Nobody's Cuter Than You - Teaser Tuesday and First Paragraph / First Chapter

Nobody's Cuter Than You: A Memoir About the Beauty of Friendship arrived in the mail as a surprise gift from my good friend Sandra Allen, co-author of I.O.U. Sex, and I've just started reading it. So far, it's sweet and funny, and I've seen lots of passages that I can identify with. The book is a memoir about friendship, especially the author's friendship with Amy Gulley. It's classified as "Christian Living" on its Amazon page, but it isn't preachy so far. Thanks for a delightful gift, Sandra! 
      Here's how the memoir starts (after an introduction):

First Paragraph:
      I dropped off my daughter, Caroline, at camp for the first time ever yesterday and am in the midst of what can only be described as an emotional hangover. Perry and I helped her get her room for the week all set up, and then I hugged her good-bye as her little eyes filled with tears. At that point I basically had to sprint down the hallway without daring to cast a look back over my shoulder lest I be like Lot's wife and dissolve into a pillar of salt. Or maybe just tears. 

Teaser Tuesday (from Page 29 - trade paperback):
(FYI: Melanie has started a new school in seventh grade.)
Junior high girls aren't generally known for their kind and welcoming ways, and my experience proved to be no exception to this rule. These are the years that are a bad cocktail of insecurity, hormones, and believing you know all there is to know about life while you incessantly worry about whether your boobs are ever going to show up. 

Genre: Memoir / Christian Living
Length: 200 Pages (plus Appendices)
Amazon Link: Nobody's Cuter Than You
Melanie Shankle's Blog: Big Mama


Synopsis (from Amazon):
There is nothing as precious in life as a friend who knows you and loves you in spite of yourself. Yet over the last couple of decades, we’ve substituted the joy of real friendship with cheap imitations. We settle for “community” on Facebook and Twitter and a series of text messages that allow us to communicate with someone without the commitment. We like each other’s beautifully filtered photos on Instagram and delude ourselves into believing we have a community. But real friendship requires effort. It’s showing up, laughing loud, and crying hard. It’s forgiving and loving and giving the benefit of the doubt. It’s making a casserole, doing a carpool pickup, and making sure she knows those cute shoes are 50 percent off. Written in the same comedic style as the New York Times bestsellers Sparkly Green Earrings and The Antelope in the Living Room, Nobody’s Cuter than You is a laugh-out-loud look at the special bond that exists between friends and a poignant celebration of all the extraordinary people God had the good sense to bring into our lives at exactly the right moments. From the friendships we develop over a lifetime to the ones that wounded us and the ones that taught us to love better, Melanie Shankle reveals the influence our friends have on who we were, who we are, and who we will become. And on a day when our jeans feel too tight, our chins have decided to embrace hormone-related acne reminiscent of our teen years, and our kids have tested the limits of our sanity, they are the ones who will look at us and say, “Nobody’s cuter than you!”

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea