My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What would you do to reach your greatest potential? To achieve your dreams and your goals? If you were told that all it took was forgiveness, would you believe it? In Connie Domino’s The Law of Forgiveness, she asserts that “The Law of Forgiveness” is a natural and universal law that has a set of predicatable properties, much like the Law of Gravity. By using The Law of Forgiveness to forgive (but not forget) the ones who have wronged you, you will release the pent-up anger within you so that this old energy will convert to new energy you will use to your advantage. Forgiveness is a kind, selfish act gives you back power and allows you to manifest what you want in your life. Domino not only explains the law and how it can be applied across religions, she also shows the reader how you can use it your own life.

This is the forgiveness affirmation to forgive others:

I forgive you completely and freely, I release you and let you go. So far as I’m concerned, the incident that happened between us is finished forever. I also wish the best for you. I wish for you your highest good. I hold you in the light. I am free and you are free, and all again is well between us. Peace be with you.

Domino discusses how you can use this affirmation in the privacy of your home, without having to face the people you need to forgive. In fact, the targets of forgiveness can even be dead and the law will still work! You know the law has worked when you feel a weight lifted off of your shoulders, and/or you manifest love and prosperity. Domino gives several examples of angry, hurt people who have enacted the Law of Forgiveness and have found that their objects returned into their lives to apologize or to work out better communication and interaction.

This book could have just been another how-to book filled with spirituality, but Domino makes it different by revealing much about her life and her forgiveness journey. Because she is vulnerable and tells us that she’s still working on some of her forgiveness issues, we automatically give her credibility. We immediately want to go to a quiet place, use visualization and manifest the powers of forgiveness.

After reading this book, I did have several instances in January where I needed to forgive clients, colleagues and family.  I closed my eyes and did the forgiveness affirmation and I felt a lot lighter. More positive things such as new client queries and a filled workshop soon followed. Some might account my good fortune to coincidence, but I know that it’s all part of univeral law. At the end of the book, Domino discusses how the power of prayer and forgiveness has changed dark outcomes, and how one person working on forgiving others can enact a global movement.

Yes, forgiveness does take work and does take time, but aren’t the outcomes of love and peace worth it?

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• You’re probably blocked because you’re avoided something painful or hard. Start a ritual like lighting a candle, grab a timer and make yourself sit down and write, ANYTHING, for 10-15 minutes. As soon as you start writing, you’ll see that you can extend that time.
• You’re a perfectionist and feel that you’re wasting your time by writing something you know won’t be that good. Stop that! All first drafts aren’t good and you know it. Go ahead and write the word “DRAFT” at the top of your legal pad or at the top of your Word document.
• Observe another art form such as music, visual art or visit a museum. You’ll take some of your own pressure and receive new and fresh ideas.
• Write a letter to a friend explaining to her/him what you’re trying to write

And I got some of these fantastic tips from Arthur Plotnik in the Feb 2010 issue of The Writer

• write an email using a new word
• take a trip inside your own neighborhood and really observe the people around you. Write about them. Use all of your senses (taste, touch, smell, sound and sight).
• take a break to look at scrapbooks, letters and photo albums, but set a timer so you don’t go down too far along memory lane!
• conjure up some metaphors and obsure colors by visiting a museum, zoo, fancy food store, or in the paint aisle of your local Hope Depot.
• check out your library or bookstore and let your mind go. Where do you see your future book? What’s hot on the shelves right now?
• Read a few chapters of The Bible or some old-fashioned poetry like Wordsworth or Barrett Browning.
• Hang out with someone in an interesting occupation — rug cleaner, your exterminator — you get the idea.

And if these ideas aren’t helpful, readers, please submit your own ideas for breaking writer’s block!!

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Blogging for Business with Alice Osborn and Eileen Batson
Location: Calm and Sense in Glenwood Village Center
2603 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27608
Date: Wed. January 13th
Time: 7-9:30pm
Cost: $30, call: 919.787.1799 to register. Major credit cards accepted.

