Nighttime Reading Center: Diane Daniels Manning

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January 29, 2015

Almost Perfect by Diane Daniels Manning + Giveaway

Book Title: Almost Perfect
Author: Diane Daniels Manning
Genres: Animals, Dogs, Autism, Young Adult, Fiction, ADHD, Contemporary
Publisher: Beltor
Published: January 29, 2014 (Paperback, 340 Pages)
Disclaimer: I received this book for book tour from +Laura Fabiani iRead Book Tours
Buy the Book:

Connect with Diane: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook
Dog Show Info: Since this book revolves around the Westminster Dog Show and this years show takes place Feb 16 & 17 and that when this book ends you may want to check out the website Westminster Kennel Club
Author Interview: Interview with Diane Daniels Manning
Description: Two unlikely friends, an old woman and a boy with special needs, take an aging champion to Westminster Dog Show, and heal their troubled families.
Seventy year-old Bess Rutledge has fantasized about winning the Westminster Dog Show all her life, but now she has decided she is too old to follow her dream. She meets Benny, an angry fourteen year-old with mild autism and ADHD, who has a dream of his own: to impress his self-absorbed mother. He becomes convinced that winning Westminster with McCreery, Bess’ aging champion standard poodle, will finally make his mother proud of him. Getting Bess to go along with his plan, however, is not going to be so easy.

Almost Perfect Trailer V1-2 from Kaizen Marketing on Vimeo.

Almost Perfect got to me. I just loved the story behind it. It's about a boy named Benny and an older woman named Bess. Benny is having trouble with emotions, especially when dealing with his mother. Benny wants a dog, but his mother is too busy with her life. We meet several different folks.
Benny meets Bess for the first time when he discovers her dogs. Benny meets Susie and McCreery, Bess's poodle. Benny wants McCreery for himself. Bess sees this fascination with McCreery. Benny runs off. Bess wants to win the Westminster Dog show and no one

There are some amazing twists and turns in this book. At one point, Benny finds out that McCreery is gone. And is determined to find McCreery. There are other characters I liked in this book. David and Dr. Kate meet through Benny. Benny meets a new girl as well.

Benny now has the possibility of choosing a puppy and calls him Breaker. Bess and Benny are now Co-Owners. Can Benny handle a puppy and deal with all the hard work it takes for a show dog? To find out you will need to read "Almost Perfect." There are surprises to this story.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

12:30 AM By Lindz No comments Edit This

Interview Around The Globe with Diane Daniels Manning

Today we have a new Author. Diane Daniels Manning is an author that is working though a book Tour that I have now been a tour host for. Let welcome this new author to Interviews around the Globe.

I would love if you all took a look at our author Bio.. We have some good questions and answer for her to answer. Please also I had the opportunity to read her latest book called "Almost Perfect". I have a review on it here at NRC and I also got a giveaway as for all of you as well. Almost Perfect Review & Giveaway, The author is giving away a prize of 13 copies of "Almost Perfect" by Diane Daniels Manning (5 print copies - USA only, 5 e-book copies and 3 audio-books from Audible - international) and one $25 Amazon Gift Card. Here is the author bio for before we enter the interview. We welcome Diane to our community. #Interviews, #Interviewsaroundtheglobe, #NRC, #Giveaways, #fiction #autism #dogshow @DianeDmanning
and @Nouveauwriter, +Laura Fabiani iRead Book Tours, +Laura Fabiani

Author's Bio:
Diane Daniels Manning is the co-founder and director of The New School in the Heights, a therapeutic school in Houston, Texas which helps children dealing with social-emotional challenges find success in school and life. She has a Ph.D. in Education and a post-doctoral M.P.H from Harvard and is a practicing child psychoanalyst certified by the American Psychoanalytic Association. Formerly, she was the Director of the Reading and Learning Disabilities Clinic at Tufts University, Lecturer and Research Associate in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Harvard, and Chair of the Department of Education at Tulane University. She learned the inner workings of dog show kennels by writing an authorized oral history of a lifetime President of the Poodle of Club of America. Her writing awards include the Faulkner-Wisdom Novella Prize and the Women in Film and Television Short Script Competition.

When not at The New School, Diane and her writing partners, a Standard Poodle named Misty and a rescue cat named Elvira, convene at the keyboard to share great thoughts and plan the dinner menu.

Connect with her: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Describe your *Latest/Recent* book in 20 Words or Less?

An old woman and a teenage boy connect over love of a dog and heal their broken families. It's ALMOST PERFECT!

Where or how did you come up with the idea for your story (in this book)?

The book started as an oral history of a famous breeder of standard poodles and evolved into a novel after I started a special school in Houston, CT.

How important are names to you in your book(s)? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Do you have any name choosing resources you that you?

I love choosing names for my characters. Some characters are "born" with a name that just seems right, like Benny. Other minor characters I use names of friends that I hope will tell them I am thinking of them and grateful for their friendship. All of the characters are fictitious.

Which of your characters (in this book) is your favorite and Why?

I don't have one favorite character. ALMOST PERFECT has two "main characters:" Benny.the boy and Bess, the old woman. Like them, my favorite characters all come in pairs. Bess and Mona are two sides of the same woman, as sometimes happens with twins. I also love the duo of Benny and Steffie. She is the "head" and he is the "heart."

Was there a certain scene *in this book* that was harder for you to write than others?

I can't think of a scene that was harder to write than the others, but there is definitely one that was easiest. This book has been in the work for decades (really!), going back to the original oral history, but the final scene at Westminster Dog Show was written from the beginning and has never changed. Many readers have told me it is worth the read!

