Smart Funny Women

Authors who write novels that have smart, funny, female characters and are about current dilemmas.

Acosta, Marta

Happy Hour at Casa Dracula (2006). Hip, smart Milagro de Los Santos is minding her own business at a book party for Sebastian, the ex-boyfriend she's not quite over, when Oswald, a mysterious, handsome stranger approaches her. The chemistry between them is potent, but after they accidentally exchange blood during a powerful kiss, Milagro finds herself feeling strange.

Midnight Brunch (2007). In this amusing sequel, Milagro has recovered from a vampirism infection and is living on Oswald's California ranch when she's informed she won't be allowed to attend the naming ceremony for his cousin's baby. While Oswald takes off on a humanitarian medical mission, Milagro must escape the subversive clutches of clan weirdo Willem Dunlop and Silas, Willem's "aide de corpse," whose terrifying Project for a New Vampire Century features a juicy sacrificial role for Milagro.



Adams, Kylie

Ex-Girlfriends (2004). Dean Paul Lockhart, America's favorite bachelor, is getting married! It's sending shock waves through the tabloids, and rocking the worlds of the three former friends who were once all his . . . Ex-Girlfriends.

Adamson, Swan

Confessions of a Pregnant Princess (2005). An American 'girl' finally finds maturity after several life changing events.

Agiewich, Rebecca

BreakupBabe (2006). This is how Rachel got over the worst, most humiliating breakup in web-recorded history–and became stronger, smarter, and better off without the biggest Loser on the face of the earth.



Ahern, Cecelia

Rosie Dunn (2005). Chronicles the romantic relationship between Rosie and Alex, best friends since childhood whose feelings gradually evolve into something more, but separation, an unexpected pregnancy, and other romances turn their lives upside down. From the author of P.S. I Love You.



Alan, Theresa

Girls Who Gossip (2006). Helaina lives a double-life, when in Manhattan, she's a starving student. But when she is home in Denver, she lives the life of privileged high society daughter.

Alexander, Carly

Ghosts of Boyfriends Past (2003). A woman revisits some of her relationships during the holidays.

Eggnog Chronicles (2004). Three women become immersed in the madness and mayhem of the holidays.

The Secret Life of Mrs. Claus (2005). For three very different women trying to get what they want, it is a Christmas where miracles happen, love is magical, and changing their lives is as simple as changing their outfits.



Alterman, Sara Faith

Tears of a Class Clown (2006). Nina Kurtz is every guy's gal. A bartender at Boston's "Bellyaches Comedy Den," Nina's got the swiftest wit and a truckload of zingers, a combo that makes everyone from her Cockney sleazeball boss to her ruddy, good-natured regulars wonder what's keeping Nina behind the bar instead of up on stage. Nina's more concerned with her status as the Funny Girl—she seems resigned to a lifelong role of the girl "friend."



American Girls About Town (2004), ed. By Jennifer Weiner, this anthology contains authors Adriana Trigiani, Lauren Henderson, Melissa Senate, and Laura Weisberger, to name a few.

Ashley, Trisha

Every Woman For Herself (2003). Reluctantly agreeing to her husband's request for a divorce after an unfortunate incident with a frying pan, Charlie Rhymer returns to her family home to find a less-than-serene atmosphere before encountering brooding actor Mace North.

Baer, Judy

Whitney Chronicles (2004). In order to become more organized, thirty-year-old--and extremely single (much to the chagrin of her mother and friends)--Whitney Blake starts a journal that describes her goals, which brings about miraculous results when several interesting Christian men enter her life.

Baggott, Julianna

Girl Talk (2001), Lissy Jablonski was fifteen during the summer of 1985. The summer her father, a gynecologist, left her mother for a redheaded bank teller. The summer she and her mother disappeared to go have an adventure. The summer "girl talks" with her mother began to reveal startling secrets.

Miss America Family (2002). In 1987 Greenville, Delaware, Ezra Stocker, the teenage son of an insomniac former Miss New Jersey and a gay absentee father, decides to use his summer vacation to set up a list of rules to live by.

Bagshawe, Louise

The Go-To Girl (2005). Tired of being overlooked and ignored among the glamorous and gorgeous women who surround her, lowly script-reader Anna Brown, with the help of her friends, sets out to turn her life around, escape her dead-end job and dead-beat boyfriend, and win the man of her dreams, powerful and reclusive Mark Swan, Britain's hottest director.

Sparkles (2007). Trouble arrives for members of the fabulously wealthy, internationally adored Massot family, owners of one of the last great aristocratic jewelry firms in Paris, seven years after the disappearance of patriarch Pierre Massot, especially for his beautiful young widow Sophie, who is faced with a devastating secret from the past that could destroy the Massots.



Bailey, Roz

Party Girls (2002). This trio of fabulous 30-something Manhattanites are still the eponymous Party Girls in this Sex and the City-style urban romp. Zoey, Jade and Marielle are old college friends reunited when Zoey a bestselling novelist who now can't seem to write anything but sex scenes turns up in the big city after losing her Connecticut house to her ex-husband.

Ballis, Stacey

Inappropriate Men (2004). With her marriage spiraling toward divorce, sexually confident and unapologetically sized-24 Sidney Stein finds herself drawn into an illicit affair with Geoffrey Fahl — not only married and twenty years her senior, but also her father's business partner. Perilously close to falling in love with this man who is so very wrong for her and knowing there's no future in the relationship, Sidney decides it's time to turn her life around.

Room for Improvement (2006). Chicago interior designer Lily takes a job designing for Swap/Meet, a reality makeover TV show that pairs up singles looking for a new room and a new love interest. She thinks it's going to be simple and fun, but a half-wit host, a cranky but cute carpenter, and a diva designer make things difficult. When a playboy producer gets into the mix, life becomes a lot more complicated.

Spinster Sisters (2007). Having built a thriving cottage industry helping single women to find happiness while remaining unattached, radio show hosts and sisters Jodi and Jill Springold find their partnership challenged by Jill's engagement and Jodi's complicated relationships with three different paramours.



Bank, Melissa

First collection of short stories, The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing (1999).

The Wonder Spot (2005). Struggling with ambivalent feelings toward the passions and identities that are important to other members of her Jewish Pennsylvania family, Sophie Applebaum makes observations about her family life over the course of twenty years.

Banerjee, Anjali

Imaginary Men (2005). In India to attend her sister's wedding, Lina Ray, a young Bengali-American matchmaker still mourning the death of her fiancé, comes up with a scheme to satisfy her marriage-minded, traditional parents by inventing an imaginary suitor, but her scheme begins to backfire when she begins to fall for Raja Prasad, a handsome Indian prince.

Baratz-Logstead, Lauren

How Nancy Drew Saved My Life (2006) In her fourth novel, Baratz-Logsted, author of The Thin Pink Line (2003), offers the charming tale of a literature-loving nanny. At 23, Charlotte Bell takes up residence in the large, creaky house and meets her imperious, forbidding employer, Edgar Rawlings, the American ambassador in Iceland, she can't help but feel like literature's most famous governess, Jane Eyre. But Charlotte turns to Nancy Drew (channeling the girl detective) for help investigating the more puzzling aspects of her situation, such as the silence surrounding Edgar's mysteriously absent wife and the strange laughter she hears coming from behind a closed door.



Barker, Raffaella

Her book Hen's Dancing (1999) have critics comparing her to Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones. Abandoned by her husband, former urbanite Venetia Summers finds herself marooned in the country, surrounded by her three children, a dilapidated house and garden, a houseful of animals, and an abiding family love.

Barr, Emily

Backpack (2001), MYSTERY. Following her mother's death, jaded Londoner Tansy abandons her miserable boyfriend, trendy friends, and media job to backpack across Asia, discovering many things along the way, including a serial killer who seems to be targeting her.

Barrowcliffe, Mark

Girlfriend 44 (2001). An account of the plight of the single male as Harry's lifelong search for the perfect girl produces hilarious results as he jumps from one woman to the next searching for a beautiful, intellectual woman who does not mind his infidelity.

Infidelity for First-Time Fathers (2002). New father Stewart Dagman is suffering from a severe case of arrested development that leads him into an affair with a younger woman, who, unfortunately, accidently becomes pregnant.

Bartlett, Anne

Knitting (2005). When two very different women stop to help a stranger in trouble, the two women are drawn together by their love of knitting, and the two women help each other overcome grief and loss as their friendship grows.

Bartlett, Beverly

Cover Girl Confidential (2007). Addison McGhee hosts a hit morning TV talk show, but a strange series of events causes her luck to start to run out.



Bateman, Tracey

Leave It to Claire (2006). In this lighthearted, inspirational "mom lit" offering, Bateman introduces readers to Claire, a single mom and relatively successful author of Christian romance novels, whose life is beginning to come apart. Followed by Claire Knows Best (2006).

Belle, Jennifer

High Maintenance (2001). Traces a young woman's unusual obsession with a Manhattan apartment after her marriage falls apart as she searches for a new place that she can call home while dealing with the manic ups and downs of the Manhattan real estate market.

Little Stalker (2007). Rebekah Kettle is having trouble starting her second novel. Her procrastination is fueled by her father's need for her help at his medical practice, her paparazzo boyfriend, her discovery that she has a half sister, her pituitary tumor, and her longtime obsession with filmmaker Arthur Weeman.



Berg, Elizabeth

Billerbeck, Kristin

What a Girl Wants (2004). Ashley Stockingdale, 28, has a respectable (read: boring) job in Silicon Valley as a patent attorney. It's the kind of life that causes her mother to ask repeatedly, "Now what exactly do you do there, dear?" Given that in Silicon Valley the single men outnumber the women 2 to 1, Ashley can't help but wonder why a cute, eligible, Christian girl ("with absolutely adorable shoes") sits home most weekends. This is what happens when she goes for "it," trying to figure out what "it" is along the way.

She's Out of Control (2004). Ashley Stockingdale #2

With This Ring, I'm Confused (2005). Ashley Stockingdale #3

Bilston, Sarah

Bed Rest (2006). An ambitious British lawyer married to an American and living in New York City, Quinn is successfully juggling her career and impending motherhood, until she is confined to complete bed rest for the final three months of her pregnancy.



Blacklock, Dianne

Call Waiting (2003). Dissatisfied teacher Ally envies her best friend Meg's seemingly idyllic life, which includes a loving family and successful career; while Meg, hiding her own discontent, longs for more passion and spontaneity in her life.

Blumenthal, Deborah

Fat Chance (2004). Full-figured columnist Maggie O'Leary, a.k.a. America's Anti-Diet Sweetheart, despite many attempts of sabotage and subtefuge, transforms herself into a svelte goddess, but her new look forces her to make some difficult decisions.

