User:Agapexrisi/sandbox

Author, Elaine Franklin

Genre: Fun Fiction

Publisher: Putnam Smith

Plot Summary: Overweight in Beverly Hills? That’s a misdemeanor. Overweight in show business? Ahh, that’s practically a felony, and JOANNA LEIGHTON, an interior designer on a local television show, semi-famous and over-weight, jokingly expects to be arrested at any time.

She’s thrilled to hear that the show is going national and crushed when told that she either loses a great deal of weight quickly or loses her job.

Depressed, Joanna spies an extraordinary ring in an antique store, makes a wish, and asks to be skinny. Miraculously, her wish comes true, her body shrinks in a matter of weeks, and the pounds vaporize like ice cream left out in the sun. At first, it feels like champagne pouring through her heart.

Certain that everyone will be thrilled for her, she’s stunned that her friends and family believe she has an eating disorder. Her marriage changes from relaxed and happy to emotionally charged, the television hostess wants her fired, and Joanna’s world-famous movie star client decides she’s now worthy of his extreme private attention.

Joanna’s world has tumbled out of it’s orbit, and all she wants is the life she used to have, but the antique store has disappeared, and she can’t find her way back to her husband and friends. Once Upon a Time is the True story of what happens when If Only comes true. BACKGROUND: Elaine Franklin met her husband when she was 15, and he was an older man of 17. He invited her to an April Fool's dance at his high school; she jokes that it was the biggest April Fool’s joke of all time because she got him for life! She’s always loved writing, and while she was busy raising her two girls, she went to UCLA to study writing. At first, she tried her hand at a spy novel because her husband likes them, but the research depressed her. She’s always enjoyed light- hearted books and movies that made her feel better about everything. She loves “meeting” people in the books and going along with them on their journeys. Laughing is a great cure all. When life gets grim, snuggling up with a fun book is like a massage for the heart and soul. It's a vacation that you can take again and again. The other thing that’s a great cure all is chocolate. It sends its siren call to her, and so do tiramisu and crunchy cookies. A lot of her character’s reactions to desserts come straight from Elaine’s experience.

“Once upon a time in Beverly Hills,” started with a casual conversation. She was having dinner with a friend, and having that conversation we all have: “What do you want?” “I don’t know, what do you want?” On this evening, when she asked, her friend said, “I want to eat wall to wall food and never gain weight.” Elaine laughed and said, “If only.” That conversation never left her mind. She started noticing that more and more people say "if only" about a lot of different subjects, wondering what could happen when an “if only,” came true. Of course, her “if only” had to include chocolate! Elaine and her friends have been to studios, premieres and restaurants, where she observed actresses and actors eating the show biz way, in other words, not eating! At one premiere party the star of the film spent the entire evening clutching a glass of wine, never sipping from it, and certainly not eating. Elaine had to slam on her brakes one time to keep from hitting the paparazzi! They ran in front of her car to take non-stop pictures of a star they saw. The poor man just stood there, stoic, while the flashes assaulted him for what seemed like an eternity. Elaine has taken the stories that her friends have told her, added them to her memories, and used them in the book. She’s also fallen in love with the three forty-something women in her book as they go through their adventures, and hopes you will, too.