Winner ANNOUNCED! Books to READ! Cover INFO & More BOOKS!

Congratulations to TaraUB who has won the copy of Eleanor & Park! Tara, please send me your full name and mailing address and we'll get you the copy of the book to you.

And for those of you who loved Tracey Garvis Graves' ON THE ISLAND, she has a new book coming out in September called COVET. I'm dying to read it, as I know all of you are.

THIS FRIDAY, March 8th, come back here for the COVER REVEAL!

Also they will reveal the cover on goodreads.com!

 Learn more on goodreads here. (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13481759-covet)

There will also be a chat with Tracey on March 15, which I'm totally excited about and details on that, along with more info on the cover reveal, excerpt release and other details for the goodreads event can be found here: (http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/880429-cover-reveal-for-covet)! ... They will be sharing the first THREE chapters, which I'm thrilled about!

You can also find me on goodreads too. I'm finally over there, although I'm not quite sure what I'm doing. But I think if you click here, you can be my friend on goodreads. I'm new at this.

I have some great books coming for you later this month, and here are some that are in the lineup, and here are some of what I'm reading, and what I'll be giving away if you want to get a sneak-peek of them on amazon.com and goodreads!

The one that I'm currently reading that I cannot rave ENOUGH about is Meg Donohue's ALL THE SUMMER GIRLS which doesn't come out until May, and will be a perfect beach read for you, but OH MY GOSH, her writing! IS AMAZING. I am enthralled! I read some of her sentences and think, CRAP, I wish I could write like that. It's the kind of book I want to take a highlighter to! The story, the characters ... just really, really great. I'll tell you more about it when we get closer to a giveaway and a feature. I know, I know, I'm a tease!

The Lost Husband by Katherine Center

The Sunshine When She's Gone by Thea Goodman (this one is coming up soon!)

Ballrooms & Ugly Poodles: SemiTales of a Palm Beach Waitress by Katie Schnack (she reminds me of Laurie Notaro -- very funny!)

A Whole New You: Six Steps to Ignite Change for Your Best Life by Brett Bleumenthal (had I read this one when I first received it, I would be ON MY WAY to my best life! Oops! Procrastination much?!?!)

My Inappropriate Life by Heather McDonald

Dear Lucy by Julie Sarkissian

The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio -- You all KNOW how I love Sarah Jio's books. I cannot wait to crack open this one.

The Best of Us by Sarah Pekkanen -- and my OTHER Sarah! These are two books that I am saving for moments when I will NOT BE DISTURBED!

The Next Time You See Me by Holly Goddard Jones 

I'm also in the very last stages of getting my own novel finished, the cover is done and the final, FINAL edits are underway and I hope to have it up and available on Kindle/Amazon for purchase before the end of March. It's called What She Left Us and I'll have more details about that when I figure them out.

What are you currently reading and is there anything I'm not sharing on here that you would like to see? Look for the cover of COVET on Friday! I LOVE Tracey Garvis Graves and if you haven't read ON THE ISLAND and read about Tracey's amazing journey to publication, you've got to check her out!

Happy Reading!

ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell

Eleanor & Park

By: Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow's Blog

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Hi there! I'm back! You may remember I shared with you Rainbow Rowell's first book called Attachments that I absolutely fell in love with. Rainbow's next book Eleanor & Park came out first in the UK, which I immediately ordered because I wanted to read it so desperately and didn't want to wait for the US version. Well, lucky for you, the US version is out this week, and even luckier, I've got a copy for you to win here on Booking with Manic!

What I love most about Rainbow's writing is she brings you right up close and personal to the characters. You feel their every thought, wish for what they want, and hope they succeed, you seriously do! From the moment you meet the comic-book loving, cool, quiet and elusive Park and vibrant-yet-unsure Eleanor, you'll wait for big moments to happen. And they will, but it'll take time. You'll want to be along for that ride, I promise you! Here's a little snippet:

“Bono met his wife in high school,” Park says.

“So did Jerry Lee Lewis,” Eleanor answers.

