Big Sexy Love

Olive Brewster lives a small, careful life. She works at the local market, stays in her childhood home, and has never felt a pull toward anything bigger. Then her best friend Birdie, who is dying in a hospital bed, makes a request: track down her first love, Chuck, before time runs out.

Chuck is somewhere in New York City, a place Olive has never visited. Getting there is only the start of the problem. Finding him means dealing with Seth, a cocky comedy writer who treats her as a joke, and with a bored socialite who takes a sudden interest in her. Chuck himself seems set on staying hidden.

This is a romantic comedy with a comic tone, built around a sheltered woman who is pushed far outside her routine. The search for someone else's lost love drives the plot, and Olive's own nerve is tested along the way.

The setup carries real sadness, since Birdie's illness sets the clock, but the book keeps its humour front and centre. Expect a story that moves from a quiet small-town life into the noise of a big city, with a prickly pairing between Olive and Seth at its centre.