Stacey Ballis

Melanie loses a large amount of weight and learns to eat healthy, but when her husband leaves her for a heavier woman, she is forced reexamine her own goals and her relationships with friends, family, and men.

Good Enough to Eat

"Eloise is content with her solitary life as a successful private chef. She has her clients, her corgi, and a recipe for the world's most perfect chocolate cream pie ... But when her favorite teacher dies and her long lost trio of high school friends reunites at the wake, Eloise is confronted by how lonely she really is. In honor of Mrs. O'Connor, Eloise, Lynne, and Teresa revamp their senior class assignment and dare each other to create a bucket list of things to accomplish by the time they each turn forty in May"--

How to Change a Life

Alana, the culinary assistant to a Chicago celebrity chef, discovers Southern hospitality after an accidental online connection to a Tennessee native and must decide on her priorities in life in this new novel from the author of Good Enough to Eat. Original. 35,000 first printing.

Off the Menu

After losing her job and her fiancé at the same time, Anneke Stroudt moves into a half-finished historic house renovation project and discovers an old leatherbound book from the cook of the home's original owners, full of delicious recipes and family secrets. Original.

Recipe for Disaster

Unhappily married, Sidney Stein finds herself drifting into an illicit affair with Geoffrey Fahl, an older man, and then leaving Geoffrey to plunge into the dating scene, until a series of disastrous dates and unexpected romance turn her life upside down. A first novel. Original. 100,000 first printing.

Inappropriate Men

Meg Cabot

Megan Crane

Julie Kenner

Melissa Senate

Cara Lockwood

Beth Kendrick

Jennifer OConnell

Laura Caldwell

Stephanie Lessing

A collection of personal essays by some of today's most popular young adult and women's fiction writers considers the ways in which the books of Judy Blume influenced their emotional, social, and physical developments, in a volume that includes contributions by Meg Cabot, Cara Lockwood, and Megan McCafferty. 50,000 first printing.

Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume

Lily Allen's dream job working as an interior designer on the reality home improvement show Swap/Meet has become a nightmare, thanks to the show's ditzy host, a jealous competitor, feuding fashion czars, and a handsome but curmudgeonly carpenter who knows how to push every one of her buttons. Original. 35,000 first printing.

Room for Improvement

Sophie Bernstein and her sommelier fiance were set to have Chicago's culinary wedding of the year - until the groom eloped with someone else, leaving Sophie fifty grand in debt on her dream wedding and one-hundred percent screwed on her dream life. Trying to regroup, Sophie gets a job at an old-school Jewish bakery. Up to her elbows in mandelbread and challah dough, she finds herself having fun helping to plan other people's weddings - and putting her own twist on starting over.

Wedding Girl

Having a thriving cottage industry helping single women to find happiness while remaining unattached, Jodi and Jill find their partnership challenged by Jill's engagement and Jodi's complicated relationships.

The Spinster Sisters

When her best friend dies, leaving her with financial custody of her Star Wars-obsessed husband, Jenna must deal with the not-so-merry widower's hair-brained business schemes while trying to figure out what direction her life is going to take next. Original. 50,000 first printing.

Out to Lunch

Five thirtysomething girlfriends--Max, Robin, Anne, Lilith, and Riv--dive into the often turbulent waters of work, love, men, and life, learning the difference between romantic and platonic relations, and the many meanings of "spending the night." Original.

Sleeping Over

Stacey Ballis tackles home improvement and reality TV—and reminds us that sometimes life and love are better left unscripted… What do you get when you give two hopeful singles fashion consultants and interior designers, allow them four days to perk up each other’s homes and get a total style overhaul, then let their single friends celebrate the results at a fabulous party? You get Swap/Meet, the newest reality show on the network block, where major changes are either embraced or embarrassing—and Lily Allen’s dream job turned nightmare. At first, Lily was thrilled to appear on Swap/Meet. What better way for a Chicago interior designer to promote her business and enjoy some pseudo-celebrity? She just didn’t think she’d be doing take after take with the ditzy host, dodging sabotage attempts, and getting caught in the middle of the fashion czars’ lovers’ spat. Plus, the cute, curmudgeonly carpenter on her team knows just how to push her buttons. Episode by episode, through do-it-yourself disasters and matchmaking miracles, Lily discovers that a little bit of controlled chaos is the spice of life—and love…

Room For Improvement

A touching and hilarious novel from the fabulous Stacey Ballis about best friends, true love, and the joy of food—for fans of Jen Lancaster, Jennifer Weiner, and Emily Giffin... Jenna has lost her best friend. With Aimee gone so tragically young, Jenna barely knows where to turn. Aimee was the one who always knew what to do—not to mention what to wear. The two built a catering company together and had so much in common—well, except their taste in men. Jenna never understood what the successful, sophisticated Aimee saw in Wayne, with his Star Wars obsession and harebrained business schemes. And gained her best friend’s husband… But Aimee has left a shocking last request: Jenna now has financial custody of the not-so-merry widower. True, Wayne needs someone sensible around to keep him under control, but what was her dear departed friend thinking? The thing is, as she gets to know Wayne better, his latest moneymaking idea actually starts to intrigue her. Her attractive new lawyer boyfriend doesn’t approve of it—but then, Wayne doesn’t approve of her attractive new lawyer boyfriend. Now Jenna has to figure out what direction her life is going to take next. And she can’t help asking herself: What would Aimee do?