“I’m not kidding,” he says.

“You should be,” she says, “we’re 16.”

“What about Romeo and Juliet?”

“Shallow, confused, then dead.”

“I love you,” Park says.

“Wherefore art thou,” Eleanor answers.

“I’m not kidding,” he says.

“You should be.”

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

So, if you're up for your shot at winning a copy of Eleanor & Park, share with us a snippet of when a first love professed feelings for you. I remember being on a date when I was 16 and getting dropped off at home, and my then-boyfriend sitting in the car and telling me that he had three words he wanted to say to me, and then he said them. I was scared and unsure, and I think I might have said, "Thank you." A couple of days or a week later, I said it back. 

Funny enough, he and I are Facebook friends and he even commented on a post I put up just today!

So, share an interesting story (doesn't have to be an I-love-you tale), just something cute, silly, funny, endearing about a boyfriend from your high school days, and you'll be entered to win a copy of Eleanor & Park!

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll be posting more books soon, I promise! If you're new here, please read how we operate below! 

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 leave a comment on this post and use an identifying name when commenting. 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 a few days to see if you've won the book -- I will either list the winner in a new post OR 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. I do NOT personally contact the winners. It is YOUR responsibility to come back to see if you've won. Most books are supplied directly through publishers, publicists and the authors. Winners will receive books directly from the publisher or author 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[at]gmail.com. Thank you for your support!

Here I Go Again WINNER

 

Congrats to the winner of HERE I GO AGAIN! It was so great to see so many of you back here! I was overwhelmed to see so many familiar names - I can't even tell you how it made me feel! Thank you for coming back! And thank you to new readers who have come by. I hope you'll stick around to discover new books on Booking with Manic! And I loved reminiscing to all the old songs, and some not so old songs (talking to you YOU Bieber baby fans! LOL! Not hating on ya -- I've seen HIM in CONCERT! LOL!)

So, thanks for sticking around and trusting that I would be back, and I will have another book or two coming your way in the next week or so! 

In the meantime, I would love for 

b e a n t o w n p o l a r b e a r

who happens to remember fondly Nirvana, Counting Crows and Dave Matthews (I LOVE Counting Crows and DMB a TON -- saw DMB twice in concert and have a major thing for Adam Duritz!

Beantownpolarbear--please email me with HERE I GO AGAIN WINNER in the subject line and send me your full name and full address so we can get your book to you so you can start reading about Lissy Ryder's excellent adventures!

And thanks to Jen Lancaster for writing another AMAZING novel, and for her publisher for offering this giveaway for me to share with you all!

Thanks everyone and Happy Weekend!

PeaCe uP!   
beantownpolarbearATgmailDOTcom

HERE I GO AGAIN by Jen Lancaster

Here I Go Again

Jen Lancaster

I am here, I am here, I am here, and I'm really sorry to have been gone for so long, and there's too much to say about what's been going on, so let me just not even go into it but let me bring you an amazing book to start off the New Year for you on Booking with Manic!

We all love Jen Lancaster don't we??

I hear you all squealing! Well, this time it's not a memoir, it's fiction, and I'm just going to put it out there for you to die over.

HERE I GO AGAIN is her absolute, best, most amazing, incredible book EVER written!

There. I said it.

Yes, we all know that Jen is a fabulous memoirist who has cracked us up over her witty tell-all true stories. But could we have ever expected that she is a MASTERMIND of fiction?

Truly! A MASTERMIND!

In Here I Go Again, we meet Lissy Rider, who is the girl we all love to hate in high school. I mean, she has EVERYTHING. The perfect pink car, the perfect hot boyfriend, the perfect crew of friends who do anything and everything she says, the perfect parents who dote on her.

The girl we can't stand! And in the beginning of Here I Go Again, you really HATE her. Like you want her to fail in every possible way! And things do start looking bad for poor Lissy Ryder. And then, by some magical elixir, she finds a way to go back in time, to try to save herself from a horrible future.

