Margaret Lashley

A Midlife Meltdown ... with a Side of Fries. Val's long-suffering life as a patient daughter, dutiful wife and reliable workhorse has turned her into a snarky, miserable nag. She has the house, the husband and the career. The only thing missing is the happy. Before she's set out to pasture, Val wants one more go around the track. Unbridled. In Italy. La dolce vita or bust. Will Val find her happy ending abroad? Or someplace she never thought to look?...

It's moving day for Val. And, as usual, anything that can go wrong does--beginning with her new boyfriend, Tom. When he shows up at her doorstep with an unwelcome delivery, Val becomes the unwitting center of attention for a whole new world of weirdos... Whack-jobs whose antics could pin Val for human dismemberment. Plagued with a hot cop on her tail and a mean one on her trail, Val is forced to turn to old friends and new ones in her attempt to point...

Most definitely contains nuts. All Val Fremden wanted was a quiet holiday away from her oddball family. But that just ain't gonna happen. When Val and her boyfriend arrive at her mother's "country estate" in Hicksville, Florida, the annual family fruitcake competition is well underway. And there's more than a few fruits and nuts in the running. But the biggest contest is between Val and her mom. As their battle of wills heats up, unexpected ingredients...

Change happens. Even when it doesn't make any cents. Planning for a rainy day has never been Val's forte. But when a storm brews up right in her own backyard, Val's forced to get off her lounge chair and spring into action. A shady, ham-fisted developer's threatening to knock down Val's favorite beach haunt, along with all the precious memories held within its shabby walls. With the owner's signature on the bill of sale, the plan seems like a done...

Old habits die hard. But old lounge chairs die harder. Val can't solve all the world's problems, so she's settled on two: smashing every tacky figurine on the planet ... and ridding the universe of her boyfriend's hideous Barcalounger. During a neighborhood yard sale, the fate of Tom's beloved chair comes down to a wager. But what Val puts up as an ante proves hard to live without, and soon has her wrestling with the demons she keeps locked inside...