A Bookish Opinion post + Followers’ goodies

description So, I am slowly coming back as a reader, as mentioned on my previous blogpost. I have been very busy for the past months with work stuff and using all free time to work on As Cold As Thorns. Things are a little less stressful now, though I’m still on a rush with work.

I missed posting something more personal as means to connect with you, dear follower/friend/reader. So here goes some random (negative?) bookish thoughts and I don’t mind if you will hate me for that after reading :P :

I do judge books by covers and titles: in general I am a bit weird person and can be a bit *OCD about certain things. Cover and titles are some of them. If I don’t like the cover, I will most likely never read that book. UNLESS the author is a friend, then I will pass that. And the title, if it has words I don’t like, or sounds too trendy or vulgar, it will certainly be in the way for me reading that book as well. Unless, again, the author is a friend of mine, I will swallow the ugly/unpleasant/unoriginal title.
* as some use the expression – though it is poorly used in many cases, including this one – LOL

I hate these words in a book title: girl – rockstar* - crown – king – game – throne – city – raven – ice + fire – light – alpha – and some more I don’t remember at the moment… Added: millionaire and billionaire (Suggestion from Monique!)
*A rockstar is an artist that works in the rock music scene - now they use this term, wrongly, to describe all sorts show-off people!

Character names: If I don’t like the character name, it takes more effort for me to like the character. Or skip it all together.

I don’t like series!: Mostly because… I don’t have patience for them. If it is an extraordinary series, then I can like to read 2 or 3 books. Otherwise, I keep my distance. Exception: some comic book series. :)

First person: I am not fond of first-person POVs in general, but some authors manage to do a good job on that, I have read some great books in first-person POV.

Muscular naked/semi-naked blokes on the cover:Ahhhsh! I steer away from them! It’s like seeing an ugly, ravenous monster! (or like a Brazilian quote for something extremely ugly – "like the devil sucking a mango!") :S I think they are horrible and remind me of Neanderthals or gorillas! There are very few exceptions for that rule, and only like the characters that I paint for my clients ^.^ Ha!

Print or digital?: I like digital books for Non-Fiction that mostly text – and print for Fiction and Art / Comic Books.

GoodReads Choice Awards: Does not represent me. Never have.

…………………………………..
Now that you know some of my ***dark side*** as a reader ^.^ I’d like to talk of something else.

As Cold As Thorns by Isis Sousa I’d like to giveaway free e-book copies As Cold As Thorns for any GoodReads follower that would like to read it :) There’s no limit of copies – but there is a limit of time.

You can send me a PM and request it until 24th November – Thursday.
And that’s all, folks! Have a great Sunday!
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Published on November 20, 2016 04:27 Tags: book-facts, dislike, followers, giveaway, goodies, new-release, opinion, thoughts
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message 1: by Jason (new)

Jason I'm the same with covers, if I don't like it then I doubt I'll read it. Also I've added loads of books to me tbr list because of the cover.


message 2: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Jason: Hi :) Aha, nice to know there are others like me :D Yes, there are books I have madly wished to read solely because of the covers as well! :) And what's your fav (or one of) of all times?


message 3: by Jason (last edited Nov 20, 2016 08:00AM) (new)

Jason two of my favourites are

The Garden of Good and Evil Pancakes by David S. Atkinson

and

Click by Kristopher Young


message 4: by Janie (new)

Janie Thanks, Jason, now I want them, too!


message 5: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Jason: Ah, I can see you like artsy covers! Those are beautiful!!! o.O I like the color and style of boths, but won't deny the first one if my fav, reminds me of Van Gogh :) I will see to make a selection of my fav covers and post here soon :)


message 6: by Jason (new)

Jason hehe Sorry Janie. Title of the first book is awesome too.

Looking forward to see what you pick Isis.


message 7: by David (new)

David Brian Yay! At last! Someone else not fond of series. Nice one, Isis. :)


message 8: by Janie (new)

Janie David wrote: "Yay! At last! Someone else not fond of series. Nice one, Isis. :)"

I'll second that!


message 9: by David (new)

David Brian Janie wrote: "David wrote: "Yay! At last! Someone else not fond of series. Nice one, Isis. :)"

I'll second that!"


:)


message 10: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Jason: Yes, that title rocks! Selection coming later on today ;)

@ David & Janie: Aha! Nice to know our army is slowly growing! ;)
@ David: Having a great time with your horror story! review to come around this week/weekend!


message 11: by Monique (new)

Monique Ha! Ha!
I agree with most of your cover dislikes, although I don't mind the 'half- naked blokes', even though they are way overused...lol
As far a books with certain words in the title? Add MILLIONAIRE and BILLIONAIRE to the list.
Some character names are way overdone. What happened to regular names like Deborah or Bradley? And in paranormal reads, the names can be absolutely ridiculous.
Like you, I don't like drawn-out series. If it's an author I like, I usually pray that they stop around book five...lol

Good to hear that you have more free time to work on Cold As Thorns!


message 12: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Monique: Aha, welcome to the club, then :D Hm, well-put that the half-naked guys are overused, I'd personally prefer less muscles tough hehe ^.^

Aha, I will totally add, Millionaire and Billionaire!!!! o.O I had forgotten of those, but I dislike them just as well, lol :P

Yes, I see a lot of strange-weird sounding names on more popular books and genres, so let's hope some regular names will soon be trendy again!