In this course, students will learn about what a blog is, how to write one and how it can be used for a small business and tips and tricks for getting your blog read and remembered. Small business experts, writers and marketers, Eileen Batson and Alice Osborn will help you construct your blog, give you pointers on making it shine and will help bring visitors to your blog, which will help you grow your business.

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NEW Correspondence Course for Poets!  

Look for more details coming out on this exciting opportunity to have Alice mentor your poems and get YOU published in 2010.
$295 for 12 months of hand-written poetry critique (1 poem per month). Add $95 to $295 for 3 personalized phone coaching sessions
Register today: Course starts Feb. 15. Class limted to 6 poets.

***

Sharing Your Story, a Memoir Experience with Alice Osborn
Location: A Place for Women to Gather
8380 Six Forks Rd, Suite 201, Raleigh, NC 27615
Dates: Mondays from Mon. Feb 1st – Mon. March 8th
Duration: 6 weeks
Suggested Donation: $60
Time: 11:30-1:30, participants bring their own lunch. Drinks and dessert provided
Register by calling 919-846-3601 or register online here.

We all have a life story inside of us, but we may feel that what we’ve experienced is not relevant or important. In this workshop taught by experienced workshop leader and teacher, Alice Osborn, you’ll learn how you can harness the power of your stories for future generations and that what you’ve learned over a lifetime is a treasure that must be shared. In-class writing exercises that invoke food memories and the six senses will play a strong role in this lunchtime workshop series. Feedback from Alice Osborn will help you generate memorable prose and you’ll also learn techniques to keep up your writing practice after the class concludes. We welcome all levels and all experiences.

*** 

Business Writing Classes at Team Nimbus, 3801 Computer Dr., Suite 101 Raleigh, NC
Dates: 4 Classes on Various Fridays: 2/19, 3/12, 4/9 and 4/23
Time: 9:30am-11:30am
Cost: $49 per class (Team Nimbus members, $37) or buy the package at $147.

Sharing Your Life Story, a Memoir Class with Alice Osborn
Seniors Only, 55+
Location: Apex Community Center
53 Hunter St. Apex, NC 27502
Dates: Wednesdays from Wed. Feb 17th – Wed. March 24th
Duration: 6 weeks
Cost: $13 (Apex Resident), $18 (Apex Non-resident)
Time: 2-4pm
To Register, call 249-3402. Checks made payable to “Town of Apex”
Click here to download the Spring 2010 Apex Program Guide and Registration Forms

***

Presenting Your Words Without Fear with Alice Osborn
Location: Meredith College, Raleigh, NC
Dates: Wed. April 14, Wed. April 21, Wed. April 28
Time: 7-9pm
Cost: $60, Register here or  call 919-760-8450

Public speaking can build your self-esteem, open new professional doors, and it can help you conquer many of your fears and anxieties. Experienced speaker and presenter, Alice Osborn,will help you prepare to speak in public so that you can become the go-to expert in your field and chart your own speaking endeavors. You will also learn how to fit your talk to your audience and how to develop short and longer talks. This class is ideal for those who want to conduct more public speaking for groups or for their work. Participants will learn how to organize a talk as well as their introduction and will have their presentation videotaped and critiqued.

***

Marketing and Publicity for Writers, with Alice Osborn Class ID# 12894
Location: Duke Evening and Weekend Courses: The Bishop’s House, Room 107
Date: Sat. May 15th
Time: 9:30am-12:30pm
Cost: $85 Regular, $75 if enroll by 5/1 and $68 for Duke Employees
Materials Fee: $3
Register here.

This workshop is for both published and yet-to-be published writers who need help crafting a marketing strategy for getting the word out about their books via social media networking, websites, blogs, and other tools. If no one knows who you are, how will they buy your book? She will give tips and tricks from her own experience as a successful published writer/editor and will provide generous take-home resources.

