Smile Number Seven

Age is just a number--right?

That's not her first thought when four-time Oscar winning actress Katarina Verralta meets the younger Julia Dearling. Caught in a monsoon, the movie star exits the dark desolate interstate in search of someplace to eat and stay for the night.

Julia Dearling, owner of the Starlight Diner, is stranded in her desert parking lot with a bygone battery and the memory of her newly dead relationship. When Katarina pulls in, neither of them guess that their life is about to turn upside-down and inside-out.

In a town as big as a noodle, Desert Bluff has no motels. So Julia serves dinner to Katarina at the diner and then offers up her sculpting studio as a place for Katarina to stay.

Drawn together in the night, their intoxicating romance begins. But when age is front and center and fame is at stake, the closeted movie star must face her reckoning.

Smile Number Seven promises that second chance every true love deserves.

“A great Hollywood romance novel that goes straight on my re-read list. The book was practically a page-turner with very good pacing...Fifty chapters and 95,000 words led from a fateful encounter in a California desert through a beautiful clandestine 26 years age gap love story with a few twists and turns towards a very satisfying ending. Add to that some drama, a plausible main conflict, grand romantic gestures, an entourage of secondary characters, great dialogue, a nice dose of humor... and you have an awesome read which I could easily recommend to all romance fans.--goodreads- Pin's Reviews”

A great Hollywood romance novel that goes straight on my re-read list. The book was practically a page-turner with very good pacing...Fifty chapters and 95,000 words led from a fateful encounter in a California desert through a beautiful clandestine 26 years age gap love story with a few twists and turns towards a very satisfying ending. Add to that some drama, a plausible main conflict, grand romantic gestures, an entourage of secondary characters, great dialogue, a nice dose of humor... and you have an awesome read which I could easily recommend to all romance fans.--goodreads-Pin's Reviews

The story is told from both Katrina and Juliette's point of view, which in this case I think was very important to do, especially with the ups and downs from both sides. The pace was perfect and gave enough at the end that I felt the characters got their happy ever after.

This book has a few great tropes but my favourite is the age-gap romance. It really added a lovely extra element to the story. I loved Julia's character best. She was so loving and forthright. The idea of this beautiful creature being hidden in the closet was just damn sad, but don't you worry, she holds her own.--Les Reveur

Melissa is a novelist, who in the absence of computer or pen, isn't too proud to write in crayon or spray paint. Her works include the exciting romantic intrigue novels Steel Eyes, and Skin in the Game (a Steel Eyes midquel). Melissa's works-in-progress are a sociopolitical farce titled The Right Closet, and an untitled lesbian romance based on her short story, The Desert Diner, which was included in the Bella Books anthology Happily Ever After. A retired Doctor of Chiropractic and a lifelong guitarist, she also co-wrote the authorized biographical screenplay, Toma--The Man, The Mission, The Message. While her house is in Phoenix, Arizona, Melissa lives between some un-named exotic Caribbean island and Paris's Left Bank.

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