Critical Praise

"In her debut novel, Weiss deftly explores complex issues surrounding friendship and familial ties. This story of a woman wedged between layers of guilt and loss trying to make her way back to feeling normal the best way she knows how is a winner. This search for meaning leads her on a path of self-discovery --- and to a place that's unexpected yet fulfilling."

——Romantic Times,   Rating: * * * *

"The opening 20 pages of this debut griefer show New Yorker Alexandra Justice, then 24, bonding with her brother Ashley --- 34 and dying of AIDS in his Upper West Side apartment --- after years of being only in vague touch. The remainder of the novel takes place four years later with flashbacks to Alex's childhood, college years and recovery from her brother's death. She inherited a million dollars from Ashley, a successful documentarian, so when she gets fired from her director's assistant job while caring for him, she has the freedom to grieve in her own way in the aftermath. She meets Tucker, a dilettante painter and billionaire's son; dances 'til dawn and takes road trips with her gay friend Jax and her best friend Jordy; visits her uncle diagnosed with cancer; and ultimately understands how to play the cards she was dealt. Anyone who has endured the pain of a dying loved one will recognize the feelings behind this often melancholy dirge and Alex's slow, painful finding of her way."

—Publishers Weekly

"[T]he balance between sad and humorous moments [is] very well done. That is not always easy to accomplish in this type of setting… Ms. Weiss has a fabulous debut novel on her hands and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next."

—Coffee Time Romance

"Characters so beautifully crafted and realistic, you'll spend the rest of your life looking for them on the streets of Manhattan. This brilliant first novel by Meri Weiss is a comic masterpiece which bravely deals with the stark emptiness of tragedy and the ultimate redemption through friendship and the power of trust."

——Simon Van Booy, author of The Secret Lives of People in Love