High Society (+ Giveaway!)

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Tina

High Society by Paolo Chikiamco and Hannah Buena
Flipside Digital Content Company, Inc

Take your first step into a world of automata, magic, and alternative history! The year is 1764, and, for the first time in nearly two centuries, the Spanish forces have been repelled from the great walled city of Manila. While the Spaniards are quick to lay the blame at the feet of the invading British and their clockwork machines, the secret to the success of the Filipinos may lie closer to home, with an ally that is both ancient and new, mythical and mechanical. “High Society” is a stand-alone steampunk comic book in the “Wooden War” series.

I’m really all for supporting local authors and content, so when Honey told me that they will be releasing Paolo Chikiamco and Hannah Buena’s High Society under their publishing company, I bought it without blinking. Local content for the win, plus I really enjoyed Kataastaasan, so I was excited to read more about this alternate steampunk world.

Thing is, High Society is really the same as the Kataastaasan I read a year back…but also a little bit different. High Society is a stand-alone comic set in Cebu City circa 1770, and tells an alternate history of the Philippines’ struggle for independence from Spain. Here we meet someone called “The Carpenter” telling our main character Rita about the location of a treasure that they need to recover. Rita goes undercover in a party with the Spanish colonizers to retrieve the treasure. Now you’d think Rita is just your normal undercover agent and all, but then she’s also not. I won’t reveal what the twist is, but I remember I was pleasantly surprised when I found out about it on my first read. Even if I knew about it now and it kind of lessened the surprise, I really liked how it was illustrated and revealed this time, and I think it’s the part of the story that hooks the reader the most.

I think the improvement on this one compared to the ARC I read was how Rita was given a more human aspect. There’s a hint of romance in the story that made me smile, and it made me want to know more. This version also had a little more background on how Rita came to be as well as why their mission was important. I’m not a big judge on artwork, but I liked how it had that dark and authentic Philippines in Spanish era vibe.

So yeah, I liked this one on the second round as much as I liked it during the first. Too bad it’s a stand alone, but I kind of have high hopes with what they mean with the “Wooden War” series. More please? :) High Society is a creative take in Philippine history, and anyone who’s a history buff, or at least interested in alternate histories and steampunk should pick this up.

High Society is available from the Amazon Kindle store, iTunes store and in the Flipreads Digital Store. If you’re from the Philippines and you prefer a hard copy, drop by the Flipside booth at the annual Komikon this Saturday, November 19, where they will be selling limited physical copies of the comic. You can get it signed, too! :)

And because I really, really want you guys to read this, I’ll be giving away a Kindle copy of High Society to one lucky commenter. This is open to everyone — just leave a comment on this entry and I will pick one winner by Friday, November 18, 2011. If you don’t have a Kindle, don’t worry — there are free Kindle apps for practically every gadget out there. :)

Rating: ★★★★★

My copy: Kindle edition

Other reviews:
Planet Markus
Flipgeeks

Happy Birthday Giveaway Winners

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Tina

My birthday week has come and gone and I can definitely say that has been one of the best birthdays I’ve had. thanks to everyone who made it special. :)

Those people who made it special includes everyone who joined my birthday giveaway. Thanks so much for your greetings and your recommendations. I love how some of my friends who are usually quiet online even left comments just so they could greet me and help raise the amount to donate. There were 44 comments (43 actual comments, 1 pingback) by the end of the contest period. Rounding it off to 45, That means I get to add $9 to my donation. But since 9 is a bit of an odd number, I decided to make it $10 instead, making my donation $35. Again, I know that isn’t much and I don’t think it can hardly buy gold coins, but every little bit counts, right?

I made the donation today, much thanks to Paypal for making it easy. :)

Donation receipt

Thanks again to everyone for helping me with this. :) Let’s keep on praying for Japan, and for the world, too.

And now, for the other and the most awaited part of this post: the winners! Put all the names in via random.org and clicked Randomize! First two names in the list are the winners. :) Wee~

(Of course I’m putting them under a cut. Suspense much. Drumroll…)

(Oh, and it should be winners not just winner. :D)

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[Closed] Happy Birthday Giveaway!

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Tina

You know, I meant to have a 30-day blogging thing going here at One More Page this month because March is my favorite month being that it is also my birth month. I also thought of having a month-long giveaway. I meant to do those things but March hit me with too much work and real life things that I didn’t have the time to set it all up. My reading is also slower compared to my January one, and it’s kind of frustrating because I really can’t do much about it (except maybe…not sleep).

