Borgia Madness Monday Giveaway!!

Welcome to the first Borgia Madness Monday giveaway!!  Thanks to Beth at Sourcebooks every Monday, until the end of the new Showtime series The Borgias, I will be hosting a giveaway for 2 copies of Sarah Bower's Sins of the House of Borgia to some lucky winners and all you have to do is answer a question about the series!

The first question is:  

Who is your favorite character and why?


ABOUT THE BOOK
 
SYNOPSIS

A Notorious Duke
An Infamous Duchess
An Innocent Girl

Violante isn't supposed to be here, in one of the grandest courts of Renaissance Italy. She isn't supposed to be a lady-in-waiting to the beautiful Lucrezia Borgia. But the same secretive  politics that pushed Lucrezia's father to the Vatican have landed Violante deep in a lavish landscape of passion and ambition.

Violante discovers a Lucrezia unknown to those who see only a scheming harlot, and all the whispers about her brother, Cesare Borgia, never revealed the soul of the man who dances close with Violante.

But those who enter the House of Borgia are never quite the same when they leave-if they leave at all. Violante's place in history will test her heart and leave her the guardian of dangerous secrets she must carry to the grave.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION:

- To enter, please leave your answer to the above question in the comments section below and include your email address.
- Giveaway is open to US entries ONLY!
- For +1 additional entry each, please help spread the word by blogging, posting on sidebar, tweeting or posting on Facebook.  You can use the SHARE buttons below.
- Giveaway ends on May 8th.

GOOD LUCK!

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32 comments:

  1. I would have to say Lucrezia Borgia, she is the only one I really know anything about.
    twoofakind12@yahoo.com

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  2. Don't count me in as I am overseas but this is a gorgeous giveaway!

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  3. I am fascinated by Lucrezia... all the different ways she is viewed by history, but I must say that if the real Cesare looked anything like the guy on THE BORGIAS on Showtime... Cesare would get my vote! :-)

    Thanks!
    Amy
    tiger_fan_1997 AT yahoo DOT com

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  4. I'd have to go with Cesare Borgia. There's just something cold and calculated about him and calls to my inner bad girl.

    Thanks for the great giveaway! I've been dying to read this book.

    romancingrakes AT gmail DOT com

    Tweet:https://twitter.com/#!/romancingrakes/status/65069266545819648

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  5. Oh no! I can't watch the series yet. No cable, so I have to wait for NetFlix. Can I still enter?

    jasmyn9[at]hotmail[dot]com

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  6. I adore Cesare Borgia. He is so conflicted...desperately not wanting the same future his father wants for him but also desperately wanting to protect his family. If I remember my history correctly, he eventually embraces and even lusts after the power his father sends his way. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the actor is a stunner...full of sensuality and heat.

    cruzowlpost AT att DOT net

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  7. Aw heck, I could write a brilliant piece about my favourite character, and I am avidly following the series... but I'm in the UK! Am I allowed to enter as a gift for a friend who lives in the US? I might not be able to enjoy it but I know she'd love this book.

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  8. Sure Beth! As long as you give me a valid US mailing address you are entered into the giveaway!

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  9. Lucrezia-bc she seemed to start out innocent enough...

    jcwga@hotmail.com

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  10. My favorite character is Cesare Borgia, he was a brilliant military commander as well as (apparently) having the type of looks that made him irresistible to women, a toxic combination!

    Deniseincoralsprings@gmail.com

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  11. My favorite character would be Cesare Borgia who is so irresistible to women. I am sure I would fall for him to. Please enter me in contest. I would love to read this book. Tore923@aol.com

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  12. Oh definitely Cesare Borgia! There is something about him that just draws me in. It's like he has two different sides to him. One being kind, passionate & loving like he is w/ Lucrezia and the woman he is drawn to. And then there is his dark side which he calls his Borgia mark.
    +1 I tweeted via share buttons.
    Thanks so much for this giveaway I want to win so badly!

    taylor_ward11@yahoocom

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  13. In our time the Borgias would be CEOs and bank presidents.

