Friday, June 29, 2012

ALL THE DIFFERENCE by Kaira Rouda

See if you won this book by checking HERE .



All The Difference
Kaira Rouda
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Good morning – today I bring you the last book for June, but don’t be sad because I’ve already got about 12 books lined up for July, including Jennifer Weiner, Amy Hatvany, Stacey Ballis and Emily Giffin, so while I will NOT be posting daily, we’ve got some great authors to look forward to still!

And speaking of great authors, today, as the final author in the June Book-a-Day promo, we’ve got Kaira Rouda’s All The Difference, a novel about three very different women and the choices they make (including MURDER!). And this book will have your heart racing through to the end, I promise you – nothing like ending the month here on Booking with Manic by sending you off with a book that’ll have us all going out with a bang!?!?
  
All The Difference is the story of three women whose lives become entangled by the choices they make and how, ultimately, one of them turns to murder to achieve her goals.

Roommates Laura and Angie couldn't be more different. Laura is a local celebrity, the television anchor who is motivated to move out of small-time media markets and on to the big time, no matter the cost. Meanwhile, Angie, a luckless waitress, spends her time waiting for Mr. Right to save her from temporary jobs and a life spent making bad choices.


On the other side of town, Ellen abandons her life as a successful fundraiser for that of an isolated housewife in the country estate she shares with her husband, whose affairs become increasingly hard to ignore. When the city’s gossip columnist, Maddie, and restaurant reviewer, Dixon, become involved in the mystery, the unlikely duo stir up more than they intended. But will anyone be able to stop the next murder?


With her signature compassion and wit, Kaira Rouda once again takes readers on an entertaining journey into the heart of women’s lives in suburbia - this time with adultery and murder in the mix.


If you’d like to win a copy of All The Difference, tell me one trait about YOU that makes YOU different from everyone else – it can be a personality trait or a physical trait – whatever you want to share with all of the other awesome people who come over here every day!

Please note—I’ll choose the rest of the book winners from June 20 through the end of the month after the Fourth of July holiday and then after THAT, I’ll bring you guys news of the GRAND PRIZE DRAWING – we’ll most likely have a FIRST PLACE WINNER and a SECOND PLACE WINNER and I will also announce the winner of the $15 Gift Card for The Cell Phone Lot entry  (THERE IS STILL TIME TO ENTER!), and you can still enter to win all of the other books that do not have winners’ names announced if you did not yet leave a comment!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

SKINNYDIPPING By Bethenny Frankel

See if you won this book by checking HERE .



Bethenny Frankel’s debut fiction, which came out the beginning of May is called Skinnydipping, where she bares all – the story of Faith Bridgestone, who heads to LA with dreams of making it big. In this story there’s a reality TV show involved and one has to wonder how much of the real stuff does Bethenny put in Skinnydipping

If you loved Real Housewives, Skinny margaritas and cocktails, and Bethenny in general, you’ve got to check out Skinnydipping! It’s a total roman a clef of her own life, from her early days to making it big – and you know she’s spilling a few secrets along the way!

Faith Brightstone is an aspiring actress just out of college, who moves to LA determined to have it all—a job on the most popular TV show, a beach house in Malibu, and a gorgeous producer boyfriend. But when reality hits, she finds herself with a gig as a glorified servant, a role that has more to do with T&A than acting, and a dead-end relationship. Finally, Faith decides she’s had enough of La La Land and moves back to New York with just a suitcase and her dog Muffin.

Five years later, Faith has finally found her groove as an entrepreneur and manages to land a spot on a new reality TV show hosted by her idol —the legendary businesswoman and domestic goddess Sybil Hunter. Diving into the bizarre world of reality TV, Faith’s loud mouth and tell-it-like-it-is style immediately get her in trouble with her fellow contestants— the delusional socialite; the boozy lifestyle coach; the moody headband designer; and her closest friend, the ambitious housewife who eventually betrays her. Even Sybil is not what she appears.


As the show comes to a dramatic close, Faith discovers that the man of her dreams may have just walked in to her life. Will she choose fame or love? Or can she have it all?


You can watch Bethenny talk about her book, and her new talk show -- which I’ve checked out and it’s really good -- here on The Today Show: 

If you want to win a copy of Skinnydipping, of course you KNOW what I’m going to ask you – have YOU or haven’t you … well, YOU KNOW… been … SKINNYDIPPING! 
TOMORROW IS THE LAST POST of the June Book Promo - make sure to check the previous posts to see if you've won any books, and also to enter to win those that have not been announced! 

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

WALLFLOWER IN BLOOM by Claire Cook

See if you won this book by checking HERE .



