find themselves in some very precarious predicaments (hence the Unfortunate Events vibe) and then they go on an adventure to try to prove their father's innocence (where Pseudonymous Bosch vibe comes from - the adventure part, not the trying to prove their father's innocence part). Needless to say, precarious predicaments that the Twins find themselves in are wildly unbelievable and the adventures are fun, but for me at least, the book just lacked a certain something. Of course, there's also the fact that I'm not the target age for this particular book, but I do think my younger self would have loved this book. The adult me can appreciate the work that is put into the overall packaging though, since the book is quite nicely presented. Let your younger ones have a go at this, as I think it will appeal to them immensely.

What I'm reading now...

Somehow, this one got past me in middle/high school and some friends are doing an online book club discussion about it as a re-read for them, so I volunteered to be the virgin and give it a go.