It’s 1999, and best friends Sal and Charo are striving to hold on to their dreams in a New York determined to grind them down. Sal is a book-loving science nerd trying to grow beyond his dead-end job in a new city, but he’s held back by tragic memories from his past in Santo Domingo. Free-spirited Charo is surprised to find herself a mother at twenty-five, partnered with a controlling man, working at the same supermarket for years, her world shrunk to the very domesticity she thought she’d escaped in her old country. When Sal finds love at a gay club one night, both his and Charo’s worlds unexpectedly open up to a vibrant social circle that pushes them to reckon with what they owe to their own selves, pasts, futures, and, always, each otherdd

Loca follows one daring year in the lives of young people living at the edge of their own patience and desires. With expansive grace, it reveals both the grueling conditions that force people to migrate and the possibility of friendship as home when family, nations, and identity groups fall short.

The post Vroman’s Bookstore: Alejandro Heredia, in conversation with Myriam Gurba, discusses Loca appeared first on Playhouse Village Association.

Following the success of Lover Girl, Raegan Fordemwalt returns with Prince of Hearts. An indirect sequel to her bestselling debut, this all-new collection of art and poetry takes readers along the narrator’s journey through abandonment and dismantled trust following the loss of significant relationships, both platonic and romantic.

 A far-too-relatable retelling of the courage required to survive young love, first heartbreaks, and your early-20s, Prince of Hearts is a look through both the rearview and the windshield along the journey to self-love.

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Tommy Siegel’s Candy Hearts comics reveal the most awkward and amusing truths about relationships, and since their viral debut in 2020, the inner world of Candy Hearts has only gotten stranger. This new collection of Candy Hearts comics explores topics like commitment, cohabitation, family dynamics, pets, dating apps, and wedding planning. With dozens of comics never before seen in print or online, The Secret Lives of Candy Hearts hits everything from disaster to happily-ever-after, with hilarious resu

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This event will take place at our outdoor paseo!

The post Vroman’s Bookstore: Erica Lee Schlaikjer discusses Wild Greens, Beautiful Girl appeared first on Playhouse Village Association.

London, 1945: Four adolescent orphans with a dark wartime history are squatting in a vacant Belgravia mansion—the owners having fled London under heavy Luftwaffe bombing. Psychologist and Investigator Maisie Dobbs visits the mansion on behalf of the owners and discovers that a demobilized soldier, gravely ill and reeling from his experiences overseas, has taken shelter with the group.

Maisie’s quest to bring comfort to the youngsters and the ailing soldier brings to light a decades-old mystery concerning Maisie’s first husband, James Compton, who was killed while piloting an experimental fighter aircraft. As Maisie unravels the threads of her dead husband’s life, she is forced to examine her own painful past and question beliefs she has always accepted as true.

The award-winning Maisie Dobbs series has garnered hundreds of thousands of followers, readers drawn to a woman who is of her time, yet familiar in ours—and who inspires with her resilience and capacity for endurance. This final assignment of her own choosing not only opens a new future for Maisie and her family, but serves as a  fascinating portrayal of the challenges facing the people of Britain at the close of the Second World War.

The post Vroman’s Bookstore: Jacqueline Winspear appeared first on Playhouse Village Association.

This Fiction Writing Class is for writers interested in working on short stories or a novel. There will be an optional weekly exercise and suggested readings, but it is predominately a workshop to discuss and advance each other’s work, concentrating on the elements that make fiction compelling: character, point of view, setting and description, conflict and resolution. Each writer will share work twice, the ultimate goal being a complete short story or a novel chapter.

Diana Wagman is the author of six novels. Her second, Spontaneous, won the 2001 PEN West Award for Fiction. Her fourth, The Care & Feeding of Exotic Pets, was very briefly a best seller. She has had many short stories and essays published, most recently in Conjunctions and Prairie Schooner, and is an occasional contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She has taught as adjunct faculty across southern California, from Loyola Marymount to CalArts to Cal State San Bernardino.

TO SIGN UP FOR THIS WRITING CLASS, PLEASE CALL CUSTOMER SERVICE AT (626)449-5320 BY 1/24/25.

*This class will be held on the following dates – 1/25, 2/1, 2/8, 2/15, 2/22, 3/1, 3/8, and 3/15. All classes will take place in the Vroman’s Meeting Room located next door to Vroman’s Main Store in the Atrium at 709 E. Colorado Blvd. Suite 120.

If for any reason you cannot attend this set of classes you have signed up for, please give 24 hour notice, before the first class, of your cancelation in order to receive a refund.

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Graham gives us permission to accept care—and accept that it’s ok to want care. They weave together personal stories and practical wisdom, grounded in their queer, chronically ill, and neurodivergent identities. They offer their take on managing symptoms, getting creative, setting boundaries, and healing from ableist tropes like “you don’t look that sick” and “we’re all a little ADHD.”

Graham also shares vulnerable personal history: the adverse childhood experiences that rewired their body and brain. The workaholism and addictions that kept their pain lying just below the surface. How illness and trauma intersect to obscure the knowledge that we’re each enough, wholly as we are.

Graham explores the parts of chronic illness life that don’t get enough airtime: how can we center sex and pleasure when pain gets in the way? How can we live well…while living through late-stage capitalist hell? How can we come into relationship with our pain without falling prey to self-blame, magical thinking, or toxic positivity?

Wise and embodied, fearless and necessary, Being (Sick) Enough is both a wild awakening and a love letter to your whole self: the pains and suffering, joys and brightness, and vital connections that hold each of us as we navigate what it means to be here, like this, right now.

The post Vroman’s Bookstore: Jessica Graham discusses Being (Sick) Enough: Thoughts on Invisible Illness, Childhood Trauma, and Living Well When Surviving Is Hard appeared first on Playhouse Village Association.

But the Crestmonts aren’t the only ones with secrets. Lauren O’Brian might be the new girl at school, but she’s never been a good girl. With a dark past of her own, she’s desperate for a fresh start. Except when she starts a no-strings-attached relationship with Robbie, her chance is put in jeopardy. During what’s meant to be their last weekend together, Lauren stumbles across shocking evidence that just might implicate Robbie.

With danger closing in, Lauren doesn’t know who to trust. And after a third death rocks the town, she must decide whether to end things with Robbie or risk becoming another cautionary tale. (Henry Holt & Company)

Alexa Donne is the author of Brightly Burning and The Stars We Steal, sci-fi romance retellings of classics set in space, and the YA thriller The Ivies, which Kirkus Reviews called “a thrilling boarding school story with a satirical edge.” A graduate of Boston University, Alexa works in TV marketing and has done pro bono college admissions mentoring since 2014. A true INFJ, in her “free” time she mentors with WriteGirl, organizes the Author Mentor Match program, and runs one of the most popular writing advice channels on YouTube. She lives in Los Angeles with two fluffy ginger cats named after characters from YA literature. You can find her online at alexadonne.com.

The post Vroman’s Bookstore: Trish Lundy discusses The One That Got Away with Murder appeared first on Playhouse Village Association.

Gorrindo gives us an intimate look into the inner lives of a remarkable group of women and a tender, unflinching portrait of a marriage. A love story, an unforgettable coming-of-age tale, and a bracing tour of the intractable divisions that plague our country today, The Wives offers a rare and powerful gift: a hopeful stitch in the fabric of a torn America.

The post Vroman’s Bookstore: Simone Gorrindo discusses The Wives: A Memoir appeared first on Playhouse Village Association.