Book Description: After breaking off her engagement, thirty-something writing professor Andi Cutrone abandons New England for her native Long Island to focus on her career and start over. When she meets Devin at a cocktail party, the sight of an honest-to-goodness male escort shocks her—and fascinates her more than a little. Months later, Andi impulsively calls Devin. Over cheesecake in Brooklyn, she offers him a proposition: he will teach her how to be a better lover, and in return, she will give him writing lessons. He agrees, and together they embark upon an intense partnership that proves to be as instructive as it is arousing. For in the midst of lessons in rhetorical theory and foreplay, Andi and Devin delve into deeper questions about truth, beauty, and self, gradually coming face-to-face with the issues at the core of their emotional limitations. Smart, witty, and introspective, Faking It is an engrossing novel about two people discovering their authentic selves.
Amazon Exclusive: Elisa Lorello on Faking It
Every writer I’ve ever met or seen or read about talks about the relationships s/he has with her/his characters. They love them, be they men or women or heroes and villains. As readers we all have favorite characters, people we can imagine running into at the grocery store on a Tuesday, or whisking us off to a tropical island. We fall in love with characters in books as easily as we fall in love with characters from TV or films, or even in real life. Back in 2005, when I had finished the first draft of Faking It, I read a sample chapter to my freshman composition students at the end of the semester (something I used to do to show that I, too, had messy first drafts, and that when it came to writing and revision, I practiced what I taught). No sooner had I finished reading the scene in which Devin and Andi meet at Junior’s did a female student blurt out, "Oh yeah. I’m in love with this guy. I want him."
The class and I laughed, of course, but I nodded my head and added, "Me too." And later, when a reader told me how much she was in love with Sam, I nodded and replied, "Me too."
In fact, if you total all the male protagonists and supporting characters I’ve written to date (including my latest work in progress), I’m completely in love with almost a dozen men. Every single one of them. And I may have a crush on a few women, too.
Like characters in dreams, almost every character I write, male or female, embodies some aspect of me, be it my greatest fear (like flying), strength (writing, or teaching), weakness (who, me--weak? never!), or attribute (thoughtful). That’s not to say that they’re autobiographical, but it certainly opens the door to my empathy for them. Some characters show confidence in certain abilities or aspects of themselves that I’ve never had, while others are completely insecure in ways that I am not. Some have done things I’ve never done, like play jazz or own a coffeeshop. Others share my taste in music and books and TV shows. Some are people I’d love to hang out with, date, or even be. Not a single one of them are even close to perfect. The fun in writing these characters is the ability to make them say or do or be anything I want.
Except I don’t.
At some point, the characters take on a life of their own, and instead of my putting words into their mouths, they’re whispering in my ear. Instead of my telling them where to go, they’re three steps ahead of me. My characters constantly surprise me, and there always comes a point when I know I have to just get out of their way and let them be. I may not always agree with their actions, and I may be shocked by their secrets, but in the end I love them dearly and would stand by any one of them.
The other day, my hairdresser (who’s been reading my latest novel, Why I Love Singlehood) said to me, "I just love Kenny. Was he based on anyone you know in real life?"
"No," I replied, "but if you ever meet someone like him, let me know and give him my phone number." --Elisa Lorello
Review
“Elisa Lorello has delivered a very well written story that any woman can appreciate. It’s got breakup scenes, the revenge meeting after losing weight, the ability to enjoy sex without self-conscious fear, and the promise of a real, loving relationship. I connected with it on every level.” ―bestromancestories.com
Review
"Elisa Lorello has delivered a very well written story that any woman can appreciate. It’s got breakup scenes, the revenge meeting after losing weight, the ability to enjoy sex without self-conscious fear, and the promise of a real, loving relationship. I connected with it on every level."--bestromancestories.com
From the Back Cover
After breaking off her engagement, thirty-something writing professor Andi Cutrone abandons New England for her native Long Island to focus on her career and start over. When she meets Devin at a cocktail party, the sight of an honest-to-goodness male escort shocks her and fascinates her more than a little. Months later, Andi impulsively calls Devin. Over cheesecake in Brooklyn, she offers him a proposition: he will teach her how to be a better lover, and in return, she will give him writing lessons. He agrees, and together they embark upon an intense partnership that proves to be as instructive as it is arousing. For in the midst of lessons in rhetorical theory and foreplay, Andi and Devin delve into deeper questions about truth, beauty, and self, gradually coming face-to-face with the issues at the core of their emotional limitations. Smart, witty, and introspective, "Faking It" is an engrossing novel about two people discovering their authentic selves.
Elisa Lorello is the author of "Ordinary World," a sequel to "Faking It," and coauthor (with Sarah Girrell) of "Why I Love Singlehood." She lives in North Carolina.
