Book Description
Tekla’s law school career couldn’t be any better. She has top grades. She’s on Law Review. She’s a frontrunner in a mock oral argument with a sweet prize: a judicial clerkship. One problem, though: Tekla has no more money to pay for school. She needs a part-time job. Fast.
Luckily, her roommate has just the solution: help two uber-wealthy prep school teens, the twin son and daughter of a billionaire Wall Street short-seller and a world-renowned model turned fashion photographer, with their schoolwork, and earn $150 an hour. Plus, enjoy an additional perk on the job, in the form of a gorgeous photo assistant who happens to have his eye on Tekla.
Easy money.
Well, not so much. Within days, Tekla’s job begins to unravel. In a world of super-wealth and high fashion, Tekla finds herself surrounded by a peculiar cast of players: two teens whose self-destructive behavior becomes ever more erratic, a father whose ambitions for his son constantly test Tekla’s notions of what is fair and ethical and what is cheating, a mother whose emotional negligence borders on abuse, and a gorgeous man who may or may not be what he appears.
As Tekla struggles to hold onto a job that takes more time and energy than she ever anticipated, her own school life begins to suffer. She makes an enemy of a professor who seems to want nothing more than to bring her down. And he’s succeeding. Soon Tekla’s life is a paradox: without her high paying part-time job, she can’t afford law school; but with it, she’ll surely flunk out of school.
Luckily, her roommate has just the solution: help two uber-wealthy prep school teens, the twin son and daughter of a billionaire Wall Street short-seller and a world-renowned model turned fashion photographer, with their schoolwork, and earn $150 an hour. Plus, enjoy an additional perk on the job, in the form of a gorgeous photo assistant who happens to have his eye on Tekla.
Easy money.
Well, not so much. Within days, Tekla’s job begins to unravel. In a world of super-wealth and high fashion, Tekla finds herself surrounded by a peculiar cast of players: two teens whose self-destructive behavior becomes ever more erratic, a father whose ambitions for his son constantly test Tekla’s notions of what is fair and ethical and what is cheating, a mother whose emotional negligence borders on abuse, and a gorgeous man who may or may not be what he appears.
As Tekla struggles to hold onto a job that takes more time and energy than she ever anticipated, her own school life begins to suffer. She makes an enemy of a professor who seems to want nothing more than to bring her down. And he’s succeeding. Soon Tekla’s life is a paradox: without her high paying part-time job, she can’t afford law school; but with it, she’ll surely flunk out of school.
Check Out This Book Excerpt
“Whoa! Slow down there. The door won’t run away.”
I stopped in the Lamont hallway.
Julian.
“They were that bad, huh?” he chuckled, leaning his elbow against the doorframe and crossing his arms. His dimples winked. His muscles bulged. He looked like a model in a toothpaste ad. “I got you a treat, to make you feel better.” He pushed himself away from the door, disappeared into the house and came back seconds later, a steaming Styrofoam cup in his hands. “It’s not Starbucks. It’s better. And I asked them to add peppermint.”
“Thanks.” I reached for the coffee quickly. I needed it. “You’re back in New York?” was all I could think to say.
Hearing my witty banter, I could barely hold back a groan. You’re back in New York. How lame. Apparently, intelligent, flirtatious conversation with Julian was beyond my meager social capabilities.
“Yeah.” Julian smiled, flashing his pearly whites again. “Monique has a weekend networking powwow with magazine editors in Los Angeles. Women only. No boys allowed.”
I nodded. Obviously little girls weren’t permitted either.
“So my whole weekend’s free. Speaking of which,” Julian purred as he leaned towards me, “I was hoping I could cash in on my rain check.” I shivered. “That you’d let me redeem myself.” He looked eager at the possibility. “There’s this great exhibit at the Morgan Library I thought you’d be interested in seeing. Irving Penn’s portraiture. It’s the first time the Morgan has exhibited photography. That’s huge because it means photography has really arrived as a recognized art form, even with the conservatives. And his work is more along the lines of what I’m interested in shooting. I’d really like you to see it with me. We’ll make a day of it, on Saturday. I’ll pick you up; we’ll see the show, and then go to an early dinner. What do you say?”
What I should have said was, “Thanks, that sounds great, but not this weekend—maybe in two weeks, if you’re still free.” ‘Cause I had to focus on the brief. And then there was the Law Review article, and Xander’s short story. Nope, for the next couple of weeks, I didn’t have a free minute to spare. Sure, going out with Julian would be really nice, but he didn’t prioritize me ahead of his professional responsibilities, so why should I place spending time with him ahead of mine? Nope, I was definitely not going. I took a sip of coffee. I would tell Julian exactly that: thanks, but I couldn’t—schoolwork and all that, you understand. But, somehow, those words never materialized.
“Sure,” I heard myself say instead.
See This Cool Author Guest Post
What do the characters look
like?
