Here’s how I would explain what my novel is about. It needs tightening but it’s what I have right now. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. If I can write something good now, it can be what I use to describe my book in future emails, meetings,…maybe even the occasional power lunch. (Although I don’t think I’m in danger of having to attend any power lunches in the near future.)

I’m thinking I can also use my hands every time I say the title. “North Shore….South Shore” and I’ll place my hands in the sky like I can already see it as a movie billboard. I’ve seen this done before. I’ve heard it can be effective. I think that people in LA think that if you move your hands like that and just say single words, they’re somehow making their story more clear or more interesting.

That said, here’s my LA pitch. “It’s called North Shore…South Shore [moves hands accordingly]. Picture this. Kylie. Matt. Love. Lost Love. Found Love. Long Island. [continues to move head side to side and make serious faces] Families. Crime. We’ll have a trial. a shooting. a funeral. a wedding. It’s really just about life. I’m thinking [ponders and scratches head]…Leo. Or Shia. He’s a big deal right now. Do you think he’d go blonde? Maybe we stick with Leo.”

Okay, here’s the real abstract of the novel:
The novel, set on Long Island, is called North Shore / South Shore. It’s follows a group of friends who met in high school as they reunite in their last year of college. Two of those friends, Kylie Baines and Matt Tracy, were high school sweethearts who have grown apart.  As the novel progresses, Kylie and Matt rediscover why they fell in love in the first place but their reunion is not without conflict as they come from very different families. As the story unfolds we find out that not only are they from opposite shores of Long Island, but the families have deep-rooted resentment, unexpected connections and many secrets.

The Tracys are a well-known, very wealthy North Shore family, famous for their extravagant parties and exclusive social circles. While Kylie’s family is probably just as rich as Matt’s, her uncle, Denis Baptiste, is the head of a dangerous crime organization that has corrupted New York City for years. [I don't like that sentence.] In the first pages of the novel, we learn that Denis Baptiste has been arrested on charges of exhortion and murder and that Kylie may be arrested herself for her own involvement in her uncle’s “businesses.”

The two main characters are joined by a host of other interesting individuals, all of whom provide laughter, drama, and offer insight into Matt and Kylie’s lives. Furthermore, the novel has three different narrators: a third-person omniscent narrator, Kylie, and Ben Carrick. Ben, who is Matt’s best friend and engaged to Matt’s twin sister, provides some of the lighter moments with his anecdotes about the friends in high school.