Claire Cook is a powerhouse author. If you don’t know of her (HOW can you NOT know of her?!) she is the author of Must Love Dogs, which was a major motion picture staring John Cusack! She wrote that book, her first one at 45. As I’m 43 now, and have written (omg, I have to think of how many I’ve written!)… 3-1/2 full novels and one novella, and I’m still struggling toward publication, she is an inspiration to me for certain.

Claire Cook’s characters are lively and fun, and leap from the pages. In particular, Deidre from Wallflower in Bloom – quite literally actually, you’ll find she leaps from the pages once you get reading, because she ends up on Dancing with the Stars! You’ve got to love a book that mixes reality TV into the story!

Deirdre Griffin has a great life; it’s just not her own. She’s the round-the-clock personal assistant to her charismatic, high-maintenance, New Age guru brother, Tag. As the family wallflower, her only worth seems to be as gatekeeper to Tag at his New England seaside compound. 

Then Deirdre’s sometime-boyfriend informs her that he is marrying another woman, who just happens to be having the baby he told Deirdre he never wanted. While drowning her sorrows in Tag’s expensive vodka, Deirdre decides to use his massive online following to get herself voted on as a last-minute Dancing with the Stars replacement. It’ll get her back in shape, mentally and physically. It might even get her a life of her own. Deirdre’s fifteen minutes of fame have begun. 

Irresistible, offbeat, yet with a thoroughly relatable and appealing heroine, Wallflower in Bloom is an original and deeply satisfying story of one woman who’s ready to take a leap into the spotlight, no matter where she lands.

Listen to an excerpt read by Claire here! I guarantee you will end up laughing!


Since part of Wallflower in Bloom has to do with a reality TV show, tell me if you have a favorite reality TV show. Lately, I’m addicted to two: Hardcore Pawn and Sister Wives. In fact, the other night I stayed up until 2 a.m. watching DVRed episodes. My husband came out and ‘caught’ me. He said, “Seriously! You are NOT 16 years old.” I got busted! LOL!

We're coming to the end - check the previous posts to see if you've won any books!


This book is part of the June Promo - enter every day in June for a chance at the grand prize giveaway at the end of the month - a pile of awesome books! - the more times you enter, the more chances you have at winning!


As with all of the books I post on Booking with MaNiC, thanks to the authors and publicists for providing me with the books. Giveaways open to US/Canada residents only. To enter, leave an identifying unique user name or ID (NO anonymous will be accepted – leave an email address if you don’t know how to post to an account!

Winners will be chosen at random by random.org, within THREE DAYS from the date the book is posted on the blog, and one entry ALLOWED per book please. If you scroll through previous posts and if there is NOT a highlighted note at the top, then feel free to enter to win that book too! If there is a highlighted announcement at the top of a post, then that book is closed to comments and a winner has already been chosen. For comments, questions, suggestions, please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. Thanks for your participation! Good luck!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

See if you won this book by checking HERE .



LIVE VIDEO CHAT TODAY, JUNE 26

The Language of Flowers’ main character, Victoria is on her own after turning 18 after a life of being shifted through the foster-care system. With nowhere to go, she finds herself alone on the streets of San Francisco, and she turns to what she knows best – the comfort of flowers.

Here is the book blurb:

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, aster for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating grief, mistrust, and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings.

Now eighteen and emancipated from the system, Victoria has nowhere to go and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. Soon a local florist discovers her talents, and Victoria realizes that she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But a mysterious vendor at the flower market inspires her to question what’s been missing in her life. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.



Not only is Vanessa Diffenbaugh a talented author, but she has done amazing work in the foster care system. She has founded the Camellia Network, whose mission is to create a nationwide movement to support foster youth transitioning into the world. Basically that means helping those who reach the age of 18 transition into adulthood once they leave the foster care system. For more information on the Camellia Network, you can go visit www.camellianetwork.org.

The Language of Flowers has been optioned for the big screen and this is one I can absolutely envision on the big screen. Everything about it screams MOVIE! MOVIE! MOVIE! A big mystery for me is that I’m really curious as to what kind of flowers Vanessa Diffenbaugh had in her wedding bouquet!

If you’d like to win a copy of this beautiful novel, whose images will truly stay with you forever (can you imagine if a book came with scratch and smell pages – this one would be GLORIOUS!), please share with me your favorite flower and why you chose the one you did!

 Are You Checking in Daily and Reading Previous Posts?

This book is part of the June Promo - enter every day in June for a chance at the grand prize giveaway at the end of the month - a pile of awesome books! - the more times you enter, the more chances you have at winning!


