First Reads books

[Donna]

I won Blood Harvest back in the beginnings of May and have yet to receive it! Grrr. I notified them so...???

[El]

Donna, sometimes it does take a really long time for books to arrive. I won one at the end of March and finally got it like a week and a half ago or something. Included with the book was an apology letter from Doubleday - there was no explanation exactly but they did apologize for taking a while and hope that I would still read their book, etc. I was having a tantrum almost every day waiting for that book.


I recently have been notified that I've won 3 First Reads, which I'm looking forward to. I hope they all come more quickly than my first win!

[Lillie]

Thanks to this thread I entered & won my 1st First Reads book, Valeria's Last Stand. Looking forward to reading it as soon as early summer madness has settled down (no graduations, no visitors).

I was lucky and received the book within a week of being notified.

[Donna]

THX El. I have won 13 times thus far and never had an issue I guess I was gonna get it sooner or later LOL

[El]

Wow, 13 times! That's impressive! :)

[Bhumi]

Lillie, I too won Valeria's Last Stand. It looks interesting!

[Lillie]

Bhumi, how fun! Looking forward to your take on it. =)

[Madeline]

I just won Lady of the Butterflies, a lady entomologist in the seventeenth century sounds pretty interesting!

[El]

Madeline, I'm getting Lady of the Butterflies too. Honestly, I don't even remember entering for that one, but oh well. I'll still read it. :)

[Donna]

I just won another No Way Out

[M.]

ooo! I tried for Lady of the Butterflies, but didn't get it. Let me know what you guys think of it! :)

[Madeline]

Oh nice El! I know what you mean sometimes I look at my entered list and think, wait.. I entered that one? At least I haven't won those so far hah. I definitely enter a different variety of books depending on my mood the day I'm looking.

Will do M., I'm really in the mood for history/historical fiction, I feel like everything is conspiring to get me to read other genre's, it's nice to have something dropped in my lap that feeds the need.

I did win one more today. John F. Kennedy Lives in the Future!, which looks like a lark. I'm looking forward to it.

[Alisha Marie]

This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I kind of don't like when an author signs a First Reads win because it just makes me feel that much more guilty when I don't like the book. It's like they took their time to sign this book for me and here I am trashing it because I really didn't like it. If they didn't sign it, then I would be fine disliking a book because it doesn't seem so personal then. This happened with Self-Murder which I gave one star to. And now I feel guilty...

Although, it is all kinds of awesome when you have a signed First Reads win that you really loved. Unfortunately for me, the two that have been signed have had the lowest stars.

[Mona]

Alisha: It's perfectly understandable. At least you took the time to read the book. I feel worse having a signed First Reads that I haven't even started yet :(

[Ginny]

Sandy wrote: "Wow, I just won another one - Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret. I have been posting more reviews lately, so that may be key. This is another one that I thought looked..."
I borrowed that book from the library and couldn't put it down! It was fascinating and so informative! I really enjoyed it.

[Marti]

I finished the first read's book called The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives: A Novel. It was quite interesting - hated the way that women were treated in the book.

[Mona]

Marti, sounds interesting. I put it on my list.

[Sandy]

Ginny wrote: "I borrowed that book from the library and couldn't put it down! It was fascinating and so informative! I really enjoyed it."

I'm really enjoying it, too. I probably never would have run across it had I not won it, so that makes me even happier that I won it here.

[Alisha Marie]

I just won Revisions of by Goodloe Byron.

[tiasreads]

I won and just finished Mothers and Other Liars. It was so good that I had to finish it, even though I hated the decisions the protagonist made and had lost all sympathy for her.

[Kat (A Journey In Reading)]

I won The Deadly Sister today!! First time I have ever won!!!

[Mona]

Kat, I was pretty excited when I won Stand because it was the first time I won too despite of entering tons of giveaways. Maybe if I finish it soon and review it I will win some more.

[Donna]

Suzanne wrote: "I won and just finished Mothers and Other Liars. It was so good that I had to finish it, even though I hated the decisions the protagonist made and had lost all sympathy for her."

I am dying for that one!!!

[Marti]

On the Free Book Friday site I just won a signed copy of Seven Year Switch and as a surprise I won a copy of The Wildwater Walking Club also!!!! I am very excited!!!

I am still waiting for the book Ten Things I Love About You from GoodReads.

[Madeline]

Alisha, I have applied to every giveaway that book has had and still nothing! lol let me know if it's worth my frustration. :)

I did win Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality which looks kinda awesome. I'm not sure what to expect.

I do think I'm going to give the giveaways a temporary break though. I'm winning too frequently (that is so counter to any luck I've ever experienced in the past, it almost feels ridiculous to say) I feel like all my reading plans for the summer are getting shot with all these extras falling into my lap. It's just that they radiate an insistance at getting read and reviewed first. Maybe I'll give myself a limit in the future, like one win a month and then wait to enter again.

[Mona]

Marti, thanks so much for mentioning the site Free Book Friday in your post. I just signed up :).

Also, I've added SYS and TWWC to my to-reads.

[M.]

Madeline your so lucky to be winning so much! :) I've only won the one so far (Kraken), but I'm still crossing my fingers that another will fall into my lap!

[Madeline]

It'll happen! :) I'm absolutely convinced that this thread has the mojo lol.

[Alisha Marie]

Madeline wrote: "Alisha, I have applied to every giveaway that book has had and still nothing! lol let me know if it's worth my frustration. :)

I did win Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immorta..."</i>

Madeline, I just finished Revisions Of and I have to say I liked it as much as you can like a three star book. I guess it all depends on how you view three star books. It wasn't bad and I liked a good chunk of it. I recommend it if you like books that have a dry sense of humor to them. I'm linking my review if you want to read it.

