BABY BUMPS by Amy Sprenger

Baby Bumps: The Almost, Barely, Not-Quite-True Story of Pregnancy, Bed Rest and One Batshit Crazy Family

By Amy Sprenger

This book may win the award for the longest title ever. It also has a swear word in the title, and the author, who happens to be a real-life friend of mine is, I am sure, thrilled with the fact that she not only has a book published, but that it includes a SWEAR WORD on the front cover! Because Amy is that kind of chick! LOL!

And I love her for that! 

Baby Bumps is the hilarious sort-of-made-up-totally-true-fictional-memoir about what happens when a mom-to-be gets her va-jay-jay stitched up and lands on bed rest. Author Amy Sprenger is the master-mind behind the fab and famous blog, Snarky Mommy and much of her snark is carried over in her writing in Baby Bumps. You'll laugh at the antics and wonder, "Oh my God, did THAT really happen to her?" One may never know! This is a great fun read for anyone you know who has ever had a baby, or who is pregnant now!

You can read more about Amy here at Beyond the PagePublishing, which is all types of official stuff, or you can check out her awesomely funny Snarky Mommy blog, which will have you cracking up. 

PS to Amy: I got you beat in the making babies department because even though you had to be on bed rest and get your vagigity sewn up, I had my three kids in a shorter time span than you had your three kids, and I betcha mine all weighed more than yours did because I weigh a lot more than you do. So there! But you birthed your book sooner than I did, so I guess you win at that.

CONGRATS!!! xo

You can win Baby Bumps on Booking with Manic here. Simply tell me if you know anyone who is Batshit crazy and why that person is Batshit crazy??? You can't say ME! If you win this book, you can request it in paperback or e-book form.

If you haven't entered to win Amy Hatvany's The Language of Sisters, head over there to enter to win now by clicking HERE -- I will choose winners for both of these books over the weekend, and I'll have another book posted this week too! Am sorry I've been slow to post lately but am getting back on track, I promise! Thanks for sticking around, and please share this blog with your book-loving friends!

NEW TO BOOKING WITH MANIC?  

If you're new to Booking with Manic, thank you for stopping by! We love new readers! Some notes - If you're entering to win a book, please use an identifying name and it's usually a great idea to include an email, which I will never give out to anyone else. You can only enter once please. You'll need to check back here in about a week or so to see if you've won the book -- I will highlight the winner's name at the top of this post, or tell you where you can find the winner's name at the top of this post. Most books are supplied directly through publishers, publicists and the authors. Winners will receive books directly from the publisher within 3 weeks from the time you provide me with your address, unless I send you the book (sometimes I will). Sorry, but we can only ship to U.S. and Canada so if you're from another country, thank you for coming by to read and discover new authors, but we can't send you a book. Any questions on how I run the blog or suggestions on who you would like to see featured, please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. Thank you for your support!

LOTS OF WINNERS RIGHT NOW!!!!

Everybody! It's time to announce some winners, shall we already!

So, in June I posted every day for actually 28 different authors -- almost daily! I took Sundays off and I started at the end of May. I'm SOOO grateful to the authors and publicists who helped make this happen - I was able to give away some AWESOME books! If you were a winner and didn't get your book and it's been three weeks since you gave me your address, please let me know! If you didn't win, I'm sorry, I wish I could give every one of you a book. Keep coming back, I have seen persistence pay off here! I'm a FIRM believer in persistence paying off in life! : )

As promised, there is ONE Grand Prize winner. I also chose a second place winner who will receive a bundle of books as well. 