As with all of the books I post on Booking with MaNiC, thanks to the authors and publicists for providing me with the books. Giveaways open to US/Canada residents only. To enter, leave an identifying unique user name or ID (NO anonymous will be accepted – leave an email address if you don’t know how to post to an account!

Winners will be chosen at random by random.org, within THREE DAYS from the date the book is posted on the blog, and one entry ALLOWED per book please. If you scroll through previous posts and if there is NOT a highlighted note at the top, then feel free to enter to win that book too! If there is a highlighted announcement at the top of a post, then that book is closed to comments and a winner has already been chosen. For comments, questions, suggestions, please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. Thanks for your participation! Good luck!

Monday, June 25, 2012

I NEVER PROMISED YOU A GOODIE BAG By Jennifer Gilbert

See if you won this book by checking HERE .





By now you all know that I’m such a fan of memoirs and here’s one that you all will love. I Never Promised You A Goodie Bag: A Memoir of a Life Through Events – the Ones You Plan and the Ones You Don’t is one that when you finish it you will think about it (and the author and what she’s been through!) for days later.

When Jennifer was just 22 years old she was brutally attacked with the intent of murder – stabbed more than 37 times with a screwdriver. Miraculously, she survived, and her memoir is her story of survival, and how she rose above her turmoil to become the successful entrepreneur/event planner of Save the Date special events company in New York.

She is married and the mother to three children, and has learned to find joy, laugh, let go and be happy after years of faking it. You'll find that once she had children, one of her sons, who is totally healthy but has something external going on with him, helped her to find the strength to share what happened to her to heal her internal scars. It's truly an amazing and inspirational story!

Here’s the back-of-the-book blurb:

When Jennifer was just a year out of college, a twenty-two-year-old fresh-faced young woman looking forward to a bright future, someone tried to cut her life short in the most violent way. But she survived, and not wanting this traumatic event to define her life, she buried it deep within and never spoke of it again.


She bravely launched a fabulous career in New York as an event planner, designing lavish parties and fairy-tale weddings. Determined to help others celebrate and enjoy life's greatest moments, she was convinced she'd never again feel joy herself. Yet it was these weddings, anniversaries, and holiday parties, showered with all her love and attention through those silent, scary years, that slowly brought her back to life.


Always the calm in the event-planning storm—she could fix a ripped wedding dress, solve the problem of an undelivered wedding cake in the nick of time, and move a party with two days' notice when disaster struck—there was no crisis that she couldn't turn into a professional triumph.


Somewhere along the way, she felt a stirring in her heart and began yearning for more than just standing on the sidelines living vicariously through other people's lives. She fell in love, had her heart broken a few times, and then one day she found true love in a place so surprising that it literally knocked her out of her chair.


As Gilbert learned over and over again, no one's entitled to an easy road, and some people's roads are bumpier than others. But survive each twist and turn she does—sometimes with tears, sometimes with laughter, and often with both.


Before & After:


You'll definitely want to check out Jennifer on Kathy Lee and Hoda on Today too! She truly is an inspiration.

Fun Fact: Jennifer Gilbert had a short stint on Real Housewives of New York season 3 but didn’t last long – apparently she didn’t cause enough of a ruckus like Bethenny and crew!

To win a copy of I Never Promised You A Goodie Bag, tell me some items you’d like to have in your very own Goodie Bag if you could design your own, but be realistic – let’s say the items couldn’t cost more than $30. Hahah, like that’s realistic! I’d want a book, iTunes card, Starbucks card, and maybe a really good lip gloss/balm!

Are You Checking in Daily and Reading Previous Posts?

This book is part of the June Promo - enter every day in June for a chance at the grand prize giveaway at the end of the month - a pile of awesome books! - the more times you enter, the more chances you have at winning!


As with all of the books I post on Booking with MaNiC, thanks to the authors and publicists for providing me with the books. Giveaways open to US/Canada residents only. To enter, leave an identifying unique user name or ID (NO anonymous will be accepted – leave an email address if you don’t know how to post to an account!

Winners will be chosen at random by random.org, within THREE DAYS from the date the book is posted on the blog, and one entry ALLOWED per book please. If you scroll through previous posts and if there is NOT a highlighted note at the top, then feel free to enter to win that book too! If there is a highlighted announcement at the top of a post, then that book is closed to comments and a winner has already been chosen. For comments, questions, suggestions, please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. Thanks for your participation! Good luck!