If you could cast your characters in the Hollywood adaptation of your book, who would play your characters?

The children would all be "discovered," I imagine.

I would be thrilled for any working actress over 50 to play Bess/Mona. There are too few featured roles for older women in movies or literature.

What was your favorite part to write and why? (Alternate Q: What is your least favorite part of the publishing / writing process?)

I liked writing the scenes between the older twins, Mona and Bess, and also the scenes between Benny and Steffie. I find them to be bitter sweet and often funny, and characterize the humanity of people at the different ages. Probably my favorite is when the seventy year-old twins squeeze their faces into a small, round mirror, trying to decide if they look alike, the way others say they do. The dog walks by, gives them a look, and wonders when someone is going to remember to feed him.

Just as your books inspire authors, what authors have inspired you to write? (Alternate Q: If you didn't like writing books, what would you do for a living?, What writing advice do you have for other aspiring authors?

Mark Twain obviously influenced me. I spend my childhood reading books on the bottom shelf of the Mark Twain Library in Redding, Connecticut (the setting for ALMOST PERFECT). It was founded by Samuel Clemens in the town where he died.

Do you read your reviews? Do you respond to them, good or bad? Do you have any advice on how to deal with the bad?

I read my reviews and always respond to them when contact information is provided. I am very grateful to anyone who takes the time to read my book and then spends even more time reviewing it.

What are you working on now? What is your next project?

I am currently completing GOOD ENOUGH, a version of the same basic story for middle grade and young adult readers.

Thank you for stopping by Diane Daniels Manning. I happy for you have stop by Nighttime Reading Center. Your book a great read. I loved it. I hope you come back again and enjoy working with me and other events coming this way.

January 4, 2015

11:23 PM By Lindz 6 comments Edit This

Mailbox Monday #16 - Happy New Years

Mailbox Monday is a Meme that is hosted weekly to show off the new books we get in our inbox or mailbox. It has hosted at one point, But now it has it own blog named "Mailbox Monday". You many end up adding books to your ever so large TBR Pile. TBR stands for To Be Read.

This holiday came and went like blur. We brought in 2015 with no more then when we exited 2014. There not much to do with bringing in the new year. What new books arrived or came late in the week? What did you get done with the blog or want get done.. If you want you can check out my Sunday Post. I just started my first book for 2015. It is nane is "Dobyn's Chronicles" by +Shirley McLain. Well on the this weeks books that came in. Happy New Years.

This week 12/28/14 - 01/4/15

Book Title: Almost Perfect
Author: Diane Daniels Manning
Genre: Animals, Fiction, Young Adult, Adult Fiction, Autism
Publisher: Beltor (Paperback, 340 Pages)
Published: January 29, 2014
Going to be on Tour: January 26 though February 13 - with +Laura Fabiani iRead Book Tours (Tour Stop 29th )

An old woman who has given up hope and a boy who believes the impossible wonder if life would be perfect at the Westminster Dog Show.

Seventy-year old Bess Rutledge has dreamed of winning the Westminster Dog Show all her life. Despite her decades-long career as one of America’s top Standard Poodle breeders, she has decided she’s too old to hold on to her foolish dream. She sells off all the dogs in her once famous kennel except for the aging champion McCreery and his mischievous, handsome son Breaker. Part of her senses they might have been the ones to take her to Westminster, if only she’d dared to try.

Bess meets Benny, a teenager with mild autism who attends a therapeutic special school, and learns he has a dream of his own: to impress his self-absorbed mother. Benny is drawn into the world of dog shows and becomes convinced he has found the perfect way to win his mother’s attention. If he can win Westminster with either McCreery or Breaker, he just knows she will finally be proud of him. Getting Bess to go along with his plan, however, is not going to be so easy. . .

Book Title: Beyond All Dreams
Author: Elizabeth Camden
Genres: Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction, Romance, Historical Romance, Fiction
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (Paperback, 368 Pages)
Published: December 15, 2014

Sweeping and Romantic Historical Drama from an Award-Winning Author
Anna O'Brien leads a predictable and quiet life as a map librarian at the illustrious Library of Congress until she stumbles across a baffling mystery of a ship disappeared at sea. She is thwarted in her attempts to uncover information, but her determination outweighs her shyness and she turns to a dashing congressman for help.
Luke Callahan was one of the nation's most powerful congressmen until his promising career became shadowed in scandal. Eager to share in a new cause and intrigued by the winsome librarian, he joins forces with Anna to solve the mystery of the lost ship.
Opposites in every way, Anna and Luke are unexpectedly drawn to each other despite the strict rules forbidding Anna from any romantic entanglement with a member of Congress.
From the gilded halls of the Capitol, where powerful men shape the future of the nation, to the scholarly archives of the nation's finest library, Anna and Luke are soon embroiled in secrets much bigger and more perilous than they ever imagined. Is bringing the truth to light worth risking all they've ever dreamed for themselves?
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6:30 AM By Lindz 7 comments Edit This

Sunday Post #3 1st Edition of 2015

This post is about the past week that you did on your blog and what is going on around the blogspeare. What arrived in your mailbox or inbox. This post is created by Kimba @Caffeinated Book Reviewer. If you want to rules or information on this meme you can get it here at Sunday Post.

The Past week went by fast. We welcomed in 2015 in with short order. I am happy to say it was just a good week and quiet. It good to get a fresh start out and look forward to what 2015 has to give us. I am using this past week to catch up on some backlog of Book Reviews, and many other things. I hope you all had good New Years. You are welcome to tell me your New Year Revolutions for 2015.