Young Adult Fiction

My debut novel, Other Words for Love

was published by Random House (Delacorte Press)

 

Other Words for Love “honestly confronts the pain associated with coming of age and first heartbreak.” 

~Publishers Weekly 

 "Ari's life changes drastically when she starts at a Manhattan prep school. She befriends wealthy, forlorn Leigh who introduces her to upper-echelon society, including cousin Blake with whom Ari begins a relationship that's all-consuming and eventually devastating. The vivid 1980s setting adds depth to the story's complex layers of family dynamics, tumultuous friendships, first heartbreak, and recovery from it all." 

 ~The Horn Book Magazine
 

 It's the mid-1980s, and Ari Mitchell feels invisible at her Brooklyn high school. Her hair is too flat, her style too preppy, and her personality too quiet. And outside school, Ari feels outshined by her beautiful, confident best friend, Summer. Their friendship is as complex and confusing as Ari’s relationship with her troubled older sister, Evelyn, a former teenage mom whose handsome firefighter husband fills Ari’s head with guilty fantasies.

 When an unexpected inheritance enables Ari to transfer to an elite Manhattan prep school, she makes a wealthy new friend, Leigh. Leigh introduces Ari to the glamorous side of New York—and to her gorgeous cousin, Blake. Ari doesn't think she stands a chance, but amazingly, Blake asks her out. As their romance heats up, they find themselves involved in an intense, consuming relationship. Ari's family worries that she is losing touch with the important things in life, like family, hard work, and planning for the future. When misfortune befalls Blake's family, he pulls away, and Ari's world drains of color. As she tries to get over the breakup, Ari must finally ask herself: were their feelings true love . . . or something else?

 Other Words for Love was also published by Galera Record - Brazil  www.galerarecord.com.br and by AST- Russia www.ast.ru.