And then she keeps bee-bopping back and forth in time, and IT'S AWESOME! I'm amazed at how fluidly Jen Lancaster can transform Lissy Ryder back and forth and in such a way that it's believably done!

I think someone said it or maybe it's on the back of the book, but this is truly Mean Girls meets Back to the Future. It's Lindsay Lohan vs. Michael Keaton in the best possible way. You'll tear through these pages to see what happens and even though you'll loathe Lissy Ryder at page one, you'll cheer from the sidelines at the end and want her to be so happy at the end!

Supporting characters and very fun '80s nods add so much to the book, plus the fact that there are so many mentions to places where I used to hang out when *I* was in high school -- Oak Brook Mall, Hinsdale, Lyons Township was one of our rival high schools… it was so cool to think I might have been a part of Lissy's hate club back in the day (she never would have deemed ME cool enough to hang with her!) the book is so much fun to read!

If you'd like to win a copy of HERE I GO AGAIN here's what you have to do… since Whitesnake music is such a big part of the book, tell me three songs/CDs/cassettes/albums/8-tracks/MP-3s that played a big part of your high school existence.

Here are 3 of mine that for no other reason, they come to me at the top of my head right now:

Midnight Blue by Lou Graham

Anything by Boston

And I just had to look up Howard Jones because we played that cassette tape all the time in my Pontiac J200 -- that was my car that I drove in high school--and I had two bumper stickers -- FLORIDA NATIVE and PARTY ANIMAL on the back!

PLEASE READ BELOW -- SOME THINGS HAVE CHANGED!
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 leave a comment on this post and use an identifying name when commenting. 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 a few days 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. I do NOT personally contact the winners. It is YOUR responsibility to come back to see if you've won. Most books are supplied directly through publishers, publicists and the authors. Winners will receive books directly from the publisher or author 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!

Really, it's 2013?

I wasn't sure if I was going to write a New Year's post. I am not even sure what I'm going to do with this blog. I've been writing as Manic Mommy or some sort of 'that' person when I first posted this blog post on December 23, 2004 when I had no idea what I was doing or what I was going to say. How did I know that I would still be blogging 8 years later?

I truly thought a month ago that I was going to take two or three months off from this blog to focus on getting my own novel done. And that the only way to do that was to let something go. I'm not sure if I can let this blog go. I don't know what I'm going to do. All I know is that when I think of the things I want to do or the things I want to be, two things come to mind, well, aside from being a wife and a mother… two things: I want to be a writer, and I want to read.

And part of that means sharing books with you guys. I would hate to not be able to do that. But I need to find some time to get my own work out there. Last year I promised to bring one book a week to the blog. Turns out I featured more than 100 here. I wasn't able to read them all, but I gave away that many. It is a lot of work, and a lot of hours. I love doing it. I love connecting with you guys. I love finding new books and authors to fall in love with. So, I will probably continue to do that. Whether it be 10 this year, or 100 this year, I have no idea. But this blog will probably morph into something different for 2013.

Things changed in 2012… I wrote more openly since I had to - my son was diagnosed with epilepsy (Great news -- today marks Luke being three months with no seizures!), I had some ups and downs with depression, which, if you have read ANY of the past 8 years of this blog, you already know, I struggle with living in AZ… I don't know if this will all be about books anymore. I might mix it up -- maybe share more about me getting my new novel, What She Left Us, out into the world, and then my other novel out there too -- I have two done, and my agent didn't do much to help, and I've seen many independent authors do it on their own, so I might try that. It seems better than having my books sit on the computer alone…

So, I'm rambling, but I wasn't even going to write tonight, so this is a start. If you come back, that's great. If you don't that's OK too. I know blogs are a pain in the butt to keep track of these days. I personally prefer FB to keep tabs on my friends. I'm just going to use this space as I personally see fit from now on, and if there's a cool new book I'd like to share with you,  you can bet I will be letting you know about it. Among other things…

Hope you are all blessed and loved, happy and healthy in 2013! I've loved having you along and hope you'll continue to stop by, wherever this path takes Manic!

PeaCe uP, always uP!