What Men Want (2006). Sent to the Caribbean to write an expose, reporter Jenny George encounters her sworn enemy, newspaper columnist Slaid Warren, and forced to spend time together, she begins to see him in a new light and, with his help, learns to become the self-confident woman she was meant to be.



Bond, Alison

How to Be Famous (2005). A tale of three young women making their way through the perils of Hollywood.

Bond, Stephanie

Body Movers (2006). Carlotta Wrent Mystery; bk.1. While dealing with a sexy cop, her fugitive parents, a former fiancé, and a murder investigation, salesgirl Carlotta Wren gets dragged into a sordid new career when her brother, after getting in trouble with loan sharks and the law, takes a job moving bodies from crime scenes to the morgue.



Bosnak, Karyn

Twenty Times a Lady (2006). In this first novel, after a drunken orgy with her disgusting ex-boss, who had fired her the day before, twenty-nine-year-old Delilah Darling, obsessed with the fact that she has had sex with her personal limit of twenty men during her life, is faced with a future lifetime of celibacy, unless she can track down one of the men she has slept with and make it work with one of them.

Bourgoin, Adriana

Nine Months in August (2007). A great tale of a pregnant woman whose emotions run the gamut from euphoria to self loathing and deprecation.

Brandt, Beverly

Tiara Club (2005). Georgia, a second-generation beauty queen and secret inventor of the Miracle Chef, TV's hottest new kitchen gadget, and her fellow members of the Tiara Club, veterans of the beauty pageant circuit, come to the aid of their newest member, Sierra, by helping her win the coveted Shrimp Queen crown, in a story of friendship and small-town Southern life.

Brichoux, Karen

Separation Anxiety (2004). After "breaking up" with her friend Jonah, Wichita Gray has to give some serious thought to what makes a man a friend and what makes him a lover--so she can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, and grab her chance to get it right.

Girl She Left Behind (2005). Can you find a home in a place where you never really belonged? No one knows why Katherine Earle has come back to Silver Creek, Montana-not even Kat herself. At eighteen, she ran away with her boyfriend and got married in the big city, but after spending three years alone and on the road, she's finally come home. Well, not home, exactly, because she's renting a motel room and trying to avoid all chance encounters with people who might recognize her. But when she's pulled back into ancient family intrigues, she must choose between the woman she's become and the girl she left behind.

Falling Into the World (2006). Six years ago, Augustina Fletcher's future plans were shattered when a car accident took her mother's life and left her father paralyzed. Without her mother's humor and wisdom guiding her, Augustina felt helpless under the weight of responsibility, especially after her sister Saphi ran away. But now Saphi's back, and all Augustina's choices-even her decision to marry respectable Colton Morley-seem wrong. And as she begins questioning her life, she realizes that getting answers just might require a tumble into the unknown.



Brown, Carolyn

The PMS Club (2006). Dixie, Faith, and Jill are 35-year-old best friends and teachers in the Greenbrier, Arkansas, school system with a plan for the summer: no men. Brown's sweet and breezy contemporary romance takes cues from two movies: Steel Magnolias and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.



Browne, Hester

Little Lady Agency (2006). Reviled by her snobby family but adored by her friends, unemployed etiquette expert Melissa Romney-Jones reinvents herself as Honey, and goes into business as a matchmaker for inept bachelors in this witty first effort. Followed in 2007 by Little Lady, Big Apple.

Brunkhorst, Alex

Mating Season (2004). In this first novel, a relationship between glass-house resident and animal devotee Zorka Carpenter and enigmatic architect Richard Dorsey, who longs to escape the fame of his youth, prompts both of them to rethink their lives of isolation.

Buchan, Elizabeth

Everything She Though She Wanted (2005). A married mother of two grown children, Barbara Beeching embarks on an affair with a younger man at the expense of everything she has ever known, while Siena, a career woman in her mid-thirties, re-evaluates her chosen childless state. Also the author of Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman (2003), The Good Wife Strikes Back (2004), and Wives Behaving Badly (2006).

Burke, Betsy

Lucy's Launderette (2003). While trying to deal with the return of her unstable brother, the tyranny of her controlling roommate, and a relationship that is going nowhere, artist Lucy Madison inherits a launderette from her grandpa, as well as his pregnant girlfriend, and seizes this opportunity to change her life for the better.

Performance Anxiety (2004). Miranda Lyme, mezzo-soprano, is in love with the infamous — and, okay, technically married — conductor-composer Kurt Hancock. So what if he lives in London, and she doesn't. Their secret rendezvous are more than enough — for now. And then things change.

Bush, Nancy

Candy Apple Red: A Jane Kelly Mystery (2005). Evanovich fans--take note of this author. Tired of her job as a process server, 30-year-old Jane, who followed boyfriend Tim Murphy from Los Angeles to rural Lake Chinook, OR, only to be dumped by him, agrees to work for Dwayne Durbin, a successful "information specialist" (or private investigator), who's "cute in that kind of slow-talkin' cowboy way."

Bushnell, Candace

Cabot, Meg

Every Boy's Got One (2005). When they accompany their best friends Holly and Mark on a planned elopement to Italy, mismatched maid-of-honor and best man Jane Harris and Cal Langdon are forced to come to the rescue when the Italian government refuses to marry the eloping pair without a special form. By the author of Boy Meets Girl and The Boy Next Door.

Queen of Babble (2006). Lizzie Nichols discovers that her inability to keep her mouth shut has landed her in hot water when she aggravates her unfaithful boyfriend, is stranded in London, and takes a job as a bartender for a catered wedding at a French chateau.

Size 14 is Not Fat Either (2006). Pop star-turned-detective Heather Wells begins her second semester as an assistant dormatory director only to find herself investigating the grisly beheading of a campus cheerleader.



Cach, Lisa

Dating Without Novacaine (2002) is a witty, sexually frank look at what a smart self-employed woman might do to find the man of her dreams from Red Ink Press.

Caldwell, Laura

Year of Living Famously (2004). When clothing designer Kyra Felis marries famous Hollywood actor Declan McKenna, she longs to return to her old life after she becomes submerged in a dangerous world of fame and celebrity, from Red Ink Press.

The Night I Got Lucky (2005). When Billy Rendell suddenly gets everything she wants, it turns out to be the last thing she needs.

Carew, Alexandra

What Goes Around (2003).

Carr, Josephine

Dewey Decimal System of Love (2003). Not just for librarians...

Carr, Susanna

Confessions of a Wicked Woman (2005). Maysfield Sheriff Jack Logan thought his worse two problems are the imminent flood and living down his reputation as a town bad boy during his wild oats youth. He soon realizes he is way off in his assessment when he pulls Stephanie Monroe out of the creek where she sank her SUV. She is in town seeking her runaway business partner.

Lip Lock (2005). Molly is a con artist, so she lies about her clothes and her family and everyone at work thinks she's a "trust fund baby." And then she get's fired by the boss she'd most like to tell the truth to. After, she hides away at one of his many expensive homes trying to get her act together until he decides to entertain there for the weekend. Surprise!

Carrington, Tori

Sofie Metropolis (2004). See review of this Evanovich-like mystery. Followed by Dirty Laundry (2006).



Carroll, Leslie

Temporary Insanity (2004). Meet Alice Finnegan: thirty-something, single and determined to take control of her own destiny ... even if she is stuck in a series of secretarial temp jobs and living with her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother — a feisty, funny, former Ziegfeld showgirl.

Carter, Ally

Cheating at Solitaire (2005). In this debut novel, self-help guru Julia James has made a successful living as an advocate for the single life, until just as her latest book is about to hit the bookstores, gossip linking her to a gorgeous actor hits the tabloids, ruining her credibility.

Cast, P.C.

Goddess by Mistake (2001). Ever wonder what it would be like...?

Casey, Maud

A first novel, Shape of Things to Come (2001). Thirtysomething-year-old Isabelle finds herself posing as a variety of potential tenants for a newly built gated community after returning to her Midwestern hometown to work for a temp agency that specializes in a form of temporary espionage.

Castell, Dianne

Til There Was U (2005). Ryan O'Fallon and Effie Wilson are co-working architects working on a huge mall project. Ryan makes the decision to visit his childhood Tennessee home on the banks of the Mississippi to get to the bottom of the rumor that he is the father of a baby that has been mysteriously left at his father's home. Effie insists upon tagging along, unwilling to let Ryan finish this project solo and be the recipient of the credit and likely awards from this fabulous project. It isn't long before the two of them decide that one dose of hot steamy sex should be enough to get their mutual desire under control, but they are both very wrong and end up wanting each other more than ever.

Way U Look Tonight (2006). When Rory O' Fallon discovers a beautiful baby girl on his front porch, he's determined to find the little girl's mother. To do that, he'll have to call his sons home to O'Fallon's Landing.

I'll Be Seeing You (2006). Returning home to Fallon's Landing, Quaid O'Fallon, a rough-and-tumble river man, meets his match in clothing designer and sassy single mom, Cynthia James, who is recovering from a nasty divorce.



Castillo, Mary

Hot Tamara (2005). After turning down her longtime-boyfriend's proposal (much to her parents' chagrin), Tamara thinks she's got the single-girl-in-the-city thing down, until she runs into Will Benavides, the former high school bad boy turned firefighter.

Castoro, Laura

New Lu (2005). Magazine lifestyle columnist Lu Nichols has led an ordinary life. Marriage. Career. Two kids. Now she's turning fifty, and the wear is showing. The kids are grown. The ink is dry on the divorce papers. Her boss wants to do an extreme makeover feature, starring Lu. And those bad oysters she ate have turned out to be something a little more permanent.

Cheska, Anna

Drop Dead Gorgeous (2002).

Christensen, Kate

A first novel, In the Drink (1999). An assistant to a famous writer of romance novels describes her life.

Clark, Mindy Starns

A Smart Chick Mystery series--Trouble with Tulip (2005). Advice columnist Josephine Tulip and her closest friend, photographer Danny Watkins, try to solve a local murder when Jo's next-door neighbor is accused of the crime. Followed by Blind Dates Can Be Murder (2006) & Elementary, My Dear Watkins (2007).

Coburn, Jennifer

Tales From the Crib (2006). A 40-something is pregnant and her life is one madcap adventure after another.

Queen Gene (2007). While dealing with her mother's constant need for attention, Lucy, the owner of a haunted Berkshires artists' colony, tries to rejunvenate her marriage, deny her attraction to a hot, young newcomer, and live life on her own terms.



Cochran, Heather

Mean Season (2005). In this first novel, when he is forced to live under house arrest in the home of Leanne Gitlin, his fan club president, rising actor Joshua Reed makes a nuisance out of himself, and Leanne, tired of the media feeding frenzy that constantly terrorizes her home and family, cannot wait for him to leave.

The Return of Jonah Gray (2005). A feared tax auditor for the IRS, Sasha Gardner, accustomed to an orderly existence, finds her world turned upside-down when she is hired to audit the tax return of Johan Gray a man whom she has never seen, but who is Mr. Right on paper.



Colgan, Jenny

Amanda's Wedding (2001), great British wit and flavor.

Second novel, Talking to Addison (2002).

The Boy I Loved Before (2005).

Cook, Troy

41 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers (2006). Tara and her father have a very unusual relationship: they rob banks together and have been doing so since Tara was a girl. But she is grown up now, and she'd rather do something else--except that dear old Dad, dear old homicidal-maniac Dad, is having some serious separation anxiety. To make matters worse, the duo is on the lam from the cops (and from some nasty former partners in crime), and Tara is developing a crush on a lawman's son. Recommend this intriguing first mystery to readers who enjoy the comic capers novels of Hiaasen, Leonard, and Westlake.



Cooper, Gwen

Diary of a South beach Party Girl (2007). Leaving behind her picket-fence origins to move in with a gorgeous South Beach heiress, suburban everygirl Rachel Baum basks in the lavish party scene of her new home, reinvents herself as a nightclub diva, and penetrates the innermost sanctums of the area's elite.



Cross, Claire

One More Time (2006). Determined to pursue his long-abandoned dreams, Matt Coxwell leaves his marriage and his wife, Leslie, behind, while Leslie struggles to cope with a shaky career, her teenage daughter's "attitude," and her formidable mother-in-law, who has unexpectedly moved in with her, all the while coming up with a plan to preserve her marriage.



Crusie, Jennifer

Cunnah, Michelle

32AA (2003), Call Waiting (2004) & Confessions of a Serial Dater (2005).

Curnyn, Lynda

Killer Summer (2005). Sharing a beach house on Fire Island seems like a killer way for best friends Zoe, Sage and Nick to spend summer together. But just as they're dreaming of sunset margaritas and late-night barbecues, the body of their house hostess washes up on the beach.

Curran, Sheila

Diana Lively is Falling Down (2005). Trained as an architect in England, Diana Lively accompanies her second husband, Ted, on a trip to Arizona to assist in an American billionaire's project to construct a King Arthur Theme Park in the middle of the local desert, and finds her life transformed forever.

Cutler, Jessica

The Washingtonienne (2005). A satirical novel based on the author's experiences as a Capitol Hill staffer follows the adventures, exploits, and misadventures of a young woman in Washington, including a paid lunchtime tryst with a married Bush-appointed bureaucrat.



Dajani, Nadine

Fashionably Late (2006). Plucky, 20-something, Lebanese-Canadian Aline Hallaby has a promising career at one of Montreal's "Big Four" accounting firms; a marriage proposal from her nice (if unexciting) boyfriend; and a closet filled with Cavalli, Chloe, and Christian Louboutin. When she fails her final professional certification exam, the once-dutiful Arab girl plunges headlong into a quarter-life crisis, fleeing to Cuba for a week of heady rebellion (mojitos, men, participation in a beauty pageant) with her two closest friends.



Davidson, MaryJanice

Undead and Unwed (2004). After being killed in a car accident, fashion savvy Betsy Taylor becomes one of the undead and, with the help of her newfound friends, the lure of designer shoes, and a sexy vampire, must destroy a dark enemy and fulfill her destiny as the prophesied vampire queen. Followed by Undead and Unemployed (2004), Undead and Unappreciated (2005), Undead and Unreturnable (2005), and Undead and Unpopular (2006).

Dead and Loving It (2006). Davidson's fans will delight in this set of four fast-paced, lusty novellas featuring her Wyndham werewolves and vampires under the rule of Betsy Taylor, Queen of the Undead.

.

Davis, Dee

Ask Again Later (2007). Taking a break from her career when her mother is diagnosed with a highly treatable form of cancer, lawyer Emily is disillusioned by her mother's dramatic attention-seeking behaviors and takes an unobtrusive job in her father's law firm.



Davis, Jill+A

Match Made on Madison (2007). Manhattan matchmaker Vaness Carlson enters into a competition with her friend, rival, and former mentor Althea Sevalas to prove once and for all who is the best matchmaker in town by each striving to land downtown playboy Mark Grayson as her client and to send him walking down the aisle.



Dayton, Anne

Emily Ever After (2005). When smalltown California native Emily Hinton lands an editorial assistant position at a publishing house, she hangs a Bible verse in her cubicle, vows not to get drunk on weekends and begins her quest to build a glamorous and Christian life in the Big Apple.

De, Shobha

Bollywood Nights (2007).When Asha Rani, the star of Bombay's Bollywood film industry falls in love with Akshay Arora, passion threatens to ruin her career, but she soon discovers that her career is worth a great deal to some very powerful people and that they are not going to stand by and allow Asha to destroy everything they have built up.



De La Cruz, Melissa

Cat's Meow (2001).With her money running out and her pursuit of fame at an apparent standstill, Cat McAllister, a one-time Hollywood child star and teenage model, sets out to win the heart of New York's most eligible bachelor.

deMontravel, Jacqueline

The Fabulous Emily Briggs (2004). The heroine of the comic strip Emily Briggs draws for Vogue has sex and the city at her well-manicured fingertips. If only Emily could say the same. Emily has an overbearing socialite mother, and her friends are deserting her for motherhood and marriage.

de Rhodes, Danuta

Little White Car (2004). Fed up with her boyfriend, Veronique, a young Parisian, and her best friend, Estelle, take off on a tipsy bender, awakening the next day to find all of Europe looking for Veronique's little white Fiat Uno.



de Vries, Hilary

Gift Bag Chronicles (2005). Alex Davidson, whom we met in de Vries's So 5 Minutes Ago (2004), is now 36 and just a touch desperate to settle down again, though not so much that she'll turn off her cell phone. The worm has definitely turned, she realizes, when her opposite-coast mother asks her for tips on what to put in the gift bags she's getting together for her next party.

Donahue, Tina

Close to Perfect (2005). Real estate mogul Josh Wyatt, plagued by the tabloids and lust-crazed women, hires ex-cop and bodyguard Tess Franklin to pose as his girlfriend, an assignment that takes an erotic turn when he falls in lust, and slightly in love, with his beautiful new protector.

Downey, Annie

Hot and Bothered (2006). Struggling to come to terms with her new life and her new identity now that her husband has left her, a late-thirties mother of two living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, deals with continual visitors to her home.



Earls, Nick

Touted as an Aussie Nick Hornby--Perfect Skin (2001) is a comic take from the man's point of view.

Edwards, Johanna

Next Big Thing (2005). In this funny, poignant debut, a plus-size heroine becomes a reality TV show contestant and discovers she's already beautiful enough to be the next big thing.

Your Big Break (2006). Dani Myers, a facilitator in romantic breakups, is finding it difficult to remain uninvolved with the people she dumps for money, especially when a client asks for her assistance in breaking up with her lover, who turns out to be Dani's stepfather.

How to Be Cool (2007). Having lost a significant amount of weight and launching a new career as a professional makeover consultant, Kylie struggles to hide the truth about her deep-rooted insecurities, an effort that unravels when an apartment fire forces her to move back home and a handsome journalist threatens to expose her secrets.



Efken, Meredith

Sahm I Am (2005). Told entirely in e-mails, this hilarious novel details the relationship between five Christian stay-at-home moms--Dulcie, Zelia, Jocelyn, Brenna, and Phyllis--and their angst against the "Martha Stewart Reborn" moderator, Rosalyn, who has issues of her own.

@Home for the Holidays (2006). The women of SAHM I Am. An e-mail loop of stay-at-home moms, they've seen each other through months of domestic drama: babies who won't come, bills that won't leave, kids who won't listen and spouses who won't talk. Now, as the yuletide approaches, the SAHMs are on hand once again, bearing gifts of sisterhood, sanity and the real Christmas spirit.



Epstein, Robin & Renee Kaplan.

Shaking Her Assets (2005). Upset over the loss of her editorial job thanks to outsourcing, and the loss of her boyfriend to her arch-rival, Rachel Chambers finds her life taking a bizarre turn when the art director at her temp job transforms her into a comic-book superhero characterized by a remorseless quest for success and men.



Estay, Heather

It's Never Too Late to Get a Life (2005). After being dumped by her husband of 26 years, Angie's friends decide a wild one night's stand is just the cure she needs from her blues.

It's Never Too Late to Be a Bridesmaid (2006). In Angie's second adventure, she deals with being Mother of the Bride.

It's Never Too Late to Look Hot (2006). In Angie's thirdadventure, she turns fifty.



Fenske, Jennifer Manske

Toss the Bride (2006). Professional wedding planner Macie Fuller is having trouble saying, "I do."

Fforde, Katie

Fielding, Helen

Finnamore, Suzanne

A first novel, Otherwise Engaged (1999). In a humorous take on the institution of modern marriage, Eve struggles to cope with life after the man of her dreams pops the question, as she deals with setting the date for the wedding, finding a dress, and planning the wedding, as a once sensible woman is transformed into a "bride-to-be"

Second novel: Zygote Chronicles (2001). A thirtysomething woman expecting her first child shares her thoughts about pregnancy and the prospects of motherhood as she chronicles the changes her body, mind, and emotions go through.

Fischkin, Barbara

Exclusive: Reporters in Love...and War (2005). Fischkin, a journalist who's filed reports worldwide, seeks inspiration closer to home in this chatty and wryly affectionate debut novel about an unlikely alliance, "based casually" on her real-life marriage. An ambitious reporter with an acid tongue, 20-something "Barbara Fischkin" strides into Newsday's Long Island bureau in the early '80s. Inevitably, she locks horns with "Jim Mulvaney," a brawny Irish gadabout whose barstool connections, plus his knack for creating front-page scandal before reporting it, render him a nonpareil on the local cop beat—for better or worse. When she inadvertently tips him off to a story—-a hilarious bit involving poker night in her parents' Brooklyn synagogue—-they're yoked in a hotheaded friendship, his zaniness playing nicely off her neuroticism.

Flynn-Hui, Kathleen

Beyond the Blonde (2005). A young woman from rural New Hampshire is thrust into the world of New York's hottest hair salon, tending to socialites and actresses, models and moguls.



Foster, Lori

Just a hint--Clint (2004). When Clint Evans takes on the four thugs holding heiress Julie Rose hostage, he isn't thinking about the danger. What's got Clint in a lather is Julie herself. From the author of Say No to Joe? (2003), Secret Life of Bryan (2004), and When Bruce Met Cyn (2004).

Fox, Lauren

Still Life With Husband (2007). Happily married to her college sweetheart and working as a freelance writer and assistant editor, Emily Ross enjoys her coffee breaks with her friend Meg, during which she meets David, with whom she embarks on an impulsive but intense love affair.



