April Fool by John Neufeld - Book Giveaway
We’re not all pleasant people; we have flaws, some of us more than others. Sometimes we do or think despicable things. This may not be the best way to conduct life, but it does make for an interesting character for a book. In April Fool
, George Willets is at a point in his life where maybe he’s just a wee bit too comfortable. His daily routine with his wife is just that - routine. The boredom he endures begins to be too much for him; so when he meets the perfect woman, he feels his luck is about to change. It may be changing, but whether or not it’s for the better is what makes this book a great read.
Author John Neufeld does an excellent job at taking a distasteful personality and turning him into someone a reader wants to spend time with and learn about. This is a difficult task for any writer; despite George’s behavior and his desire to consider murder an option for getting out of a rut, I still somehow rooted for George and hoped he’d find the error of his ways. The book was entertaining and a pleasure to read, filled with humor, suspense, and politically incorrect characters. I doubt there was a noble one in the bunch, which made it all the more interesting.
John Neufeld has written over 20 novels for adults and young readers, and has been nominated for an Edgar, been twice included in the Sunday New York Times’ Best Books of the Year, and has been published in several countries as well. I’m happy to tell you I have a copy of April Fool to give to one carp(e) libris reviews reader.
3 Ways to Win:
1.) Have you known people with major character flaws? Of course you have! But did you like them anyway? Do share. Be thoughtful with your comment! Winners are randomly chosen, but if the name drawn doesn’t respond, I choose the next winner by comment.
2.) Email subscribers are entered into this and all future giveaways, for as long as their subscription is active. Simply place your email address in the little white box at the top of my sidebar on the right. (Please make sure to verify your Feedburner subscription by responding to the email they send you. If you don’t receive it, check your junk mail. Only verified subscriptions are entered for all the giveaways.)
3.) Blog about this giveaway on your blog with a link back to this post. Come back and leave me a Comment with a link to your blog post.
Do all three, and you’ve got three entries to win! You have until midnight EST on Saturday, October 25, 2008, to enter.
October 22nd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
My best friend, whom I’ve known for over 20 years, is a major exagerator (sp) ……..the plane she was on almost crashed………she was deathly ill……..
The plane was fine and she is fine, but I still love her as she loves me despite my flaws!
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:44 pm
A now ex-friend of mine stretched the truth continually and finally she was caught telling a huge lie and the friendship was over.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:06 pm
I have a couple of male friends that are stuck in ruts right now with their lives, this book might be a good read for them.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Two of my closest friends are dears but they’re not routinely honest. I still love them but I take everything they say with a grain of salt.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I had an ex- sister-in-law who appeared to be a congenital liar. She was friendly enough, but always wanted to know my personal business and was quite a gossip as well. No, I didn’t care for her because I couldn’t trust her. Thanks for the contest.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Yes, i have known people like that. I pretty much like everybody.
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
My mother died on April 1st, and people thought I was kidding.
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I had the worst roommate who was a hypocrite, which to me is one of the most major flaws. Ugh. Interesting it was, but dreadful at the end of the day.
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 pm
In reality everyone including me has at least one major character flaw. No one is perfect except God. Either except people for who they are or become a hermit.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I know several people like that. But, what am I gonna do, kick them out of my life? They’re family.
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Crying wolf is sometimes not a good idea.
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
The most character-flawed person I’ve ever met is my sister’s ex. We never liked him before, during or after. He lied about everything, no matter how insignificant it was. Worst part, I think he actually believed his lies!
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
have known alot in real life and in internet world- one that is funny is a lady who is an actress- well she is a frickin cow and she tells people she is 21-28(and how petite she is) when everyone knows that she is in her late 30s if not early 40s but tells people she is 21-28 depending on the situation- major drama queen and drama whore..yep she gets extra parts but what gets her the job is her big boobs cause is not talented at all.
There are alot of the above on the internet though drama queens and liars..
in real life I steer clear and know stay away but yes there are some that need the attention 24-7- tell the truth folks, eventually it catches up with you.