You’ve Got Mail meets Julie & Julia in the new foodie fiction from the author of Recipe for Disaster. Top pastry chef Sophie Bernstein and her sommelier fiancé were set to have Chicago’s culinary wedding of the year…until the groom eloped with someone else in a very public debacle, leaving Sophie splashed across the tabloids—fifty grand in debt on her dream wedding and one-hundred percent screwed on her dream life. The icing on the cake was when she lost her job and her home… Laying low, Sophie moves in with her grandmother, Bubbles. That way, she can keep Bubbles and her sweater-wearing pug company and nurse her broken heart. But when Sophie gets a part-time job at the old-fashioned neighborhood bakery, she finds herself up to her elbows in dough and reluctantly giving a wedding cake customer advice on everything from gift bags to guest accommodations. Before she knows it, she’s an online wedding planner. It’s not mousse and macarons, but it pays the bills. But with the arrival of unexpected personal and professional twists, Sophie wonders if she’s really moving forward—or starting over from scratch... Includes Recipes

150 simple and scrumptious recipes from Stacy Ballis’s hit novels Out to Lunch, Off the Menu, Good Enough to Eat, and Recipe for Disaster, as well as 40 new, never-before-seen recipes! Stacey Ballis is not a professional chef. She is, however, a foodie novelist, meal innovator, family cook, memory maker, and Brussels sprout advocate who believes that delicious meals can be simple, fun, and creative. Her love of all things culinary has made her “foodie fiction” irresistible. Now, all of the best recipes featured in her novels are available in one mouthwatering cookbook, including 40 “lost” recipes that were not included in the original printings. With dishes for every occasion, designed to appeal to both experienced cooks and kitchen newbies, this easily-transportable digital collection will make every meal a happy moment and a special memory. Includes a preview of Stacey’s delectable novel, Recipe for Disaster Praise for Stacy Ballis “Deeply satisfying.”—Jen Lancaster, New York Times bestselling author of The Tao of Martha “Dangerously good descriptions of food.”—Sarah Pekkanen, author of Catching Air “One delicious bite.”—Amy Hatvany, author of Safe with Me Stacey Ballis was born in Chicago with a full head of hair and a naturally charming disposition. She majored in English Literature and American Studies with a minor in Creative Writing at Brandeis, spent time in a mud hut in Kenya, and got a Masters in Teaching from DePaul University, before spending fifteen years as an educator in Chicago. She then settled back into writing full time, focusing on stories about big girls who are comfortable in their own skin, have great lives, and aren’t dieting or morose about their bodies. She has since authored eight foodie novels, including Good Enough to Eat, Off the Menu, and Out to Lunch.

Stacey Ballis's Most Awesome Recipes

Big Delicious Life

Jodi and Jill Spingold are the Spinster Sisters... With a radio show, speaking engagements, DVDs, and two bestselling books, they've built a thriving cottage industry helping other single women find happiness. Their futures have never been brighter-until Jill turns out the lights on Jodi by announcing her engagement. Jodi is stunned. How can they be the Spinster Sisters if one of them is married? Complicating things is her own love life, involving three vastly different paramours offering three different kinds of happiness-none of which Jodi is sure she wants. And her ex-husband, backed by his lawyer girlfriend, may be angling for a piece of the Spinster Sisters empire. Now, Jodi must make some tough decisions, keep the business afloat, and get to the altar to stand by her sister-even if means that from now on she'll be single all by herself.

Kyra Davis

Sarah Mlynowski

Megan McCafferty

Laura Ruby

Diana Peterfreund

Shanna Swendson

Jennifer Coburn

Kayla Perrin

Alison Pace

Elise Juska

Lynda Curnyn

Berta Platas

"I wonder if Judy Blume really knows how many girls' lives she affected. I wonder if she knows that at least one of her books made a grown woman finally feel like she'd been a normal girl all along. . . ." -- FROM Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume Whether laughing to tears reading Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great or clamoring for more unmistakable "me too!" moments in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, girls all over the world have been touched by Judy Blume's poignant coming-of-age stories. Now, in this anthology of essays, twenty-four notable female authors write straight from the heart about the unforgettable novels that left an indelible mark on their childhoods and still influence them today. After growing up from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing into Smart Women, these writers pay tribute, through their reflections and most cherished memories, to one of the most beloved authors of all time.

Stacey Ballis

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