And don’t think you’ll be alone. Michelle promises free baby-sitting services, plus she’ll attend all of your prenatal classes with you and be your coach (unless Michael wants to do it. Somehow we think he will). Jada guarantees you Christmas and summer vacations in the Caribbean every year until the baby is twenty-one. And, as if that wasn’t enough, we enclose this special gift that we saved for you. In return, Jada would like a photo of the smoking ruins of her house.
We love you, but we already said that, didn’t we?
Jada & Michelle
Angie smiled and then looked into the envelope. There, almost stuck to the backing on the envelope’s fold, was another Polaroid. She pulled it out. There was Michelle smiling up at her, with Reid’s face beside her, but Reid wasn’t smiling at all. Instead he was looking down at his crotch, where it was clear that Mr. Happy was not living up to his name. Well, Angie thought, now I’ll have a picture of Daddy to show to the baby. But maybe I’ll wait until the baby is twenty-one. And I’ll let Jada and Michelle explain exactly how it all happened.
If you enjoyed Young Wives, check out these other great Olivia Goldsmith titles.
The best way to beat the system is from the inside...
Meet Jennifer – a smart, sexy woman who has broken through the glass ceiling to become a big-time trader in the world of high finance. When her boss is caught playing fast and loose with the regulations, Jennifer agrees to take the rap. After all, her fiancé is a lawyer with the connections to get her off.
Instead, she ends up in a women's prison; a world a whole lot meaner than Wall Street and where her designer clothes and fancy education count for nothing. She has to learn fast if she wants to survive and she does, once she is accepted by the prison's top 'crew'; a group of smart, strong, scary women led by tough lifer Movita and crazy Cher. These are women that Jennifer would never, ever, have befriended on the outside, but on the inside she soon discovers that working together is the only way out...
Buy the ebook here
There's something about Billy Nolan. It's not just that he's wickedly attractive, it's that any woman he dates and dumps (and he dates and dumps them all) immediately goes on to marry someone else.
Sassy, uptown New Yorker Kate, is immune to Billy's charms but perhaps the 'Billy effect' will work for Kate's friend, Bina, who has fallen apart because her almost-fiancé, Jack, is going away to 'explore his singleness'.
All Kate has to do is get Billy to date Bina and dump her – and then await Jack's return and watch the magic happen. It's a great plan and at first it seems to be working. But the one thing Kate hasn't considered is how Billy feels about it all...
Buy the ebook here
Life in the city isn’t all about sex, shopping and Cosmopolitans...
For Claire, a secretary from Staten Island who takes the ferry each morning into Manhattan, it’s spent working 9 to 5 at a law firm, reading romantic novels, desperately wishing that her life could be as full of excitement as the heroines featured. That is until she is offered her the chance of a trip to London – all expenses paid.
When Claire sets foot on British soil she falls head over heels in love – with a country. Life in NYC is forgotten as she rents a room and sets out to make a whole new life as an American in London. But she reckons without the obstructive efforts of a very strait laced Englishman...
Buy the ebook here
Jon is Mr Perfect – handsome (in a nerdy sort of way), caring, lots of money – so why can't he get a girlfriend? Even his best friend Tracie always goes for bad boys; because women secretly love BAD. Jon's desperate, but Tracie can help – she can teach him the Bad Boy Rules.
A sharp haircut, cool new clothes and a complete attitude transplant later, and Jon's the man of the moment. He can have any woman he wants, and does!
But now Tracie's not so happy... while her girlfriends are all fighting over the new Jon, she seems to be losing her best friend. And she's starting to wonder – has she created a monster?
Buy the ebook here
Acknowledgments
Having written seven novels, I’m beginning to find writing the acknowledgments the most difficult part of the entire process. As you can imagine, there is the chance that I may forget to mention someone important to me. Regretfully, I considered dropping acknowledgments altogether, but it seemed so ungracious. Plus, I’ve been told over and over that readers actually pore over these pages. Every steady reader of my work apparently expects to find pages of “thank you”s even though most of them don’t know any of the people mentioned. Readers, voilà!
Come to find out, Nan Robinson is no longer a Robinson but a Delano and still must be thanked not only for her wonderful help but also the fabulous epigraph. Only note Carl and Rita at Green Tree Nursery make me as happy (keep that sod coming). Like most writers, I am fairly solitary during the day except for my two new loves: Spice Girl and New Baby, brought to me through the careful ministrations of Harold Sokol. Likewise, I need to thank my Line Dogs, Tom and Tony, for giving me my wall and stairway to heaven and Jeff for making the earth move. In addition, I need to correct an error in my last two books. Not since The Bestseller have I thanked those unsung heroes of the publishing world—the sales reps at HarperCollins—for getting my work into bookstores all over the country. Special thanks to Marjorie Braman, Joseph Montebello, Jeffery McGraw, Jane Friedman, and Leonida Karpik for all their endless support.
