Lala Pettibone: Standing Room Only

Lala Pettibone: Standing Room Only
Author: Heidi Mastrogiovanni
Publisher: Amberjack Publishing
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2018-09-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1944995749

Lala's done it: her failed-screenplay-turned-successful-novel is about to be made into a movie. In Paris! With a Hollywood bad boy as the lead! But the City of Lights can only offer so much respite from the petrifying decisions that await Lala back in the City of Angels. It’s an ocean away from her boyfriend, David, with whom she is becoming alarmingly close (as in, tying-the-knot-close). For every leading lady who got her start later in life, Lala Pettibone screams a hilarious “Yes!” to joie de vivre at any age.

Lala Pettibone's Act Two

Lala Pettibone's Act Two
Author: Heidi Mastrogiovanni
Publisher: Amberjack Publishing
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2017-02-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1944995080

Lala Pettibone, a forty-something widow whose outrageous antics befit women half her age, has been imagining her sexy boss, Gerard, is as smitten with her as she is with him. Enter Gerard’s fabulous girlfriend from Paris. After spending the rest of the day drinking wine straight from the bottle, Lala attends the monthly meeting of her Greenwich Village co-op, where the residents are informed that a toxic wasteland has appeared in the building’s basement and everyone needs to pony up forty grand by the end of the week. Ever the one to make limoncello out of lemons, Lala reluctantly decides to sublet her apartment and visit her Auntie Geraldine in Los Angeles. Good things come her way in sunny LA, including Dr. David, a handsome veterinarian, and inspiration to transform her previously rejected, uproarious, screenplay into a novel. Lala Pettibone's Act Two is a wonderfully hilarious, second coming-of-age novel. Bridget Jones has absolutely nothing on Lala in the Late-Bloomer-With-Maybe-Lots-of-Potential Department.

Lala Pettibone

Lala Pettibone
Author: Heidi Mastrogiovanni
Publisher: Lala Pettibone
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781944995737

Good luck has always arrived with a hearty helping of bad for Lala. So when she sells her screenplay and falls for the perfect man, running off to the City of Lights can only offer so much respite from the petrifying decisions that await her back in LA.

Everything Is Just Fine

Everything Is Just Fine
Author: Brett Paesel
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2019-04-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1538745631

In this brilliant, laugh-out-loud satire, named one of Washington Independent Review of Books Favorite Books of 2019, image-conscious parents on a Beverly Hills junior soccer team struggle to keep up appearances as their private lives careen out of control. "You'll wince, laugh out loud, relate to, and relish this unsparing satirical send up."---Wednesday Martin, New York Times bestselling author Coach Randy is working mightily to keep it together, and not simply with his vaguely unhappy wife, distant child, and a new boss who's eliminating half the sales force. This season's soccer parents are a demanding bunch. Diane's wine-fueled group e-mails are almost unintelligible; team mom Jacqui's enthusiasm for the league verges on manic; a divorced couple can barely conceal their murderous rage at each other; and another mom is laser-focused on schooling everyone on what constitutes a healthy snack option. All the secrets and lies bubbling below the surface of their membrane-thin civility threaten to combust when Alejandro, a young, foreign assistant coach refuses to play by the Beverly Hills code, which is to mind your own business and don't look too deeply into anyone's soul. Especially your own. Brett Paesel brings hilarity and huge heart to a world that looks enviable and shiny on the outside but is, in truth, filled with aching for connection on the inside. In the vein of Perotta and Semple, everyday life in Paesel's deft rendering is anything but.

The Hidden Things

The Hidden Things
Author: Jamie Mason
Publisher: Gallery Books
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2020-03-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 150117732X

A brilliantly original thriller and “a startling, smart, vivid book” (Tana French, New York Times bestselling author) from the acclaimed author of Three Graves Full—inspired by the real-life unsolved theft of a seventeenth-century painting. Twenty-eight seconds. In less than half a minute, a home-security camera captures the hidden resolve in fourteen-year-old Carly Liddell as she fends off a vicious attack just inside her own front door. The video of her heroic escape appears online and goes viral. As the view count climbs, the lives of four desperate people will be forever changed by what’s just barely visible in the corner of the shot. Carly’s stepfather is spurred to protect his darkest secret: how a stolen painting—four hundred years old, by a master of the Dutch Golden Age—has come to hang in his suburban foyer. The art dealer, left for dead when the painting vanished, sees a chance to buy back her life. And the double-crossed enforcer renews the hunt to deliver the treasure to his billionaire patrons—even if he has to kill to succeed. But it’s Carly herself, hailed as a social-media hero, whose new perspective gives her the courage to uncover the truth as the secrets and lies tear her family apart.

