Stephanie McAfee's 5 BEST EVERS

Today's guest: Stephanie McAfee Why we love her: Two words: Ace Jones

Her latest: Happily Ever Madder: Misadventures of a Mad Fat Girl

The scoop on it: Diary of a Mad Fat Girl’s plus-sized spitfire Graciela “Ace” Jones returns in a hilarious new adventure from New York Times bestselling author Stephanie McAfee.

Ace has left the tiny Mississippi town of Bugtussle for the palm fronds and mojitos of Pelican Cove, Florida. She’s finally opening her long-dreamed-of art gallery, is kick-starting a life with her fiancé, Mason, and has vowed to leave her straight-talking, sassy ways behind her. From now on, she’s going to be as sweet as sugar. Unfortunately, something comes along to sour her plans.

That something is Mrs. Lenore Kennashaw and her coterie of crones. They’re a bunch of snippy, snarky, and just plain mean ’ol ladies who aren’t quite as smart or rich as they’d like to think they are. But that doesn’t stop them from treating everyone else like second-class citizens. And when Ace inadvertently takes some of the steam from Mrs. Kennashaw’s stride, she becomes their #1 enemy. But with the support of a new group of fabulous friends, as well as her friends from Bugtussle—and her always-faithful chiweenie Buster Loo—Ace will find a way to make it, even if she has to throw some weight around…

Our thoughts: We hope she continues writing about Ace Jones. She's so much fun. (We hear there's another book coming in June..)

Giveaway: FIVE COPIES! Just leave a comment to be entered to win and we'll select the winners after 3pm PST on Monday, November 11.

Fun fact: She self-published her debut novel, Diary of a Mad Fat Girl as an e-book and made the NYT and USA Today bestseller lists where it stayed there for nine weeks straight!

Where you can read more about Stephanie: Twitter, Facebook, her blog and her website

Where you can read more about Ace: Follow her on Twitter.

CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...STEPHANIE MCAFEE'S 5 BEST EVERS 1. BEST SONG: Roll On by Kid Rock. It’s the official theme song of my life. Plus I have a thing for Kid Rock.

2. BEST BOOK: It’s a tie between The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum. What can I say? I’m a fan of Robert Ludlum.

3. BEST MOVIE: It’s a tie between Ocean’s 11, Ocean’s 12, and Ocean’s 13. What can I say? I’m a fan of that whole entire freakin’ cast.

4. LIFE MOMENT: Well, I have a three year old so, of course, it would be the day he was born. Coming in second would be the day I found out Diary of a Mad Fat Girl (my little rag-tag self-published version) was on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Lists.

5. BEST ADVICE: “You might be happy for two months or you might be happy for twenty years. Either way, that’s time you’ll spend being happy.” Relationship advice from my uncle Mike (AKA Dr. Raines) in 2005. I married the guy we were talking about. That was nearly seven years ago and I’m still pretty happy. I guess we can chalk that up as good advice.

Thanks, Stephanie! xoxo, Liz & Lisa