Like Mother, Like Daughter

Mom’s are there for every moment in a girl’s life. The first steps. The first big crush. The first apartment. And in this case, the first book.
 
I couldn’t dial my mom’s phone number fast enough to share the news that my novel Simple Wishes would be published. But when she asked to read it, I told her, No way!

Not only does the book have—gasp!—some realistic and unapologetic eroticism, but one of the characters happens to be an overbearing and manipulative mom.

Here’s the scoop on the plot: After making a terrible mistake, Adele is forced to leave her NYC home to return to the secluded mountain cottage she inherited from her mother. There, she meets an elderly Korean woman whose tradition of honoring her ancestors forces Adele to reconsider the ways her failed relationship with her mother continues to affect her choices. Just when love comes unexpectedly in the form of a reclusive but sexy artisan, dark family secrets threaten to tear her life apart by the seams. Will love and friendship be strong enough to heal her wounds? Or will she give in to fear of intimacy once again?

I’d love to give away the surprise ending, but I just can’t!

Now, anybody who knows my mom will tell you she’s nothing like the mother in Simple Wishes. She’s smart, fun, youthful, and strong. But I had this vision her throwing the novel against the wall and saying, So this is what you really think!

As for the sex scenes, the idea of letting Mom read them was kinda weird. When my siblings and I were kids, Mom used to tell us that we should always feel comfortable asking her any “adult questions.”

Of course I had no idea what an “adult question” was. So I spent my afternoons at school thinking up things to ask about, hoping that if I asked enough questions I’d eventually hit on the “adult” ones. Needless to say, after much blushing and stuttering, her offer was retracted.

So between the book’s psychotic mom stuff and the sex scenes, I just couldn’t bring myself to hand Simple Wishes to my own mother until I absolutely had to.

But lo and behold, she liked it. Actually, she liked it so much that if you bump into her in the supermarket she’ll talk your ear off about it—with one caveat.

If you have any “adult questions” about it, she’ll tell you to talk to me!