Only On Sunday

Lauren Baratz-Logsted was an independent bookseller for eleven years. She is the author of three novels, including her first, The Thin Pink Line, which launched Red Dress Ink’s hardcover line in 2003. She lives in Danbury, Connecticut, with her husband and daughter.

THE THIN PINK LINE
(Red Dress Ink, July 2003)

Jane Taylor is pregnant. Only, not in the conventional sense. It all began when Jane missed her period. Whether it was the clouds in the sky or a major case of pregnancy envy (this year’s concern), Jane doesn’t know. She only knows that she told her best male friend, and began to believe it. Until she got her period and realized she never was. Pregnant.

But that brief glimpse into the other world — the world of smiling faces and courteous men — was just too beautiful not to be a part of . . .and so Jane told a little white lie to her live-in boyfriend, and crossed the line. With the help of a pink Magic Marker she closed the gap that separated her from the positively perfect pregos.

Enter Jane’s world, one of deception and success, Mr. Wrong and Mr. Right, Nutrition Police and tilted uteruses, baby showers and celebrity obstetricians. As Jane spins closer to her due date, she’s got a lot of soul-searching to do — not to mention an appointment with reality . . .

CROSSING THE LINE
(Red Dress Ink, July 2004)

The only way to come clean with everyone you’ve lied to — and if you’ve lied to nearly everyone in your life — is to come clean all at once. So what did I do? I threw a party, a New Year’s Day party to launch my new life.

And so Jane Taylor comes clean. In fact, the new, wiser and gentler Jane tries to legally adopt the baby she found abandoned in a basket on Christmas Eve, Emma — who happens to be black. Amid rigorous interviews with Social Services, and trying to explain to the rest of the world (namely her mother) how Emma came about, Jane decides that giving Emma a strong cultural heritage is first up on her list of mommy duties. Never one to walk the straight path, Jane navigates motherhood (and racial identity) with aplomb — much to the surprise of her friends and family.

Satirical, sassy and sometimes serious, Crossing the Line dares to delve into the unconventional world of familial and found relationships. Here, Jane crosses the line — between singlehood and motherhood, between black and white, between what’s expected and what’s due.

A LITTLE CHANGE OF FACE
(Red Dress Ink, July 2005)

I need to change my life.

On the surface, it doesn’t look too bad.

Great body, check. Pretty face, check.
Job, check.

Chicken pox. Check.

Stuck in her Danbury, Connecticut condo in self-imposed exile until she’s contagion-free, Scarlett Jane Stein keeps circling around to a passing comment her friend Pam made: how everything (read: men) comes to Scarlett just because she’s attractive.

Is it true? All her life she’s thought that she was fun to be around, that people liked her. Was it only because she was pretty (say it — because she’s got incredible breasts)? Or is Pam, tired of playing second fiddle, now playing her? All Scarlett knows is that she’s never found the man she believes is out there, her One True Love. So maybe Scarlett needs to change things up.

So it’s goodbye, Scarlett and hello, dowdier, schlumpier Lettie Shaw. And with her new look, new name, new home, and new job, is there a chance that Lettie-nee-Scarlett will find someone who loves her for who she is inside? Or has Scarlett’s little change of face turned into the biggest mistake of her life?

VERTIGO
(Delta, September 26, 2006)

In turn-of-the-century London, an exemplary Victorian wife begins a noble-minded project: writing letters to a lonely local prisoner. What happens next in this brilliantly crafted novel of literary suspense will change Emma Smith’s life forever—and ignite a dark, erotic drama of suspicion, loss, and awakening.

In the year 1898, Emma makes a New Year’s resolution: to become a better person. So, under the tutelage of her novelist husband, she begins an innocent correspondence with Chance Wood, a man serving his sentence for the murder of his wife. But from the beginning, in words that shock and intrigue her, Chance dares Emma to unveil her unspoken thoughts and desires. And when Chance receives a pardon, Emma is set dangerously free. She will use her freedom—and Chance’s—to pursue the fantasies that have been swirling dizzily around her. Slowly, recklessly, Emma exchanges all that was familiar and safe for her new, dangerous double life. As the risks mount and a friend turns blackmailer, Emma cannot stop her fall. For once she has given in to her truest, basest desires, she cannot avoid the ones that come next.â€|

HOW NANCY DREW SAVED MY LIFE
(Red Dress Ink, Sept 2006)

Broken, smashed and stomped in the mud. That’s how Charlotte Bell’s heart ended up the last time she let her emotions heat up on a nanny assignment. So taking a new position in frigid Iceland, working for Ambassador Edgar Rawlings, might be just what Charlotte needs in order to heal up–and chill out. This time, she’s determined to be intrepid and courageous. She’s even read all fifty-six original Nancy Drew books in preparation. Unfortunately, she’s neglected to find out anything about Iceland or to look into the background of her oddly compelling employer.

When Charlotte stumbles onto the trail of a mystery that only she can solve, she’ll need every shred of Nancy’s wisdom to keep her life–and her heart–safe!

ANGEL’S CHOICE
(Simon&Schuster YA, Dec 2006)

All I remember is the sensation of things slipping away from me….

In one night Angel Hansen’s life changes forever: She has sex for the first time. Not that she remembers the act itself — not the pain or the pleasure. But she is left with something that will never let her forget it: an unplanned pregnancy.

Angel must make a choice. Abortion? Adoption? Keep it? None of these choices are easy and none of them are perfect. But there is one thing Angel is sure of. Whatever choice she makes, it must be the right one for her. Braced with that knowledge, Angel faces the toughest decision of her life.

THIS IS CHICK-LIT
(editor/contributor, BenBella Books, Sept 1, 2006)

Conceived as a response collection to the negatively-titled This is Not Chick Lit. In addition to a story from collection editor Lauren Baratz-Logsted, it includes original stories from: Deanna Carlyle, Jennifer Coburn, Johanna Edwards, Karin Gillespie, Raelynn Hillhouse, Andrea Schicke Hirsch, Julie Kenner, Harley Jane Kozak, Stephanie Lehmann, Caren Lissner, Cara Lockwood, Ariella Papa, Kayla Perrin, Rachel Pine, Gena Showalter, Karen Siplin, and Heather Swain.