ANYWAY. Being busy doesn’t mean I can’t hold a giveaway, even if it’s not as grand as how I planned it to be. So behold: my 25th birthday giveaway! :)

I’m keeping the mechanics simple. Just leave a comment in this entry and answer this question: What’s your favorite birthday read? Or if you don’t have a birthday read, what’s one book you’d like to read on your birthday? It doesn’t have to be a book, but if it’s a book, do share so I can see what it is! :) The giveaway will run as long as it’s March 17 somewhere in the world — that starts 8:00pm today (GMT+12 – as soon as this post is up) up to 6:00pm on March 18 (GMT-11). This is open to everyone, and I will pick 2 winners by Sunday, who can get any book of their choice worth $15 from Book Depository. :)

Image from cdryan.com

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE. I don’t want this to be just a simple giveaway — I also want to help. I’ve been planning to donate to Red Cross to help with the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami relief efforts. I’ve set to donate $25, but I thought you guys could help me raise that amount. For every five (5) entries I get for this giveaway, I will add $1 to the donation. So if I get 25 entries, I will add $5. I know it’s not much, but every bit counts, right?

One more time!

Leave a comment on this entry with your answer to this question: What’s your favorite birthday read? Or if you don’t have a birthday read, what’s one book you’d like to read on your birthday? One entry per person only. :)
This will run from March 16, 2011 8:00PM (GMT+8) to March 18, 2011, 6:00pm (GMT+8) — that’s how long March 17 is all over the world. Comments left beyond that will not be counted.
I will pick 2 winners on Sunday via random.org. The winners will receive a book of their choice worth $15 from Book Depository.
For every 5 entries in the giveaway, I will add $1 to my donation for Japan relief efforts on top of the $25 I will be donating.

Clear, clear? I’m not sure if I will be able to put up a post in the next few days since, well, I may be busy, so keep those comments coming. :)

Anniversary Giveaway Winners!

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Tina

I couldn’t sleep last night, so I decided to do what I was supposed to be doing when I started my anniversary giveaway and log all the comments in an Excel file. I should have started doing it from Day 1, but I was too lazy to do so. The bout of insomnia last night made me finish it, and I was astonished to see that I had to wade through almost 20 pages of comments in my WordPress to log all the comments (of course, half of those are my replies, but still!). WOW.

Thanks to weheartit.com too! :)

My last giveaway got only 13 entries. Granted, it was only open to the Philippines, and my blog was virtually new then, so that was understandable. The anniversary giveaway was expected to be different, but holy smokes, I was surprised at the number of comments I logged last night! There were only 52 people who commented on all entries for the entire contest period, but there were a total of 206 comments all in all. Again, WOW.

I’m rambling, I know, and I know you want to know who won. But first, let me thank everyone again, for taking the time to read, comment and interact not only with me but also with the other people who commented in the posts. It’s fun to read the conversations going and the questions raised. It’s especially nice to see people coming back to reply on the other replies, because I know that is not usual! So once again, thank you for joining the contest and bringing lots of interesting discussions in my blog. It’s always a thrill to check my email and see that I have comments to approve, or there are comments from returning visitors. I loved replying to all of them, too. If I haven’t said it enough, one more time: THANK YOU!

And now we go to the exciting part. The winners!

One More Page Anniversary Giveaway Winners Again, everyone who’s left a comment in my posts from December 24 to January 9 get an entry each, and the more comments left, the more entries they get. There is one winner from the my hometown and another international winner, as long as Book Depository ships to wherever you are, since that’s where I’ll be ordering the book. I put all the comments in an Excel file with the date of their comment, their name, email address and where they commented, and then indicated if they are from the Philippines (local) or not (international). Then I put the local and international entries in their own sheets so it’s easier to pick a winner. Then I sort of jumbled them around by rearranging the rows so they’re more or less “mixed”, like actual raffle entries.

Again, a refresher: the winners can each choose ONE book from the following:

I’m stalling, I know. :P But here we go. :)

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Happy birthday, One More Page! :)

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Tina

Happy birthday blog! (image from weheartit.com)

Happy birthday blog!