Frankel, Valerie

Girlfriend Curse (2005). It's uncanny! Within six months of breaking up with her, Peg Silver's ex-lovers always meet and marry the women of their dreams. Even worse than being the eternal bridesmaid, she's the last girlfriend, the one who awakens in a guy the knowledge of what he's always wanted in a relationship...and it's never with Peg. Obviously, a major lifestyle change is seriously called for, which is why the distraught interior landscape designer says good-bye to Manhattan and hello to Vermont.

Franklin, Emily

Liner Notes (2004). Fresh out of grad school, Laney can't wait for a cross-country drive to a new job in her hometown of Boston. To Laney's horror, however, her mother in for a visit and in remission from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma decides to come along. The narrative moves unswervingly forward, toward home and a friendship between mother and daughter. A first novel.

Fredericks, Emmi (Mariah)

Fatal Distraction, or How I Conquered My Addiction to Celebrities and Got a Life (2004). A cautionary tale of how celebraholism can ruin one's life--or at least one's twenties.

French, Wendy

After the Rice (2006). Married just ten months, Megan's life with Matt would be grand if it weren't for a fast-growing secret she can't bear to share. As if that weren't enough, she's dealing with Matt's belching Uncle Tony, who is residing on an air mattress in the basement, and her sister Andrea, a roving hippie, who is nesting on their couch. Plus dueling mothers-in-law hell-bent on double-booking the newlyweds, an incontinent terrier, and a randy best friend. Between the demands of her family and a gigantic decision only she and Matt can make, Megan finds herself in a state of marital chaos that she never imagined but must somehow manage.



Garvey, Amy

Murder in the Hamptons (2005). Manhattan designer Maggie Harding accompanies her friend Lucy at a Hollywood stars gala at Paige Redmond’s Hampton Estate. However, her stomach turns upside down when she sees Tyler at the event. Five years following her boyfriend “Terrible Tom” ending their relationship via voice mail she met Tyler in the Keys; they exchanged first names and had three incredible one-night-stands before Maggie fled in the morning light.

Gaskell, Whitney

Pushing 30 (2003).

True Love (and Other Lies) (2004).

Gayle, Mike

Especially, Mr. Commitment, (2000) a Hornsby like look at men, and My Legendary Girlfriend (1998), Dinner for Two (2004), and Turning Thirty (2005).

Gehrman, Jody

Tart (2005). With her life being plagued by strange events that lead her to the wrong kind of men, especially one man in particular named Clay, Claudia Bloom tries to focus on her new career teaching theater at UC Santa Cruz, where she unexpectedly comes face-to-face with Clay's estranged wife.

Gerlach, Carrie

A first novel, Emily's Reasons Why Not (2005). A 30-year-old publicist tired of "hollow independence" desperately seeks a husband in the cutthroat, image-conscious world of Hollywood stardom's fringe.

Gibson, Fiona

Wonderboy (2005). Rowena Skews isn't thrilled with the idea of leaving her London home for a house in the country, but her husband, Marcus, is convinced their young son, Tod, will fare better there. Five-year-old Tod is clever and observant but doesn't socialize well, so Ro hopes that he'll have more friends at one of the country schools. But when Ro and her family arrive at Gorby Cottage, she finds it's going to need a lot of work to look presentable. Young mothers facing suburban life for the first time will especially enjoy reading about Ro's attempts to adjust to life outside of the big city.

Gilbert, Elizabeth

A first novel, Stern Men (2000). Set on two small islands off the coast of Maine, this first novel chronicles the coming-of-age of Ruth Thomas, the eighteen-year-old daughter of one of the greediest lobstermen in Maine, and her decision to try to bring peace and prosperity to the feuding islanders around her.

Girls Night In

Short story collection edited by Lauren Henderson, Chris Manby and Sarah Mlynowski and includes authors Meg Cabot, Lisa Jewell & Marian Keyes.

Girls Night out (2006)

Short story collection edited by Lauren Henderson, Chris Manby and Sarah Mlynowski and includes authors Lolly Winston, Nick Earls & Anna Maxted.

Goldreich, Gloria

Dinner with Anna Karenina (2006). Six Manhattan women discover their lives enriched and transformed by their shared passion for books in Goldreich's delightful tribute to friendship.

Goldstein, Judy & Sebastian Stuart

24 Karat Kids (2006). Hired by an elite Manhattan medical practice, pediatrician Shelley Green finds herself attending some of the Upper East Side's wealthiest youngsters, a situation that leads her to become disgusted with the demands of the privileged set.

Graff, Lynn

You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs (2004). Karrie Kline had heard it all. But her search for the perfect man had never been all that pressing until her laugh lines became more noticeable, she attended one too many bridal showers and woke up next to far too many never-gonna-commit men. Suddenly, she realized that finding someone to love was important.

Gran, Sara

Saturn's Return to New York (2001). After a somewhat disappointing astrological reading, New Yorker Mary Forest faces a year of changing relationships and difficult decisions.

Graves, Lindsay

To Catch a Husband: An Ex-Wives Novel (2006). IFour women living in Colina Linda, a gated community between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, are united by the divorces that they have all endured and by the charities they all support, but their friendships could be undermined as they all pursue an eligible billionaire or by the mysterious intruder who knows all too much about the secrets of the past.

To Keep a Husband: An Ex-Wives Novel (2007). In the sequel to To Catch a Husband, as Caitlin searches for the perfect man, a dark secret from the past could destroy her carefully preserved façade, her son, and her dreams of a wealthy husband, and is forced to turn to the other ex-wives for help when she discovers a chain of e-mails between her son and a stranger who knows too much.



Green, Jane

Jemima J.: A Novel about Ugly Ducklings and Swans (1999), Mr. Maybe (2000), Bookends (2002), Straight Talking (2003), Babyville (2003), To Have and To Hold (2004), The Other Woman (2005), Swapping Lives (2006), and Second Chance (2007).



Gruenenfelder-Smith, Kim

Total Waste of Makeup (2005). Struggling to deal with serving as maid of honor at her younger sister's wedding, turning thirty, and her demanding job as personal assistant to Hollywood's sexiest movie star, Drew Stanton, Charlize "Charlie" Edwards begins to reevaluate her life, while developing a serious crush on Jordan, a photographer on the set of Drew's latest film.

Gunn, Robin Jones.

Sisterchicks On the Loose (2003). In this first in a humorous, Christian fiction series, Sharon experiences a profound new perspective on life and her faith in the land of reindeer and saunas while journeying to Finland to help Penny find her only living relatives.

Followed by Sisterchicks Do the Hula (2004); Sisterchicks in Sombreros! (2004), Sisterchicks Down Under! (2005), and Sisterchicks in Gondolas (2006).

Gutteridge, Rene.

My Life as a Doormat (in Three Acts) (2006). Playwright Leah Townsend doesn't like conflict one bit, but these days she can't seem to avoid it. Her career is quickly sliding downhill. Her agent has ordered a hit-or else-and her new play is going nowhere. Then her obsessively moderate boyfriend, after a minor argument, has the nerve to enroll her in a "conflict resolution" class. Turns out they're learning to embrace conflict and settle it fairly, not just avoid it--a distinct challenge to a woman who has spent her life not making waves. Enter annoying radio host "Cinco" Dublin, ordered to join the group after punching out a reporter in front of his home. Sparks soon fly between Leah and Cinco, but can a people-pleasing playwright find happiness with a man who thrives on controversy?



Halpern, Adena.

Target Underware and a Vera Wang Gown: Notes from a Single Girl's Closet. NON-FICTION. (2006). Formerly an East Coaster and now a West Coaster, editor Halpern tells the story of her love-hate affairs with clothing.

Harding, Robyn.

Secret Desires of a Soccer Mom (2006). Struggling with romantic misadventures and family misunderstandings, Kerry Spence seeks the aid of a therapist who has her keep a diary of her encounters with men who could be contributing to the dysfunctional relationships in her life.

Discontented with her busy spouse, and non-existent sex life, Paige Atwell yearns to take a page from her neighbor Karen's book and enjoy a passionate illicit love affair, until Karen turns up dead, the victim of a supposed "accident."



Harris, Charlaine. Southern Vampire series.

Dead Until Dark (2001). Love blossoms between Sookie Stackhouse, a cocktail waitress in rural Louisiana who keeps to herself because of her ability to read minds, and Bill, a tall, dark, and handsome vampire with ties to a creepy crowd that may be responsible for the death of one of Sookie's coworkers.

Hilarious and original, the series follows in Living Dead in Dallas (2002), Club Dead (2003), Dead to the World (2004), Dead as a doornail (2005), and Definitely Dead (2006).


Hauck, Rachel.

Lost in NashVegas (2006). Robin Rae McAfee packs her blue Samsonite suitcase and leaves Freedom, Alabama, to become a song writer in Nashville where she soon finds that you can throw a rock in any direction and hit an aspiring song writer. With witty dialog, quirky characters, and a powerful evocation of the Nashville music scene, this novel rocks with a country vibe.



Hauser, Melanie.

Confessions of a Supermom (2005). Endowed with extraordinary powers in a bizarre cleaning accident, middle-aged single mother Birdie Lee becomes her town's unwitting champion against a sinister force.

Hazelwood, Robin.

Model Student (2006). Midwestern teen Emily Woods plunges into the glamorous but grueling world of modeling. But Emily is more than just a small-town beauty with stars in her eyes. She's also a freshman at Columbia University who's not about to let couture and klieg lights get in the way of an Ivy League education. Thus begins Emily's double life.

Hendricks, Judith Ryan.

A first novel, Bread Alone (2001). When her husband leaves her for another woman, Wynter Morrison moves to Seattle to start a new life and pursues her passion for breadmaking by accepting a position in a local bake shop, where she discovers the extraordinary healing power of making bread. Followed by The Baker's Apprentice (2005).

Hill, Donna O.

Divas, Inc. (2004). When her best friends since childhood, famous divas Tiffany Lane and Chantel Hollis, head to Europe for an extended vacation, ordinary Margaret Drew is left to tend to their apartments and, after years of living vicariously through their exploits, sets out to see how the other half lives by co-opting their homes, boyfriends, and lifestyles.

Holden, Wendy

Holliday, Alesia

American Idle (2004). After being knocked unconscious with a frying pan by her celebrity chef boss, Jules decides to turn her life around by taking a job as a production coordinator for a new reality TV show, but she soon finds herself dealing with a judge with bubonic plague, a murderous coworker, an executive producer with a split personality, insane fans, and a handsome guy who believes her to be an alcoholic.

Seven Ways to Lose Your Lover (2006). Shane Madison started honing her techniques after the first guy she dumped-way back in eleventh grade--threw a baseball bat at her car, and since then she's become a master at getting men to make the first move (in the other direction). She's even shared her secrets with her girlfriends.



