Hello from New York City!

After a wonderful weekend  full of brunches, long walks and flea markets with old friends (have you been to Gifted, the Brooklyn Flea holiday market?  Go!) I’m now running around for meetings (plus a little more shopping…) and other exciting Wish-related things.

None more exciting than this Publisher’s Weekly review, which came in yesterday and is so great!  (Read the full review here.)

Wish Alexandra Bullen. Scholastic/Point, $17.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-545-13905-2

“Bullen delivers an enticing first novel about twin sisters—one alive and one dead…The sisterly dynamic will draw readers in as Violet offers Olivia everything from fashion advice to counsel about boys, and Olivia gradually re-enters the world of the living, making new friends and finding romance. As Olivia’s life becomes fuller it gets more complicated, too, but the story never surrenders to melodrama or gloom. Bullen’s prose is solid, her head-to-toe descriptions of clothing are lavish, and she makes the sights of San Francisco come alive in this sweet story of siblings determined to remain inseparable. Ages 14–up. (Jan.)”

Lavish!  Can you believe it?  I’ll tell you who can’t…my mom, who is here with me for a few days and has put me on a strictly-enforced flannel-ban. For example.  Yesterday afternoon we were in a boutique on the Upper West Side, and one of the sales girls literally locked me in the dressing room to whisper that my mom had ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN her from bringing me anything flannel or a single pair of jeans, and that I was to only try on dresses from here on out.

Two hours and several consultations with a “belt specialist” later (do you know how much of a difference a belt can make on a dress?  Also, do you know that a belt can be very expensive?) I found one dress that my mom loved, a fancy black slippery thing that is very grown-up….but not before a secret, second dress was slipped under the door by my plaid-loving accomplice.  What?  It’s a dress. It just happens to also be flannel.

And it’s perfect.

The End.