Saturday, June 23, 2012

THE CELL PHONE LOT e-novella by Stephanie Elliot

Addendum: please see below  GREEN highlighted regarding entries***


Today is a little something different. I know a few of you have read my short novella, The Cell Phone Lot which is available on amazon for 99 whopping cents. And I thank you so much. If you didn't know that I wrote a 60-page short story, here's what it's about:

Grant and Bridge didn't think their chance meeting at the cell phone lot would lead to anything, but after flight delays and a couple of beers, each starts to wonder if they were meant to find one another. But Grant's supposed to pick up a girl he's met online, and Bridge isn't quite over her ex-boyfriend. Is the timing right, or might this possible relationship just never take off?


On this post, if you leave a comment about an airport experience (in keeping with The Cell Phone Lot theme), you'll qualify another day to be in the grand prize drawing for the June Promo. 

HOWEVER, if you haven't yet purchased a copy of The Cell Phone Lot and you would like to do so, of course I would love for you to buy one -- even if you don't have a Kindle (which I DON'T!) you can upload the Kindle app to your laptop/desktop/smartphone for free RIGHT HERE.


AND, if you BUY a copy of The Cell Phone Lot OR leave an honest review of it on amazon here, I'll enter you in a separate drawing to receive a $15 gift card of your choice: Target, iTunes, Starbucks. 

If you do both (buy a copy AND leave a review, you get two entries)... you will have to email me proof of purchase from amazon by sending the email receipt from amazon to stephanieelliot@gmail.com.  As for the reviews on amazon if you post one, I know how many are up there, and you can just email me once you put one up there that it is you who posted it. 

If you tell your friends, I will give you my first-born, my complete book collection, all of my acquired Starbucks points and have all the book publicists send books directly to your house instead of mine from now on ... I will be forever and ever and ever grateful to you!


So, any questions? 

If you already read and reviewed it, just send me an email with subject line CELL PHONE LOT DRAWING and let me know which review you put up! And thanks in advance for your support! I can't tell you how much this means to me as I try to get my writing out into the world!!! THANK YOU!


Here's a recap:


*Buy The Cell Phone Lot at amazon.com HERE. For only 99 cents!

*Email the amazon receipt to stephanieelliot@gmail.com. Put in your email subject line: CELL PHONE LOT DRAWING. (Make sure to include your full name in this one!)


*Leave an honest review of it on amazon here.

Random winner will receive $15 gift card of their choice.

ALSO, leave a comment here about an airplane experience to continue to earn entry for the June Grand Prize.


It sounds pretty easy right? I hope so because it's like past midnight and I just came up with all of this stuff.


And here are a couple of opening pages of The Cell Phone Lot to hopefully entice you into wanting to read more! Thanks, and we will be back to our regularly scheduled program on Monday, and I will choose more winners by Sunday night so check back to see who has won MORE books!

