Never Forget

Today marks eleven years since 9/11. Wow. It's so amazing and crazy how time moves when you're not paying attention, huh? I'm sure like most everyone, it feels like yesterday when I watched the events of that day on TV, numb and scared and in shock. But it wasn't yesterday. 

It was eleven years ago.

Eleven years, and yet the feelings I had from that day can come rushing back just like new. If I let them, they'll make me sad and depressed and hating the world, just like I did on 9/11. I could easily wallow in despair today, cry and ask Why? like I did all those years ago.

But I'm not gonna let that happen.

I'm gonna fight those feelings, like I have every year since that day. I'm gonna remember the love and bravery and triumph that came out of those horrible events. I'm gonna remember the lives lost all across our nation, both the victims and the heroes.

I'm gonna remember...

Monday Must Reads...WANT by Stephanie Lawton!

Not familiar with this little feature? It's simple, really. Monday Must Reads! is a feature I created to showcase books that I think you, well, Must Read (ha!).

This week's selection is a good one. One of my new faves, actually. It's by an author that  is one of the nicest people I've "met"--who just happens to live down the street from me! (okay, technically an hour, but still) This is her debut novel, and it's filled with awesome characters, both darkness and humor, and music. In other words...it's a winner! Trust me when I say that you simply Must Read...

WANT 
by Stephanie Lawton
pub date June 7, 2012

product description from goodreads.com

Julianne counts the days until she can pack her bags and leave her old-money, tradition-bound Southern town where appearance is everything and secrecy is a way of life. A piano virtuoso, she dreams of attending a prestigious music school in Boston. Failure is not an option, so she enlists the help of New England Conservatory graduate Isaac Laroche to help her.

She can’t understand why he suddenly gave up Boston’s music scene to return to the South. He doesn’t know her life depends on escaping it. Julianne must face down madness from without, just as it threatens from within. Isaac must resist an inappropriate attraction, but an indiscretion at a Mardi Gras ball-the pinnacle event for Mobile’s elite-forces their present wants and needs to collide with sins of the past.

Will Julianne accept the help she’s offered and get everything she ever wanted, or will she self-destruct and take Isaac down with her?


This awesome description just doesn't do this book justice--believe me, it's one you're gonna love!

The Booker Award!

The awesome Stephanie Keyes has nominated me for The Booker Award, and I'm thrilled! It's a simple job ahead: Pick my Top Five Books...EVER. 

Yeah. Simple. 

Okay, so here goes, my Top Five Books. EVER.

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
3. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
4. Animal Farm by George Orwell
5.The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

And as per the "rules", my blogger nominations for The Booker Award:

Jess Leake
Mandie Baxter
Ginger Phillips
Elana Johnson
Tim Moon

Congrats, guys! And thanks, Stephanie!

Waiting on Wednesday...OPAL by JL Armentrout!

The lovely Jill (a fellow Alabamian!) over at Breaking the Spine created the Waiting on Wednesday meme for us bloggers to showcase books we're waiting on. 

This week's selection is the third in one of my favorite series EVER! There's no cover yet, so I've added the cover from the first book in the series...but I know it's gonna be awesome (with a certain character on the front, how could it not be?). Please check out...

OPAL
by Jennifer L Armentrout
pub date 12/11/2012

product description from goodreads.com

No one is like Daemon Black.

When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.

But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love.

After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.


I just finished reading ONYX a few weeks ago, and I seriously can't wait for December!

Giveaway Winners!!

First let me say a HUGE thank you to everyone who entered BOTH of my giveaways--you all ROCK!

First up, my CHOSEN ONES giveaway. The winner of a paperback copy of CHOSEN ONES by Tiffany Truitt is...

A.J. !!

Congrats, A.J.! Please email me your mailing address at jmanni32 @ yahoo dot com and I will get your book mailed out asap!

Second, my 100 Reviews giveaway. This giveaway features 7 books, two of which are signed copies of my debut novel BLOOD BORN! There are two winners, and they are...

Kaci Boutwell!!

Texas Book Lover!!

Congrats you guys! Kaci, please email me your mailing address, plus the 3 books you'd like from the following: SHINE by Jeri Smith-Ready, TOUCH by Jus Accardo, SUCH A RUSH (Arc) by Jennifer Echols, WITCH EYES by Scott Tracey, SANTA CRUISE by Mary Higgins Clark & Carol Higgins Clark. I'll also be throwing in a signed copy of my novel BLOOD BORN plus some swag! Email me at jmanni32 @ yahoo dot com.

Texas Book Lover, please email me your mailing address at jmanni32 @ yahoo dot com, and I will mail out the remaining 2 books from the above list, plus a signed copy of BLOOD BORN and some swag!

To all winners: You have 48 hours to email me, or I'll have to pick new winners :(

Thanks again, everyone, for entering my giveaways, and for those of you who have read my book and posted reviews on goodreads, amazon, b&n, etc., I HEART you all!!