Free Books, Giveaways & Other Musing

If there's one thing a book hunter loves more than a book, it's a free book! Cheesy and predictable, I know but that doesn't rob it from the truth. Last year, without much announcement, I found a copy of Madeleine Wickham's - otherwise known as the Shopaholic Series writer, Sophie Kinsella - A Desirable Residence. Fearing the worse - a book hunter blackout shopping spree - I didn't know where the book came from. I checked out GoodReads, vaguely remembering that I had signed up for several of their giveaways. Lo and behold, I learned that I had won the giveaway for the novel. 

Because I'm horrible at following my preassigned queue - take this year's challenge for instance: I was supposed to read a bunch of books of and about religion and so far only managed to read an essay and half of a book - I still haven't read the novel. Today, however, I got some more amazing news:

Congratulations Guillermo!

You are one of our First Reads lucky winners! You will soon receive a free copy of Doc: A Novel in the mail. Please allow a few weeks for shipping.

Don't forget to add the book to your Goodreads currently-reading shelf, and we encourage you to also add it to a "first-reads" shelf when you are done reading. Posting a review is optional, but please keep in mind that reviewing the book is in the spirit of First Reads. Publishers provide free copies to Goodreads in hopes of getting early feedback about the book. First Readers who post reviews are also more likely to win free books in the future!

If you have further questions, please contact [redacted], who listed this book for giveaway. Goodreads is not involved in the shipment of books to winners. Books usually arrive within 4-6 weeks. If you've waited more than 30 days, visit the Giveaway Details page to let us know you haven't received your copy.

Thanks for playing!

The Goodreads staff

I haven't a clue - well, I didn't at the time - who wrote the book (Mary Doria Russell) or what the novel was about (Doc Holliday), but that didn't matter. What mattered was I won it.

As I continued flipping through my e-mail, I came across a message sent to me via GoodReads from someone who works over at Quirk Books (the publishers who brought us Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls). Letting me down easily and then picking up my spirits, the writer informed me of the following:

Hey there Guillermo!

Saw you entered the giveaway for a copy of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After. It just wrapped up and I was going through the folks who entered. Spotted your blog, saw you didn’t win… and thought I’d reach out to see if you wanted a review copy. :)

My name’s [redacted], I’m the social media marketing guy for Quirk Books, the publisher of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. It’s my job to find book bloggers like you who are into our books, and I figured I’d see if you were still interested.

Let me know! I’ll drop a copy in the mail for you soon. :D

[redacted]

I nearly pissed my pants, I tell you. The excitement - not to mention several glass of cool, refreshing ice tea - was overbearing. I can't tell you how excited I am about this. Not only did I win a copy of a book about Doc Holliday - who I remember as Val Kilmer playing rather than Dennis Quaid - but my book blog was noticed by someone from Quirk Books. You bet your sweet ass I'm gonna sit down and read the hell out of those books - and A Desirable Residence - when they arrive. Until next time, keep on huntin'. And check out the giveaway section over at GoodReads.

P.S. While I'm on the subject of giveaways, I'm still strongly in favor of opening a giveaway for this blog. I haven't found a book to give out, but I'm working on it. Tomorrow I'm book hunting with Monica so who knows.

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