HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

to meeeeeeeee :-D

I never make a big deal out of my birthday.
At least not since I was like 10.

I'm not big into being "in the spotlight" and wanted to elope instead of having a traditional wedding. I still cringe a little when my family wants to do a "family dinner" for my birthday, and keep asking for cookies instead of cake so they'll STOP SINGING.
But now my kids have taken over, and I've lost control once again.

So. Today I'm on a bunch of friends' blogs.
And I'm giving stuff away on EACH blog.
This is MY birthday present to YOU.

YOUR birthday present to ME would be to go hang with some of my peeps, and enter to win here, there and everywhere.

You could also, yanno, give me twitter love or something like that...

Since it's my birthday, I'm going to totally indulge myself and tell you something I love about each of my books that are out. And more likely than not, you'll read this post, if for no other reason than because you'll be like - okay, normally I just skim over whatever that crazy Jolene has to say, but it IS her birthday...
(ALSO - THE TITLES OF MY BOOKS ARE LINKS)

THE NEXT DOOR BOYS
This is my first book. Seriously. Even though I wish I could re-write it, or send it through another round of edits, it will always be the first book a publisher said "yes" to.  I love that the good little Mormon girl ends up with the older guy whose life is a mess, but who is also the perfect choice for her. (yes, I gave away the ending, but it's a romance people - NOT hard to figure out, it's the JOURNEY that matters)

LEFT TO LOVE
Because this book broke my heart in so many good ways. Because it brought be closer to all the people I've loved and lost to cancer. (Psst... Leigh's in the next book)

MY FOREVER
I unabashedly used my husband Mike, for Michael. Also, Dani's voice came so clearly to me, and I think this book is the one where I found my voice as a writer, and it's because of Dani. Also - I loved giving Leigh her for real HEA here.

NIGHT SKY
Jameson. Sigh. I'd just read a bunch of books with "bad-boys" and I wanted to write a guy who is a guy, and is trying to do the right thing, and is a good guy, but is still...yes...a guy. This book deals with a girl being transplanted from her native culture, a boy dealing w/ a friend who is raped, parents verging on divorce, the importance of honesty, the beautiful thing that is forgiveness...
I have to honestly say that this is my least selling book, and that makes me sad (or heartbroken) because I want more people to know this story.

KNEE DEEP
Parts of this book could have (almost) come from my journal.
I'm sad for Shawn.
I love Luke for being the friend.
And I love Mindy for being a good girlfriend.
And I love Ronnie because she faced so much, and because she deserved a happy ending.

MY HEART FOR YOURS
My first venture into self-publishing, only I took the easy way and used Steph ;-)
I love this book for so many things.
I think this is my favorite LOVE story of all that I've written.
I adore Delia, have a crush on Tobin, and love what they had to let go of for any chance of being together. People aren't perfect, and I think that showing how two people are perfect for each other, flaws intact, is a very cool thing.

SPILL OVER
This book started out as a rom-com, and then someone died, and the tone of the book changed - because that happens when you kill off a main character. I keep my fav quotes from the books that I write, and this one has more than any other (that's out NOW). I also liked the idea of this spoiled kid being stuck with his estranged father who lives on a sailboat.

10 Weeks
This book was written purely for fun, purely for relaxed reading enjoyment, and a way to have three love stories in one book. Also, I love books about girls who are NICE to each other. And I really think that all three guys are totally swoon-worthy...

INSIGHT
This was my first YA book. This book taught me that no matter how much you hate a book, or how much you think you'll NEVER be able to make the story work, that by digging through the painful process that is several major revisions, you can end up with something you're proud of. Also - my good friend Joci, who just graduated from high school, really wanted me to write an "action" book. I'm not sure this qualifies, but it's closer than anything else I've done. Also - the second book in this series, I love even more than the first.

Hey. That was fun :-D
I feel great :-D
I love that I love all my books for different reasons - I'd guess we all feel that way about our projects.

SO. A comment w/ your email address left on MY blog, gets ONE person one copy of any of my books in PAPERBACK. (sorry, US/Canada only. I'm going broke mailing books all over the world)
Not a HUGE prize, but if you hated going to the post office as much as I hate going to the post office, you'd see this as the big deal that it is ;-)

And HERE'S WHERE ELSE I AM TODAY!! You'll get to know all of these ladies better, so I promise it's worth the visit. And I have to say that as I wrote these posts, I was a bit overwhelmed at how many incredible people put up with my crazy. And as I thought about other people who I would have LIKED to do this about, but didn't have time, I was even more overwhelmed.

Christa Desir
www.christaramblesandwrites.blogspot.com

Nyrae Dawn
www.nyraedawn.blogspot.com

Steph Campbell
www.stephcampbell.blogspot.com

Morgan Shamy
http://morganshamy.blogspot.com/

Jenny Morris
http://jennysimaginaryworld.blogspot.com/

Chantele Sedgwick
www.chantelesedgwick.blogspot.com

Suzi Retzlaff
http://literaryengineer.areavoices.com/

Allie B
http://alliebbooks.wordpress.com/

There are SO SO SO Many more places I could have gone, and SO many more people that I want to tell you how much I adore, but I'll have to save it for another time. I'd go broke otherwise ;-)

So. You have a chance to win at each stop, AND you can win more than once...
If, for some insane reason, you've read all my books, we'll work out a supah secret deal ;-)
(I just realized that you're all going to try for the supah secret deal, which will be to get my next book early. So. Now. Not to secret or all that exciting, lol)

Winners will be posted here on Monday!!

See you around the blogosphere...

~ Jolene