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/106882757

Anyway, I finally received [book:Dracula's Guest: and other Victorian Vampire Stories and I'm going to start that now.

[Madeline]

Alisha, Wow, that was an interesting review. I'm not sure what I would think of the book. It certainly seems different than what I had initially expected.

I finished Blood Song! I liked it, it was better than Guilty Pleasures but had a very similar feel. Much better characters! I would have given it 4.5 stars if I could, my only complaint is that it so obviously set up the sequel.

Starting Lady of the Butterflies.

[Marti]

Oh - surprise - I won another one on GoodReads Barely a Lady. I was telling the owner of the local independent book store, MainStreet BookEnds, about winning books and she showed me a stash I can borrow from of ARC novels. I am in heaven...

I am now at number 19 between the three sites in about 18 months... Most I have enjoyed.

Don't give up - once it starts to happen - it rolls

[Esther]

Being 'the rest of the world' there aren't so many First Reads on offer.
However I have won Mom's Story. I actually received it in the post even before I knew I had won it.

What surprise, and annoyed me, was the amount of people signed up for the give away with no profile picture and almost no friends or reviews.
I do think there should be a minimal requirement of an active account with at least a dozen books listed and a couple of reviews before you can start entering.
After all the whole point of First Reads is to encourage reviews and participation in the Goodreads social network.

[Kaion]

Suzanne wrote: "I won and just finished Mothers and Other Liars. It was so good that I had to finish it, even though I hated the decisions the protagonist made and had lost all sympathy for her."

Finally read Mothers and Other Liars. I see what you mean, Suzanne. I held back from immediate judgment and was waiting to see what the consequences would be... but it was all so sanitized! I'm thinking I need to be a *little* more picky about which giveaways to enter, but there's no helpful reviews to consult. Oh the troubles of getting books for free... ;)

[Madeline]

I thought I could stay away but I failed. It's so nice to log on and check the list and find out I've won, :) brightens the week lol. So I have won one more! American Revolution 2010 Politics are a subject I generally avoid, often caught in the middle between my parents and my spouse, but I'm curious about this new party all the same and a little extra knowledge never hurts.

[Alisha Marie]

I just won Stork by Wendy Delsol and am so excited about it! It was one of those "only 1 copy available with tons of people requesting" books and I'd never thought I'd win it because most of the time, those go to someone with 0 books and 0 friends.

[Bhumi]

Wow, Alisha, you're so lucky!

[Angeliki]

I have won by Sandra Brown about 3 months ago, but I hadn't the chance to read it yet... Probably it's the next book I'm going to start reading after I finish my exams... It was the first time I win in first reads so I was really excited when the book arrived!! Has anyone read it? I hope it will be good!

[Mona]

Angeliki wrote: "I have won by Sandra Brown about 3 months ago, but I hadn't the chance to read it yet... Probably it's the next book I'm going to start reading after I f..."

Angeliki: I was really excited when my FirstReads book, arrived in the mail about a month ago. I'm only half-way thru so far because I have library books to read that are due for return. I won another book in a blog giveaway(Bookin With Bingo)here
that I haven't even started.

Anyway, sounds really good and I've put it on my to-read list. This is how my list explodes ;) Maybe you could look the title up here on GR and scroll down and read other member reviews.

[Alisha Marie]

I just won Portion of the Sea by Christine Lemmon!

[Kat (A Journey In Reading)]

I am still waiting on the one that I won almost 3 wks ago now.......... I can't wait to read it!

The Deadly Sister

[Katie]

Ok, so I am hoping that the good karma of this thread will bless me with a First Reads win:) I have only won one book from here & I reviewed it (actually had already read it & loved it AND passed it on to others to spread the love.) But now I need some First Reads love! I am trying to start a book-related blog and I need all the help I can get to stick my foot in the door to get books to review. So for all of you multi-time winners, can you send me some good book winning vibes?

[M.]

haha! I'm with you Katie! I won once, and I'm needing some of that magic myself :)

[Julie]

I HAD good book winning vibes. But they seem to have left me. I won four books pretty close together but now I can't win anything.

[Alisha Marie]

Definitely sending you all good book winning vibes! Good luck with your blog, Katie. I've thought about doing the same thing, but I feel that I wouldn't get any followers, so I'm unsure about whether or not to do it.

[Sandy]

I won The I Hate to Cook Book: 50th Anniversary Edition. Should be fun to revisit - when I was in college, one of my housemates bought this and we tried a couple recipes from it. That was almost 40 years ago, but one of the recipes became a family standard and I still make it, on the rare occasions that I cook anymore.

[Beth]

I just won The Menopause Makeover by Staness Jonekos. Since I just turned 46 this should be a very interesting and relevant book for me, lol!

[Mona]

Beth wrote: "I just won The Menopause Makeover by Staness Jonekos. Since I just turned 46 this should be a very interesting and relevant book for me, lol!"

Hi Beth:) Congrats on your book win. I was determined to finish my 1 and only FirstReads win,
Stand and finally did and wrote a review. Maybe the key is to read them fast and review them.

Hopefully I'll win some more.

[Jayme]

I just one starred a First Read and now I'm wondering if the FirstRead gods will hate me forever and I'll never win another book again. I didn't even finish the book it was so bad. And if I don't ever win another one again it will have been worth it just so I didn't have to finish that stupid book.

[Kaion]

You can't end with that and not tell us the offending book, Jayme! (The Inheritance, eh?)

I'm sure it's not a black mark as long as you're fair and honest as to why you didn't care for it.

There have been two I didn't particularly care for, but nothing unfinishable. (Guess that's risk when there are relatively few or no reviews to base your choosing on!)

[Jayme]

Yeah, it was the Inheritance. I entered because of his last name, I figured it couldn't be all that terrible if someone in his family could write one of the best books ever. I was wrong.