I love, love,
love that question! Because for me, the best part of starting to write a new
novel is imagining what the characters in the story look like. I feel almost
like a giddy expectant mother envisioning her child’s physical appearance as an
adult, except I don’t have to wait years and years to see the outcome. It’s
really fun. I always have a picture in my mind for every character, even the one that only appears in one sentence. I
have to see the person in my head before
I can write about him or her, always. Here are a few of the physical
descriptions for the characters in Work
for Hire. I have included pictures to help you visualize my vision, but
please remember that these images are only approximations. I never use actual
photographs when “creating” my characters, but the pictures come pretty close
to what was in my head when I wrote the story. So, here it goes . . .
Tekla
Tekla is the
protagonist of Work for Hire and I
had to get her appearance down pat before I could pen a single sentence. She’s
a pretty girl who is tall and slender, but she’s not necessarily one of those
“babes” that usually stops traffic. She could be, if she wanted to—if she put
in the effort—but she rarely does. Tekla’s hair is dark and long, but her best
feature is her eyes. They are vivid blue and it’s the eyes that usually get her
most attention, at least from the opposite sex.
Julian
Tekla’s crush
was the easiest for me to visualize because every time I thought about him, I
just envisioned my husband. Now, just to clarify: Julian is not my husband (my husband is never a
jerk, and I’m not just saying so because I know my husband will read this
post—reallyJ). But I
did think of my husband’s physical traits when I put Julian “together.”
Accordingly, Julian is the dark and handsome type who turns heads (don’t you
just love those?). He has dark hair and dark, expressive eyes and a lean,
runners physique. He’s always well groomed, though he likes to sport the
occasional five o’clock shadow. He’s what we’d call a “metrosexual.” Julian is
always well put together.
Markus
Markus is the
guy your mom wished you would date. He’s nice, neat and polite. Really, he is a
great catch, except that he’s just missing that something exciting in his appearance.
He’s nice looking enough, the way your average boy next door is pleasing to the
eye. He’s just not the sort of guy who turns heads. On paper, he has everything
going for him, but when you see him in person you just know he’s not the guy to
get a girl’s heart beating fast—at least not at first. Markus’s looks grow on
you because he is such a nice person. He gets better looking with time.
(Photo Credit: Markus Biehal)
Monique Lamont
Monique
Lamont is drop dead beautiful. Period. She was a former model—so envision a
Cindy Crawford or a Janice Dickenson—who is now aging. At 40+, Monique is still
absolutely stunning—with black hair, almost coal black eyes and a pale face—but
she is becoming too fixated with her looks. She is a beauty who is determined
to fight off age. Her appearance, accordingly, has gained a bit of a hard edge.
Monique is dabbling in plastic surgery in an effort to retain perfection. She
is not interested in aging gracefully. She wants her face to stay young looking
forever. I’ve included a picture of a mannequin because Monique is slowly but
surely heading towards that “plastic” look. Her features are absolutely
perfect, but she is slowly destroying all her natural beauty.
Gemma
Monique’s
daughter is struggling in her mother’s perfect shadow. Gemma has a lot of her
mother’s physical attributes—like the black, soulful eyes—but she is going
through that awkward teen faze. She’s a little bit chunkier than her mother
would like, and her facial features are a bit off. Her eyes and mouth are too
big for the rest of her face, for example. Gemma is a mix of child and adult.
When she fully grows into her adulthood, she will probably be a stunner, like
her mother. But Gemma doesn’t see that. She views her physical awkwardness not
as a phase but as an imperfection, and her confidence is suffering accordingly.
Xander
Unlike his
twin sister Gemma, Xander has completely skipped over the awkward teen phase.
He jumped from being a cute boy into a very handsome young man. He is fully his
mother’s son in that his physical appearance is perfect. He has thick, shaggy
hair, dark, expressive eyes and picture-perfect bone-structure (you know, the
high cheekbones, narrow nose and wide mouth). But, unlike Monique, he’s basking
in the youthful glow. Xander’s physical perfection adds to his sister’s
self-esteem issues.
Lisa Williams
Lisa is the
ambitious assistant to Mr. Lamont and also the “other woman.” As Mr. Lamont’s
mistress, she can’t really compete with Monique’s physical perfection, so
instead she focuses on her sex appeal. Everything about Lisa’s looks is “loud.”
She has colored her hair a bright red and has done everything to highlight her
curvaceous body. Lisa is all boobs and short skirts. Her face, too, screams her
ambitions. Lisa has a hard edge to her features, like a girl who has
encountered too much hassle in her life. There is no softness in her looks.
Lisa is as sharp as a razor.
Lauren and Ann
Tekla’s law
school friends are the polar opposites of each other. Ann is the studious girl
who never fusses with make-up and would go nowhere without her glasses. Ann
likes to dress in dark, loose clothing that covers everything (can we say
turtlenecks?) and her hair looks like it has never encountered a hairdresser’s
hand. Lauren, by contrast, is obsessed with her appearance . . . and
California. Lauren dreams of moving to LA and so, accordingly, she’s reshaping
her looks to match her vision of California babe: bleach blonde hair with a
permanent tan. Lauren is all about tight clothes in bright colors. She is the
total, carefree party girl.
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