***

Intermediate Creative Writing: Focus on the Memoir
Location: Sertoma Arts Center, Millbrook Rd, Raleigh, NC
Dates: Wednesdays from July 14- Aug. 4
Time: 7-9pm
Cost: $56
Online Registration here or call to register at (919) 420-2329

We all have a life story inside of us, but we may feel that what we’ve experienced is not relevant or important. In this workshop, you’ll learn how you can harness the power of your stories for future generations and that what you’ve learned over a lifetime is a treasure that must be shared. In-class writing exercises and feedback from the instructor will help you generate memorable prose and you’ll also learn techniques to keep up your writing practice after the class concludes. This is class is designed for students who have previous writing experience or who have been working on their memoirs. Computer access is recommended.

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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Something is hunting the local occupants near Tucson, Arizona, and Dr. Angie Rippard is determined to find out what…and protect whatever it is at all costs. As an expert on mountain lions, also known as cougars and pumas, Rippard is dedicated to preserving these beautiful animals. But as the attacks continue and more and more people die, she struggles with her philosophy that the cat should be captured and relocated, and not exterminated, more and more difficult to maintain.

How do you balance the challenge of protecting an endangered species, a species that has been on the mountains for thousands of years, against the cardinal rule that human life must be preserved at all costs? Rippard is shocked to learn that one attack has taken place on a golf course that is only fifty feet from National Forest Land and the natural habitat for the mountain lion. The protective borders are hazy as a result of encroachment by humans. Land deals that shouldn’t have been allowed and a greed for land in beautiful areas has resulted in eroding the mountain lion’s natural habitat. The balance point is tipping. A forest fire in Arizona the previous year has meant that the hunting grounds are even smaller, with less prey, and the cats are hungry. The attacks continue and Rippard comes to realize that she is up against a mountain lion that is different than all of the rest. This one hunts humans. Rippard puts together a team to locate and dart the animal so it can be relocated.

But it is a race against time as there is another mountain lion expert who wants to track the animal, but only to kill it – Charlie “the Chopper” Rutledge. An entrepreneur worth millions, Rutledge specializes in building mountain resorts and golf courses in stunning mountainous locations. And if he has to chop down ten thousand acres of trees in order to build them, well then, that’s what he will do. With his eye on land close to the border of the Arizona National Forest for his next multi-million dollar development, the last thing Rutledge needs is a mountain lion attacking the tourists and locals. He loves hunting and decides to go after it himself. He warns off Rippard, hating her “treehugging” ways, telling her that if she tries to protect the animal he will attack her too!

Dr. Angie Rippard is a strong female protagonist in this novel. An expert in her field, a strong personality, warm and empathetic to those she loves, passionate about her cause, she is an eco-warrior and a learned professor. In her classes she takes a holistic approach, making sure her students know not just about the animals but the flora and fauna too, and the impact that humans have on the local ecosystems. And in the field, Rippard needs all the knowledge she has about the habits of mountain lions if she is going to protect them.

The attack scenes are quite violent, and I am not just talking about the big cat scenes. Charlie “The Chopper” Rutledge lives up to his name and causes carnage amongst the people ranged against him. Be warned, the body count at the end of the book is quite high! However, despite of, or indeed due to, this novel is an exciting, heart-stopping rollercoaster ride of a book.

Stacey Cochran is a writer, producer and teacher. His books include The Colorado Sequence, Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone, and The Kiribati Test. He was a finalist for the 1998 Dell Magazines Award for undergraduate fiction writing and a 2004 finalist for the St Martin’s Press/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Contest. He teaches writing at North Carolina State University, and hosts an author-interview TV show in Raleigh.

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My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
If you’re a mid-level executive and feel that your job may be in jeopardy, then Over the Gap by Dave Patterson is required reading. Patterson, a certified business, executive, and career coach of D. Patterson & Associates in Raleigh, NC, knows how to help executives leap over the gap of career uncertainity and fear. Through instrutive text, case studies and practical examples, Patterson drives home the points of thinking of yourself as a product and a brand who can solve a client’s (or an employer’s) problems, can deliver a benefit to the client.

