If you would like to try your luck at one of the three door prizes, please sign in:

The grand prize winner of the $500 American Express Gift Card from the previous contest will be drawn and announced at the end of the book chat. Good luck to all!

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Have you read The One? There’s plenty of time yet before my online book chat. I’ll be discussing my latest novel on my blog with others who have read it and announcing the grand prize winner from my ongoing blog contest: The winner’s choice of a $500 American Express Gift Card, PayPal Cash, or an iPad3. Others will receive door prizes for attending the online chat.

I hope you’ll be able to stop by.

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Deadline for entry for the Grand Prize is March 31, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. The winner will be announced during the online book chat, but you do not have to be present to win.

*Door prizes will be announced during the online chat, and you will need to be present to win.

Learn more about The One, click here.

On March 31, 2012 access the book chat through the link below:

The One Book Chat – Join Now! (LIVE )

Beginning today, you can enter the 14 Days of Valentines Giveaway for a chance to win any of the prizes listed below:

From February 15-28, 2012, I’ll be giving away fourteen copies of The One (e-book edition): one copy a day for fourteen days.

On February 29th, one lucky person will win their choice of an Amazon Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet, and four people will win a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift cards for answering a brief survey.

All of this is leading up to the $500 Grand Prize that will be awarded during my online book chat on March 31, 2012.

The end date for the daily prize is February 14, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. 

The end date for the Amazon Kindle or Nook Color, the $25 Amazon Gift Cards, and the $50 Amazon Gift Card is February 28, 2012 at 12:01 a.m.

The end date for the grand prize drawing is March 30, 2012 at 12:01 a.m.

Simply:

• Enter through the Rafflecopter form below with either your Facebook login or your name and e-mail address. You do not need a Facebook account to enter.    
• Once you have logged in hit the green button that corresponds with the task(s) you would like to complete.  Follow the instructions and then hit enter.
• Complete at least one task  or as many as seven, and you will be entered into the contest. The more tasks you complete the more points you’ll have toward the contest, and the more prizes you’ll be eligible to win.
• Winners are drawn randomly. All prizes, with the exception of the grand prize, will be drawn while the contest is still running. 
• Please be careful not to indicate you’ve completed a task until you have actually done so, or it could void your entry.
• To all previous entrants, you may not see the option you used to enter the contest i.e. take a survey and RSVP for the online book chat,  it has been removed from the Raff;ecopter for new entrants only, but your entry is still in the Rafflecopter.

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This contest is sponsored by Second Chance Motors.

2nd Place Winner- $100 Macy’s Gift Card: Cheire Jones

3rd- Place Winner- $50 American Express Gift Card and a Christmas caramel cake from Carolinescakes.com: Leslie Galloway

4th-7th Place Winners- $25 Starbucks Gift card or Godiva Christmas Ornament:
Angel Arrington
LaKisha Wheeler
Charles V.
Alena Bejenarou

I will send each winner an e-mail by noon today. Please reply with your complete mailing address. American Express, Macys.com, and Amazon.com all have an e-gift card option. However, an American Express e-card can only be used online.

If you would like to receive your gift card via e-mail, please let me know in your reply. I must hear from each winner by noon on December 18, 2011, or a new winner will be selected. If you haven’t heard from me, please feel free to send me an e-mail at cheryl@cherylrobinson.com.

Please note exceptions to above prizes:
3rd place winner may choose any flavor cake from carolinescakes.com ($48 value).  

4th – 7th place winners may request an Amazon.com gift card in lieu of a Starbucks gift card. 

The final prize of either an Amazon Kindle/Barnes &Noble Nook ($99 value) or a $100 American Express Gift Card will be drawn and announced on Christmas. 

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This contest is sponsored by:

There are seven ways to enter the contest using the Rafflecopter form below. None of the options are mandatory, so it’s your choice which one you complete, but if you do all six you will have sixteen entries in the contest.

Good luck to all who enter!

This contest is sponsored by:

Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s, set mostly in a St. Louis soul food restaurant, is the perfect comfort food. It doesn’t leave me with an empty feeling once I’m done watching. It’s more of a feeling of, “I can’t wait to come back for more,” instead of, “I just wasted an hour of my life.” Not to mention, for most of the hour, viewers’ are treated to some mouthwatering dishes. Looking at that food makes me want to fly directly to St. Louis, stand in the long line that wraps around the corner, and wait to enter, and stuff my face. I’m sure the first person I’ll see is Miss Robbie’s nephew, Lil Charles, standing against the wall, posing, with his arms folded, refusing to work.

The clip below is just a sampling of the food and a glimpse of Miss Robbie when she appeared on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Scroll all the way down to watch the first episode of Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s .

WARNING: DO NOT WATCH ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

I’m glad that this show is doing well enough for OWN to pick up ten more episodes, but personally, I think more people should be watching this show, so the ratings can get even higher. Why not promote positive television?

Welcome to Sweetie Pies is my favorite show on OWN and my favorite reality show period. For me, it’s inspiring to see a woman running a successful business that has been open for many years. In addition to Miss Robbie, there’s also Miss Robbie’s son, Tim, who has a wonderful relationship with his mother. I don’t want to giveaway any spoilers, because I want people to tune in today during the marathon, but I couldn’t believe the questions he was asking his mother after her date. And Miss Robbie said what I was thinking exactly. “You’re not supposed to ask your mother questions like that.”

Tim’s fiance, Jenae, who I was originally on the fence about because she seemed a little too possessive of him. But I also get the impression that he may have been a  ladies’ man. Jenae loves Tim and Miss Robbie, who speaks highly of Jenae. In Miss Robbie’s eyes, her son couldn’t have picked a better woman, and Miss Robbie strikes me as someone who’s an excellent judge of character.  Jenae won me over after she gave birth three months early. That was when a much softer side of Jenae surfaced.

When Jenae first met Tim, she asked him three questions: 1) Are you married? 2) Do you have kids? 3) Do you have any felonies? No, he has never been married. No, he doesn’t have kids. Yes, he has a felony. At the age of seventeen, he was arrested for armed robbery and went to prison. He was young at the time, and his poor decisions cost him ten years of his life. And he may need therapy because of that. Miss Robbie told Jenae that she thought he needed to talk to someone. I’m getting the feeling that he may be a little emotionally withdrawn. But his life is clearly on the right track now, and as his mother’s business partner, he knows the ins and outs of Sweetie Pie’s for sure.

I’m personally invested in Sweetie Pie’s. I want Miss Robbie to get her business loan, so she can open up her third restaurant, a much larger facility with a banquet hall and a culinary school. I want to see her dreams come to fruition. She’s already used a million dollars of her own money to buy the building. Now, she needs to get a three and a half million dollar loan to complete the renovations.

Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s is proof that it doesn’t take a bunch of over-the-top drama to be entertaining.

The marathon begins today at 4:00 p.m. on the OWN network.

About Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s:

(via press release)

The series follows the loud, loving and musical Montgomery family as they work to expand their family-owned business, one soulful dish at a time. When Robbie Montgomery, a 1960s backup singer and former Ikette, suffered a collapsed lung and had to stop singing, she decided to pour her talents into opening a soul food restaurant. At her popular St. Louis eatery, Sweetie Pie’s, both hilarity and drama are offered up, and now Miss Robbie is preparing to launch a third location with a little help from her son and partner Tim. Produced by Pilgrim Films & Television. Executive producers are Craig Piligian, Jenn Duncan, Tim Brietbach, Jeff Keane, and Steve Luebbert.

Below is the video of the first episode.