
Books In Progress

Practiced Seduction
A Novel
A psychologist’s sex life is supposed to remain private, but when she discovers her psychiatrist ex-lover has sexually abused her new patient, what will win out—self-protection, compassion, or dread?
Dr. Rina Kalman is burned out at work and doom-scrolling about ticking biological clocks. She ended a painful, long-distance relationship with a psychiatrist, Philippe, only to find he has moved nearby and is hawking a self-help book, The Paleo Dyad, with his new wife. Adding to Rina’s angst, her patient, ballet dancer Lilah, is inexplicably hostile. Lilah is a volatile survivor of childhood sexual abuse, but has qualities Rina envies: unusual beauty, a baby on the way, and a tech mogul husband.
After in-session tensions climax, Lilah reveals that she sought out Rina because of their mutual connection with Philippe. Philippe had sex with Lilah during therapy in the guise of “treating” her sexual problems. To make Lilah jealous, he revealed details about his sex life with Rina. Now Lilah needs Rina’s help to corroborate her story and expose Philippe’s malpractice. With the aid of a malpractice attorney whom Rina finds all too appealing, the women resolve to bring Philippe to justice—but Rina has no idea how dangerous Philippe can be in the service of his own ego.
BETA READS IN PROGRESS
Julia's Golden Pearls
A Novel
A physician buys an extravagant pearl necklace to celebrate retirement and the joys of boomer sex, only to have her boyfriend vanish when her breast cancer returns. After encountering an old friend she is challenged to let love in before her time runs ou
Were you amazed at the sexual odyssey of the perimenopausal heroine of All Fours? Get into position for the erotic adventures of senior sex expert Dr. Julia Klein, who perpetually takes care of others but dreads becoming dependent. A friend from residency days confesses to a forty-year crush on Julia, yet she fears he will leave like her last boyfriend. His nurturing is so seductive that she tries to push him away before she needs him too much. Her astrophysicist son is starting IVF with his wife, prickly Dana, who rejects Julia’s mothering while juggling weaving, science writing, and an affair. Zach’s obsession with a neutron star collision almost derails the infertility treatment, but Julia and Dana persist in their struggle to reach a detente. Julia also tackles her friend Natalie's depression, not realizing that Natalie’s losses and regrets go beyond widowhood and cancelled funding for her mRNA vaccine research. As Julia deals with her cancer, she discovers that striving for perfection is preventing her from enjoying the people she loves and the life she has left.
Julia’s Golden Pearls is structured with three points of view: Julia, Natalie, and Dana, each woman hiding but yearning to be seen.


QUERYING

