Novels for Grown Ups

Curl up with my award-winning novel, LUSCIOUS LEMON, about Ellie “Lemon” Manelli, a chef in the east village who wants no other babies than her hip new restaurant. Or ELIOT’S BANANA, the book Kirkus Review called an “Engaging debut about death, modern romance, and growing up.”

Eliot’s Banana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things should be peachy.

Junie isn’t entirely sure what her problem is. She’s just moved into a Brooklyn apartment with her cool longtime boyfriend Leon, a drummer who adores her. She flits through a string of temp jobs in funky thrift store clothes. But beneath her veneer of quirky humor there’s a nagging feeling of dissatisfaction about her life.

She’s about to go bananas.

When Junie meets Eliot, who is twice her age, and his cat, Alfie, at the vet’s office, she’s convinced she’s found the zest missing in her life. A burnt-out sci-fi writer in search of a muse, Eliot is apples to Leon’s oranges. It’s not long before Junie’s standing in his kitchen being offered a banana…and then some.

Losing herself in the mayhem of a fling, Junie slowly realizes that kinky diversions are a poor distraction from what’s really eating her. Only when she stops obsessing about Eliot and starts peeling away the layers of her family’s past will she see that what she really wants has been waiting for her all along…and that her future’s ripe with possibilities.

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Luscious Lemon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She’s finally seeing the fruits of her labors.

Chef Ellie “Lemon” Manelli’s hip East Village bistro is suddenly all the rage; Lemon and her staff of wildly talented friends plucked from New York City’s finest eateries can barely keep pace. Good thing she has her loyal, doting, bankrolling Georgia peach of a boyfriend, Eddie, to lean on-not to mention a gaggle of loving relations over the river in Brooklyn. In fact, Lemon’s life is turning out exactly as she planned-except for the fact that she’s late. As in late.

Nobody said anything about, you know, labor.

Having a baby right now would jeopardize everything Lemon has worked so hard to accomplish, so the pregnancy test results leave her feeling a little sour. Eddie, bless his heart, wants to just go ahead and get married, but Lemon’s not sure the timing’s right. She’s about to learn a lesson or two about love and loss, though. And in the end she’ll discover that there’s a reason things work out the way they do-and that when life gives you lemons, you can make lemonade, or lemon tarts, or lemon meringue pie. Or, you can just be a plain ole Lemon, if that’s what you were meant to be.

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