Book Cover for Women's Fiction Novel aimed at Gen-X Women

Penny for your Playlist

Maggie Menane

Celebrating her 50th birthday at a Poetry Brothel, Maggie was told by a Palm Reader “your future happiness is tethered to your writing.” Yearning for more stories that feature characters in their 40s and 50s with average bodies, relatable problems and extraordinary yet ordinary coming of middle-age stories, she knew what she wanted to write. Using her years of throwing theme parties and board game nights for her nerdy, accomplished and (mostly) single friends as inspiration, she created the fictional Gen-X game night girls, a.k.a. Triple-G’s. Maggie has raised three amazing young adults (and two old cats), dressed in Cosplay, fostered kittens, worked in a trauma ER and even ran an over 40 Geeky Singles Group on Meet-Up for a while. Her favorite mantras are, “What would Jane and Eleanor do?” and “Be a Hermione in a Voldemort world.”

Women's Fiction/Book Club Fiction/Chick-Lit - has humor and a serious thread. Penny’s attempt to maintain the “perfect” family has led to years of secretly numbing her feelings with food, which her husband Ian interprets as “letting herself go.” With a big promotion and cross-country move on the table, Ian secretly hires a deliciously hot handy-man to build a deck and flirt with his wife, hoping she will literally shape up, or he might ship out without her. Unsettled by the flirtatious attention, Penny starts to face her demons and change - but not in the way any of them could have predicted. Other notes: Contemporary but the main characters were teens in the 80's so has a lot of nostalgia. May be first in a series centered around the 6 women of the Board Game night group - there are three game nights in this book. The women are important/foundational, but the main story arc is specific to Penny in this one. Her love language is making mixed "tapes" and that has a prominent theme in the book. Mother-daughter relationships are big themes. The climax of the book takes place during a 25th wedding anniversary party. She accepts and then gets help with her. binge-eating disorder. Daughter just off to college. Husband is an ass. She is a women of size.

Specifically aimed at Gen-X Women- but in a broader sense, women aged 35-65. Book clubs. Mostly US. Women who feel invisible in society due to age or weight.

Paperback

My web site gen-xoxo.com has a good sense of my tone, colors, whimsy etc which might help.

Book is not about weight loss - it is about accepting who you are at any size - so no scales etc. It is also not a romance, only has romantic elements (spoiler alert, she does not end up with a man, but it is a happily for now ending.)