Holt, Debbie

Ex-Wive's Survival Guide (2006). Sarah convinces herself that sex is overrated after her husband leaves her; all she really needs is hot chocolate and reruns of ER. But when an old friend invites her to Majorca for a weeklong adventure, she plunges headfirst into a heart-thumping affair with a former art-school classmate, a mysterious, handsome fellow she once fancied. Upon her triumphant return home, though, she discovers two men who are not so pleased with the fresh blush in Sarah's cheeks. A whimsical portrayal of life after separation.



Holton, Cathy

Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes (2006). Dissatisfied with their lives, three southern belles--Lavonne, who is battling a weight problem; Nita, in lust with a younger, local gardener; and Eadie, married to an adulterous husband--discover they are all dealing with cheating spouses and launch a joint campaign to seek revenge.



Horn, Ariel

Help Wanted Desperately (2004). In this first novel, twenty-one-year-old Alexa confronts a variety of misadventures, missteps, changes, and choices as she races against time to find the perfect job, doing everything from participating in a clinical sleep study for cash, to trying to gain employment as the voice of a cartoon cat, to trying to decide whether or not to move in with her boyfriend, Jared.

Hornak, JoAnn

Confessions of a Salsa Goddess (2005). This New Year's Eve, Samantha Jacobs is finally getting married. Everything for her fabulous wedding has already been arranged--except for one teensy detail: She still has to get herself a groom. It's all part of her assignment for Tres Chic magazine-inspired by her boss's determination to publish a big story proving those nasty statistics wrong. So Samantha is tasked with heading to Milwaukee, Wisconsin-statistically the worst city in the world in which to snag a husband-and find herself someone smart, successful, and drop-dead gorgeous.

Hruby, Andes

Trouble with Catherine (2002). Hurled into a dismal premarital abyss of engagement parties, boring business functions, and dress fittings, Catherine Lacey, a successful wholesale fish dealer, begins to question her beliefs on love, fidelity, and marriage.

Ireland, Liz

Pink Ghetto (2006). Needing to find a job quickly since her former employer suffered a heart attack which led to her state of unemployment; Rebecca Abbot seeks work even if it means no feather boas on the job. She enhances her resume, which helps plus the magic of Sylvie as her last boss scores Rebecca an associate editing job at Candlelight Books though she has no experience with publishing, romance in or out of novels (the firm's prime genre), or editing.



Isenberg, Lynn

The Funeral Planner (2005). Chick lit meets business savvy in the second novel from Isenberg (My Life Uncovered, 2003). Would-be entrepreneur Madison Banks has longed to run her own business since childhood, but she has had no luck finding the right fit.

James-Enger, Kelly

White Bikini Panties (2004). When she catches her boyfriend with another woman, Trina Elders, arming herself with the self-confidence she never knew she had, transforms herself into an adventurous, irresistible woman with a penchant for thongs, push-up bras, and the wild life.

Jewell, Lisa

Vince and Joy (2006). Twenty years after falling passionately in love as teenagers and eventually breaking up, Vince and Joy remember their lives together and apart and consider whether or not the romance they shared was the enduring love they have searched for all of their lives. By the author of Ralph's Party.



Juska, Elise

Hazards of Sleeping Alone (2004). Charlotte, a single mother, reminisces about her previous marriage and past experiences, but she reevaluates her life after her daughter comes to visit for the weekend with her boyfriend.



Kandel, Susan.

Not a Girl Detective: A Cece Caruso Mystery (2005). Having idolized Nancy Drew throughout her childhood, mystery writer biographer Cece Caruso meets a collector of early edition Nancy Drew mysteries and attends a fan convention, but when a patron is discovered dead, she must identify the killer to keep from becoming the next victim.

Kaplan, Janice & Lynn Schnurnberger

Mine Are Spectacular! (2005). Three friends--a divorced mom juggling a new fiancee and a TV career; a pregnant talent agent; and a Park Avenue dermatologist--rely on one another for advice, support, and a good time.

Karbo, Karen

Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me (2001). Two Oregon women exchange wry observations on the foibles of pregnancy and birth in a comic work of fiction.

Kalpakian, Laura

Educating Waverley (2002). The author spins a fascinating tale of Waverley Scott's experiences from age 14 to the final stages of her life as an elderly, reclusive romance novelist.

Kauffman, Donna

Not So Snow White (2006). Forced out of the game by injury, beautiful tennis sensation Tess Hamilton finds growing competition on and off the court, thanks to Gabby, a rising young star half her age, and Gabby's sexy manager, Max.

Kean, Louise

The Perfect Fit: Fat-Free Dreams Just Don't Taste the Same (2007). Having lost the excess weight that has challenged her life, Sunny Weston finds herself less happy than anticipated and unexpectedly attracted to the grumpy and old-fashioned Cagney in spite of her long-unrequited feelings for the previously unattainable Adrian.



Kelley, Karen

Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind (2007). Determined to experience the lovemaking talents of Earth men, Mala crash lands into the life of Sheriff Mason McKinley, who, while investigating a UFO sighting, stumbles upon this beautiful creature who wants nothing more than to take advantage of him.



Kelly, Cathy

Just Between Us (2006). This uplifting novel is about how four very different women--matriarch Rose and her three daughters, Stella, Holly, and Tara--cope with the complexities of their lives, relationships, careers, and families to find fulfilment.

Kelman, Judith

Backward in High Heels (2006). The middle-aged woman's postdivorce rebirth plot is given a rejuvenating jolt by Kelman (Every Step You Take 2003) in this uplifting bathtub read. Maggie Strickland's emotions shift from shock to grief to rage when she discovers her husband, Harold, an ethics professor, survived an office fire because he was not at work but instead was canoodling with a graduate student.



Kendrick, Beth

Exes and Ohs (2005). Jilted the night before her wedding, Gwen, a child psychologist, is delighted when she meets a terrific new man, Alex, who dreams of becoming the best father in America after he starts a family, but finds herself caught in the middle when she discovers that her new young patient, four-year-old Leo, is Alex's biological child.

Fashionably Late (2006). The youngest of four sisters, Becca Davis has always felt overshadowed by her strong-willed siblings and has always played it safe in her life, until she surprises everyone by taking a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to become a fashion designer in Los Angeles.

Nearlyweds (2006). Having struggled through difficult respective first years of marriage, three different women learn that the pastor who presided over their weddings neglected to file key papers and that they are not legally married, circumstances that find them questioning whether or not to correct their situations.



Kenner, Julie

Givenchy Code (2005). Mel loves cryptology and has a weakness for Givenchy shoes and handbags. She even entered that on her profile when she played the online game, PSW, many years ago. Mel is blonde, but brilliant. She won PSW on all three game roles. When she received a coded message informing her that she is a Target, she thought it a sick joke. One body later showed her differently. Mel and her mysterious Protector, who happens to be a hunk, are running for their lives. And the insane Assassin, Lynx, is right on their heels.

Manolo Matrix (2006). Aspiring actress Jennifer Crane knows all about games — the games girls play to get a guy; the games actresses play to land a part; and the good old game of credit-card roulette. (How else is a girl supposed to afford her shoes?) But she never expected to be playing a game with life-or-death consequences. Unable to successfully score an acting gig, she has, instead, been cast in the role of reluctant bodyguard to a real-life assassin's target — a dashing FBI agent of all people! — and must embark with him upon a scavenger hunt across Manhattan in search of the ultimate prize: survival.

Prada Paradox (2007). Devi Taylor was one of Hollywood's fastest-rising starlets -- until a crazed fan held her at knifepoint and she retreated to a life of privacy and Valium. Now recovered and ready for a comeback, Devi dreams of endorsing all things Prada, whose Rodeo Drive store she can't resist. Instead, she lands the starring role in The Givenchy Code, a high-budget action-adventure flick. But with the tabloids all over Givenchy and her recent split with her drop-dead handsome costar, Blake, Devi can't shake the feeling that another crazed fan is going to strike.



Kent, Alison

Beyond a Shadow (2007).in this episode of Kent's SG-5 series, the intriguing story of Ezra Moore unfolds. Ezra Moore, Spectra Agent takes an undercover job at a small town B & B. His job as a handyman helps him blend in with the locals until he makes contact with his partners. Ezra's first contact with schoolteacher Alexa Counsel sends sparks flying. He has never deviated from his plans but Alexa taps into emotions he didn't know he had.



Kiernan, Kristy

Catching Genius(2007)Estranged years earlier after one of them had been declared a math prodigy, sisters and best friends Connie and Estella are forced to reunite on the Gulf Coast of Florida when their childhood home is put up for sale, a situation that forces them to confront painful circumstances in their respective lives. First Novel.



Kinsella, Sophie

A first novel, Confessions of a Shopaholic (2001).

Followed by Shopaholic Takes Manhattan (2002),

Shopaholic Ties the Knot (2003), Can You Keep a Secret? (2004), Shopaholic and Sister (2004), Undomestic Goddess (2005), and Shopaholic and Baby (200&).

Kizis, Deanna

How to Meet Cute Boys (2003). A young journalist who chronicles her romantic disasters for Filly, a women's magazine, believes that she has finally met the man of her dreams in Max, until she discovers that he is a lot younger than she is and is demonstrating signs of male commitmentphobia.

Finishing Touches (2006). This novel is an intriguing character study that follows several people going through the phases of grief after a loved one died suddenly in an accident.



Kozak, Harley

A first novel, Dating Dead Men (2004). As part of her research for talk show host Dr. Cookie Lahven's upcoming book "How to Avoid Getting Dumped All the Time," Wollie Shelley is dating forty men in sixty days, but her assignment is complicated by an unexpected corpse.

Dating is Murder (2005). While reluctantly participating in a reality TV show, greeting card artist and amateur sleuth Wollie Shelley becomes concerned about the disappearance of her friend Annika.

Knight, India

A first novel, My Life on a Plate (2000). Follows thirty-three-year-old Clara Hutt, a wife, mother of two boys, and part-time magazine writer, who discovers a desire to search for fulfillment and happiness.

Krinksy, Natalie

Chloe Does Yale (2005). Yale student Chloe Carrington finds that her career as the author of a notorious sex column for the campus newspaper is wreaking havoc on her personal life, as she bares the details of her latest date--or lack thereof--for everyone to read about.

Kwitney, Alisa

Dominant Blonde (2002)--mystery with a romantic twist. When her boyfriend dumps her and vanishes with three million dollars of her family's money, Lydia Gold turns to ex-cop-turned-scuba instructor Liam MacNally, who vows to get back her money and soothe her wounded heart.

On the Couch (2004) After going for more than a year without a date - a record in New York City - Marlowe Riddle finally met a broodingly sexy, sharply intelligent man who is clearly interested in making more than polite conversation. The only problem: Joseph Kain is an NYPD detective clearly under the mistaken impression that Marlowe is a call girl.