THE CELL PHONE LOT 

Grant signed onto the computer and there was an email from Melissa. The subject line said: Flight Itinerary to Chicago. His first reaction was, “Uh-oh, here we go” which then turned to immediate dread, filling his gut. He wasn’t sure about this. Still, he clicked the message.
Hi Grant, really excited about seeing you this weekend. Here’s my flight info. Thanks so much for wanting to take the next step. I think we’ll have a really great time. ♥ Melissa
Maybe it was the heart, or maybe it was the fact that she thought he was ready to “take the next step” that freaked him out a bit. After all, they’d only been communicating via email for two months, and had spoken on the phone maybe a half-dozen times, and four of those calls had been spurred on by alcohol. He thought of this weekend as just a chance to hang out with a girl he had met online who might be pretty cool, but he wasn’t sure about a long-distance relationship, especially not with someone who lived as far away as L.A. And he didn’t think she was the type of girl who he wanted to “take the next step with” either. But how would he know if he never met her? Life was all about taking chances though, and in the past thirty-four years, he hadn’t taken that many. He wasn’t much of a risk taker. Maybe it was time.
After Grant read Melissa’s email, he thought for a moment and shot one back to her:
Hey Melissa, it’ll be a fun weekend. Got some exciting things planned –
No, that sounded too elusive, too much like he was leading her on. He deleted that and moved toward something a bit safer:
Hi Melissa, looking forward to spending some time with you. Can’t wait to show you the city. Grant.
There. Safe. Friendly. Nothing insinuating anything he wasn’t prepared to deliver. And if anything happened when he met her, well then, that would be great, but he wasn’t expecting to fall in love.
Grant hadn’t been in love in a very long time. The past few years he had been so focused on building his architectural business, he hadn’t had time for relationships. He had tried meeting women in the usual places – bars, or through well-meaning friends who knew the perfect woman for him, but they usually turned out to be women who were only interested in his mutual funds and his six-pack abs, which should have flattered him but instead made him wonder where the women with substance were. He met women at the gym, but they were superficial too – hard-bodies who worked out all day and then strapped on the four-inch heels and micro-minis at night, in search of the perfect man and martini. This wasn’t what Grant was about. This wasn’t the lifestyle he wanted. Well, maybe when he had been twenty-six, but not now. He wanted something different now. He wanted something more.
So, he had turned to the internet. So many of his “now-happily-sworn-by-the-internet-match-made-friends” had invested their time and money in the sites and had found the perfect person. He had thought, “What have I got to lose?” He was done spending his money at the loud obnoxious clubs on the loud obnoxious women who ended up being nothing more than a waste of his time and money. He wanted substance.
Maybe Melissa was substance.
They clicked almost immediately online.
She was the one who “winked” at him first, the online signal that she had seen his profile and was interested in learning more about him. He had been more passive on the site, scrolling through the profiles, looking at his possible matches. The site he placed his profile on was called PlentyOfFish.com. He decided to go on that one, rather than Match or eHarmony, because it seemed to be the underdog of the match-making sites, and he liked the idea that he might find more substance, more real people on that site. People with less flash, people who were more honest.
When Melissa first contacted him, he liked what he saw. Despite the fact that she was from L.A. and blonde. She exuded a Midwestern feel in her profile, and when they began corresponding, his assumption was right – she was originally from St. Louis, had moved to L.A. to study photography, but was considering a move back to the Midwest. She loved the beach, but missed her family back home.
She sent pictures during their fourth or fifth email exchange and her blonde hair appeared darker in them. Grant assumed she must have used a blonder California version of herself in her profile photo. They both loved seafood, the ocean, and wanted to travel to Italy. They shared similar tastes in music and preferred red over white. It was no wonder they were matched.
He didn’t remember if, during one of those drunken late-night phone calls, Grant suggested she visit or if she brought it up first, but the next time they spoke on the phone, Melissa mentioned it and he couldn’t really think of a reason why she shouldn’t come. So they figured out a weekend that would work, and that was that. He just hoped that when she got there … well, he didn’t know what he hoped. He had no idea what to think at all.


Two
Bridge answered her cell phone and was surprised to hear sobs coming from her younger sister Ally. Her immediate thought was car accident.
“Oh my God, Ally, calm down, I can’t hear you. Are you okay? Were you hit, have you dialed 911? Is John with you?” Bridge could barely breathe as she paced her apartment.
“John! It’s John!” Ally sobbed louder.
“John! John’s been in accident?” Bridge wished she could understand her sister through the cries. “You have to calm down, Ally. I cannot help you unless you stop crying. Where are you? Are the police with you?”
The mention of the police must have stunned Ally because Bridge heard her sister suck in deeply and then there was nothing for three or four seconds.
“Are you okay?” Bridge finally asked.
“It’s John,” Ally whispered.
“What happened?”
“He bro … he brooo … he broke up with meeeee!” Then the tears started again.
Bridge exhaled into the phone. “Oh honey. I’m so sorry.” But inside, she was saying all sorts of prayers to God, thanking Him that there was no car wreck, that John was not dead, that her sister was not laying in a pool of blood on Route 1, that there had not been a crazy serious accident. That it was only a break-up. Probably one of their quarterly arguments on whether or not they should move into a condo or continue to save for a house, or a wedding date debate. Her sister probably had a meltdown because she changed her mind on a winter wedding and John finally got sick of it. But Bridge knew he’d come around.
“ … and then he said, ‘Forget it, it’s over. I can’t handle this anymore’,” her sister said.
“Wait, I missed that first part,” Bridge said.
“Aren’t you listening?” Ally cried.
“Of course I am,” Bridge lied. “So then what?”
“He said he’d been thinking about it for a while, and he’s changed his mind. Then he left. Oh my God, Bridge, if he’s serious this time, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I love him so much. I know I can be difficult, but I can’t live without him!”
“Look, why don’t you give him some space.” Bridge knew how to talk her sister down, she’d done it plenty of times. “Maybe he just needs some time, you know, to miss you. Come visit for a while, even if it’s just for a long weekend. Give him some time to cool off. Maybe that’s what you both need. Some space and time to miss one another. The wedding’s not for another eleven months. Everything will cool off. He’s just angry.”
“You think?” Ally asked.
“I’m sure of it,” Bridge said.
But Bridge wasn’t sure of anything anymore. She hadn’t been in a serious relationship since Darren, and that had been right after college, so long ago – eight years. He had been so good to her, and she was sure he was her forever after, but then they just grew apart.
It hadn’t been a bad break-up. They had loved one another, she was sure of it. But Darren went into the medical field to become an EMT, and then he had moved out east, and the long-distance thing had not worked out. Remaining friends hadn’t worked out either, and from then on, whenever Bridge would date a new guy, she always compared him to Darren. He wasn’t as tall as Darren, he wasn’t as funny as Darren, his hair wasn’t as thick as Darren’s. He just wasn’t Darren. Plain and simple.
She guessed, deep in her heart, she truly wasn’t over Darren. Maybe she needed therapy, but she wasn’t about to seek help for a long-lost love she wasn’t really sure she wanted to let go. She liked the comfort of his memory too much. It had felt safe knowing he had loved her and they hadn’t broken up on bad terms, just unfortunate circumstances.
Once Bridge had looked him up on Facebook, and discovered he was in Florida, training to be a helicopter medic. She wondered what her life would be like had things turned out different, had she taken chances. If only he had asked her to go out east with him when he first went; if only she had been brave enough, at such a young age, to have said, “Let me come with.” But she hadn’t taken the risk, and since then, no one had been good enough for Bridge.
“Okay,” Ally said into the phone.
“Okay what?” Bridge said, thoughts of Darren interrupted.
“Okay, I’ll come. I’ll come this weekend.”

