Maddie Faraday’s life would be perfect if it weren’t for her nosy neighbors, her interfering mother, her unhappy best friend, her worried little girl, her cheating husband, and that guy she lost her virginity to twenty years ago who just showed up on her front porch. But things keep taking a turn for the worse (and worse than that) and pretty soon she’s up to her eyes in gossip, blackmail, murder, and brownies, not to mention some flashbacks to a past that’s just as steamy in the present.
On writing: Maddie’s story is the book of my heart, the one I always promised myself I’d write when I could handle something this complicated. St. Martin’s editor Jen Enderlin not only gave me the chance to do it, when I finished it she was so enthusiastic about it she changed it from paperback to hardcover. She is a goddess among editors, and I owe her all my gratitude and chocolate for life.
On the other hand, this was also the hardest book I’ve ever written. I missed my deadline, I gained ten pounds, and I despaired on a regular basis. A friend of mine told me that the best writing advice he’d ever gotten was that if the book you’re writing isn’t beyond your capabilities, you’re not writing the right book. I was definitely writing the right book. At times Jen’s support was the only thing that kept me going; you know you have a great editor when the book is five months overdue and she says, “I believe in you.” Chocolate for life isn’t enough.
Maddie’s troubles begin when she finds another woman’s underpants under the front seat of her husband’s car, and things go downhill from there. Her daughter Emily wants a dog, her mother wants gossip, her best friend’s hiding something, and then the guy she lost her virginity to twenty years before shows up looking for her husband. That’s just the first chapter. Based on my experiences with life, nothing ever goes wrong alone; things go rogue in battalions while in the background life makes its everyday demands. Yes, your husband is probably cheating on you and the neighbors are talking and your car just got rear-ended and your microwave is dead, but first your kid needs breakfast. Maddie’s juggling act becomes more and more frantic as more and more disasters hit until finally …
On character: I set this book in a small town like the one I grew up in and then left thirty years ago. I’m sure it’s not like this now; I’m not even sure it was like this then. It’s just the way I remember it, full of really great people who know every move you make and discuss it with each other. The toughest part was writing the scenes in Emily’s point of view; it’s been a long time since I was an eight-year-old, and eight-year-olds in 1958 were nothing like the eight-year-olds of today.
On the dog: This is Phoebe, Emily’s puppy. Okay, it’s my Lucy when she was a puppy, but Phoebe looks just like this.