Who would have thought that starting a book blog on a whim last year would last…well, for a year? :)

I’ve attempted to start niche blogs in the past, but they weren’t the type of blogs that people who don’t know me would be interested in reading. The reason why people started “niche” blogs back then was to earn money, but I never felt that I had enough patience and interest (and money!) to maintain a blog that talks about gadgets or tech or whatnot. So I’ve made a lot of blogs that eventually fizzed out: a Pinoy Big Brother blog (it’s my guilty pleasure), a Script Frenzy blog (that only lasted for a week), two NaNoWriMo blogs, and if there was anything else, I couldn’t remember. The only other living “niche” blogs I have are Wordplay (the 365 fiction blog that kind of failed miserably) and this very disgustingly emo romance and whatnot blog. I have always considered opening a book blog, but I felt that the reviews I write were too attached to my personal blog so I never made the move. And besides, if I removed the book reviews from my personal blog…then what would I blog about?

Kidding. Okay, half kidding.

But starting a book blog was one of my good decisions last year, and I think it’s come a long way. I know I’m just one in a thousand book blogs out there, but I’d also like to believe that this humble blog has made waves, even if they are just small ones. :) It’s too far to tell if I would still be doing this in the next five years, but I am pretty sure I will keep on reading and writing about books for the next year. And maybe the next. And the next. You get the idea. :P

Happy birthday, One More Page! To everyone who have been supportive of this from the start, to everyone who’s left comments and followed, to the 100+ Feedburner subscribers, to my inspirations and role models in the blogging world, and to all the friends that I have met online and in real life, I have two words:

THANK YOU! :)

It would not have been a great book blogging year without you guys. <3

Before I forget, though: today is the last day of the Anniversary Giveaway! A comment on any entry from December 24 to January 9 (today!) is all you need to be entered in the contest, where you can win some of my favorite books in 2010! It’s a little thank you to everyone, and a way of giving back to the wonderful book blogging community. This is open to everyone (at least wherever Book Depository ships). I’ll be picking the winners within the week! :)

10 for 2010: Favorite Reads

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Tina

And here is the final 10 for 2010 list for this year, and the hardest one at that. There has just been too many good books in this year that it’s so hard to pick just ten. But I have to choose ten…but that doesn’t mean I can’t have runner ups and honorable mentions. ;) It’s my list, I can do anything I want to. :P

So, the last 10 for 2010, here are 10 of my Favorite Reads in no particular order…and then some. :)

1. Persuasion by Jane Austen – How much do I love this book? I am very glad that I chose this book as my first classic read for this year. I love Anne Elliot, and I want to be her. I don’t have much point of comparison over other Austen books, but this one is really, really good, even better than P&P. :) I cannot recommend this one enough. :)

2. Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews – I fell in love with the Kate Daniels series this year (thanks again to Chachic and Michelle for pushing!), but among the four books out in the series, Magic Strikes is the best one so far. It’s got action, tension and all the yummy hotness of Kate and Curran in all of it. Plus the ending had me all smiling and giggly and that is always very, very good. :)

2. Feed by Mira Grant – This book wasn’t the one that got me started on zombies this year, but it was the zombie book I loved the most. :) This book had me from the cover, and then with the story. I loved how geeky this book is and how emotional it is at the end. I loved the characters, and I loved the theme of the story…and I just really loved every bit of this book! This is one of the books that I got in Kindle, then got in print because I want to have my own copy. I gave a copy away, then I gave one as a gift, and now I’m (sort of) giving this away, too. I love this book that much.

3. Happyface by Stephen Emond – This is one of the impulse buys that I never regretted. I wasn’t a fan of hardcovers, but I am glad I got this one the moment I saw it because there are no copies of this one here. This is one of my favorite contemporary YA reads of the year. Happyface is such a darling character, and you just can’t help but fall in love with him. The plot is simple, but it’s very surprising and heartwarming at the end. I wish there were more copies of Happyface here so more people can read it…but that’s why I’m giving one away, right? ;) Oh, and I still think I look like Gretchen. ;)

4. North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley – This was another impulse buy, but I’ve been seeing this one way before I got it. I am glad I got it, too, because it has such a beautiful story. The story may sound a bit cheesy with all the beauty talk, but it doesn’t only just talk about inner beauty and self-esteem, but also complications of a family and dreams that never came true. Terra’s transformation was very inspiring, and the ending left me feeling very good about myself, and very beautiful. :) Truly a gem.

6. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver – I wasn’t planning to read this, and I stopped reading the start for a couple of times, but after I finished the first chapter, I got hooked. Before I Fall is a surprisingly good and powerful novel about life, death, friendship and the choices we make and how they affect people. I finished this book with a wistful smile on my face and tears in my eyes, thankful that I finally gave in and read it.

7. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness – This is one of the book that I know I would love, only because the people whose book tastes I trust loved this one, too. After reeling from The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, I needed more dystopia to keep the high going, so I finally read this one. And I loved every bit of it. I know it gets better with the next two books, and I am very excited to read them. :D Soon.

8. Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John – This book wouldn’t have made the list if I didn’t read it on time. If I read it in 2011, this would probably have made it in my 2011 list. :P I love the cover, and the story is just as good as the book. It’s not often you read a YA novel about a band, and it’s even rarer that you read a heroine who was deaf. It’s got diverse characters, a great story and a very rocking ending. :) A book that makes me reconsider my Top 10 is a book that deserves more attention. :D

9. Fairy Tale Fail by Mina V. Esguerra – You know you really love a book when you re-read it and it still gives you the same feeling it did on the first read. You know you love a book when you actually re-read it in the first place, and within the same year, to boot! I re-read Fairy Tale Fail after I finished reading The Maze Runner, and I really needed a pick-me-up after. It definitely picked me up, and it made me wish to have my own Lucas all over again. :)

10. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – And like every Best of 2010 books out there, I must not forget about Anna and the French Kiss! This book was an absolutely fun read. After a series of not-so-stellar books, this one just kind of blew my mind. :) I realized a lot of things in this book, particularly: I still love contemporary YA the best, and you can tell a completely ordinary story in an extraordinary way. This is also one of the books that I got on Kindle first, then the hardcover when I found out it’s already available here. That much love, people. That much love. :)

Runners-Up:

Paper Towns by John Green – I finished the John Green trifecta this year, and out of all books, I have decided that I liked Paper Towns best. While An Abundance of Katherines was the funniest and happiest, I thought Paper Towns had the better plot and would fare better for a re-read. :) Plus Radar + Ben and the road trip? Priceless.
Tall Story by Candy Gourlay – I wouldn’t have heard of this one if not for Pao and Chachic, and I am glad I got this one. Tall Story is a charming story about siblings, Filipino folklore and magic. This is a very heartwarming story, and I am glad this book is available internationally so more people can read it. If you haven’t read it, do include it in your 2011 reading list. You won’t regret it. :)
Unwind by Neal Shusterman – I wouldn’t have picked this book up if I hadn’t heard good things about it from my Goodreads friends. Perhaps my reaction to this was a bit similar to The Knife of Never Letting Go – I plunged into it ready to love it, and I did. It’s not a very cheerful book being dystopia, but it’s very good and it has a lot of potential for a re-read. :)
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr – I read two of Sara Zarr’s books last year and I loved them, so when I saw she had a new book, I knew I had to read it. Once Was Lost was just as beautiful as her other books, but I think I like this one more because it tackled faith. I loved how simple Zarr’s prose was, and how she tackled sensitive issues with grace. If I may quote my review: “Once Was Lost makes you think, makes you ask, and in the end, makes you believe that no matter what the tragedy is, no matter how hard things are, there will always, always be hope.“
Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan – I read this one fairly recently, and I really liked it. I don’t know if my moods influenced how much I liked it though…but like I said before: any book that has me smiling like an idiot at the last page deserves a recognition. :)

Honorable Mentions:

See, I told you it was too hard. I’m sorry if I overwhelmed you with too many books in this list! It’s just very, very hard to choose. Maybe next year I’ll be more critical, but I’m glad I read so many good books this year. Looking forward to what 2011 had to offer. :)

Now it’s your turn. What’s your top reads in 2010? :)

Check out my other 10 for 2010 posts!
10 Favorite Male Characters
10 Favorite Female Characters
10 Favorite Couples
10 Favorite Authors
10 Most Anticipated for 2011
10 Blogging and Reading Highlights

I’m giving away some of my favorite books in 2010 in my Anniversary Giveaway! Get to know the awesomeness that is Feed by Mira Grant, the first book in the Newsflesh trilogy! Every comment you leave is one entry — the more comments you leave, the more entries you get! :) Click the image for the mechanics and the list of prizes!