Friday, June 22, 2012

WHAT ALICE FORGOT by Liane Moriarty

 See if you won this book by checking HERE .


Today's book is:




Before I share the awesome What Alice Forgot there's a bit of blog housekeeping to attend to:

Hi everyone – thanks for your patience on awaiting for book winners – I will pick the latest winners over the weekend. Some of the winners haven’t contacted me about their books from past entries. These books have NOT been claimed by YOU so click on these FOLLOWING links to see if it is YOUR NAME
  

I would hate for you to lose out on a book that you have won!

And now, today’s awesome book!


I missed the opportunity to feature this book when it was out in hardcover so I was thrilled to receive What Alice Forgot now in paperback. If you love books that feature time travel like The Time Traveler’s Wife or Allison Winn’s Scotch Time Of My Life you’ll really love this one!

Blurb:

What would happen if you were visited by your younger self, and got a chance for a do-over?


Alice Love is twenty-nine years old, madly in love with her husband, and pregnant with their first child. So imagine her surprise when, after a fall, she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! she HATES the gym!) and discovers that she's actually thirty-nine, has three children, and is in the midst of an acrimonious divorce.

A knock on the head has misplaced ten years of her life, and Alice isn't sure she likes who she's become. It turns out, though, that forgetting might be the most memorable thing that has ever happened to Alice.


This is a little snippet of what inspired Liane to write What Alice Forgot:

I had always wanted to write a story about time travel but I found the logistics made my head explode. Then I read a story about a woman in the UK who lost her memory and behaved like a teenager – she didn’t recognize her husband or children. I realized that memory loss is a form of time travel. So I came up with the idea of a woman, Alice, who loses 10 years of her memory. She thinks she is 29, pregnant with her first child and blissfully in love with her husband. She is horrified to discover she is 39, with 3 children and in the middle of a terrible divorce. It’s like the younger Alice has traveled forward in time. Readers tell me that what they liked best about this novel was how it made them think about the choices they’d made and wonder how their younger selves would feel about the lives they are leading now. 

Liane Moriarty ALSO has a new book out called The Hypnotist’s Love Story, which I’m hoping to bring to you next month!  

If you could go back in time to any year for like a day or a week, what age would you choose? I think I would choose the summer when I was 20 because I had a terrific time then. And although I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my life with my husband and kids, I did have an awesome time being single and young and having no responsibilities that time in my life. And, after all, this is only for one week! 

Are You Checking in Daily and Reading Previous Posts?

This book is part of the June Promo - enter every day in June for a chance at the grand prize giveaway at the end of the month - a pile of awesome books! - the more times you enter, the more chances you have at winning!


As with all of the books I post on Booking with MaNiC, thanks to the authors and publicists for providing me with the books. Giveaways open to US/Canada residents only. To enter, leave an identifying unique user name or ID (NO anonymous will be accepted – leave an email address if you don’t know how to post to an account!

Winners will be chosen at random by random.org, within THREE DAYS from the date the book is posted on the blog, and one entry ALLOWED per book please. If you scroll through previous posts and if there is NOT a highlighted note at the top, then feel free to enter to win that book too! If there is a highlighted announcement at the top of a post, then that book is closed to comments and a winner has already been chosen. For comments, questions, suggestions, please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. Thanks for your participation! Good luck!



