Jenny Gardiner is thankful...and she has some books to give away!

**Giveaway is now closed**

Jenny Gardiner is the author of the award-winning novel "Sleeping with Ward Cleaver," "Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who's Determined to Kill Me," "Slim to None," "Over the Falls" (available now on Kindle) and a contributor to the upcoming humorous dog-lovers anthology, "I’m Not the Biggest Bitch in This Relationship"(NAL/fall 2011). Her work has been found in "Ladies Home Journal," "The Washington Post" and on NPR’s "Day to Day." She likes to say she honed her fiction writing skills while working as a publicist for a US Senator. Other jobs have included: an orthodontic assistant (learning quite readily that she was not cut out for a career in polyester), a waitress (probably her highest-paying job), a TV reporter, a pre-obituary writer, and a photographer (claim to fame: being hired to shoot Prince Charles--with a camera, silly!). She lives in Virginia with her husband, three kids, two dogs, one cat, one rabbit, and a gregarious parrot. In her free time she studies Italian, dreams of traveling to exotic locales, and feels very guilty for rarely attempting to clean the house. Visit her at her website, her blog, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Jenny stopped by Chick Lit Central to share her "thankful" list, as well as one copy each of "Sleeping with Ward Cleaver" and "Slim to None" with some lucky readers in the US.


Jenny Gardiner:
I have to say I am thankful right off the bat for the many things for which I have to be thankful! When the Melissas asked me to compile a list I had so many things to choose from.

*First and foremost I am grateful for my children and my husband, who are the most important thing to me.
*I'm so grateful for the many opportunities I've had as an author--just having books published is such a privilege, and then the wonderful response from readers, the opportunities to reach out and connect with them--all icing on the cake.
*I'm grateful to have the benefit of gaining wisdom with age. Sometimes we can't quite appreciate our lives until we've lived them for a while.
*I'm so thankful for other family members and dear friends and other friends I've made along the way--all of whom have helped to mold me into the person I am now and provided me with life experiences that make me me.
*I also have one very huge thing to be thankful for: On Sunday afternoon I was driving over the bridge on an interstate when a tractor-trailer to my right was driving far too fast to slow down for the car in front of him. I passed the car and two seconds later the truck hit him, jackknifed to the left, rolled across the highway, slamming into the railing of the bridge and instantly bursting into an enormous fireball. It was the most terrifying thing imaginable, watching this wall of fire two stories high. I couldn't imagine as I called 9-1-1 that anyone survived the accident, and was thrilled to learn later that despite the fire taking 2-1/2 hours to be extinguished from the highway and the highway being closed down for 9 hours, not only did no one die, but the three men involved in the accident had only minor injuries. All of the emergency people on the scene were absolutely shocked that no one died, as was I.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my books with your readers!

Special thanks to Jenny for sharing her "thankful" list, as well as two of her books!


How to win "Sleeping with Ward Cleaver" or "Slim to None":
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US only. Giveaway ends Sunday, November 14th, at midnight EST.