Shelley Lieber is an author with a
split personality. As The Wordy
Woman, publishing consultant, she wrote 4Ps to Publishing Success and Publishing
Made Easy & Profitable for new and aspiring authors. Her wilder side
writes erotic fiction under the pen name Elyse Grant. The Prince Charming Hoax is her debut
novel. A third personality common to both Shelley and Elyse is Vegan Novelist, who blogs
about vegan food and lifestyle.
Shelley is what native North
Carolinians call a “halfback.” Originally from New York, she moved to Florida,
then to North Carolina. Shelley now lives in Asheville, NC, with her husband,
who is remarkably patient and skillful at adjusting to her personality
switches.
THE PRINCE CHARMING HOAX, a novel by Elyse Grant (aka
Shelley Lieber), is the steamy hot and often funny story of best friends Leah
Gold and Roxanne Stein, each trying to break free of the “happily ever after”
fairy tale myth. Abandoned by her latest Prince Charming on the eve of what she
expected to be the start of a new life, Leah begins an introspective journey through
her past for answers. When she discovers what really stands between her and
happiness, she sets off on a mission to help spare other women the pain of
looking for love in all the wrong places—even though she knows her crusade may just
be a battle that destroys her real prince. In contrast to the reclusive Leah,
Roxie teeters on the edge of self-destruction as she tries to satisfy her
unquenchable thirst for excitement. Drugs and sex don't diminish her cravings,
and the man she falls for, while charming, is no prince. Once they team
up on a crazy trip from their South Florida home to Philadelphia and New York,
they stumble onto how to save themselves, each other, and perhaps womankind—a
surprise to everyone, especially themselves.
Excerpt from The Prince Charming Hoax, a novel which falls into the categories of
contemporary erotic romance, women’s literature, and boomer fiction.
Leah was in her office catching up on
mail after returning from San Francisco and her first trip with Doug. The phone
rang, and she picked up absently, noticing that she had missed her car payment
while she was away.
“Leah Gold.”
“Hey, Leah! Where have you been? I
called a few times. Did you get my messages?”
“Oh, hi, Jonathan. Yes, but I was away,
and right now I’m up to my eyeballs in past-due bills and other fun mail.
What’s up?”
“I had called to ask you if you wanted
to go to the Las Olas Art Show last weekend, but too late for that. Lucky you,
though, there’s a good festival going on in Delray next weekend. Want to come?”
“Hmm. Sounds good, but I’ll be
working.” Leah hesitated. She wanted to be honest. “Jonathan, I’m seeing Doug
again, so it’s not likely that I’ll be going on the circuit of art fairs with
you this year. I’ll be traveling with Doug and probably will be away for most
of the shows.”
“Doug? Was that the banker guy?”
“Yes.”
“So, what’s this about traveling?”
Leah explained the situation to
Jonathan, and because she was distracted with sorting her mail while talking,
she let it slip that Doug was married and had a family. When she realized she
revealed more than she intended, she stopped abruptly. “Listen, I better go now
and get this stuff taken care of. I’ll call you back later.”
“Leah, wait. Let me tell you something
first. That guy isn’t getting laid at home, and now he has some foxy babe
willing to follow him around and fuck him every time he goes on a business
trip. He’s never going to leave her.”
Leah gasped, surprised and insulted by
his outburst.
“How dare you talk to me like that? Do
you think I’m some sort of moron? You don’t understand. You’re just like my
brother.” Leah’s shaking voice had escalated to a shriek by the end of her
sentence.
“David said the same thing?” Jonathan
demanded.
Leah breathed in slowly, sorry she
blurted out too much again. “Not exactly. He said Doug would never leave his
kids, and he wasn’t worth having if he did,” she admitted.
Jonathan softened his voice and his
attitude. “Leee-ah, you know we’re only telling you these things because we
care about you.”
“Well, you are both wrong. You don’t
understand. Doug is different. He really loves me.”
“I guess we’ll see about that, won’t
we? I’ll tell you what, Leah. You better take him for all he’s worth while this
lasts. Because at the end, all you’re going to have are some nice photos of the
trips you took and a bunch of expensive gifts.”
“You know, I’m sorry I told you about
this at all. Let’s just keep our relationship professional for now. Call me if
you have any clients that need copy writing and I’ll let you know if I need an
illustrator. I’ll see you around, Jonathan.” Leah slammed down the phone.
“Of all the nerve! Jonathan doesn’t
want to me to be with anyone else, but he didn’t want me enough to commit
himself, either. You can’t have it both ways, asshole,” Leah yelled at the
phone.
But it shook her faith in her decision
to have the people she respected tell her she was making a mistake. And it
bothered her that she lied to her daughter—well, not exactly lied, but
stretched the truth. She told Ali that Doug and his wife were separated and in the
process of getting a divorce. A matter of semantics, she reasoned. They did
live in separate rooms, and they were getting a divorce—even if Amanda didn’t
know it yet.
Leah had a sudden unsettling flash.
What if she were the one who was
going to get dumped, but didn’t know it? No, she shook her head. She and Doug
were meant to be together. He was so good for her. Her writing was flourishing,
and she already had the outline for her book proposal done.
Leah smiled and started to reread
Doug’s emails, which were filled with love and “impure” thoughts, as he called
them. She kept their written exchanges private, but she knew if her brother or
her friends could read Doug’s letters, they would understand.
They couldn’t see how he looked at her
or know how he made her feel. “They are wrong, all of them. I know him and they
don’t. And one day they will see that I am right.”
Leah pushed aside the feeling that her
words sounded empty, even to herself.
LINKS
Amazon: http://amzn.to/Y5YRaC
Shelley Lieber: http://shelleylieber.blogspot.com
Elyse Grant: http://elysegrant.blogspot.com
Vegan Novelist: http://vegannovelist.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/shelleylieber
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wordywoman
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