I normally don't read series,' very very very' few exceptions. I am reading Isle of The Forgotten by Tiffany Roberts, author I have worked with and having a great time :) Which series authors do you like?

Cheers and thanks for passing by :)


message 13: by [deleted user] (last edited Nov 25, 2016 04:53AM) (new)

@ Jason: I have a HUGE list of fav covers - I will try making a post about anytime soon. For now, I will share two, which rest on the bookshelf above my screen ^.^

The Art of Pierangelo Boog: I love his work and techniques and I have this cover as a poster on my living room as well. This book is special as it has a dedicatory from the artist, and the poster was a gift I received from him a year before I ordered the book.
description
You can see more of his art here: http://www.pierangeloboog.com/

The other is Norske Folketro - by Ørnulf Hodne. I love the wraparound cover illustration showing a mess made by supernatural beings like gnomes and witches. It is painted by Nils Bergslien.
description

And here is the full pic we see from cover to cover:
description


message 14: by Janie (new)

Janie Those covers are beautiful, Isis!


message 15: by Jason (new)

Jason That wraparound is really good.


message 16: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Jason & Janie: Glad you guys liked it :) Cheers!


message 17: by Monique (new)

Monique Wow...great book covers!

Isis -I'll read series by Anne Rice, Grace Draven, Chelsea Cain, and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. There may be a few others, but my mind is running blank now.


message 18: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Monique: nice that you liked them, both are done by very skilled artists ^.^ Aha, Anne Rice and Grace Draven are excellent writers! The other two i am not familiar with, will check them out.


message 19: by Tiffany (last edited Nov 27, 2016 07:40AM) (new)

Tiffany Roberts And here we are, sending you commissions to paint half naked men :P Haha!


message 20: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Tiffany: My dear Tiffany, but I love our characters ^.^ What I don't like about the muscular naked men on most covers - exception those we make and maybe very few more - is that they all look so generic as if they are just a body and empty of character or personality.

Your covers on the other hand, have beautiful beings who have a history stamped on their bodies and expressions. I love working on them! And I love seeing them side by side! <3


message 21: by Tiffany (new)

Tiffany Roberts I asked our readers on FB about covers last month, and there are several others who don't the half naked men...particularly the ones with their heads chopped off. Certain cover models are have grown so popular, that it seems that was the solution so the covers wouldn't look so alike, so they just used their body instead.

As nice as their bodies are to look at, I agree. Those are not the covers that really catch my eye. It's a bit of eye candy stamped on a cover, but there is nothing passionate about it. As you know from our covers, we love the classic clutch - where both the characters are on the cover in some embrace or another. And you paint them so beautifully! <3


message 22: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Tiffany: yes, I have to agree with your readers that those I dislike most are those that we see just the body - with the head chopped off o.O - so while the readers have the eye candy, as you mentioned, there we miss the real character, that's much more than a fit body.

Very different from our covers where we dive int the character's mind just by looking at them ^,^ We see at one glance that there's history and personality behind them :) And thank you! It's a pleasure painting your characters/fantasy world! :D


message 23: by Jason (new)

Jason So lots of naked ladies on covers is cool?


message 24: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Jason: I don't like the naked ladies either hehe ;) Unless, it is done so in a not vulgar way, a really artistic cover. And what's your opinion on the matter?


message 25: by Tiffany (new)

Tiffany Roberts @Jason - Usually on Romance covers it'll be the male body by itself as it's targeted towards women :) But as Isis said, I like it if it's done in an artistic way, still mostly covered, but hint at it.


message 26: by Jason (new)

Jason I just got a copy of this from amazon, great cover.

Scary People by Kyle Muntz


message 27: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Jason: Yes, loved that cover, very sweet, but also great design/style! Added to my list!


message 28: by Janie (new)

Janie Jason wrote: "I just got a copy of this from amazon, great cover.

Scary People by Kyle Muntz"


Plus she's naked.


message 29: by David (new)

David Brian Isis, I love those covers you posted. And thanks for the nice review! :)


message 30: by Margia (new)

Margia Venios Oh too bad I missed the free copy. I'm currently reading "The night of Elisa" and I love it so much! I do judge the book by title and cover too, my favorites are the very old ones. I can buy a book only because it's old.


message 31: by [deleted user] (new)

@ Necrotic: first of all, love your nickname :D <3
Oh so nice you're enjoying The Night of Elisa :D
I could still manage to give you a free copy of As Cold As Thorns. Send me a PM if you're still interested, and let me know which format you prefer :)
I love old books too! We have that in common! I have actually bought old books just to collect them when I was on my teens, then I stopped doing it due to lack of space to stock them :S

@ Janie: Indeed o.O

@ David: Glad you liked them! :) And it was my pleasure, keep up with the cool dark writing \m/


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Isis Sousa
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