PERMISSION SLIPS AUDIO BOOK: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
PERMISSION SLIPS
AUDIO BOOK
BY SHERRI SHEPHERD
and LAURIE KILMARTIN
READ BY SHERRI SHEPHERD

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Covering topics such as "It's Jesus or Jail," "Marriage, the Hard Way," "Children: The Gift You Can't Give Back," and "All the Things I Don't Know...And All the Things I Definitely Do," stand-up comedienne, actress, and ABC's The View co-host Sherri Shepherd comically chronicles her struggles to keep up with the many roles-professional, wife, mother, daughter, and friend-that women must play in today's world. Sherri urges women to pursue their most important dreams and to never give up, but also lets listeners know that it's okay to give themselves "permission slips" when things don't always work out the way they want them to.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Whether on stage or screen, Comedienne/Actress Sherri Shepherd never fails to delight audiences with her magnetic personality and hilarious sense of humor, which is showcased in her position as co-host of ABC’s Emmy-nominated The View. Sherri will also star in her new Lifetime series, Sherri. The show, in which she also serves as co-executive producer, is loosely based on her life and standup comedy, and will premiere in the Fall of 2009. On October 14, Sherri’s humorous autobiography, Permission Slips: Every Woman’s Guide to Giving Herself a Break, will be launched by Grand Central Publishing.

A self-described “class clown,” Shepherd always wanted to pursue a performing career. She relocated to Los Angeles during high school and considered being a mortician but opted for a job as a legal secretary instead. In 1990 she came face-to-face with destiny. After witnessing Andrew Dice Clay on stage, Sherri was egged on by her friends to put together her own act. Her love for performing was instantaneous; success, however, was not. For five years, Sherri toiled as a secretary by day and hopped on the bus at night to do her standup. She finally got her first real break with the comedy series Cleghorne! starring former Saturday Night Live alum Ellen Cleghorne.

She’s been fortunate enough to work steadily while fine-tuning her craft through comedy, scene-study and improvisational workshops. As an accomplished standup comic, she has performed at The Comedy Store, The Improv, and Laugh Factory in Hollywood. Sherri also has her own comedy DVD, titled No Refund, No Exchange.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Sherri will continue to reprise her hysterical role as Angie Jordan, wife to Tracy Morgan’s character on the Emmy-winning 30 Rock. In November 2009, Sherri will be seen in the upcoming feature film Precious, alongside Mo’Nique and Mariah Carey, directed by Lee Daniels (Monsters Ball). Sherri most recently co-starred in the Dreamworks hit feature Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, where she voiced the character of Ben Stiller’s mother. She also serves as a national spokesperson for the March of Dimes.

Sherri has been on the couch of many talk shows, such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, and The Bonnie Hunt Show, and she holds the record for being the most-booked guest on The Ellen Show (23 times). She can also be seen as Sgt. Judy, Robert Barone's partner, in Everybody Loves Raymond. Her other film roles include co-starring alongside Queen Latifah in Beauty Shop and Ashton Kutcher in Guess Who.

Sherri's greatest accomplishment, however, is being the proud mother of her 4-year-old son, Jeffrey Charles, Jr. Away from the set, she enjoys karaoke, skating, church activities, and a good game of Taboo.

REVIEW:

Please give yourself permission to read PERMISSION SLIPS by Sherri Shepherd. You won't be sorry you did as it is an easy, funny, yet thought provoking read. PERMISSION SLIPS is an intimate portrait of this co-host of "The View", Sherri Shepherd, that will grab your attention right away with her easy style of writing that combines humor, compassion, common sense, and honesty. Sherri's message in the book is very clear--give yourself permission to realize nobody is perfect and when we do something wrong, get over it...life WILL go on. She stresses not dwelling on it, and making it worse by continuing to beat ourselves up about it.

Sherri is realistic and when you realize how she came from a somewhat sheltered childhood to having to face life's often times harsh realities, it has been an amazing journey. It is one that I praise her for. When she talks about the challenges she faced when things went wrong during her pregnancy and her son was born prematurely, it tugs at your heart. It also shows what a strong woman she has become. Her challenges in life have made her better as she has not let them beat her down. This certainly is evident when you see her on television. On a personal note, I love watching Sherri on The View. She slid into a seat at the often times formidable table and holds her own. She could easily get lost in the shuffle but she does not. She stands her ground on her beliefs and opinions and makes her voice be heard but with a polite, humorous, and kind way that endears her to me and I am sure millions of fans.

I liked the easy style of writing that Sherri used and especially the format with its self-contained chapters that you can sit down and read and then set aside and come back to easily. With the book in audio book format, it is really nice to have a place like this to stop the CD and pick up at the start of another chapter when you can get back to it...and you will want to do that quickly as Sherri's reading makes this a real gem of an audio book! Some of my favorite chapters were "Permission to Get Better as I Get Older", "Permission to Pursue Your Dreams", and "Permission to Be Less Than Perfect" just to name a few. Sherri ends each chapter with a "Permission Slip" which is a way for her to summarize the chapter, tell what that part taught her about life, and thus tie it up with a bow and let the reader take away a gift of a little lesson on life.

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO ANNA AND THE
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE
3 COPIES OF THIS DELIGHTFUL AUDIO
BOOK TO GIVE AWAY. HERE IS WHAT
YOU NEED TO DO TO WIN A COPY!

RULES:

--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU LEARNED ABOUT SHERRI SHEPHERD BY READING ABOUT HER AND HER AUDIO BOOK

+1 MORE ENTRIES: IF YOU BECOME A GOOGLE FRIEND FOLLOWER TODAY, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS I AM WORKING TO GET TO 600.

+1 MORE ENTRY: IF YOU ARE ALREADY A FOLLOWER, PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW OR WHERE YOU FOLLOW.

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT 6 PM, EST,
JANUARY 15 FOR THIS BOOK!

HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ONLY THOSE PEOPLE WHO
ENTERED DURING THE BLOGIVERSARY
WEEKEND ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE
GRAND PRIZE TO COME ON JANUARY 16...
THAT IS THEY WIN ALL 12 BOOKS

NOTE: BLOGIVERSARY WEEKEND
GRAND PRIZE ELIGIBILITY IS OVER!
BUT YOU CAN STILL WIN THIS BOOK!