THE WHOLE PACKAGE by CYNTHIA ELLINGSEN

The winner of The Whole Package is:
Lynnbelo
Congrats!
Please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com so I can send you your book!

  
The Whole Package
 By Cynthia Ellingsen

Today, I’m excited to bring you a fun romp of a book and a guest author blogger to tell you about it! Author Cynthia Ellingsen is guest blogging about her book, so I’m going to turn it over to her and she’s going to fill you in on her novel, The Whole Package!

Hi Manic Mommy. Thanks so much for hosting me - your blog is hilarious, you crack me up. I hope you enjoyed The Whole Package!

The Whole Package is about three best friends who lose everything. One loses her job, one loses her fortune and one loses her husband. Together, they decide to open the world’s first restaurant exclusively staffed by scantily clad men.

Even though I wanted the book to be a hilarious romp centered around a restaurant with half-dressed waiters, it’s not. The Whole Package is a story about friendships, relationships and starting over.

The character in The Whole Package that needs a fresh start the most is Doris. She’s a reluctant mother, reluctant wife and requires copious amounts of chocolate and Xanax just to make it through. Everyone in her life takes her for granted, including her husband, Doug. Here’s a scene from their anniversary dinner that just makes me cringe:


“Try an oyster,” Doug said. “They’re an aphrodisiac...”


Doug passed fed her a forkful of steaming oyster. It was slimy and tasted like rotten fish, but Doris swallowed it whole and gave a big smile. “Doug, I think it’s already doing something.”

He grinned. “Really?”

Taking a deep breath, Doris slid her shoe off in an attempt to rub her foot against Doug’s leg. After a moment, Doris realized the hard thing she was stroking was actually part of the table. Doris adjusted her position and thrust her foot out again. This time, it made contact with something soft.

“Ouch,” Doug said, jumping. “Did you just kick me?”

“Sorry,” Doris said, immediately drawing her foot back. “I was... my shoe fell off.” 

“Better put it back on,” Doug said, plugging his nose and waving a hand. “You don’t want to scare away the other tables with those stinky feet.”

“Ha ha,” Doris said, fumbling for her shoe. 

Every time I read this, I can’t help but shriek: Whaaaaaaaaat?! He said whaaaaaaaaaat?! Doris seriously needs a change.


Look, men love to joke-flirt. It’s their MO. But there’s a difference between flirtatious fun and blatant disrespect. And I have to say, the stinky feet comment... on an anniversary dinner? Over oysters? Not okay.

Yes, yes, Doris and Doug had been together since they were sixteen, so it’s not farfetched that Doug still thinks he can flirt with his wife the same way he would have back then but come on. She’s a woman.

Stinky feet jokes simply don’t fly.

And even worse - at this point in her life, Doris lets it happen. That is... until she finds out Doug is having an affair. Then, Doris realizes how far the disrespect in her life has gone. She gets a backbone. She takes a look at her role as a wife, mother and friend. And makes some sweeping changes.

Today, I urge you to take a look at your life and decide where you would like greater respect. Look, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut in our lives and just accept the same old, same old because we’re used to them or because they’re easy. But as the women in The Whole Package prove, you don’t have to accept how things are. It’s okay to say, “No, this is how I want my life to be,” and start taking the steps to get there.

You’re fabulous. So go out there and make it happen! You deserve to live The Whole Package.

Come say hi at www.cynthiaellingsen.com.

Thanks for the guest post Cynthia!

To enter to win The Whole Package, tell me what your idea is of The Whole Package? And I'm thinking in terms of a mate. For me, when I found Mr. MaNiC, it was finding a caring guy with an awesome sense of humor who I knew would be a great father someday. He is someone who is smart and trustworthy, and I knew he would always take care of me and our family. In the looks department, The Whole Package included a great butt, beautiful eyes, dark hair and a strong, big, tall build! That’s MY whole package, what’s your WHOLE PACKAGE!?
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Check previous book features to see who the winner is -- that's how you'll find out if you've won or not, and you can still enter if there's not a winner's name posted on the top and highlighted! I usually choose a winner for each book anywhere from 3-7 days after I post a feature!

Thanks for checking out the Fall Fab Giveaway – we’ve got TONS more books coming your way through mid-October and then. I'll be featuring 2-3 each week. At the end of ALL the individual books featured and given away, one or two lucky winners will win the WHOLE batch of the books.

If you’ve got particular questions on how the Giveaway works, check the ORIGINAL POST HERE, or feel free to email me! Thanks!

Good luck everyone! And I really enjoy your comments too!

Thanks for reading and being a part of this promotion! To find out all the details on how to participate throughout the whole promotion click the previous link!


I also blog at Real Moms Guide if you'd like to read some of my other work.


If you're new here, check out the rules and all the books at in the promotion HERE.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I'll answer it in the thread, or email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. It is always at my discretion to change things up, and because of some regulations, I guess I must say that the books I review are given to me by either the authors or publishers or publicists, and I am never paid for my reviews, and they are my own personal reviews, and you know what, because I'm here telling you this anyway, I will also tell you that I never review a book I don't like, because you know what, why waste my time, life is too short to read a crappy book! There.