Lamb, Cathy

Julia's Chocolates (2006). In her deliciously funny, heartfelt, and moving debut, Cathy Lamb introduces some of the most wonderfully eccentric women since The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and The Secret Life of Bees, as she explores the many ways we find the road home.



LaZebnik, Claire

Knitting Under the Influence (2007). Three twentysomething women in Los Angeles deal with relationships and family, with their weekly Sunday knitting circle as the only thing holding them together.



Leavitt, Caroline

Coming Back to Me (2003); Girls in Trouble (2004).

LeClaire, Anne D.

Law of Bound Hearts (2004). In this novel more like Elizabeth Berg than Sophie Kinsella, years after a terrible rift separates twins Libby and Sam, the pair is forced to come to terms with the event that drove them apart when Libby discovers that she needs a kidney transplant.

Lehmann, Stephanie.

Are You in the Mood? (2004). Off-Broadway actress Camille Ciarelli finds herself starring in a new role, motherhood, when she becomes pregnant, but her new life takes a serious toll on her dreams, forcing her to become something she is not in order to get an audition with hot Broadway director Eric Hughes.

Leigh, Tamara.

Perfecting Kate (2007). Determined to revel in her single status, mural artist Kate Meadows finds her life taking a different turn when she becomes torn between two men--a famous make-up artist who is determined to mold her in his vision of perfection, and an enigmatic man who admires her inner beauty.



Lenhoff, Linda.

Latte Lessons (2005). Thirty-year-old Claire Duncan loves her job as a copywriter at a small Venice Beach advertising and promotion agency--even though it's not making her much money. She loves her hemp drawstring capris-even though they're not getting her any dates. And she loves her mother--who is dating again. But Claire's comfortable, moderately caffeinated routine gets a double-espresso jolt when she's given the assignment of promoting an up-and-coming pop band.

Lennon, Maria T.

Making It Up As I Go Along (2005). Traveling the world as a war correspondent, California native Saffron Roch believes that she has found true love with Oscar, an egotistical surgeon working for Doctors Without Borders, but her life is thrown into turmoil when she finds that she is pregnant, discovers Oscar's infidelity, and learns she is about to inherit a fortune.

Lessing, Stephanie.

She's Got Issues (2005). Is it all true? Has Chloe Rose's sweet, bumbling lovability just been an act she uses to steal shoes (lots of them), tell lies (whoppers), and undermine her idiot boss in the hopes of stealing her job? Maybe, but more likely ... she's got issues.

Miss Understanding (2006). Hard-core feminist and newly appointed deputy editor of Issues Magazine Zoe Rose uses her position to challenge male chauvinism, cattiness between women, and everything pink and frilly, an endeavor that proves humorously challenging when it conflicts with the magazine's mainstream fashion themes.



Leto, Julie Elizabeth.

Dirty Little Secrets (2005). Leto launches a caliente new series featuring a sexy, Latina bounty hunter with an appetite for danger and an insatiable thirst for the man she's hunting down: her ex.

Levine, Laura

This Pen for Hire: A Jaine Austen Mystery (2002). When Jaine Austen is hired by nerdy Howard Murdoch to pen a love letter to gorgeous aerobics instructor Stacy Lawrence, she gets caught up in a murder investigation when Stacy is found beaten to death and Howard is accused of the crime. Followed by Last Writes (2003), Killer Blonde (2004) and Shoes to Die For (2005) in the series.

Liebegott, Ali

IHOP Papers (2006). A comic portrait of a young lesbian virgin's survival and self discovery follows the experiences of nineteen-year-old San Francisco waitress Francesca, who obsesses about her philosophy teacher, struggles with her sexuality, and avoids her neurotic mother's phone calls.

.

Lipman, Elinor

My Latest Grievance (2006). Chafing under the claustrophobic care of her liberal parents, Frederica Hatch finds her snug world transformed by Laura Lee French, a new college dorm mother who had once been married to Frederica's earnest and unglamorous father.

.

Lipton, Lauren

It's About Your Husband (2006). Adrift in a new city, without a job, dwindling funds, and only one friend, Val, thirty-three-year-old divorcée Iris Hedge reluctantly agrees to assist Val's wealthy twin sister spy on her cheating husband, Steve, in exchange for some much-needed money, but her plans go awry when Steve becomes suspicious about her surveillance and Iris begins to fall in love. A first novel.

.

Caren Lissner

Carrie Pilby (2003). When her therapist prescribes a five-point plan to help her discover the "positive aspects of social interaction," Carrie Pilby, a judgmental social misfit, unexpectedly gets involved with a colorful cast of characters and finds herself in compromising situations, which opens her eyes to a whole new world.

Starting From Square Two (2004). When her single girlfriends decide that it is time for her to brave the often confusing world of dating, young widow Gert Healy finds herself searching for a second chance at love amidst the leather-jacketed and miniskirted crowds.

Litman, Viqui

Ladies Farm (2001). Steel Magnolias meets The First Wives Club in a touching and hilarious novel of friendship, love, sex, dreams, and good hair.

Generations of the Heart (2002). Darlene Kindalia decides to become a surrogate mother and the wife of wealthy, handsome Ryan Plummer, which profoundly impacts the lives of those around her, especially when Ryan's hidden agenda comes to light.

Long, Kate

Bad Mother's Handbook (2005). Not only has 17-year-old Charlotte just gotten dumped by her pretty-boy lover, she's also discovered that she's pregnant. It's like history repeating itself, considering that her mom, Karen, had her when she was 16. Karen's going to kill her, Charlotte thinks, and she's half right: Karen is very mad at her smart, independent daughter for ruining her chance for college.

Low, Shari

Why Not? (2004). Prompted by her best friends' discovery of domestic bliss, Jess Latham begins to wonder if her goals in life need to be altered and decides to explore the world of romance, but when the Sunday tabloids expose her, costing her job, salary, and dignity, she sets out, with the help of four determined friends, to fight her way back to the top and seek revenge in the process.

Lutz, Karen McCullah

Bachelorette Party (2005). After being left at the altar by her soap star fiancé, Los Angeles high school teacher Zadie Roberts wants nothing more to do with love and romance. With the help of her best buddy Grey and several bottles of wine, she just might survive the trauma of the wedding that wasn't. Unexpectedly, Grey gets engaged to Zadie's prim and proper cousin Helen, and suddenly Zadie is dragged back into wedding festivity hell.

Lyles, Whitney

Always the Bridesmaid (2004). After four stints as a bridesmaid in a few months, Cate Padgett is beginning to get of tired of ugly dresses for which she has paid too much, posed photographs with the wedding party, drunken guests, missed bouquets, and life on the sidelines as she copes with the ups and downs of her romantic life. A first novel.

Roommates (2005). All Elise wants is a normal roommate. She thought starting her life over in San Diego would mean writing at the beach and rendezvousing with sun-kissed surfer gods. But once she arrives, her California dreaming' turns into a nightmare.

Malladi, Amulya

Serving Crazy with Curry (2004). Pressured by her mother to marry and become a traditional Indian wife and confronted by the loss of her job in Silicon Valley, Devi seeks refuge from her despair in attempted suicide, only to be forced to move back in with her parents until she recovers.

Manby, Chris

Getting Personal (2004). Facing another summer without love, Ruby, Martin and Lou decide to approach the dating dilemma in the way they approached finding flatmates. They're going to place personal ads. For one another.

Margolis, Sue

Breakfast at Stephanie's (2004). Struggling with a stalled career and the challenges of single motherhood, London singer Stephanie Glassman faces apprehension in the wake of an audition and the return of her son's father, who promises passion and stability. Also the author of Neurotica (1999) & Apocalipstick (2003) & Original Cyn (2005).



Markham, Wendy

Slightly Single (2002). A heat wave in Manhattan is enough to drive a girl crazy, and for Tracey Spadolini, a 24-year old New York transplant who's been "left behind" for the summer, there's even more to sweat about. Her Slightly Significant Other, Will, will be returning from summer stock in September, to pick up where they left off. (Or will he?)

Slightly Settled (2004). Tracey Spadolini; bk.2.

Slightly Engaged (2006). Tracey Spadolini; bk.3.

Mike, Mike & Me (2005). Once upon a time in the 1980s, a girl named Beau was torn between two Mikes: did she prefer her high-school sweetheart or the sexy stranger she'd picked up in an airport bar? One she eventually married, the other she left behind (and forgot all about, or tried to, anyway).

Markoe, Merrill

It's My $*%! Birthday (2002).On her thirty-sixth birthday, a Los Angeles high school art teacher reflects on her life and love affairs in a series of addresses written to herself on seven consecutive birthdays.

Psycho Ex Game (2004).Written in alternate chapters with Andy Prieboy, this book chonicles the relationship of hip 40-somethings Lisa Roberty and Grant Repka who are, respectively, a television writer and rock 'n' roller in L.A. After a brief and slightly awkward introduction backstage at his Tommy! (Lee!): The Musical, they begin an e-mail correspondence.

Marks-White, Judith

Seducing Harry: An Epicurian Affair (2007).Despite her fiftieth birthday, respectable but dull husband, and boring suburban life, Coco Plotnick-Hollander-Harding embarks on a torrid love affair with renowned plastic surgeon Harry Troutman, a relationship that brings new passion into both of their marriages, until an anonymous letter threatens to destroy everything. A first novel.



Mason, Sarah

Playing James (2004). Assigned to shadow detective James Sabine through his action-packed days, plucky beat reporter Holly Colshannon enjoys the success of her new crime byline but incurs the wrath of Sabine, with whom she shares an unexpected attraction

Party Girl (2005). Event planner Isabel Serranti is delighted when she is hired to put on an impromptu themed party for five hundred guests, at a country estate near her girlhood home, until she discovers that it is to be hosted by her infamous childhood nemesis Simon Monkwell, who turns out to have grown up into a man who is not the hateful oaf of her youth.

Matthews, Carole

Let's Meet on Platform 8 (2004). When she is knocked over by gorgeous and charming Jamie Duncan while waiting for the 6:07 train, Teri Carter believes she has found the perfect man, until she discovers that he is married, which forces her to reevalutate her own personal values.

With or Without You (2005). When her live-in boyfriend leaves her for another woman, a pouty stunner who had climbed Mt. Everest, Lyssa Allen embarks on a journey of self-discovery in Nepal, where her life is forever changed by an American tour guide.

Deadly Housewives (2006). Edited by Matthews. Fourteen critically acclaimed female mystery writers plumb the dark depths of life as a homemaker in a collection of original mystery tales--by Nevada Barr, Sara Paretsky, Marcia Muller, Carole Nelson Douglas, S. J. Rozan, and Nancy Pickard, among others--that explore such dangerous elements as sex, marriage, kids, careers, jealousy, and female friendship.



