My Novels

Lainey Vargas is living her best life in Toronto. She has a job that she loves, an apartment in the city, and her best friend just a few floors above her. The problem? Her family thinks her best friend, Max Walker, has been her boyfriend for half a decade. Unbeknownst to them, Lainey has been with women since her teenage years. With the pressure of her sister’s wedding approaching, Max devises a plan to help Lainey come out to her family by getting her a date to the wedding. From strip clubs to blind dates, Lainey endures all of Max’s plans in the hopes of finding The One and finally coming out to her conservative Filipino parents.

Taylor Phillips was working as a barista in NYC the day the twin towers came crashing down. Seeing her city in shambles, coated in ash, and American lives lost, she enlisted to fight the War on Terror. Daniella Melo, a Rhode Island American History teacher, challenges her class to write letters to soldiers fighting overseas. With one name left and a student short, Daniella takes it upon herself to write letters to Private Taylor Phillips stationed in Afghanistan. Over the next two years, the women exchange letters, sharing stories of their daily lives: Daniella trailing after her rambunctious daughter, Jackie, and dealing with overeager seniors planning prom while Taylor trudges through sand and dirt, driving her humvee in cold deserts. Their friendship continues to grow until it becomes something so much more than either woman expect

Rowark, Rhode Island wasn’t supposed to be the place where Corporal Taylor Phillips found home, but inside a little bungalow was a family she never thought she’d have. All she had to do was finish her service, and she’d get to go home to them. Daniella Melo, however, soon realizes that Taylor’s job isn’t all about fighting bad guys and protecting people as her daughter, Jackie, makes it out to be. With every letter they exchange and each hasty phone call, the distance between them grows strained. In the span of one night, both their worlds are turned upside down, and Daniella is left to pick up the pieces of her life. Without Taylor