QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE MARRYING By Melissa Senate

Today I get to blog about one of the most popular and beloved authors in the Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit, Melissa Senate. If you haven't read any her books yet, you really should. You'll see why Booklist called her "one of Red Dress Ink's brightest talents."

Her new book, QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE MARRYING, just came out and it looks fantastic. Here's the summary from her publisher

A very popular New York Times article lists fifteen questions couples should ask (or wish they had) before marrying. Ruby Miller and her fiancé, Tom Truby, have questions 1 to 14 almost covered. It's question 15 that has the Maine schoolteacher stumped: Is their relationship strong enough to withstand challenges?

Challenges like…Ruby's twin sister, Stella. The professional muse, flirt and face reader thinks Ruby is playing it safe. And that the future Mrs. Ruby Truby will die of boredom before her first anniversary or her thirtieth birthday, whichever comes first.

Challenges like…sexy maverick teacher Nick McDermott, Ruby's secret longtime crush, who confesses his feelings for her at her own engagement party.

But before Ruby can plan the wedding that may never be, Stella announces she's pregnant by a one-night stand whose name might be Jake (or James? Maybe Jason?) and who lives somewhere under the glittering lights of Las Vegas. Ruby and Stella hit the road to find him—with a lot more than fifteen questions.

And after three thousand miles, a stowaway relative and hitchhiking teen lovebirds bound for an Elvis wedding chapel, the Miller sisters might get some answers.

Lucky for me, Melissa agreed to play along with my GCC-Does-Hollywood fun, and here's how she'd pitch the book to our fictional producer:

Estranged twin sisters, Ruby and Stella, are on a long and bumpy cross-country road trip from Maine to Las Vegas, where Ruby, conservative school teacher with a secret crush on another man, may or may not marry her conservative school teacher fiance in an Elvis wedding chapel. Not if Stella, professional muse and face reader, has anything to say about it and she has a ton to say for three-thousand miles.

And here's how she would cast it:

Conservative Ruby who is torn between two men: my beloved Mary Louise Parker. She says quite a lot with that face by not saying anything. I’ve loved her since Fried Green Tomatoes.


Professional muse Stella, pregnant from a one night stand and searching for the father, whose name she isn’t sure of: Kristin Bell, the young actress from Veronica Mars would be the perfect Stella. She kicks butt, but has heart.

Conservative Fiance: Patrick Dempsey, nerdied up.

Secret Crush: The hot actor who played Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes). CUTE.

To buy QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE MARRYING, visit your local chain or independent bookstore. To buy online, go to amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com or any cyber bookseller. For more information, visit Melissa's website at melissasenate.com.