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:47 pm
My best friend in high school was a major drama queen and a compulsive liar. This is not the best combination, but it did make for interesting sleepovers.
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:58 pm
i know someone who talks a LOT. and i mean a LOT! she cannot stop speaking ever! and every time we’re in a car she’ll find some song she likes, and there are a lot of those, and she’ll sing extremely loudly. at first i found it kind of annoying but then i just got used to it. she’s one of my best friends i don’t really think it’s a character flaw anymore, that’s just how she is
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:42 am
I think everyone has a flaw or two, but they’re generally not major. Some people have a propensity to lie however. I’ve know people that lie so much they can’t seem to help themselves and that can be really annoying. I think that that character flaw is really a sign of insecurity.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:42 am
My boyfriend’s brother talks constantly about the same thing. For example; we were at a family reunion dinner and he monopolized the conversation with his tale of woe about a computer problem. Nobody else could get a word in edgewise. He is the most self-centered man! And yes, I sort of like him, but can tolerate him only for a few minutes.
Susan Cs last blog post..Vacation update!
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:16 am
everyone i meet
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:35 am
Thank you for having this. My wonderful husband has a character flaw of leaving this sandwich crumbs on the counter every morning. I still love him tho
Thank you!
[email protected]
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:22 am
Yes, I have liked people with major character flaws’ usually to my detriment!
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
yes i have and yes i still got around most of it
October 23rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Character flaws is what makes us human and individuals. Thank you for this great contest. My disabled but wonderful wife of more than 38 years just loves to read!
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
My husband has some major character flaws, but I still love him.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Yes, of course, just don’t want to mention any names!
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I have a friend who is such a complete rascal, but he’s one of those people you can’t help but like. He’s often unreliable, not always truthful, but….like a puppy…immensely lovable.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I have friend that likes to tell lies nothing serious but she has a habit of making up stories. She still is a great person.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:10 pm
I have a brother with major character flaws but I still see him and communicate with him, but our sister has nothing at all to do with him since she holds him responsible for many unpleasant encounters. I see my sister occasionally or less and I know she thinks I have a great many character flaws.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Sure I have, but good old friends are worth keeping whether you like them or not.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:10 pm
My sister has to be the center of attention… the woman who never wanted kids announced that she was preggo a week after I had my first son… so they are 9 months and 2 weeks apart. The funniest part.. her sister is JUST LIKE HER and she cant stand the girl lol.. its too funny!
Millicent C.s last blog post..Yall have to check this giveaway out!
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
My stepsister has major character flaws and we were really close until a major fallout we had a little over a year ago, and haven’t spoken since. I liked her alot actually up until then. Now she is preggos and I hope she gets life figured out, if thats possible for her. Thanks for the great giveaway.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Yes, I know people with character flaws, but we all have one or more. This sounds like an interesting suspensful book. I would love to win and read it. I am ready for a new book right now.
Babas last blog post..Prospects
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I have more than my share, so yes. I like most everyone.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
i attract this type of people, and other people can
not put up with them
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I had a wonderful friend who I loved very much, but she was sooo loud and brassy. When we went out, people would stare at us, but I loved her. She was one of my dearest friends, and when she moved out of state, I cried and I miss her very much.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:08 pm
I’ve known many people with character flaws and sometimes the flaws are what made them interesting to be around.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Yes, I know people like that…too many! A friend of mine tends to be a bit stingy…like not wanting to share a handful of almonds with me while I spent a week at her house as I was eating all her snack for the week (Yes, I’m only talking a handful out of a huge jar full!).
Thanks so much!
Michele R.(CA)
[email protected]
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Yes, i do know people like that. those that have to make every conversation turn to about them but I still love to sit and chat with them. takes all the pressure off me to keep the conversation going LOL
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I am an e-mail subscriber to your blog.
I know MANY people with “flaws” (myself included). One such person is my friend Donna. She’s ALWAYS had to be the center of attention no matter what was going on and she is very much a “Drama Queen”. For example, if you say “I have a bad cold” she’ll reply “I have the flu”. If you say “I won $5 in the Lottery” she’ll say “I won $5,000 in the Lottery”. If you say “I just adopted a new puppy” she’ll say “We spent A LOT of money on a purebread dog”. See what I mean?