Maxted, Anna

A first novel, Getting Over It (2000). Far from fulfilling her life's dreams, Helen wrestles with lowly job positions, old cars, and disastrous relationships until her father's death slowly puts things into perspective.

Running in Heels (2002). Nat is on the rebound and allergic to the truth -- about her best friend Babs's relationship, her boyfriend's ambition, her parents' divorce, and her golden-boy brother's little Australian secret. Her mother's lasagna and her roommate Andy's fuzzy slippers are also monstrous affronts. But what Nat really needs to face is the mirror -- and herself.

Behaving Like Adults (2003). Twenty-nine-year-old dating service owner Holly starts to doubt her ability to read people and her belief in human goodness after a dare-prompted date with perfect-on-paper Stuart goes horribly.

Being Committed (2004). Refusing her long-time boyfriend's marriage proposal, private investigator Hannah regrets her actions when he becomes engaged to his traditional next-door neighbor, a situation that forces her to rethink her beliefs about faithfulness.

McAndrew,Megan

Going Topless (2004). When Constance Wright arrives at her family's summerhouse on the Mediterranean island of Santerre for her father Ross's memorial, she hopes that boyfriend Jim, the New York investment banker on her arm, will boost her status in the family. Between her ravishing sister, Isabelle; her ageless French stepmother, Odette; and her English stepsisters, former model Lucy and famous artist Jane, there's a lot of competition for attention -- not to mention double beds.

McArdle,Tracy

Real Women Eat Beef (2007). Imagine if you discovered your advertising hotshot of a husband was cheating on you with his twenty-five year old account manager, so you fled Manhattan to start over at a new agency in a new city. You were wooed with promises of heading up a sexy new car account, but things don't go exactly as planned. Turns out you're responsible for rebranding beef. And you don't even eat red meat! True to the thirty-something sarcasm and wit of her first book, Confessions of a Nervous Shiksa (2006), McArdle captures the high-flying world of expense accounts and corporate marketing speak in hilariously vivid detail.



McCarthy,Erin

Heiress for Hire (2005). Chicago socialite Amanda Delmar thought spending the summer in Cuttersville-Ohio's most haunted town-would be a hoot, until dearold-Dad cut her off. Now Amanda has to do the unthinkable and get... A JOB.

You Don't Know Jack (2006).When her cross-dressing psychic's prediction that she would meet her soul mate during an accident comes true, Jamie Peters finds Mr. Right in down-to-earth, honest Jack Davidson, who, unbeknownst to her, has been hired to investigate her for criminal misconduct.

Bit the Jackpot (2006).Tired of keeping tabs on his boss's wife and her female entourage, vampire Seamus Fox, the campaign manager for the Vampire Nation presidential candidate, finds himself falling for the enigmatic Cara Kim, a sultry but shy stripper who dances behind a screen to hide her identity.



McCoy,Maureen

Junebug (2004). In this Berg-like novel, when Junebug's mother Theresa shatters her world by revealing to Junebug that the murder Theresa committed had been an act of vengeance for a crime in which Junebug was involved, Junebug is forced to deal with the memory and guilt.

McLaughlin, Emma & Nicola Kraus

The Nanny Diaries (2002). Two former Manhattan nannies blow the lid off of the private child-care industry with a hilarious debut that pulls no punches as it recounts the travails of Nan, a hip Mary Poppins looking for a job to fit around her child-development classes at NYU.

Citizen Girl (2005). An idealistic young woman enters the business world after college and struggles to earn her dream job in spite of a host of catty co-workers who refuse to acknowledge her talents or ambition.

Dedication (2007). Thirteen years after the love of her life abruptly leaves town hours before the senior prom only to become the world's biggest recording star, twenty-nine-year-old Kate Hollis decides to resolve her lingering resentment by confronting him during a home visit.



McNab, Claire

Wombat Strategy: A Kylie Kendall Mystery (2004). When the father she has never known dies and leaves her part ownership of his L.A. private detective agency, Australian lesbian Kylie Kendall leaves the rural outback to head for the bright lights of the city and becomes involved in an uneasy alliance with her new business partner, Arianna Creeling, as they investigate the theft of records--and subsequent suicide of a patient--from a celebrity psychiatrist.

Kookaburra Gambit (2005). 2nd in the Kylie Kendall series.

Medwed, Mameve

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My LIfe (2006). A trip to Antiques Roadshow transforms Abby Randoph's life when she discovers that an old chamber pot is really a valuable antique that once belonged to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, confronting a lawsuit for possession of the artifact, the courtship of a reporter suitor, and a man from the past, as she embarks on a whimsical journey in search of herself.



Mehran, Marsha

Pomegranate Soup (2005). Three Iranian sisters flee the turmoil of the Islamic Revolution in their native country to seek refuge in Ireland, where they open the exotic Babylon Cafâe.

Messina, Lynn

Fashionistas (2003). This debut describes the clever, single New York-publishing-type protagonist and could be considered standard chick lit fare, but our heroine, Vig, is refreshingly free from neurotic body obsessions and boyfriend angst. A witty frolic.

Tullulahland (2004). Tallulah West thinks she's got everything figured out, from her interrupted career path to the men in her life. But when her world is turned upside down (again), not everyone acts accordingly and nothing goes as planned.

Mim Warner's Lost Her Cool (2005). An affectionate satire about the ins and outs of coolhunting.

Michaels, Kasey

High Heels and Holidays (2006. Spending their first Christmas together, mystery author Maggie Kelly and Alexandre, Viscount Saint Just, find their holiday bliss shattered by death threats from a deranged fan who is targeting the authors, including Maggie, who contributed to a horrible mystery collection.



Miller, Rebecca

Personal Velocity (2001), the seven sketches in this debut, are short stories about contemporary women (and one girl) from various backgrounds who tussle with work, relationships and identity.

Mitchell, Siri L.

Kissing Adrien (2005). In this delightful Pygmalionesque story, Claire travels back to Paris--the enchanting City of Light--and discovers her inner and outer beauty with the help of her très charmant childhood friend, Adrien.

Mlynowski, Sarah

As Seen on TV (2003). Leaving her charmed life in Florida behind to move to Manhattan with her boyfriend and to star in a reality TV show called Party Girls, Sunny Langstein, posing as a single woman of the world, finds herself transformed into a media sensation, forcing her to choose between fame and true love.

Fishbowl (2002) deals with the story of three young women, Allie, Jodine and Emma who discover that it is not quite easy to share an apartment, it's a story of friendship and relationships. First novel was Milkruns: A Novel About Drinks, Dates & Other Distractions (2001).

Me vs Me (2006). Gabby Wolf, torn between two alternate realities when her wish to have it all comes true, plans the perfect wedding to her longtime boyfriend in Phoenix, while flying solo and working at her glamorous new job in New York City, and must decide which life is a dream and which is a reality.

Moore, Jane

Love @ First Sight (2005). When her girlfriends, who disapprove of her happy single life, secretly place a personal ad on a hot singles Web site on her behalf, thirty-four-year-old Jessica Monroe is thrown headlong into the bizarre world of online dating misadventures.

Moriarty, Liane

Three Wishes (2004). Approaching their thirty-third birthdays, triplets Lyn, Cat, and Gemma recall their tumultuous prior year, one marked by pregnancy, a love affair, a mid-life crisis, and the possible reconciliation of their divorced parents.

Morsi, Pamela

Bitsy's Bait & BBQ (2007). When Katy Collins buys a B & B on eBay, she, her young son, and her sister Emma arrive in the Ozarks only to discover that B & B actually stands for Bait and BBQ, and, while learning all about worms, they get the place up and running smoothly until Katy's troublemaking ex-husband arrives.



Mossanen, Dora Levy

Courtesan (2005).

Nathan, Melissa

Nanny (2003). Twenty-three-year-old Jo Green knows that if she has to spend one more night in ultra-provincial Niblet-Upon-Avon she'll go completely bonkers! So she answers an ad in the paper, bids her devoted boyfriend Shaun adieu, and heads off to the big city. With a new job that offers excitement; a cool car; and her own suite with a TV, DVD player, and a cell phone, how can she go wrong?

Persuading Annie (2005). Sweet, kindhearted Annie Markham is forced to turn to tough Jake Mead, the one-time love of her life who had left her seven years earlier, to help her save her family's ailing company, in a story of love and revenge based on Jane Austen's Persuasion.

Waitress (2005).

Naylor, Clare

Dog Handling (2002). Stunned when her fiance calls off their wedding, Liv Elliot embarks on a life-altering trip to Sydney, Australia, where she finds a new career and new romance, until a chance encounter with Ben Parker, with whom she had indulged in a brief summer fling, turns her life of upside down.

Also check out Catching Alice (1998). Discouraged by the simultaneous loss of her job, apartment, and boyfriend, twentysomething Alice Lewis accepts the offer of her American girlfriend, Tash, to move to Los Angeles to take a job in a glamorous PR firm, but she soon discovers that she is being pursued by a mystery man, who has crossed the Atlantic to woo her.

Love: A User's Guide (1999). When she catches the eye of London's handsomest young movie star, a twentysomething fashion assistant named Amy wonders if it spells fame, fortune, and love, or the road to ruin.

The Second Assistant (2004). A former congressional intern who takes a job as second assistant at a powerful Hollywood talent agency, Elizabeth Miller copes with the trials, tribulations, and dirty dealings of the film world.

Goddess Rules (2005). Painting animal portraits for the rich and famous, London artist Kate Disney meets famous actress Mirabelle Moncur, who hires her to paint her favorite pet lion and encourages her to live a more fulfilling life.

The First Assistant: a continuing tale from behind the Hollywood curtain (2006). Lizzie Miller, promoted to a position as first assistant to new agency president Scott Wagner, rises up the Hollywood ladder and struggles to keep her feet on the ground.



Neale, Naomi

Calendar Girl (2005). Nan's career as a "Cheer Facilitator" for Seasonal Staffers, Inc., leaves something to be desired, as does her love life. Bridget Jones' fans will enjoy the humor.

Nichols, Lee

Hand-Me-Down (2005). After growing up in the shadow of sisters Charlotte, a stunning swimsuit model, and Emily, a brilliant feminist scholar, 29-year-old Anne Olsen has a natural aversion to anything secondhand--and that especially includes her sister Charlotte's ex-boyfriend Ian, who's a cute, available antiques dealer.

Noble, Elizabeth

Alphabet Weekends: Love on the Road from A to Z. (2007). The friendship of Natalie and Tom is put to an ultimate test when Tom, believing they are perfect for each other, proposes that he and a relationship-wary Natalie engage in a series of alphabetically themed weekend getaways for the express purpose of falling in love.



Notaro, Laurie

Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club (2002)--compilation of this journalist's funniest columns from The Arizona Republic, details Notaro's daring exploits and comical mishaps as she matures from wild teenager to disheveled adult.

Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of Pretend Adulthood (2003). Laurie Notaro tries painfully to make the transition from all-night partyer and bar-stool regular to mortgagee with plumbing problems and no air-conditioning. Laurie finds grown-up life just as harrowing as her reckless youth, as she meets Mr. Right, moves in, settles down, and crosses the toe-stubbing threshold of matrimony.

Idiot Girl's Christmas: True Tales From the Top of the Naughty List. (2005). With some new and some best-of material (the venerable Jingle Bell piece about a Barney-obsessed neighbor is here), this volume covers many a family holiday at the Notaro household, with an amusing assortment of ill-adjusted siblings, in-laws, and that grand dame of dysfunction and buzz kill, Notaro's mother.

O'Connell, Jennifer

Dress Rehearsal (2005). No one knows wedding cakes better than the owner of Boston's hottest cake boutique. Lauren Gallagher is a pro at helping brides and grooms pick out the perfect Big Day dessert. She also has a talent for predicting which marriage will last and which is destined to crumble--simply by observing their cake selection process. Her latest prediction, however, is anything but sweet. Unless her marital Magic Eight Ball is off, one of her best friends is about to tie the knot with Mr. Absolutely All Wrong.

Off the Record (2005). What would you do if you found out a childhood schoolmate had named a famous love song after you?

O'Farrell, John

A first novel, The Best a Man Can Get: A Novel of Fatherhood and Its Discontents, (2002) tells the tale of a thirtysomething weekend dad/husband and weekday bachelor.

O'Grady, Leslie.

Grateful Undead (2002)--a mystery with a romantic twist.

Olson, Eugenie

Love in the Time of Taffeta (2006). Iley Gilbert's photography career isn't advancing as smoothly as the film in her camera. Then she stumbles onto a most unusual way to use her skills: shooting prom pictures. She and her boss -- her married boss -- William, click immediately, together for night after night of capturing kids in their ill-fitting tuxes and taffeta gowns. Before long, Iley and William are partying post-prom, and there begin the secrets. And a situation that leaves Iley and her creativity in the dark.



Olson, Anna

A first novel, Welcome to My Planet (2000). A young Minneapolis woman tries to pull her life together between visits to the Target supermarket and her therapist, The Counselor.

Orloff, Erica.

Mafia Chic (2004).The granddaughter of a notorious New York Mafia don, Teddi Gallo, constantly flanked by overprotective men, as well as FBI agents, finds her life spiralling out of control as she deals with an old boyfriend, matchmaking schemes, crime sprees, and stolen Jimmy Choos.

Do They Wear High Heels in Heaven? (2005). Michael and Lily have been best friends for half of their lives, and Michael is more of a father to Lily's two children than her philandering ex-husband. So when Lily gets a mammogram for a newspaper column she is working on and the doctor discovers a lump, Michael is the one she turns to. Lily is determined not to let the cancer beat her even if it may kill her: she opts for stylish scarves over wigs and continues to write her column. As Lily prepares for the worst-case scenario by putting her affairs in order and arranging for Michael to adopt her children, she is surprised to find love with a fellow cancer patient.



O'Rourke, Sally Smith.

Man Who Loved Jane Austen (2006). New York artist Eliza Knight stumbles across an antique dressing table that includes the added bonus of secreted letters, apparently between Jane Austen and a real-life Mr. Darcy. Caught up in her romantic notions about Austen's Pride and Prejudice and the possibility that Darcy may have been more than Austen's invention, Eliza enlists the aid of an eccentric researcher as well as a handsome and mysterious Virginia horse breeder, Fitzwilliam Darcy.



Pace, Alison.

If Andy Warhol Had a Girlfriend (2005). Jane Laine used to know a lot about art. But that was before she started managing a prominent gallery, and long before she met "it" artist Ian Rhys-Fitzsimmons. Jane can't seem to put a finger on what exactly is so "it" about his work. and now she is the one who has to accompany him on a five-month international art fair tour.

Palmer, Liza.

Conversations with the Fat Girl (2005). An overweight waitress ponders her relationship with her best friend, who had once been overweight herself, as her friend prepares for a wedding.



Papa, Ariella.

On the Verge (2002).Poised on the brink of either a new relationship, a trendy new life, or a nervous breakdown, twenty-three-year-old Jersey girl Eve Vitali, administrative assistant for a bicycle magazine, searches for something more then surfing the Net, partying, and casual dating--a hilarious quest that forces her to realize her full potential.

Bundle of Joy? (2005). Voula's tired of sitting on the sidelines of life and has decided she'd better start living it. It's time to say goodbye to Armando, her Italian stallion roommate, and whoever else is living in their third bedroom. That's right--she is going to buy a place. There are three and a half million apartments in Manhattan. Finding the right one can't be that hard. Can it? All this and her best friend is going to have a baby.

Parks, Adele.

A first novel, Playing Away (2002). A gifted young woman balances her career, her husband, and her irresistible lover in a humorous take on modern romance.

Larger Than Life (2003). Georgina has gone to great lengths to transform herself into the kind of woman Hugh Williams could love. Now, at thirty-two, she's got the perfect career, body, and at last, the perfect man. Life with sexy, career-driven Hugh is like a page from a magazine -- what more could a woman want? She never planned on getting pregnant.

Lust for Life (2005). Sisters Martha and Eliza discover that the path to true love is seldom easy when Eliza, tired of life in a one-bedroom flat with her musician boyfriend, moves in with Martha, who, in turn, finds her perfect family life shattered when her husband announces that he is leaving for good.

Still Thinking of You (2006). Thirtyish Tash and Rich are in love. They talk about a future together, agree to marry and plan to elope to a French ski resort. They look forward to inviting their friends, many of them Rich has known and partied with for years to celebrate their marriage. At first Rich's friends seem nice to Tash, but soon they begin to act childish, selfish and boorish. Adding to her discomfit is that instead of asking his buddies to cool it, Rich joins them. Tash begins to have doubts that loving Rich will prove enough.



Phillips, Carly.

Cross My Heart (2006). When Lacey Kincaid, a.k.a. heiress Lillian Dumont, decides to come out of hiding and claim her rightful inheritance at the urging of her childhood sweetheart Ty, her uncle will stop at nothing, not even murder, to keep her from getting what is hers.



Pickens, Cathy.

Southern Fried (2004). Laid off from her job with a big-city law firm, attorney Avery Andrews returns to the small southern town of her childhood to set up a new practice, but finds her efforts challenged by the murder of a client.

Done Gone Wrong (2005). Living in the small Southern town of her childhood after being fired from her big-city law firm, attorney Avery Andrews is called in to assist in a case in Charleston, South Carolina, but the job becomes serious when a young doctor is found dead.

Hog Wild (2007). Returning to her tiny hometown of Dacus, South Carolina, attorney Avery Andrews suddenly finds herself caught up in the battle between a real-estate developer and environmentalists, a battle that is complicated by a brutal murder.



Pleiter, Allie.

Bad Heiress Day (2004). A sudden inheritance of just over $1 million is a wonderful shock until Darcy learns of her father's last request that she "give it all away."

Queen Esther and the Second Graders of Doom (2006). Teaching Sunday school at her brother's church in the Bay area was supposed to help former champion athlete Esther "Essie" Walker understand boys -- the better to raise her newborn son as a stellar example of manhood. Fat chance! Enter the eight-year-old male psyche: awful jokes, disrespectful behavior and general mayhem. Essie, the queen of control, finds herself in a brand-new world of chaos.



Pradhan, Monica.

Hindi Bindi Club (2007). This first novel features six alternating narrators and speaks to the cultural and generational tensions between immigrant mothers and their Westernized daughters.



Preston, Caroline

Rendahl, Eileen.

Un-Bridaled (2006). Seconds before becoming Mrs. Mark Hutchinson, Chloe leaves her handsome, successful fiancé at the altar and tears down Interstate 505 in her red Ford Frontier. Maybe it was the heat of a California June wedding. Maybe it was when a family tradition went awry before hundreds of shocked guests. Or maybe it was because she heard a voice telling her in no uncertain terms, Run!



Riccio, Dolores Stewart.

Divine Circle of Ladies Courting Trouble (2006). Cass, Heather, Phillipa, Deidre, and Fiona must use their keen skills of detection, magic, and clairvoyance when Halloween brings about the demise of an elderly townswoman, who fell victim to a hemlock-laced brownie at the church hospitality hour. #4 in the Cass Shipton series. Preceded by Circle of Five, Charmed Circle, and Divine Circle of Ladies making Mischief,



Rich, Lani Diane.

Time Off for Good Behavior (2004). Estranged from her family and enduring abusive calls from her former husband, Wanda Lane suffers a head injury that causes an unidentifiable song to run in her head constantly and challenges her professional relationships.

Ex and the Single Girl (2005). When her live-in boyfriend abruptly ends their relationship, Portia Fallon fears that she has inherited a tendency shared by all of the women in her family for attracting commitment-phobic men, a situation in which she is encouraged by her mother, aunt, and grandmother to engage in a temporary fling.

Fortune Quilt (2007). After producing a television story about psychic quilt-maker Brandywine Seaver, Carly McKay's successful world is thrown into disarray when she receives a quilt along with a mysterious reading warning her of an imminent change in her life, loses her job and her best friend, and is reunited with the mother who had abandoned the family seventeen years earlier.



Roberts, Wendy.

Dating Can Be Deadly (2005).Tabitha Emery, the psychically talented star of Canadian author Roberts's debut mystery, works as a receptionist at a prestigious Seattle law firm, where she hopes for a better position and some attention from hunky lawyer Clay Sanderson.

Rose, Isabel.

The J.A.P. Chronicles (2005). Reunited with her former bunkmates at the centennial of Willow Lake Camp, Ali Cohen, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker, plans to make a documentary about her former teenage tormentors at the Jewish girls' camp.

Rose, Jackie.

Marrying Up (2005). Obsessed with fitting into a size 8 Vera Wang wedding dress for her big day, newly engaged Evelyn Mays, an adorable brunette, soon becomes a willowly blonde--a transformation that leads to chaos when she makes new friends who encourage her to have "one last fling."

Rosenberg, Saralee H.

Claire Voyant (2004). As a last attempt to break into movies, straight-to-video actress Claire Greene flies to Miami to have her tuchas evaluated by a top body-double agency. She is seated next to an elderly man named Abraham Fabrikant, whose sudden death leaves her stricken with guilt for having ignored him throughout the flight. So she stays with the body and lies to his family about sharing his last minutes, and unleashes a rollercoaster ride of situations.

Rowe, Stephanie.

If the Shoe Fits (2005). Behind every successful woman ss the right pair of shoes. Run hard. Run fast. Just don't try to run in heels. Especially if your name is Paris Jackson and you’re fashion-impaired. Designer lab