Valerie Frankel

Valerie Frankel is a seasoned ghostwriter, working with iconic celebrities and VIPs on novels and nonfiction projects. She’s collaborated with Joan Rivers, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Stacy London of TLC’s What Not to Wear, a couple of Real Housewives, one of the Mob Wives, a sex-toy company owner, a pair of Manhattan socialites, social media website founders, and subjects of several other books she’s not at liberty to discuss. In addition to writing books, Frankel is an award-winning journalist. From 1991 to 2001, she was articles editor at Mademoiselle magazine, where she wrote monthly advice columns on sex, men, dating, etiquette, and friendship. A Dartmouth-grad Jersey girl, Frankel lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her two daughters, four cats, and opera singer husband, Stephen Quint. For more information, go to Valeriefrankel.com.

Mom Overboard

Famous novelist Dorothy Ackerman invites her estranged daughter, Rachel, on a four-day cruise to Bermuda to coincide with Mother’s Day and the girl’s 25th birthday. The trip should be a relaxing vacation and bonding opportunity for them. But they’re barely speaking. Both women have ulterior motives for going on the cruise together, and they try to get what they need from each other. A handsome stranger acts as kindling to ignite old grudges and distrust between the Ackermans. By the end of the trip, the two women disembark with a greater understanding of each other and themselves.