The Grand Prize winner will receive these books (in no particular order, I'm just yanking them from my floor!): 

The Arrivals by Meg Mitchell Moore

So Far Away by Meg Mitchell Moore

The Rock Star in Seat 3A by Jill Kargman

Keepsake by Kristina Riggle

I Never Promised You a Goodie Bag by Jennifer Gilbert

The Art of Forgetting by Camille Noe Pagan

Can I Get an Amen by Sarah Healy

Head Over Heels by Rain Mitchell

The First Husband by Laura Dave

Wallflower in Bloom by Claire Cook

In The Bag by Katie Klise

Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Picture This by Jacquelin Sheehan

Skinnydipping by Bethenny Frankel

There are a bunch of books for the second prize winner but I'm not listing them all so you will just have to be surprised. I have a bunch of books left over so I may just run a random giveaway at the end of the summer. I LOVE SHARING BOOKS WITH YOU ALL!

As for The Cell Phone Lot contest where I asked you to please check out my enovella, The Cell Phone Lot, thank YOU to all who have supported my own writing. I have been REALLY depressed lately on my own publishing journey and I need to focus on that. I won't stop sharing great authors here though, that's a promise I'm going to keep. I'm just hoping that my "pay it forward" will someday come back to good karma for me. So thanks for taking the time to read my work too. I will also list that winner's name below too, and you will receive a gift card for $15 of your choice: Starbucks, Target or iTunes - just let me know!

The winner for Jennifer Weiner's The Next Best Thing is also listed below -- she is the one whom I owe this blog to - through her blog A Moment of Jen, I was inspired to start the original Manic Mommy, which was called Manic Mommy's Mental Myriads. Or something along those lines. There is an archive somewhere. I was really open about my family and my life. Really open. Now it's just books most of the time.

If you don't follow me on Facebook, or on Twitter please, please do! I am ALWAYS letting you know when I have a new post up and when I announce winners. And if you do follow me on Facebook already and haven't seen any updates, it might be because of Zuckerberg effing around with his little system. So go to my Facebook page and hit like or leave a comment on my page to activate it - just to let the people at Facebook know that you're interested in my newsfeed so they'll make sure you get the information ON YOUR NEWSFEED. Why does that guy have to make it sooo difficult for us to read about the friends we want to know about? Sometimes I think his last name should start with an "F!"

Coming up I have INCREDIBLE BOOKS FOR YOU! I have just finished ON THE ISLAND by Tracey Garvis Graves which is an incredible novel about a 30-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy who are castaways on a deserted island - they fall in love - it's steamy and romantic and OH.SO.HOT!

And then I read WHAT I DID by Christopher Wakling - it's narrated by 6-year-old Billy who disobeys his dad one morning and sets the whole story in motion. You'll compare it to ROOM by Emma Donoghue in that they both have young boys as narrators but that's where the comparisons end and this one is another I could not put down. 

And my good real life friend, Amy Sprenger, also known as Snarky Mommy (can you imagine hanging out with MaNiC MoMMy and Snarky Mommy in one room together?) ... well, Snarky Mommy's debut novel came out yesterday and I'll be sharing THAT with you. It's called Baby Bumps, and the subtitle has the word BAT SHIT in it, if that's any indication of what kind of hilarity that will ensue when ready this sort-of-made-up-totally-true-fictional-memoir! Yep, that's what I'm calling Amy's book from here on out -- Baby Bumps, the sort-of-made-up-totally-true-fictional-memoir! 

Damn, I LOVE READING! I've often thought, "put me in a jail cell for just six months so I can catch up on my reading. Oh, and finish up this manuscript I am working on." Also, it feels so good to 'talk' to you all for once about my feelings, and not just report on books. Because you know, I have feelings too! Damn. I kind of miss my old style blogging. I wonder what would happen if I started another blog of just personal stuff... 

OK OK, get to the winner's names ALREADY...

OK, enough of that, here are the winner's names, and if yours is listed, please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com and please be specific in your email as to what you have won.

The winner of THE NEXT BEST THING by Jennifer Weiner is: Rebecca E.

The winner of $15 gift card of your choice is: Janet Stec.

The SECOND PLACE winner of the June Book Giveaway is: Books & Reviews blogger

And the Grand Prize winner of all the books listed above is: Carol5814

Congratulations to you all, and look for the next Booking with Manic book hopefully later this week!

Peace to you all! Happy Summer! Be safe and well!