Booking with Manic

What She Left Us by Stephanie Elliot

Today's authorWSLU amazon FINAL COVER FROM SARAH: Stephanie Elliot Her latest: What She Left Us

The scoop on it: Jenna and Courtney are dealing with the unexpected death of their mother in different ways. Jenna broke off her engagement to the man she thought she'd love forever, while Courtney headed back to college to take charge of a dorm-floor full of college students as a resident assistant.

Six months later, Jenna is fueled by panic over the news that the sisters may have the same disease that caused their mother's death and she makes an irrational decision - she packs it up and heads to college to be with Courtney. The timing couldn't be worse for Courtney, who's discovering love for the first time with Mitch, a sexy guitar player who may just be off limits.

Emotionally unstable, Jenna wonders if she made the worst mistake of her life by breaking off her engagement with Darren, and when he shows up to make amends, she can't help but second-guess her decision. But then there's Clay, the compassionate bartender at Klippy's who seems to understand everything Jenna's going through. And those hazel eyes just seem to see right through to Jenna's soul…

As the girls maneuver through their unpredictable futures, trying to manage their new health risks as well as tumultuous love lives, Courtney finds a disturbing photograph that indicates there may be more to their family than she ever imagined.

This stunning revelation could shatter the sisters to the very core, making them question everything they thought they knew about their family, their faith, their past and, most of all, each other.

Our thoughts: A fast-paced, engaging read. We absolutely love Stephanie and her books--definitely download this one!

Fun fact: You can read an excerpt of What She Left Us here and in the novel section, there's info about her upcoming book, Before the Beginning, out this summer!

Where you can read more about Stephanie: Her website, Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

Blog of the Month: Booking with Manic

SAMSUNGThe 411:

Booking with Manic specifically features chick lit, women's fiction, new adult, humor, some self-help and memoir and the occasional dude-lit books. I vary how often I blog. I've been known to do blog-blitzing, where I'll post a book every day for a month (last year I did March Madness and it was CRAZY to keep up with 31 days of blogging and giving away 31 books in a month). I try to feature at least a book a week.

Why do people love Booking with Manic?

Every book featured includes a giveaway and I try to make each post personal and creative - bringing something from the book to connect to real life.

What is unique about Booking with Manic?

To enter to win, the reader has to answer a question that relates to something that has to do with the book -- whether it is something with the themes in the book, the title of the book, etc. For instance, for Meg Donohue's debut, How to Eat a Cupcake, the logical question I asked was "What is your favorite cupcake flavor?" (By the way, Meg's next book, All The Summer Girls is AMAZING!) But what I love the best about my blog and what I think is so unique about it is that since I do ask these personal questions, I feel like I really get to know the Booking with Manic readers, and I also share with them how I would answer the answer I'm asking. I learn stuff about them, and really do get to know them, which I love. It becomes more personal to me.

Where to read more about Booking with Manic:

Facebook and Twitter.

What inspires you?

Right now, honestly, my 11 year old son Luke is inspiring me. He was diagnosed with epilepsy last spring and to watch him just be a kid and know that he's getting through what he's been through -- that is inspiring. I'm so lucky to get to be his mom.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what celebrity would you want to be with you?

Ugh. I really wouldn't want a celebrity. I would want books. But I guess if I had to choose, it would be a toss-up between, and you may laugh, but I'm going to choose Vince Vaughn or Johnny Knoxville. I will probably take Vince though, because Johnny might be too scrawny.

What's one inanimate object you can't live without?

What's an 'inanimate' object? I'm seriously going to look that up... Oh, so you mean like not my family members, like an iPhone or something like that... I can live without makeup. I probably could live without my phone. I guess I would have to say my contacts. And pretty soon it's going to be those 'cheater' glasses. I just turned 44. It pains me to say that. Truth hurts.

What books are you adding to your bookshelf this year?

Love this question! Anything and everything written by: Jen Lancaster (Can't wait for her Martha Stewart Tao book!), Emily Giffin, Sarah Pekkanen, Sarah Jio (am waiting for a quiet stretch of time to read The Last Camellia), I'm excited to see this new one Allison Winn Scotch wrote, Covet by Tracey Garvis Graves, Laura Dave needs to come out with a new one, Dina Silver's Finding Bliss, I'd love to know if Sere Prince Halverson has another on its way - I loved The Underside of Joy, Julie Buxbaum - I'm waiting for YOU to publish another, Zoe Fishman needs to write faster... do I sound a bit demanding on the authors I want to have books published?

Thanks, Stephanie!