Monkey Love

Royce, director of publications at the Los Angeles Zoo, populates her first novel with as many critters as humans, including Grouch the Cat, Rocky the Boa and Tallulah the monkey-plus a freezer full of rats from FrozenRodent.com. Holly Heckerling is a New York City jill-of-all-trades whose freelance business, Holly's Hobbies, is fueled by her boundless energy and countless gratis mochas from her best friend, Starbucks barrista Carter. Keeping herself afloat until her comedy showcase hits big, Holly juggles typing duties, animal husbandry, tax preparation and hair styling while getting dumped by her neglected boyfriend and inadvertently alienating friends and family. Lucky for Holly, it's not all crisis management: when a compelling manuscript lands in her lap, she discovers its handsome, available author may be interested in more than her typing skills. Attitude and eccentric characters abound in this rollicking novel, and fans of quirky heroines making a go of it in the big, bad city won't be disappointed.