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  14. I have never seen it as I don't watch TV much, but would still love to win the books :)
    Melanie

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  15. My favorite character is Cesare Borgia. I believe he is a great character he wants to free of his priestly duties however, he is bonded by the love of his father to continue wearing his red robes. I believe Cesare would make a great solider for the pope but the his father know that having his close will be to his benefit. We can really see his true character when he interacts with his sister. You can see that he really loves her and cherishes her. He really opens ups to Ursula however it is bittersweet relationship, she want nothing to do with him now that he committed a horrible sin such as killing her husband. I really enjoy the showtime series of the Borgias.

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  16. I'm gonna have to go with Cesare Borgia...there's just something about a military man.
    mamabunny13 at gmail dot com

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  17. Cesare Borgia is one of my favorite characters. Its not just his good looks. He is a character that show us his true passionate nature to those he loves. I love watching the interaction with his sister. You can see that he truly love her and wants to protect from "evil." We certainly know that he is not a cardinal by choice but for to please his father. He is a big asset to the pope and the pope know it and keeps him near. I believe Cesare would have been a great solider and family if only he was giving the chance.

    ninoskasua@gmail.com

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  18. Cesare Borgia is one of my favorite characters. Its not just his good looks. He is a character that show us his true passionate nature to those he loves. I love watching the interaction with his sister. You can see that he truly love her and wants to protect from "evil." We certainly know that he is not a cardinal by choice but for to please his father. He is a big asset to the pope and the pope know it and keeps him near. I believe Cesare would have been a great solider and family if only he was giving the chance.

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  19. +1 share on facebook
    http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/ninoskasuarez

    +1 share on twitter
    http://twitter.com/#!/ninoskasua/status/65674915386363904

    +1 share on blog
    http://ninoskasua.blogspot.com/2011/05/passages-to-past-borgia-madness-monday.html

    ReplyDelete
  20. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=160279864034738&id=100002032626921

    Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/bookpurring/status/65786364100227072

    Risking sounding repetitive I'm gonna say Lucrezia, I find her story arc more interesting because she was so naive in the beginning but forced by the circumstances to become as sneaky as the rest of her family :D

    bookpurring at yahoo dot com

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  21. Oh my its' so hard to choose...I'd have to with Jeremy Irons evil character! He always does such a great job with amoral roles...remember Lolita? We were just away for last week and we had Showtime in the hotel and I'm so tempted to get Showtime just so that I can watch this sereis...I'm so sad...lol Thanks for a fun giveaway. Fondly, Roberta
    rlphilbr13@aol.com

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  22. Just shared this giveaway on Facebook and Twitter ;P
    rlphilbr13@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. Have added this fun giveaway and Giveaway Mondays on my sidebar.
    http://con-tain-it.typepad.com
    rlphilbr13@aol.com

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  24. We don't get Showtime. I have missed some good series. From the synopsis, I think Violante would most likely be my favorite character. I tend to like the characters that get caught up in something bigger than they are and are seldom ready for.

    librarypat AT comcast DOT net

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  25. I tweeted this giveaway.

    http://twitter.com/pbbearclaw/status/66021055390683136

    librarypat AT comcast DOT net

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  26. I shared this giveaway on Facebook as Patricia Barraclough.

    librarypat AT comcast DOT net

    ReplyDelete
  27. This may be completely outside the parameters of what you were expecting, but my favorite character is the French king, Charles VIII. He's ugly and he knows it; he's aware of the grisliness and brutality of war, yet participates in the carnage willingly. He's intelligent and plain-spoken and doesn't suffer fools lightly. Most importantly, compared to many other rulers of the time, he's the sanest one of all and, because of that, the most trustworthy. You wouldn't have to worry about him coming at you sideways--if he felt you deserved die, he'd do you the honor of killing you face-to-face. Charles may only be a secondary character to the show, but, for me, he's the one who sticks in my mind the most stubbornly.

    afishnamedlaura AT yahoo DOT com

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  28. Rodrigo is my fave. He's the Pope who lives like a king.
    Sharing on my blogger.