I have learned to just take it with a grain of salt. Ha Ha.
Thanks for the giveaway.
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I am related to people that have more than 5 major flaws. I have learned to accept people for the way they are and mot try to change people.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:20 am
This isn’t really anonymous enough to talk about MY relatives — but my husband talks about working with his uncle for three or four years, and this guy apparently was really “stuck” at an emotional age of about thirteen or fourteen — VERY amusing sometimes, but VERY difficult to work with sometimes, too — in the car, his foot on the accelerator would be constantly speeding up or slowing down; and buying supplies at the hardware store was like watching a big kid in a candy factory! NEVER boring, often tiring…
October 24th, 2008 at 12:26 am
My wife’s sister’s husband reminds me of Red Skelton, kinda big and rumpled, and goofy looking, and very funny — except if he’s not making jokes, he’s talking about him, his work, his farm, his animals, his weather, his stuff, his problems, his experience of life in general — and I understand that’s where he is, and what he HAS to talk about, but it SOOoo makes me want to sing out “but I wanta talk about ME!”
October 24th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Someone with character flaws? That would be my husband. Do I like him anyway? Absolutely, because he still loves me in spite of my character flaws!
October 24th, 2008 at 1:04 am
Hi, I am equally guilty of having character flaws! Hopefully, I had friends who were were brave enough to tell me about them. When I was younger, I let friends(?)take advantage of me. I tried to be too nice. Another thing I can’t take is someone who talks only about their lives and don’t act interested in what is going on in mine! I have been blessed with mostly wonderful friends who really don’t have major character flaws. Please enter me in your drawing. Thanks…..Cindi
October 24th, 2008 at 8:43 am
I think we have all known many with major character flaws. The last job I worked at had a couple of hypocrites for bosses. I tried overlooking it most of the time but now that I am gone from there I realize just how much it bothered me. Now I work for myself and my boss still has a couple of character flaws but I get along with her very well! HA!
October 24th, 2008 at 8:51 am
I am also a subscriber!
October 24th, 2008 at 8:53 am
I have a friend with the major character flaw of being self-absorbed. She makes every single thing about her, and she doesn’t listen to anyone else. She dominates conversation, and she interrupts when anyone else is talking. I love her dearly despite her flaws. I wonder what major character flaw she’d say I have.
Elainas last blog post..This Full House Giveaway
October 24th, 2008 at 10:23 am
I think we’ve all known people with some degree of character flaws, selves included. It’s human nature, and anyone who thinks they are without and perfect have another think coming.
I personally tend to be a negative “the cup’s half empty” kind of girl when really I should be a positive “the cup’s half full” kind. I don’t mean to be negative, and really half the time in the light that I look a things I’m not blatently trying to point out the negative but it comes out that way and tends to bring others (my husband especially) down if I’m not careful.
I’d love to enter your drawing for this book. Thanks
RebekahC
littleminx at cox dot net
http://www.readysetreadreviews.blogspot.com
RebekahCs last blog post..Teen FIRST Blog Tour: Ripple Effect (Time Thriller Trilogy, Book One) by Paul McCusker
October 24th, 2008 at 10:24 am
P.S. I’m a subscriber!
Thanks
RebekahC
littleminx at cox dot net
http://www.readysetreadreviews.blogspot.com
RebekahCs last blog post..Teen FIRST Blog Tour: Ripple Effect (Time Thriller Trilogy, Book One) by Paul McCusker
October 24th, 2008 at 10:38 am
All of us have at least one character flaw. After all we are all human.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I know a few people who are constantly running late and I still like them anyway.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I had a girlfriend who was completely self absorbed and selfish and I loved her anyway. She actually just recently ended our friendship though.. because we were out at a bar on my birthday and I spent too much time talking to some of my other friends and not talking to her. Oh well. This kind of goes into the ‘her loss’ category.