He takes the reader through the specific steps of personal branding, creating the 60-second elevator speech, the interview process, and idenfifying your target market. He also covers the how-to’s of branding which include issuing press releases, giving talks and writing articles. Resumes and cover letters are also covered with Patterson sharing his insight by telling the reader to use Monarch-sized stationery since it’s smaller than most stationery and will be more likely to catch the recruiter’s eye. His chapters on cover letters, resumes, and networking were especially strong because he included examples and he gave an excellent definition of what networking is. It is “relationship building and is about exchanging information. Networking creates value for both parties involved. The key to successful networking in helping others.”

After reading this book, the job seeker will know that they must do their homework and their research with their prospective company and must be fluent when telling others about what value they offer. Patterson emphasizes thinking like an entrepreneur and not thinking like an employee. An entrepreneur is in business to solve problems and to offer value to the client; he or she’s not merely there to take a paycheck home. Patterson says that despite the weak economy, there are companies that need motivated and experienced employees who will be good investments and help their company grow. By working through Patterson’s questions, his worksheets at the back of the book, and by doing a thorough self examination, formerly employed people can get back on track or they can restart their career in a new field. Over the Gap shows you the how’s along the why’s of networking and branding, blending more instructive narrative than case studies, to produce a valuable and handy resource. I highly recommend this book if you are in the midst of a layoff or career change; there’s no fluff, just straight advice and tips to help you navigate today’s tough job market.

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My rating: 2 of 5 stars
A brave new world has been created by Benjamin Dudley in Painting Souls, his fantasy fiction novel. Designed to be the first of several books about the world of Celestia, Painting Souls introduces a cast of many. A cast so broad in fact, that the guide notes printed in the back of the novel and the map of Celestia, prove useful in keeping the characters clear and their relations understood.

From the first page, the reader is drawn into the world of Celestia and its inhabitants. The Great War is over, the enemy defeated, and Celestia is free. But is the war really over? Or is this the beginning of an even bigger battle? A battle for Celestia’s very existence? In a world spread across eight continents, good and evil vie for supremacy and for 150 years an uneasy Alliance has been working hard to try to defeat this evil (led by a vampire named Holocaust and by two opposed spirits, the Shadow and the Wraith) and maintain good and peace in the world. The cost of the Great War has been high. Millions have been orphaned and at least one entire race has been almost totally annihilated by the “dark ones.”

But what about the hero introduced in the first chapter? Adrian Servatious is 35 years old, human, and in love with a kudzu-related female who is carrying his child. But when she breaks off their relationship Adrian cares nothing for his war honour and great achievements against the dark forces, he just wants to win back her love. But his destiny is calling, and Adrian must put his personal considerations aside to prepare himself for the greatest fight of his life.

At the same time, Gai Young, a 16-year old Ibiza Peacekeeping Academy boy, shows great promise for leading Celestia to unending peace. His father, a gentle half-Vampire, was killed in battle fighting for the Alliance. Gai’s cold, rationally objective mother (who is mostly human), is a respected scientist. This combined heritage gives Gai the knowledge and understanding that he displays at the Academy. Although Adrian and Gai do not meet throughout Painting Souls, it is obvious that theirs is a shared future which will be explored in future novels in the series.

This complex novel offers an interesting blend of fantasy fiction and anime, with spirituality and magic playing their part. At times, the reader can be swamped by the sheer level of detail and number of characters. However, Dudley’s vivid action sequences keep the pages turning, providing the feel of a movie, and the introduction of new characters keep interest levels high. Dudley has been quoted as saying that his goal of the novel is to use the cultural, political and technological systems in Celestia to show readers a new way to look and feel those similar systems in modern day America.

Benjamin Dudley has obtained degrees in both philosophy and economics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He currently resides in the unique, cultured capital of North Carolina, where he continues to write and explore his business career.