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  29. I’ve got to go with Cesare Borgia.

    Cesare, for me, has emerged as, perhaps unexpectedly when the series began, both the dominant force in the series and amazingly deep as a character. Between the writers and actor François Arnaud there had been created a character who is incredibly detailed, well-drawn, and layered. From the very first, Cesare is ruthlessly efficient and brutal, navigating himself and his family’s fortunes through the perilous quagmire of ecclesiastical, Italian, and indeed global politics. He executes such neat manoeuvrings with consummate skill and competency – not an easy task, as his brother Juan proves. I don’t think this surprised anyone who anticipated the series. What did surprise was how much empathy one feels for this character, brutal as he is. Cesare is no mindless killer, but has startling depth, and is even likable. Of all the family, he is the most conflicted. He is torn between conflicting demands – the life he wants to lead, and the life that he is expected to lead. The other members in the family pull him between one and the other – Rodrigo places immense pressure on Cesare to conform to what is expected of him, Juan goads his brother about the fact that he does conform, Vannozza encourages him to rebel, but only Lucrezia accepts him unconditionally whichever path he is pursuing. And the demands on Cesare are heavy indeed. Juan is free to be a warrior – and to be as feckless as he likes – not so Cesare, and the tasks that Cesare is to complete include the worst corruption and murder. As if that weren’t enough, Cesare is frequently prevailed upon to clean up the messes that Juan creates whenever his brother botches the job. This doesn’t sit well with Cesare. He carries out most of what is asked of him with ruthless efficiency, but in part only does so because of his fierce protectiveness towards his family and the knowledge that they will come to ruin if he does not carry out his grisly duty, and he seems to maintain his own personal code of ethics. He believes in honour and tries to see justice done where possible – though this doesn’t always work out for him. He cares about Lucrezia’s happiness more than the political expediency of marrying her off. He flat out refuses to have anything to do with killing a friend, and is clearly distraught when Prince Djem blithely tells Cesare of his intention to convert to Christianity because Cesare and his siblings have been so loving and good to him. He is the only one who recognises the “savage” from the New World as a human being, and feels compassion for his plight. When Ursula reacts with revulsion to his murder of her husband, Cesare is angry because she sees only his murderous acts and he is desperate to rid himself of the stain of the terrible things he must do for the sake of his family, the last thing he wants is to be seen as a murderer, since he is beset by the demons of guilt and is capable of keenly feeling compassion, and displaying humanity that is exceptionally unusual for the times in which he moves – the “savage”, for example, is treated as an object or at best a means to an end by the other characters, and Cesare’s reaction is not the norm. Surrounded on all sides by an uncaring, brutal, and dark world, Cesare is forced into being brutal himself simply to survive, but he never loses his humanity, and Lucrezia is his light in that dark world. It’s no surprise that they’re so close: on Cesare’s side, Lucrezia is the one person who will always accept him no matter what he’s done, and her relative innocence is an inspiration, a symbol of all that is good in the world, and more personally an affirmation of all that is good in Cesare. Finally, Cesare’s intelligence and capacity to reason make him all the more likable. This is why Cesare Borgia is my favourite character from The Borgias, and, I contend, why Cesare is secretly the true protagonist of the series.

    beth-martin AT live DOT com

    + 1 I have tweeted here:

    http://twitter.com/#!/taekwondobabe/status/66581645905502208

    ReplyDelete
  30. Okay, normally I would go with Lucrezia, she is the one who drew me into this family years ago. But since your question is about the series, I have to go with the big, bad, loving daddy here, Rodrigo Borgia, especially since the impeccable Jeremy Irons is wearing the robes. Irons is more than capable of showing the many nuanced layers of this multi-faceted personage.

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  31. Oops, forgot that all important email.
    DaSwee94(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Shared on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.passagestothepast.com%2F2011%2F05%2Fborgia-madness-monday-giveaway.html%3Fspref%3Dfb&t=Borgia+Madness+Monday+Giveaway!!

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  32. Are the winners of this first round of the Borgia Monday Madness Giveaway going to be posted soon?

    ReplyDelete

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