Fiction & Flowers Giveaway and Guest Post: Elisa Lorello, author of Faking It

Please join me in welcoming Elisa Lorello, author of the new novel Faking It!

After breaking off her engagement, thirty-something Andi Cutrone yields New England to her ex and flees home to Long Island. There, she devotes her time to teaching in the writing program at Brooklyn University and making a fresh start. Then she meets Devin, a male escort whose client list seems to include at least half of the accomplished women she knows. He is handsome, charismatic, and absolutely out of her league, but she can’t deny he has a certain…something. And so Andi makes him a proposition: if he will teach her to be a better lover, she will teach him to be a writer. He agrees, and together they embark upon an intense partnership that proves to be every bit as instructive as it is arousing. For in the midst of lessons in rhetorical theory and foreplay, Andi and Devin delve into deeper questions about truth, beauty, and self, stripping away the emotional walls each has built up. Smart, witty, and introspective, Faking It is an engrossing novel about two people discovering their authentic selves.

The professor and MaryAnn never had it so good


You know that game people play, the “deserted island” game? You know, where you’d think about the books, movies, albums, kitchen appliance, celebrity, etc. you’d most want to be stranded on a desert island with. Of course, this must be a magic island with electricity and unlimited batteries for you to survive in such luxury, but that’s not the point of the game, of course. The point is to examine the things you love—I mean really love—and think about why you could go extended periods without throwing said item off a cliff after so many viewings, listenings, ramblings, etc.

A friend of mine recently asked me about the five books I would want to have with me on a deserted island, and so I came up with a list. And let me tell you, this was no easy assignment. I think my masters thesis was easier to complete than this list. (Ok, so I exaggerate—hey, I’m a writer!)

But for this blog post, I thought it’d be more fun to imagine which books Devin and Andi (the protagonists in Faking It) would want on their respective islands.

Andi’s Top Three

Straight Man by Richard Russo

Ok, so this is really on my list, but given that Andi and I are both residents of the academy, I figured this would have to be on her list as well. Russo captures academic absurdity in all its glory, right down to the main character Hank threatening to kill a duck a day if he doesn’t get a budget. (Hey, is that any more absurd than the way Congress operates?) Straight Man possesses some of the qualities of other Russo novels—small, working class town settings, parental issues (always in academia), and a comedy of errors. But Russo really nailed it in this one. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he went undercover in my Alma Mater.

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

I think so many writers fell in love with language early on after reading Dr. Seuss. I was originally going to put Green Eggs and Ham on this list, but figured that since this is on a deserted island, Andi might be prone to eat said book if there was a food shortage. And if things are really bad off, she might even hallucinate the Cat in the Hat and start having conversations with him a la Seuss style. I don’t think she’d mind that too much.

Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner

Andi’s a scholar in her field—she’s well versed in the craft of memoir and probably has tons of pieces that she absolutely adores and could’ve taken to this island. But since meeting Devin, she’s learned to explore her playful side, too. My guess is that she passed by Good In Bed hundreds of times, first stopping to look at the cover, the next time picking it up to read the jacket flap, the next time reading the first page, and so on, before finally purchasing it (and she probably threw in a Annie Dillard collection the way one throws in a pack of chewing gum while buying condoms). Weiner’s first and bestselling novel about a journalist who finds out her boyfriend is writing a column about his sex life with her just might be the quintessential chick lit book, although I think Andi and Cannie have some things in common (their saracasm, their body issues, etc.) and she would secretly find this book quite appealing.

Devin’s three

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown

It’s not my taste, but Devin has been on a reading hiatus for a long time before meeting Andi. This would be the perfect book or him to start with. It was still riding the popularity wave during the time that I wrote Faking It, and given Devin’s art background and his sense of whimsical adventure, this is right up his alley. (Perhaps he might also feel that this was his way to stick it to the Catholic Church, of which he wasn’t too fond at the time.)

My Name is Asher Lev by Chiam Potok

Again, this book is one of my favorites, but let’s just say that Devin has to read it. Seriously, I would sit down in front of him and watch him read it—he would be hooked. Potok so beautifully, painfully paints the story of a Hasidic Jewish boy whose exceptional gift upsets his parents’ religious lives and outrages their little Brooklyn community. If only I could go to a museum and view an actual Lev! This story makes me want to take out my pencils and sketch pad and start drawing again. Every. Time.

Any book on Impressionism, as long as it had full-length, full-color, glossy pictures. Although Devin would be the first one to tell you, ain’t nuthin’ like seeing the real thing.

California Blooms, home of the freshest boutique-grown roses, has been kind enough to donate a dozen roses to one lucky winner! The roses can be delivered anywhere in the continental U.S. You don't need an excuse to treat yourself to roses and a good book!

The flowers can be delivered to you or a loved one! How great is that!?!

WANT TO WIN A COPY OF THIS BOOK? AND FLOWERS?

{March 15-31, 2011}

• Only residents of the Continental U.S. are eligible to win
• No P.O. Boxes please
• Giveaway copies will be sent directly to winners from the publisher
• Winners will be randomly selected using random.org and contacted via email.  

To win, please complete the following:

1. Enter the mailing address where you wish to have the book and flowers delivered in the form below.
2. Tweet or blog about this giveaway. Leave a link to your tweet or blog post in the comments section.
3. Like California Blooms on Facebook. Or follow California Blooms on Twitter. (Leave your @twittername in the comments section)
4. Follow Elisa Lorello on Twitter (Leave your @twittername in the comments section)
5. Join Faking It Fans on Facebook
6. In the comments section, please leave your email address (If you win, I will need to be able to contact you), and your answer to the following question: Which 3 books would you want to have a deserted island?

*Thanks to Little Bird Publicity & California Blooms for providing the prize!

This giveaway is open to US residents only. This giveaway will end at 11:59pm CST on March 31st.