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My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
An ambitious blend of fact and fiction, Loving Frank tells the story of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, her love for Frank Lloyd Wright (the Frank of the title), and the consequences of that love.

Mamah (prounced May-mah) is articulate, multilingual, highly intelligent, financially secure and an imposing beauty to boot, she has it all: a loving husband, two happy children, a supportive sister, staff and a beautiful home. What woman in the early 1900s wouldn’t be happy with all this? But attitudes are starting to change, and Mamah is no exception. Surely there is more to life than this “domestic bliss,” being “the angel in the house,” providing a feminine hand to soothe her troubled man’s brow? Mamah’s desire for self-expression and her quest for individualism and for meaning in her life, leads her to question her choices and leads her to Frank L. Wright, another rebel. He becomes the catalyst for Mamah’s awakening, opening her eyes to new possibilities, new ideas and new concepts. And their resulting love affair transforms their lives and those closest to them.

But don’t think that Mamah is just “the other woman” in this fascinating novel. Mamah is not just Frank’s lover, she is his muse and inspiration, influencing him at a key time in his development as an architect and designer. Not only that but once she is free of her family commitments, Mamah develops her skills as a writer and translator, working in conjunction with famous feminist Ellen Key to introduce Key’s revolutionary teachings to American women. However, as the relationship with Wright progresses, Mamah starts to realize that her lover and hero has clay feet and that his single-mindedness is creating problems with his staff, his clients and his family. Not only that but realizes that maybe her dreams and goals will have to come second place to Wright’s work, since his genius is so great. Can Mamah be satisfied with being a runner up in his affections? And can she really be happy without her children who have remained with her husband, Edwin?

The insertion of newspaper articles, telegrams, letters and journal entries into this first novel by Nancy Horan reminds the reader that this story is based on fact (hint, don’t google Mamah’s story, or Frank’s, before reading this novel, you really don’t want to find out the ending before reading the book!) but these do not distract from the story. If anything, these additions make the couple’s story more immediate to the reader and increases sympathy and empathy for the situation they find themselves in. It is hard to believe the impact that their love affair has on Chicago (and the rest of American society); they are both ostracized, Wright loses several lucrative commissions but only Mamah is vilified as being “unnatural” – a woman prepared to put her lover before her children. Mamah is a woman forced by her husband to choose between her rights as an individual, her dreams, and her children. Whether one can agree with her resulting decision or not, Mamah’s journey of self-enlightenment is beautifully drawn and the agonies that her decision causes her are heart-wrenchingly described.

Although Frank headlines the title of this novel, this is Mamah’s story, and one worth reading through to its stunning and shocking conclusion.

Nancy Horan is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in numerous publications. Loving Frank is her first novel. She lived most of her life in Oak Park, IL, until her recent move to an island in Puget Sound.

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50,000 sounds like a lot of words, but it is doable if you discipline yourself to write to the recommended 1667 words a day (1667 is 50,000 divided by 30 days), which I didn’t. For me, I stayed behind pace the entire month and I averaged about 5,000 words a day in the last week to catch up.

My 2009 novel with the working title of GhostSense sure felt a lot tougher than it did last year. That was partially because I hadn’t thought a lot about my 2009 novel before I started writing it Nov. 1^st,  as opposed to last year’s, I had been reviewing that story in my head for six years. Big difference.

Here’s the synopsis of GhostSense which I’m still fine-tuning:

In the spring of 1994 Mina, age 23, is a psychic medium although she doesn’t know it. A talented guitar player influenced both by Kurt Cobain and Rob Thomas, she is ready to begin a much sought-after internship at Columbia Records in New York City. Mina used to have a weight issue and her self esteem is still suffering. She is also still trying to gain her mother’s approval and can’t figure out why she and her mother never quite bonded like she did with her father. After a panicked phone call from her Aunt Ruth, she visits her stroke-impaired father in Charleston and soon learns that her mother has filed divorce from him at his weakest hour and he has signed his sister over as the power of attorney. Mina has always smelled things that others don’t smell, but she doesn’t think anything is wrong, although she has some brushes with the paranormal that can’t be explained away. Meanwhile, Mina’s dead twin sister, Rachel, has been watching her grow up from the Other Side and has been trying to protect her as best she could without Mina becoming aware. But Rachel’s protection of Mina is tested when Mina’s ex-boyfriend, Stephen, who calls himself the Devil, starts killing off her friends. Running out of time to save her father from himself, Mina fights back and Stephen soon learns how much he underestimated the powerful Mina and Mina learns how much she needs to trust herself.

I knew how to write Mina and Stephen and I had some of the situations, but there was maybe one stretch where I wrote and knew exactly where I was going. This noveling process felt a lot like driving with limited vision on a curvy road where you only see the sights in front of you and nothing else. Still, I persevered, and ended strong.

Here are a few tips I learned on this NaNoWriMo journey that I’d like to share with you if you are considering joining NaNoWriMo 2010:

• Write a little every day even if you don’t make the 1,667-per day word count. This way you won’t everything till the end of month like I did. I skipped the first week and had to sweat hard to make it up. However, we stayed home this Thanksgiving and despite having the kids in the house with me and my husband taking a trip on Thanksgiving weekend I managed to write 30,000 words in five days. But I don’t think I’d want to rack up those high daily word counts again.
• Highlight words you need to delete so they also count towards your word count. Also highlight your plot holes, your summary and your characters’ motivation. The same goes for entire chapters that might not be chronological or even relevant to your story. The point is that you stay within your word count but keep the novel going.
• If you don’t know something or it needs additional research, don’t dither or stop, just say “I need to do research here” and highlight so you can easily find your place.
• Save often and backup your novel file by saving it in multiple places and by emailing it to yourself at regular intervals.
• Keep your novel in one continuous file with chapter headings so when it’s time to upload your manuscript to the NaNoWriMo site to verify your 50,000 word count, you’re not copying chapters from multiple document files.
• And most of all, have fun! Gather with other novelists this month through the NaNoWriMo regional listserv. Tell your Facebook and Twitter friends you’re noveling and you’ll have instant support and a wave of congratulations when you make it across the finish line.

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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Many words could be used to describe the appeal of Ron Rash’s Serena – gothic, dramatic, tragic, stark, fierce – but none can really encompass the sheer breadth and depth of this extraordinary novel. Serena can be compared to both a Greek tragedy and an Elizabethan drama.

The year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston (where they met) to Waynesville in the North Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to these mountains – but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving her husband’s life in the wilderness. Together they ruthlessly kill or overcome all who fall out of favor with them. But their charmed marriage is put to the test when Serena loses a child in childbirth and learns that she will never bear another. Then George’s illegitimate son becomes a target as Serena sets out to destroy what she cannot have for herself. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons’ intense, passionate marriage starts to disintegrate as the story moves toward its riveting conclusion.

Mythic in status, Serena dominates the novel from the first shocking chapter. A Lady Macbeth of her time, Serena is breathtaking in her egotism and desire for power. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is allowed to stand in the way of her dreams and desires. Men are bewitched by her beauty and charm; those who aren’t tend to suffer “accidents” or “disappear.” The image of Serena on her white horse like Pegasus, towering above the men standing around her in the timber camp is goddess-like in its depiction. Whether Serena is perceived as a modern woman trying to carve a niche for herself in a man’s world or a malevolent being set on the destruction of everyone and everything that stands in her path, the reader is made aware of her power and strength through Rash’s wonderful use of symbolism and description.

But the novel isn’t just about Serena and her clashes with man; it is also about her clashes with nature. Serena subverts nature for her own gain. When there is a problem with rattlesnakes in the camp, which is slowing down work, Serena trains an eagle to hunt the snakes. Of course, once the snakes are gone there is nothing to eat the rats and they start to multiply and cause their own problems.