"
About the Author
Elisa Lorello was born and raised on Long Island, the youngest of seven children. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and launched a career teaching rhetoric and composition. In addition to teaching, Elisa wrote the Kindle best-selling novels Faking It and Ordinary World, Why I Love Singlehood (co-authored with Sarah Girrell), and Adulation. After six years in North Carolina, she has recently returned to the northeast.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
February
I GATHERED MY BOOKS, pens, student essays, water bottle, coat, and purse as the students sauntered out five minutes early, leaving behind muddy sneaker prints and lackluster enthusiasm. It happens to the best of us at one time or another: we have a bad class, we bomb, we put our students to sleep. Today one of them actually snored.
With a briefcase and a tote bag slung over one shoulder apiece, I exited the musty room as the next class of students—poli-sci, I think—began filing in. My day was done; at least the teaching part was. Three stacks of essays awaited my zealous reading and feedback. “Zealous” was an overstatement; at best, I could get about five essays done per hour, three hours max. And I needed breaks in between. If only our brains had scanning machines. If only mind melds really worked. It’s my dirty little secret that I’d rather be looking at The Simpsons than Shakespeare. I know I’m inches from being found out, about everything…
I’d moved back to Long Island because Maggie, my best friend and former colleague from South Coast Community College in Massachusetts, was now director of the writing program at Brooklyn University and offered me a position assisting her and teaching full-time. Maggie and I had collaborated on a number of projects and articles at SCCC (my favorite being the one we never submitted for publication but wrote to blow off steam: “Fuck the Modes: We Want Artifacts!”). We’d spend hours in her office, discussing composition theory and pedagogy and Wendy Bishop articles and what it was really like to work with Lad Tobin (“the Woody Allen of rhetoric and composition,” I call him). She always knew when I was approaching her office by the rhythm and sound my shoes made on the carpet. We were allies, colleagues, and friends all at the same time. I couldn’t resist the chance to work with her again.
So, that was the reason. (Oh yeah, and I also broke up with my fiancé…)
I’d been back on the Island for only six months, and frankly, I was surprised at how long it was taking me to adjust. I’d been away for ten years, living in a small town in southeastern Massachusetts (small by Long Island’s standards, at least). Fairhaven echoed faint similarities to the Northport of my youth and young adulthood: split-level housing developments on cul-de-sacs, nearby shopping centers and malls minutes from the parkway (although in Massachusetts they call it the “highway”), and a reasonable driving distance to and from both the city and the ocean. The familiarity felt comfortable.
I used to think the Island was life affirming. Perhaps because it was home. Or maybe it was the “Mini-Me” faking it of Manhattan. Whatever it was, I had spent the last ten years writing about and romancing Long Island from my Massachusetts digs. I wrote about the roads, the beaches, the shopping, the people, the accents, the sports teams, the Hamptons, you name it. But now that I was back and paying a thousand dollars more in rent for a thousand less square feet of space, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was so energizing about this strap-on to the Big Apple and its wannabe inhabitants. Nevertheless, I took the job at Brooklyn U and a residential apartment in East Meadow, about fifteen minutes away from the Long Island Railroad, and the cost of commuting was killing me each month. Some days I would drive all the way to Brooklyn; other days I’d drive to the train station, take the train to Queens, and switch to the subway. I’d forgotten how everything on Long Island was high-maintenance. When you put a high-maintenance woman in a low-maintenance town, the woman just stands out as having it all together. Put that same woman back into the town that made her high-maintenance to begin with, and you’ve simply got another stressed-out New Yorker, no different from anyone else. Now I found myself missing—and writing about— the small shores of West Island Beach, the slow service of Pop’s Coffeehouse, and the shrill sounds of New England accents.
But that was all I had, it seemed. Memories.
It’s not that I didn’t look for anything else. I kept an eye out for single professors when I attended seminars or campus workshops on writing across the curriculum, or evenings spent at poetry readings in coffee shops. No matter where I went, though, unavailability was everywhere. Men were married, involved, divorced with children, too old, too young, or gay. They were Republican, unemployed, or mama’s boys. They were atheists and Giants fans. And I couldn’t help but wonder if I was projecting an unavailability of my own. Because none of them were Andrew.
Nothing to watch tonight, nowhere to go, nothing in the fridge, nothing in my wallet. Essays to read, laundry to do, bills to pay, rooms to clean, and the dust was forming its own kind of woven fabric on the furniture. No calls, e-mails, letters.
My God, there has to be something better than this. This is not enough. Not anymore.
I thought that as I walked through the hallways, down the icy sidewalks, and to the train. And that’s when it all began.
