Lynne E. Marino was born and grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, where she was always the first in line for the Bookmobile. She has spent most of her adult life in the Southwest, still reading away. Now she writes her own stories. She currently resides in Tucson, Arizona.
If there was a lifetime achievement award for being a good girl, professor Gina Ferrari would win it hands down. But when she flies to Italy to plead with her son to leave Pizza University and finish his college degree, she bumps into a life she only dreamed of.Gina doesn’t want to leave, but she has a career, a snarky daughter, a score to settle with her deadbeat brother, and an ex-husband she needs to have a serious talk with. Then there’s the awkward fact that she hasn’t been entirely honest with Marc Edwards, the man in Rome who shows Gina how to live and love.She would regretfully consider their encounter a memory to be cherished, if it wasn’t for the fact that Marc shows up where she teaches, to facilitate college-wide budget cuts. Among her colleagues, he quickly becomes the most egregious person on campus.Marc shares with Gina his prescription for life in the form of five things, none of which involves a budget or a cutback of any kind. Unfortunately, Gina doesn’t take advice well, especially if it could lead to her own happiness.
Stephanie Ledger isn’t a Scottsdale princess anymore. Her messy, never-ending divorce has left her with an empty upscale house, and an even emptier bank account. She swears that she doesn’t want another man in her life-ever, until she meets Joe Schmidt at a ballroom dance class, and the sparks begin to fly.The more time Joe spends with Stephanie, the more he wants their fledgling partnership—on and off the dance floor—to be something more. Unfortunately, he works for the IRS and they are investigating her soon-to-be-ex-husband’s finances, and Stephanie herself. Joe knows that if she ever finds out, he’s toast.Still determined that she’ll never fall in love again, Stephanie ropes Joe into a riotous caper to get some leverage on her lying, lecherous husband in the hopes of finally bringing her divorce to a close. The duo dance their way in and out of trouble, and into each other’s heart, until Stephanie discovers what Joe has been hiding. But will she also discover what everyone around them already knows? While the two of them together may be annoying and imperfect, they are also annoyingly perfect for one another.
Deborah Parker has been on her own for years, but when her San Francisco business goes belly up during the pandemic, she returns with her niece to her childhood home in Phoenix. Once she is back, Debbie is confronted with her childhood at every turn, including her old neighbor Tom Collins. Tom was her older brother’s best friend, her sister’s boyfriend, and Debbie’s secret crush. Together, the two of them try to clear a path for the future by figuring out the mistakes of their past.