Publishers Marketplace: Joanne Levy

Closets are for Clothes (YA)
Jessica Daniels is almost sixteen and has never been kissed. Her best friend Monica takes it upon herself to make sure Jessica gets her first kiss before her sixteenth birthday and even lines up the school hottie, Dave Harper to do the deed. The problem is, Jessica's not sure she wants her first kiss to be with a boy.

Jessica faces all kinds of upheaval when she finally admits the truth to herself and those she loves. She realizes quickly her greatest fear has come true; none of her relationships will ever be the same. With the help of Dave Harper and his two dads(!), she realizes that being gay does not mean you're a freak destined to live a life on the fringes of society.

Closets are for Clothes deals with the subject of being a gay teen with warmth and humor, providing the reader with a little guidance and the assurance that even though coming out can be the scariest experience in the world, you don't have to do it alone. This is a story not only about being gay, but about endurance, strength and the importance of being true to yourself.

Small Medium at Large (YA) (Work in Progress)
Lilah Bloom is just an average teenager. She's starting a band with her best friend, tries for decent grades and is dreaming of finding the perfect guy. That is, until her regular life becomes not-so-regular when she gets hit by lightning and can suddenly hear dead people. What seems at first to be a cool trick quickly turns serious when Lilah realizes she is burdened with huge responsibilities. Alienating the school's popular girls, helping her dead grandmother find her divorced Dad a new wife and saving the life of the school's hottest guy were not items on Lilah's tenth grade to-do list, but these are just some of the things she has to deal with in Small Medium at Large, a 60,000 word YA Paranormal.

Shiksappeal (YA)

Pop Quiz: Hannah Goldberg is stressing out because:
A. She just moved to a new school where she knows exactly zero people
B. She looks Chinese but doesn’t fit in with the Chinese kids
C. She’s Jewish but doesn’t look like any of the Jewish kids
D. Her boyfriend dumped her because he doesn’t believe in long distance relationships
E. All of the above.

Answer: E

Hannah Goldberg is not your normal Jewish teenager, but she desperately wants to be. After moving from Toronto to a new town and being plunged into a new school where no one knows that she was adopted from an orphanage in China into a religious Jewish family, Hannah finds herself knee deep in an identity crisis. Where does she fit in? Who is she and what does she stand for? And how does her religion fit into everything?

At 54,000 words, Shiksappeal is a story about fitting in, and more importantly, fitting into your own skin.

What Happens in Vegas...
Tracy Levine has never considered herself lucky; she was born with only one arm, her mother abandoned her and her twin sister at the tender age of four and her editor has just cancelled her comic strip.
But when she becomes the sole winner of a 20 million dollar lottery jackpot, she knows her quiet, cloistered life will never be the same. Her first order of business: to rescue her sister Carly from her abusive marriage.

Overwhelmed by her sudden celebrity and the unwanted attention from strangers, Tracy needs to hide out, say on a quiet beach in Tahiti. But Carly, suddenly freed from the confines of her stifling marriage wants to party. And where better to party than Las Vegas? But even 20 mil can’t protect them from a jilted ex or the mother they haven’t seen in a quarter of a century. And it certainly can’t protect them from their own personal demons.

At 80 000 words, "What Happens in Vegas..." is a heartwarming story of two sisters embarking on a journey to learn not only about each other, but also about themselves.

The Devil's in the Details
Life was not going exactly as planned for Rebecca Gold; her boss was a conniving blowhard, her best friend was moving to Paris and her family was still reeling from the loss of her favorite aunt.

There was one bright spot on the horizon: Becky was only weeks away from eloping, marrying the man of her dreams in a secret ceremony on a cruise ship. But instead of walking down the aisle with her fiancée, she ends up taking an unfortunate nap in her bathtub.

Upon arriving in Heaven, Becky learns her death has mistakenly been classified a suicide; something that could land her in Hell to burn for all of eternity.

With the help of her recently deceased aunt, her misogynistic roommate and her surfer-dude guardian angel, Rebecca files her appeal in Heaven, desperate to prove that her death was accidental.

One Good Reason
When Vicky Blumenfeld comes home one day from work and her husband announces he wants either a baby or a divorce, her choice is clear: time to pack her bags.
But after consoling herself with a night out with her girlfriends, a night full of drink and debauchery, Vicky finds herself in a family way. Pregnant and soon-to-be-divorced are not words Vicky had ever thought would be used to describe her and now she was both. In the end, after much soul searching, Vicky decides to give the baby up for adoption, to allow a family to raise her daughter in a way she knows she never could.

At 87,000 words "One Good Reason" is a journey of discovery for one woman who had thought she had it all, only to have her life turn completely upside-down in ways she had never imagined.

Low Fat Schmaltz
Twenty-seven year old Rachel Stern was in a rut. Despite her mother’s best efforts, she was still single. At two-hundred and forty-two pounds, she still lived at home; the victim of a constantly cooking Jewish mother whose force-feeding techniques had become legendary. Rachel’s Friday and Saturday evenings were spent with her parents and her Saturday mornings consisted of wedding gown shopping with her also single best friend. She was clearly going nowhere.
Finally, unable to stand herself and her weight problem anymore, Rachel signs up for Weight Watchers.
At one of her meetings, Rachel meets Finnegan Schwartz, a young Jewish man who has already been successful at the program, having lost a hundred pounds. Finn champions Rachel and becomes her impromptu weight loss coach and newest friend.
“Low Fat Schmaltz” is one woman’s account of her quest not only for a slimmer body but for personal growth, strength and self acceptance. Along her journey, she encounters challenges including her mother’s overzealous attempts to fix her up, bizarre family dinners and crises that threaten to unravel the entire Stern family.

Dating Kosher
If diamonds are a girl’s best friend, then a man willing to provide them is a girl’s second best friend, or at least very good acquaintance. This was scripture according to Shoshanna Rosenblatt, self proclaimed spoiled Jewish princess. The problem was finding such a man, and preferably in time to accompany her to her father’s wedding where she would be seen and judged by countless important people. The outfit had to be perfect, the man had to be stunning and her look had to be flawless: it was absolutely imperative that she be fabulous.
But things weren’t going as planned for Shoshanna; her recent boyfriend abandoned her for a business trip, ex boyfriends were either unavailable or married off and she was running out of resources. Enter Nate Cooper, a blue collar Irish air conditioning technician; the furthest thing from Shoshanna’s ideal man. But in her desperation, Shoshanna bribes Nate into pretending to be her new Jewish boyfriend and escorting her to the wedding. And anyway, what were a few white lies told to friends and family?
“Dating Kosher” is a heartwarming story of family dysfunction, scandal and acceptance colored with the warmth and humor surrounding a Jewish family’s attempt to rebuild and grow within the context of modern day values.