Claire and I have been talking about giving away books on this blog for quite awhile, but the Book Giveaway Carnival has motivated us to act. We’re giving away an autographed set of Claire’s three novels: Same As It Never Was; Knitting Under the Influence; and, The Smart One and the Pretty One. With these books, you’ll have a mini-vacation from life. Personally, Claire owes me three nights sleep because there was no way I was stopping once I started each book.
There are links to Claire’s site for the reviews about each of them, but I’ll pass on an insider tidbit about each book:
Same As It Never Was is Claire’s first novel. She had four children at the time and Will was a baby Claire wrote the novel during 
his naps while the two oldest were in elementary school and the third was in preschool. It’s still hard not to be a little aggravated by that fact. The book is ultimately about what you do when your life unexpectedly changes, plus there is some romance thrown in.
Knitting Under the Influence includes drink recipes at the end that Claire made up with friends. But not me, I wasn’t invited. Just wanted to point that out. Anyway, about the book. Claire also co-wrote two books about autism, the second of which is due out next month and we’ll be giving away on the blog later. Her knowledge and interest in the subject shows up in a heartbreaking and loving manner in this novel with the brother of one of the characters. I love the friendship between the women (they meet once a month to knit together) and how they aren’t perfect, but they hang in there with each other. Claire is a great knitter, she has this black sweater with white pirate skulls popping up at different places. I always think “wow” when I see it because I can’t knit a sweater in one color (I have the parts to a pink sweater stashed somewhere to prove how they don’t match up).
The Smart One and the Pretty One is Claire’s latest novel about two sisters (Claire has three, she’s a sister expert), one of which has the reputation of being smart and plain (she’s an estate planning attorney, like I was, but I’m trying not to take it personally) and the other dumb and beautiful. Claire’s theory is a beautiful woman wants to hear that she’s smart and a smart woman wants to hear she’s beautiful. She’s undecided over which one she would rather be; I definitely want to be the smart one, but with a nice wardrobe. The sisters in the book come together when their mother undergoes cancer treatment and support each other as they grow to realize their full potential. Both have encounters with boyfriends and help each other out, i.e. there’s great romance.
A special head’s up, all three dedications are beautiful.
So, we’re giving away a set of all three books, all you have to do is leave a comment and tell us which one you would rather be, the smart one or the pretty one, and why. All comments before Saturday, March 8th at noon PST will be eligible to win. Both domestic and international particpants are acceptable. If the winner doesn’t respond within 36 hours of notice from us, we’ll go to the next name drawn. If you’re looking for more book giveaways, head over to Bookroom Reviews. It’s running a Book Giveaway Carnival for a week, so every participating blog will be listed. See how many books you can win and let us know how you did.
Tags: Book Carnival, giveaway
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I’d rather be the smart one. There’s just too much of life to be enjoyed to be obsessed with appearances.
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I’d rather be the smart one since I think people have more fun in the long run interacting than on simply ogling each other.
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I would definitely rather be the smart one. Beauty fades as you get older while the smart ones get wiser as they age. Besides, smart women/men get to change the world and I would love to make a difference in this earth.
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I’d rather be smart only because I usually under estimate myself a lot and would be nice to not do that.
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I’d soooo rather be the smart one. This is something I am trying to ingrain into my teenage daughter. Teenagers are so focused on the outside rather than the inside. I told her there are many so-called pretty people who are very ugly inside.
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I would be the Smart One of course! It gets you more places! Great contest!
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I’d rather be the smart one than the pretty one. Prettiness fades; smart just keeps getting smarter.
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