Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie

Books can help people forget but also help them cope at the same time, and what I do is important, dammit. Even if you write something dark and twisted, it can help readers escape to another world. Or it can show them that other people are experiencing the same feelings that they are, maybe under different circumstances, but similar nonetheless. It can make you feel not alone when you're lonely, or it can simply entertain you when you're bored. There are so many things that fiction can do, and that's what I want: to be a part of the magic." -Emily

I wanted him to point to something in particular; I wanted to know exactly what the problem was so I could fix it. I wished it could be like a difficult question on an exam. If I'd studied hard and prepared for it, I could solve it. Except people's feelings don't work that way, and my long-term relationship had gone up in smoke, even though, as far as I knew, nothing had started the fire.

At the liquor store, we select a bottle of wine based on one very important factor: price. The cheaper the better. Then we head home, change into comfier clothes, pull out our plastic wineglasses (very classy), and start up a K-drama that we've been meaning to watch for ages. See? This is the great thing about being in your thirties, childless, and living with a roommate. You can do things like this, whereas Allison is probably wrangling her children into bed, trying to reason with them about monsters under the bed or similar.

They have flavors like Hong Kong milk tea and ube and Vietnamese coffee. Spiced persimmon. Mango lassi. Jasmine tea." There's something sexy about Mark listing off gelato flavors for me.

Sunday morning, I make a few posts on social media, something I'm supposed to do as an author to promote myself, but I'm rather unconvinced of the efficacy of posting things like cherry pie milkshake pictures to sell a book that's partially about generational trauma. Not that I have a photo of that milkshake, but it did sound delicious. I can't justify the cost, though if I'd ordered it, I would definitely have posted the picture. Just like I posted a picture of the "chocolate cake" donut I bought a few weeks ago. It wasn't a cake donut but a yeast donut, dipped in chocolate ganache and chocolate cake crumbs, then topped with an actual piece of chocolate cake.

The older I get, the more I realize how different everyone's brain is. I think that's the beauty of a novel. What we see - or don't see - in our minds, our pasts . . . a single novel can be such a different experience for everyone who reads it." -Emily

Holy shit! Fifteen bucks for a milkshake!" I exclaim, looking at the poster for the special of the month: cherry pie milkshake. I, personally, consider fifteen bucks to be too much for a drink that doesn't have alcohol. But as I study the photo, the price point starts to make sense. The milkshake is literally topped with a slice of cherry pie, which is then topped with vanilla ice cream. And it's, like, a full slice of cherry pie, not some itty-bitty version. "It's two desserts in one," Paige says. "Really stretching the definition of a milkshake.