Thoughts While Having Sex — Stephanie Lehmann

"All through the movie, I kept salivating. And I felt like he must be able to hear me swallowing, so he must know that I was salivating, so he must know that I wanted him. And I didn't want him to know that my body is capable of such bodily excretions because any evidence of stimulation suggests that I'm capable of losing control, which is not to be desired, because loss of control can be downright dangerous.
In any case, my mouth kept watering during the movie."


Um, could someone turn off my brain?
The plays that 25-year-old Jennifer Ward writes for Off-Off Broadway are no match for the drama being played out in her mind on a minute-to-minute basis. She worries that she's getting hooked on a health food store sleep aid. She didn't pass her last Cosmo quiz. And can't eat cheesecake, take a meeting, or indulge in a sexual fantasy without being overpowered by a completely hilarious chorus of desire and doubt battling for control of her head space. It's tough being the good girl when your psyche's in sabotage mode.


Now?
But beneath the noise of her own thoughts lie more painful voices Jennifer would rather not hear--voices that whisper to her about the dramatic life and heartbreaking death of her sister. Their love/hate relationship haunts more than Jennifer's memories; it colors her work, finding its way into the relationship of the two sisters in her latest play. Not that Jennifer intends to let anyone know about all that stuff--certainly not Peter, the sexy director who seems to be finding his way into her fantasies more and more...or Kelly, the gorgeous, ambitious actress who may be playing up to Peter, too. But the person Jennifer needs to hide from the most is herself, and when things take a wild turn for the worst, she just may get the role of a lifetime--and a chance to confront her real life.


Please?
In this wickedly funny and heartwrenchingly honest debut novel, Stephanie Lehmann introduces a true-blue heroine in Jennifer Ward who proves that no matter how booming our self-doubts can sound, nothing speaks louder than hope--and love.