And the timber camp impacts on more than just the local wildlife. The Pemberton’s desire to create a timber empire is in direct opposition to the newly formed National Park movement; what the Pembertons see as prime logging land has been earmarked by the committee for the Smoky Mountains National Park. The struggle between the early environmentalists and the timber faction described in the novel is a fascinating subplot. Rash describes how the logging has devastated the landscape and has changed the local eco-system, but he also reminds the reader of the rural poverty in the mountains during the Depression and how much the locals relied on the timber camp for work. Without work they will starve and so will their families.

Rash’s evocative writing and lush language combines local folklore and dialect with unforgettable characters to create an unforgettable novel that you’ll want to pass along to your friends.

Ron Rash is the author of three prizewinning novels—One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River, and The World Made Straight—three collections of poems, and three collections of short fiction. Serena, named Best Novel of the Year by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, and his most recent story collection, Chemistry and Other Stories, were finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Twice a recipient of the O. Henry Prize, Rash teaches at Western Carolina University.

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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
What happens when an uptight writing professor and an escort become friends? In

Thirty-four year old professor Andi Cutrone is suffering from a broken heart; she recently broke up with her fiancé and has moved back to Long Island to try to forget him and move on, emotionally and literally. But it isn’t working. She’s miserable, even though her job is fulfilling and her best friend Maggie is supportive. Andi starts to question her ability to even attract a man, let alone be in a relationship. There must be something wrong with her, she concludes,that drives men away.

Then Andi meets Devin at a work social, the gorgeous escort who appears to be a bit of a hit with the female professors on the lecture circuit. He seeks Andi out but she rebuffs him, thinking he is just trying to build his client base. But she keeps seeing him at other events and at each event Devin seeks her out, talks to her, and seems to enjoy her company. Andi doesn’t understand. She isn’t his type, he’s gorgeous, and he could have his pick of anyone! Eventually she confronts him, tells him she can’t afford him, that there is no point talking to her anymore. Devin is hurt that she has made the assumption it is all business and tells her that he wants to talk to her because he finds her interesting. Andi doesn’t believe him but has an idea. She decides to employ Devin to teach her to be a better lover and to be a happier woman; he’s the expert, after all. They draw up a contract, and in return for Andi teaching Devin how to write, he will teach her how to love. One golden rule – they mustn’t fall in love with each other and they can’t see each other socially; this is purely a business relationship. But slowly, as they work together and Andi starts to learn how to love herself (for if she can’t love herself how can she love anyone else?) they come to realize that they are both “faking it,” and that they have both been hiding things from themselves as well as from the outside world. The layers of deceit are peeled away, and suddenly the contract golden rule is in doubt…

Faking It is an amusing, well-written version of the modern love story. Andi is all too real as the attractive, intelligent woman who should be happy, but isn’t, with her self-doubt and low self-esteem wrecking her chances of finding true love. Her inability to trust herself and her own instincts is cleverly reinforced in the chapter headings. The naming of the first five chapters list the months passing one by one, reinforcing how Andi is just marking time, counting the months which continue to distance her from her heartache. Then in Chapter Six there is a change in the chapter names from months passing to weeks adding up, indicating a shift in Andi’s perception. She is no longer counting months of misery, she is counting the weeks of happiness, those weeks spent with Devin. Finally at the novel’s end, Andi is looking forward not backwards.

The reader can’t help but get caught up in “will they, won’t they?” speculation: Will Andi finally learn to be happy? Can Devin turn his back on the escort business to follow his dream? Will they become more than friends and colleagues? With a confident, chatty writing style, Elisa Lorello has created witty, amusing, realistic characters in

Elisa Lorello teaches first-year writing full time at NC State and has been living near Raleigh in North Carolina since 2006. Her sequel to Faking It, Ordinary World, will be published later this year. Currently, Elisa is collaborating on a new novel with S.R. Paquette, dubbed her “friend and partner-in-crime.”

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