THE OPPOSITE OF ME & SKIPPING A BEAT by Sarah Pekkanen

Winner Announced!
Congrats to

Lauren Royall...

Lauren says her favorite dessert is German Chocolate Cake and the "opposite of me" is her husband! You have won both of Sarah Pekkanen's books! Please email me your full name and mailing address and you'll receive your books! Congrats! stephanieelliot@gmail.com

Books: The Opposite of Me and Skipping A Beat

Author: Sarah Pekkanen

Website: http://www.sarahpekkanen.com/

Winner Announced Here

Sarah Pekkanen may be one of the relatively newer voices on the scene but she’s also one of the hottest. Her first book, The Opposite of Me, was so well-received, it caught the attention of author Jennifer Weiner. Word of mouth and a little contest to help spread the author love, and The Opposite of Me was noted in People, Redbook, USAToday. Sarah was all over the place, and after reading The Opposite of Me, it was no wonder. I fell in love with Sarah’s writing. Truly stories I wanted to tear through, but didn’t want to see end.

Since I read The Opposite of Me so long ago and didn’t write a review then, I'm just going to give you the back-of-the-book blurb:

Twenty-nine year old Lindsey Rose has, for as long as she can remember, lived in the shadow of her devastatingly beautiful fraternal twin sister, Alex. Determined to get noticed, Lindsey is finally on the cusp of being named Creative Vice President of an elite New York advertising agency, after years of 80 plus-hour weeks, migraines, and profound loneliness. But during the course of one devastating night, Lindsey’s carefully-constructed life implodes.

Humiliated and desperate, she flees the glitter of Manhattan and retreats to the time warp of her parents’ Maryland home. As her sister plans her lavish wedding to her prince charming, Lindsey struggles to maintain her identity as the smart, responsible twin, while she furtively tries to put her career back together. But things get more complicated when a long-held family secret is unleashed that forces both sisters to reconsider who they are and who they are meant to be.

And here’s my personal review for Skipping A Beat:

Usually when you love an author's first book, you don't expect to be blown away by her second book, but with Sarah Pekkanen's Skipping a Beat, that's exactly what I was. Blown away. From the very first page I was swept up into Michael and Julia's story of how they were less than privileged high school sweethearts turned millionaires by his DrinkUp flavored water. Yet, because of her father's gambling habit, Julia requested a pre-nup before she and Michael were married so that she could be responsible for her own money and have a secure life unlike her own mother who lost everything because of her father's gambling habit.

How was she to know that her own husband would become a man worth millions, 70, to be exact, and then unexpectedly die, for four minutes and eight seconds, but then come back to life and find money meaningless? And want to give it all away? Michael does exactly this, but in doing so, wants to prove his love to Julia at the same time.

How can she trust that he's not throwing away their lives, when the past few years all he's been focused on was building his empire, and now he wants to trash it all and finally work on their marriage? Fortunately, Julia's got a thriving party planning business of her own, but will it be enough if she decides she cannot stay with Michael now that he's going to give it all away? And will she want to stay with Michael after the years he's been absent in her life? He's asking her for the next three weeks to prove his love to her. Can she give it to him? And what will she discover in those three weeks?

Skipping a Beat had me on the edge of my seat, and my own heart was skipping beats as I plowed through this book, anxious and excited to find out what would happen at the end. A couple of things I predicted would happen, but they were good things, and made for a happy ending despite some surprises that did have me tearing up while reading as well! Loved, loved, loved this book and it catapulted Sarah Pekkanen to my top five list of favorite authors, right alongside Emily Giffin!


Read the first chapter of Skipping a Beat HERE.

Here’s the amazing Book Trailer.

Skipping a Beat, is an O Magazine Pick-It-Up-Now book for April, among being listed in other places. Sarah’s hit it big time!

To enter to win these books, tell me the answer to these two questions:

In Skipping a Beat, the main character is a party planner and there’s a lot of talk about yummy desserts. In fact, the book opens with decadent cupcakes. What is your favorite dessert?

And, tell me what you think the opposite of you might be?


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Please leave a comment, and all those who do will qualify to win Sarah's books! I’ll draw the winner in a couple of days and I will post the winner’s name at the TOP of this post, in the highlighted area.


Come back and read about each book every day in March. Choose the books you'd like to win. Enter for any or ALL the books. Each entry will count as an entry toward the grand prize of winning ALL 31+ books at the end of the month. You can win the book of the day and still qualify to win ALL the books at the end of the month!


PLEASE be specific with your name in the comment section, and IF YOUR NAME is listed as the winner, you must email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com in order to claim your prize. Email me with your full name and address so I can have your book(s) sent to you.


Thanks, and GOOD LUCK! And come back tomorrow to see what book I’ll be giving away then too!


It’s MaNiC MoMMy’s March Madness Book-A-Day Giveaway! Read ALL the Rules and Details Here!


Sorry, only U.S. and Canadian residents only!