Construction has played a large part in my life this year—not only in my work but in my living space—so a huge thank you to the Chelsea Hotel for making room for me when I didn’t have one of my own. Also, thank you to Jay and Lewis Allen for sharing Toiy and Villa Allen with me—and for introducing me to Ed Harte, who shares my love of architecture. Nieces and nephews must always be mentioned or they expect bigger gifts on birthdays, so kisses and hugs to Rachel, Ben, Ali, and Michael. There are also some dearest girlfriends who continue to put up with me, even when I disappear into my writing mode: Susan Jedren, Jane Sheridan, Sara Pearson, Linda Grady, Karin Levitas, Lisa Welti, Lynn Phillips, Dale Burg, Rosie Sisto.
Serious thanks for legal (and philosophical) help from: Paul Mahon, Cliff Gilbert-Lurie, Skip “Bait and Switch” Brittenham, and Bert Fields. Even though agents have always been a difficult area for me, I want to thank Nick Ellison for changing my mind about agents and for straightening out all of my publishing issues and to the lovely Alicka Pistek, Jennifer Edwards, and Whitney Lee from Nicholas Ellison, Inc. for their tremendous responsiveness. Likewise, I would like to praise my foreign rights co-agents: Eliane Benisti of France, Ann-Christine Danielsson of Scandinavia, Roberto Santachiara of Italy, Isabel Monteagudo of Spain, Sabine Ibach of Germany, Marijke Lijnkamp of the Netherlands, Jovan Milenkovic and Ana Milenkovic of Eastern Europe. Literary Guild president Roger Cooper was one of the first to believe in me and I’m grateful for his response to this book as well as the care and enthusiasm shown by Marcus Wilhelm, Susan Musman, John Bloom, and the other delightful staff.
Finally, there are the legendary people in the movie industry who are working hard to turn this novel into a great film. Ivan Reitman, Tom Pollack, Dan Goldberg, Joe Medjik, and especially Michael Chinich of Montecito Pictures are brilliant, funny, and understand my purpose with this book. Candy and flowers should also go to Laurie Sheldon for her female input. Totally male as Montecito is, I think you Lost Boys are going to do something great. ICM and particularly Jeff Berg, Barbara Dreyfus, Nancy Josephson, and my cutie Bob Levinson are my Hollywood supporters and all have my gratitude. Oh, and I never leave out Sherry Lansing, my touchstone and friend along with other Paramount people including Alan Ladd, Jr., Jon Goldwyn and Deedee Myers, David Madden, and Robert Cort. Nunzio Nappi, the Bitch of Perkinsville, Carol Sylvia, Robinette Bell, Lenny Bigelow, Debbie, Katie, and Nina LaPoint, Ann Foley, Jerry Offsay, Jacki Judd, Barbara Howard, David Gurenvich, Louise, both Margarets, Michael Kohlmann, Dwight Currie, Charlie Crowley, Lenny Gartner, Pat Rhule, Judy Aqui-Rahim, Barbara Turner, Lexi
e, Max, and Freeway.
About the Author
YOUNG WIVES
Olivia Goldsmith is the author of the international bestsellers The First Wives Club, also a major Hollywood film, Flavour of the Month, Fashionably Late, Bestseller, Marrying Mom and The Switch. Also, with Amy Fine Collins, Simple Isn’t Easy, a practical guide to stylish dressing. She divides her time between her homes in upstate New York and Manhattan.
Praise
Acclaim for Olivia Goldsmith:
‘Fizzing with acerbic dialogue and high-level sexual slapstick, this is a very funny romantic comedy.’
Good Housekeeping
‘More sassy, razor-sharp, laugh-out-loud wit from the bestseller – and some characters so real you’ll want to hug them.’
Evening Telegraph
‘A bubbly, fizzy story’
Daily Mail
‘Goldsmith hands out her characters’ rewards and comeuppances like Jane Austen dealing blackjack … You keep licking your fingers and reaching for the next page as if it were another potato chip.’
Newsweek
Also by the Author
FICTION
The First Wives Club
Flavour of the Month
Fashionably Late
Bestseller
Marrying Mom
The Switch
NON FICTION
Simple Isn’t Easy
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
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www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
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New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
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www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com
Young Wives Page 55