Thursday, June 21, 2012

PROSPER IN LOVE by Deborah Michel

See if you won this book by checking HERE .


So, today’s book is Prosper In Love by Deborah Michel and I’ve started it and I’ve got to say it’s really entertaining and seems to be quite mysterious so far – you’ve got this married couple – charming busy traveling lawyer husband Jamie, and then the busy museum curator wife (love books with an art theme – my art history minor going to work for me!), and they’re perfect for one another. 

And in comes this guy, F.X. actually, who seems to be Lynn’s good friend from college, one of those guys who never quite got his way with Lynn, and maybe he’s back in town to do just that? Hmmm? 

Is F.X. the cause or was their marriage doomed from the start?

Read on for the book blurb!

A good marriage lasts forever…until it doesn’t.

From the start, Lynn and Jamie Prosper were one of those couples who seem meant to be—so content with each other that they barely notice the rest of the world nodding approvingly at their wedded bliss. But sometimes, even in the very best of marriages, all it takes is a mischievous outsider to bring the perfect couple toppling off the top of the wedding cake…

True, Jamie has been working so hard and traveling so much as a young lawyer that he hardly has enough energy to show his devotion. Not that Lynn, a junior museum curator, has any reason to question it. But when Lynn’s old college friend turns up at a cocktail party, chinks in their marriage’s previously unassailable armor start to show.

Suddenly, without meaning to, Lynn and Jamie have both acquired divorce lawyers. And those benevolent onlookers—meddling in-laws and competitive friends alike—eagerly bear witness to each new misstep. Is love really enough to make a marriage last?


To enter to win Prosper In Love tell me three things that you feel make a good marriage. Be creative!

Are You Checking in Daily and Reading Previous Posts?

This book is part of the June Promo - enter every day in June for a chance at the grand prize giveaway at the end of the month - a pile of awesome books! - the more times you enter, the more chances you have at winning!


As with all of the books I post on Booking with MaNiC, thanks to the authors and publicists for providing me with the books. Giveaways open to US/Canada residents only. To enter, leave an identifying unique user name or ID (NO anonymous will be accepted – leave an email address if you don’t know how to post to an account!

Winners will be chosen at random by random.org, within THREE DAYS from the date the book is posted on the blog, and one entry ALLOWED per book please. If you scroll through previous posts and if there is NOT a highlighted note at the top, then feel free to enter to win that book too! If there is a highlighted announcement at the top of a post, then that book is closed to comments and a winner has already been chosen. For comments, questions, suggestions, please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. Thanks for your participation! Good luck!




Wednesday, June 20, 2012

MONARCH BEACH by Anita Hughes

See if you won this book by checking HERE .




Monarch Beach
By Anita Hughes
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Now this book Monarch Beach is the epitomy of a BEACH READ if there ever was one! 

I have been so excited to feature Monarch Beach on the blog and I’m so glad that it’s finally out in the world. I can’t remember when I first heard about it, but this is one that I did everything I could to find out what I could about the author, Anita Hughes, to see if I could host her book.


Anita was kind enough to email with me and share some real life truths about her. Similar to her main character, she also lives at the St. Regis Monarch Beach in California. Can you IMAGINE getting to live at a resort hotel ON THE BEACH and being able to write? I don’t know what Anita’s personal life is like, but I would take two weeks at the St. Regis, or a month, or six months -- it would be a dream! Cabana boys, the beach, cocktails poolside... but I'm sure she doesn't do that stuff there! She LIVES there, it's not a vacation. One can dream though right? That would be one of my dreams!


Here is the blurb of Monarch Beach, which I am very excited to get started reading, however, I am going to savor this one actually ON THE BEACH, when we go to California in July! I figured since it IS the perfect beach read, I want to take it with me and read it right there, with the waves rolling over my toes, a glass of something crisp and tasty in one hand, Anita’s book in the other!


When Amanda Blick, a young mother and kindhearted San Francisco heiress, finds her gorgeous French chef husband wrapped around his sous-chef, she knows she must flee her life in order to rebuild it. The opportunity falls into her lap when her (very lovable) mother suggests Amanda and her young son, Max, spend the summer with her at the St. Regis Resort in Laguna Beach. With the waves right outside her windows and nothing more to worry about than finding the next relaxing thing to do, Amanda should be having the time of her life—and escaping the drama. But instead, she finds herself faced with a kind, older divorcee who showers her with attention… and she discovers that the road to healing is never simple. This is the sometimes funny, sometimes bitter, but always moving story about the mistakes and discoveries a woman makes when her perfect world is turned upside down.


Here is the excerpt of Monarch Beach.


