Laura Izmani is starting over. Wiping her feet of her family, her past and her bad habits, she's determined to create a new life and career in sleepy--and very private--Woodside, California. Wealthy and famous families need home-cooked meals just like everybody else, and with several introductions and certain job in her pocket she's determined to succeed as a private chef. Only two things matter to Helen Baynor--her children and her career, in that order. She divides her time between home and New York and pays handsomely to make sure there are no gaps in watchful care over her kids. It's not ideal, but as an aging stage actress, she can't afford to let any Broadway part slip through her fingers. Two very different reasons bring Laura and Helen to the Beach Boardwalk for a symbolic ride on The Cyclone, the biggest, baddest roller coaster on the west coast. The same day, the same hour, the same first car.

for the ride of their lives. Karin Kallmaker is a three-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award for both novels and short stories, as well as numerous other accolades over her twenty-year devotion to lesbian romance.