Musical Chairs

Musical Chairs
Author: Amy Poeppel
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2021-04-13
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1501176420

"A novel about modern family life with all of its discord and harmony"--

Creatures

Creatures
Author: Crissy Van Meter
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1643750836

“[A] kaleidoscopic narrative . . . Tenacious, wildly original, and full of insight.” —San Francisco Chronicle “An alluring, atmospheric debut.” —People A Belletrist Book Club Pick A Most Anticipated Book of the Year: Entertainment Weekly • The Millions • Bustle A Best Book of the Year: NPR's Book Concierge On the eve of Evangeline’s wedding on Winter Island, the groom may be lost at sea, a dead whale is trapped in the harbor, and Evie’s mostly absent mother has shown up out of the blue. From there, in this mesmerizing, provocative debut, the narrative flows back and forth through time as Evie reckons with her complicated upbringing—a weed-dealing, charming but neglectful father, a wild-child best friend—in this lush land off the coast of Southern California. With wit, love, and bracing flashes of anger, Creatures probes the complexities of family and abandonment, guilt and forgiveness, betrayal and grief—and exerts a pull as strong as the tides.

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop
Author: Fannie Flagg
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2020-10-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0593133854

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A heartwarming novel about secrets of youth rediscovered, hometown memories, and the magical moments in ordinary lives, from the beloved author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe “A gift, a blessing and a triumph . . . celebrates the bonds of family and friends—and the possibilities of recovery and renewal.”—The Free Lance–Star Bud Threadgoode grew up in the bustling little railroad town of Whistle Stop with his mother, Ruth, church-going and proper, and his Aunt Idgie, the fun-loving hell-raiser. Together they ran the town’s popular Whistle Stop Cafe, known far and wide for its fun and famous fried green tomatoes. And as Bud often said of his childhood to his daughter Ruthie, “How lucky can you get?” But sadly, as the railroad yards shut down and Whistle Stop became a ghost town, nothing was left but boarded-up buildings and memories of a happier time. Then one day, Bud decides to take one last trip, just to see what has become of his beloved Whistle Stop. In so doing, he discovers new friends, as well as surprises about Idgie’s life, about Ninny Threadgoode and other beloved Fannie Flagg characters, and about the town itself. He also sets off a series of events, both touching and inspiring, which change his life and the lives of his daughter and many others. Could these events all be just coincidences? Or something else? And can you really go home again?

Far Side of the Moon

Far Side of the Moon
Author: Liisa Jorgensen
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2021-12-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 164160607X

The decades-long love story of a NASA commander and the leader of the Astronaut Wives Club Far Side of the Moon is the untold, fully authorized story of the lives of Frank and Susan Borman. One was a famous astronaut—an instrumental part of the Apollo space program—but the other was just as much a warrior. This real-life love story is far from a fairy tale. Life as a military wife was beyond demanding, but Susan always rose to the occasion. When Frank joined NASA and was selected to command the first mission to orbit the moon, that meant putting on a brave face for the world as her husband risked his life for the space race. The pressure and anxiety were overwhelming, and eventually Susan's well-hidden depression and alcoholism finally came to light. Frank had to come to terms with how his "mission above all else" mentality contributed to his wife's suffering. As Susan healed, she was able to begin helping others who suffered in silence from mental illness and addiction. Discover how Frank and Susan's love and commitment to each other is still overcoming life's challenges, even beyond their years as an Apollo commander and the founder of the Astronaut Wives Club.

The Glitch

The Glitch
Author: Elisabeth Cohen
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2019-04-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 052543464X

A fast, funny, deeply hilarious debut--The Glitch is the story of a high-profile, TED Talk-ing, power-posing Silicon Valley CEO and mother of two who has it all under control, until a woman claiming to be a younger version of herself appears, causing a major glitch in her overscheduled, overstaffed, overworked life. Shelley Stone, wife, mother, and CEO of the tech company Conch, is committed to living her most efficient life. She takes her "me time" at 3:30 a.m. on the treadmill, power naps while waiting in line, schedules sex with her husband for when they are already changing clothes, and takes a men's multivitamin because she refuses to participate in her own oppression. But when she meets a young woman also named Shelley Stone who has the same exact scar on her shoulder, Shelley has to wonder: Is she finally buckling under all the pressure? Completely original, brainy, and laugh-out-loud funny, The Glitch introduces one of the most memorable characters in recent fiction and offers a riotous look into work, marriage, and motherhood in our absurd world.