To enter to win Monarch Beach, please tell me what you think is the best part of the beach? I love taking long walks, listening to the waves, the sand, the sunsets… OMG, the beach is my absolute favorite place in the entire world – it doesn’t matter which one (although I have to say Grand Cayman was one of the most beautiful, and Cape May, NJ was an exceptionally great vacation when hubby and I had two of our three kids and finally got a vacay alone!) – but back to you – what do YOU love about the beach? Tell me about a favorite trip!

You're Entering Every Day for the Grand Prize, Right? You Should BE!

This book is part of the June Promo - enter every day in June for a chance at the grand prize giveaway at the end of the month - a pile of awesome books! - the more times you enter, the more chances you have at winning!


As with all of the books I post on Booking with MaNiC, thanks to the authors and publicists for providing me with the books. Giveaways open to US/Canada residents only. To enter, leave an identifying unique user name or ID (NO anonymous will be accepted – leave an email address if you don’t know how to post to an account!

Winners will be chosen at random by random.org, within THREE DAYS from the date the book is posted on the blog, and one entry ALLOWED per book please. If you scroll through previous posts and if there is NOT a highlighted note at the top, then feel free to enter to win that book too! If there is a highlighted announcement at the top of a post, then that book is closed to comments and a winner has already been chosen. For comments, questions, suggestions, please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. Thanks for your participation! Good luck!




Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A SURREY STATE OF AFFAIRS


Congrats ludy 2288

Please send your full name, address and title of book you have won to stephanieelliot@gmail.com so I can send your book to you!



A Surrey State of Affairs
By Ceri Radford
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OK, I’ll admit I don’t know much about the British and how they live but when this book arrived, I read through the first few pages and started laughing out loud at the completely loveable Constance Harding. She’s this 50-something mother who starts blogging about her life – how she can’t understand why her housekeeper is so messy that she can’t even keep her underwear from drying in her husband’s office. And how she deserves to live life to its fullest by relaxing with a magazine and a cup of tea. Ooh la la. And author Ceri Radford writes this so sincerely, that you actually feel sorry for the cluelessly, adorably daft woman. Wait, did I just use the word daft? I have to go look it up!


Anyway, Constance goes about her pretty plush life clueless to the shenanigans going on around her as her family is falling apart right before her eyes. She’ll finally take the bull by the horn and do something for herself! Here’s the blurb for A Surrey State of Affairs:


Constance Harding's comfortable corner of Surrey is her own little piece of heaven. She lives in a chocolate box house complete with an Aga and a parrot, her bell-ringing club is set to dominate the intercounty tournament, and she is sure she can get her son, Rupert, to settle down if she just writes the perfect personal ad for him. Naturally, things turn disastrous rather quickly. And she's about to learn that her perfect home conceals a scandal that would make the vicar blush.


Her Lithuanian housekeeper's undergarments keep appearing in her husband's study and her daughter is turning into a Lycra-clad gap-year strumpet. As her family falls apart, Constance embarks on an extraordinary journey. From partying in Ibiza to riding bareback with a handsome Argentinean gaucho whose only English words are "Britney" and "Spears," Constance is about to discover a wider world she thought it was too late to find.


Read a hilarious excerpt here.


To enter to win A Surrey State of Affairs, since Constance is pretty clueless about many things happening right under her nose, share something that you are clueless about. Me – totally clueless when it comes to directions. In fact, my husband wants to kill me most times. I got lost going to a high school for a basketball game on Friday that I HAD BEEN TO BEFORE. It drives him CRAZY! I’m telling you, something is missing from my brain that tells a person how to figure out directions. So, what are you clueless about. Oh, also math. I am clueless about math. Oh, and applying makeup … I guess I could start a major list here…

You're Entering Every Day for the Grand Prize, Right? You Should BE!

This book is part of the June Promo - enter every day in June for a chance at the grand prize giveaway at the end of the month - a pile of awesome books! - the more times you enter, the more chances you have at winning!


As with all of the books I post on Booking with MaNiC, thanks to the authors and publicists for providing me with the books. Giveaways open to US/Canada residents only. To enter, leave an identifying unique user name or ID (NO anonymous will be accepted – leave an email address if you don’t know how to post to an account!

Winners will be chosen at random by random.org, within THREE DAYS from the date the book is posted on the blog, and one entry ALLOWED per book please. If you scroll through previous posts and if there is NOT a highlighted note at the top, then feel free to enter to win that book too! If there is a highlighted announcement at the top of a post, then that book is closed to comments and a winner has already been chosen. For comments, questions, suggestions, please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. Thanks for your participation! Good luck!