Now Available!

GIRLS ALOUD

Once Ellie Gillman waves her husband off on his grand adventure—a cross-country bicycle trip to publicize the perils of climate change—she realizes she’s got her own environment to take care of: the environment of her home, her daughters, and her cozy New England town. While Scott Gillman pedals his way to fame and glory, Ellie mops up the messes of day-to-day living.

The house has a roof problem. The town has a litter problem. Ellie’s boss is a walking, talking problem. Ellie’s best friend has marital problems. Teenage daughter Abbie is turning rebellious, and younger daughter Misha is devastated when a good friend forms a club with a bunch of his buddies to celebrate her father’s bike ride and forbids her from joining. Why? Because, he messages her, “No Girls Aloud.”

Forget about that. Ellie and her daughters are going to be “aloud.” They’re going to make noise. As Ellie learns, if a girl wants to be heard, she has to speak up, speak out, and bang some pots and pans.

STILL AVAILABLE

ONE SMALL FAVOR

As a child, Annie Baskin envied her older sister. Sarah was beautiful, smart, popular, and contemptuous of her messy, graceless kid sister. Annie grew up in Sarah’s shadow, knowing she was second-tier, second-rate, an also-ran. The other Baskin girl.

Now an adult, Sarah lives a life of perfection: perfect husband, perfect children, perfect home. Annie has made peace with her own far less elegant life. But when a crisis shatters Sarah’s world, she turns to the one person she can rely on: her sister Annie.

While Annie performs favor after favor for her sister, she becomes deeply embedded in Sarah’s exquisite world. All this could be hers, she realizes—if she can believe she’s worthy of it. If she can convince herself she wants it. If she can figure out who she is, where she belongs, and what she’s capable of.

Laughter and tears. Fury and compassion. Resentment and love. As Annie learns, sisterhood is all those things, and more.

IF ONLY

Recent retiree Ruth Singer is reflecting on her life and wondering what direction it might have taken if she’d made different choices.

What if she’d learned to ski?

What if she’d had her tubes tied before her difficult youngest child was born?

What if she hadn’t quit her rock band to attend college?

What if she’d run off with Danny Fortuna when she’d had the chance?

Not only does Ruth ponder these questions, she lives those what-if lives in her imagination. As the chaos of her real life swirls around her, she contemplates the roads she never took, the choices she never made, and comes to understand how she became the woman she is – and why.

A novel that will resonate with every reader, If Only is at once a poignant excursion into one woman’s life and a guided tour through every internal conversation we’ve ever had.

Here’s a video of a talk I gave at the Library Journal’s annual conference, in which I discuss how IF ONLY came into existence.

Lainie Lovett Mysteries in audiobook

Lainie Lovett is going audio! The first two Lainie Lovett mystery\ies, STILL KICKING and KICKBACK, are now available in audiobook editions, with more Lainie Lovett audiobooks on the way. Pick up a copy at any of these retailers: