Category: Uncategorized

The Mad Reviewer’s First Giveaway

As you probably didn’t know, today is my blog’s six month anniversary.  I’ve been publishing one book review a day for half a year now, give or take a few reviews because of power outages and personal issues.  So how am I going to celebrate yet another great milestone?

How about a giveaway?

YA author Michelle Hansen, who wrote the amazing self-published novel Painted Blind (which I had no idea was self-published until she mentioned it because it was of such professional quality), has offered to help me with this first giveaway.  She has generously offered to ship to my two contest winners a prize pack each that includes a postcard, a bookmark, a calendar and a coupon on Smashwords for a copy of her novel.  I would quite honestly recommend Painted Blind to anyone who loves amazing fantasy.

That said, let’s get to the contest!  Part One of this contest involves correctly guessing a question on one of my favourite interests: opera.  You will have one week to post your guess in the comments below and whoever guesses the answer first wins.  If no one guesses it, I’ll ask a different opera-related question.  After Part One is over, Part Two will begin and run for a week in which you may guess the answer to another question, this time book-related.  If no one guesses it within the time-frame, I’ll ask a different question and so on.  That said, here’s my first question:

What is my favourite operatic aria?

Here are your hints:

  • It is sung in Italian
  • Many attempt to sing it, but there is only one king or queen of this highly emotional aria
  • When I hear my favourite version, I have to hold back the waterworks because the lyrics in Italian are so beautiful.  In English this aria would  sound absolutely stupid.

So go on and use Google like you’ve never used it before!  You may only guess once and the first person to guess correctly will win the contest.  I will announce the winner of Part One at 12:00am local time on Friday, July 20.

Note: I have told Michelle Hansen herself the answer so she knows I’m being honest.  And no, she will not tell you the answer.

UPDATE: A great place to look would be Wikipedia, especially this page.  *Hint, hint*

Look What Just Arrived!

Guess what?  As a book reviewer, I have to read a lot of books.  Pictured below is the batch of books that I’m reading or about to read, not counting the 4 ebooks I need to read as well.

So what are you reading right now?

A Quick Poll to Improve Your Reading Experience

Mid-month I have a surprise coming down the pipeline that you’re going to love, but first I want to know what you guys, my readers, would like to see more of.  After all, you’re the reason this blog exists, let alone why I keep it well-maintained.  So, what would you like to see more of here on The Mad Reviewer?  I would really appreciate your input.

 

Decoding Book Reviews

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS LANGUAGE NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL READERS.  READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Book reviewers, myself included, often use the same old phrases/clichés to describe books.  But what do we really mean when we use them?  Here’s a look at decoding book reviews and the people writing them.  (Note that these are just generalizations intended for comedic purposes.  The styles of individual book reviewers vary.)

Phrase #1: “This book is amazing!”

Interpretation: I do not own a thesaurus and I’m on a deadline.

Phrase #2: “A literary masterpiece…”

Interpretation: This is a book that will make you look smart and sound smart when you talk about it but will bore the hell out of you and anyone unfortunate enough to listen to you talk about it. Continue reading →

I Need Your Help

Okay, so my little sister’s birthday is coming up and I have absolutely no idea what to get her.

Here in my household, books are usually pretty common.  Usually I’ll pick her up one of the books I read and liked but is still age appropriate for her.  She is only twelve and a half after all.  Unfortunately, she’s already read all of the age-appropriate books I own!  That’s where you come in.

I desperately need some book recommendations!  She’s pretty mature for a twelve-year-old, having read The Hunger Games trilogy, the Darkest Powers trilogy as well as some of Pauline Gedge‘s novels.  She loves fantasy and historical fiction, especially when there’s royalty involved, although she’ll read anything she can get her hands on.

However, please tell me of any mature content in your recommendation, which includes language, violence and sexuality.  If you can, please tell me the extent of the mature content as well (explicit, brief, mild, etc).

So, do you know any good books for her?  Please tell me in the comments below!