October 24th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I had a friend who was constantly complaining about everything.She was the weirdest person I’ve ever met and I’ve come to see that she’s a paranoid schizophrenic though she doesn’t know this. She had a heart of gold but she was constantly thinking someone was singling her or her family out in every situation and she overreacted to the tiniest things in life. It was incredibly tiring and draining to be friends with her and when she moved away, it was actually a relief.
October 24th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
We all have falts and I love our friends and family anyway.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Hmmm… How shall I enter this contest without losing friends? LOL! Well, I had this former co-worker who was a gossip, exagerator and constantly tried to “one-up” you on everything! Every morning she would come to my corner of the company cube-farm and update me on everything that had happened to her the day before… and what had happened to her friends and/or family (people I did not even know!). It was constant and a complete waste of at least 20 minutes, when I did not really care. But, she was overall a nice person and decent human being, so I tolerated her rambling (often pasting a fake smile and nodding while I made a mental “to do” list for the day in my head). I felt kinda bad for her as she seemed lonely. Thanks for running this contest! The book sounds to be a fascinating read.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
My mother had MANY< MANY flaws and yes, I still liked her.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I think you can “like” them, but not necessarily want to be friends with them. It would depend on the particular flaw, because we all have them.
October 25th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Hey I am already a subscriber, please count me in for April Fool
October 25th, 2008 at 1:30 am
I have met people with many flaws. But I still liked them anyways, because everyone has flaws. Me included. But anyways, this book seems like a nice read.
October 25th, 2008 at 2:26 am
I had a co-worker who was very opinionated. We soon learned not to voice an opinion about anything except what to have for lunch - lol
When she got started she wouldn’t allow anyone else to state an opinion. In fact, she would tell us to be quiet and not interrupt. Eventually her attitude caused her to be dismissed.
In spite of all that I did like her (as long as we weren’t talking about anything that got her going).
October 25th, 2008 at 8:19 am
My friend still wears blue eye shadow.
October 25th, 2008 at 9:21 am
i had a neighbor once who borrowed everything under the sun but i was bad at saying no..when she once asked to borrow some of my lingere that went too far but i let her and told her to keep it..i didnt like her i dont like people that use people
October 25th, 2008 at 10:25 am
LoL! Of course — most of my family have major character flaws but I not only Love them, I like them too!
October 25th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Sure; none of us is perfect, but that doesn’t make all of us incapable of being liked. The one character flaw I can’t ignore is extreme selfishness. And, the older I get, the less I tolerate it in folks.
October 25th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
of course that is what makes people interesting
October 25th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I have a friend who is a know it all, but she still is my favorite friend
October 25th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Character Flaws are like wrinkles; you still try to conceal and correct however, they still are visible. Thanks SW
October 25th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
I have my share of flaws!
October 25th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I have a wonderful friend who is very selfish but I still love her. Sometimes I can’t stand to be around her so I take a small break but she is so fun that I keep going back.
October 25th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
My husband has OCD when it comes to organization. Everything must be exactly where it belongs, and everything is neat and labeled. If you’re not watching, he’ll put things away that you are using. Fortunately, I love him anyway and I just try and deal with this part of him.
October 25th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
My friend had a really rough time growing up and a disasterous first marriage. In her 30s she married a great guy who made good money and “spoiled her rotten”. She offended people by telling them how much everything cost - her house, her car, her clothes, etc. But really, it was because she had never had anything before and was just amazed by her good fortune.
October 25th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I younger sister is a bit dramatic, and can make a mountain out of a mole hill, but I would not trade one thing about her for some other personality. She is my sister but also a best friend the whole hill of her.
October 25th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Yes I have and yes I do.
October 25th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I know someone that always has to be in control. His children don’t want to be around him but we love his good heart.
October 26th, 2008 at 12:47 am
I’m too picky to like people with major character flaws.
November 7th, 2008 at 11:10 am
[...] If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Where: carp(e) libris reviewsWhat: Book Titled April Fool by John NeufeldHow To Enter: Leave a comment on the giveaway/contest [...]