There’s No Coming Back from This

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Published by: Lake Union Publishing
Release Date: August 8, 2023
ISBN13: 978-1542033596

 
Synopsis

It seems lately that Poppy Lively is invisible to everyone but the IRS.

After her accountant absconded with her life savings, newly bankrupt Poppy is on the verge of losing her home when an old flame, now a hotshot producer, gives her a surprising way out: a job in costumes on a Hollywood film set. It’s a bold move to pack her bags, keep secrets from her daughter, and head to Los Angeles, but Poppy's a capable person—how hard can a job in wardrobe be? It's not like she has a choice; her life couldn't get any worse. Even so, this midwesterner has a lot to learn about the fast and loose world of movie stars, iconic costumes, and back-lot intrigue.
As a single mom, she's rarely had time for watching movies, she doesn't sew, and she doesn't know a thing about dressing the biggest names in the business. Floundering and overlooked, Poppy has one ally: Allen Carol, an ill-tempered movie star taken with Poppy’s unfiltered candor and general indifference to stardom.

When Poppy stumbles upon corruption, she relies on everyone underestimating her to discover who’s at the center of it, a revelation that shakes her belief in humanity. What she thought was a way to secure a future for her daughter becomes a spotlight illuminating the facts: Poppy is out of her league among the divas of Tinseltown.

Poppy must decide whether to keep her mouth shut, as she's always done, or with the help of a scruffy dog, show the moviemakers that they need her unglamorous ways, whether the superstars like it or not.

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Praise

"Full of humor and emotion, There's No Coming Back From This, will have you smiling and sometimes laughing to yourself as you follow a wonderfully lovable and completely relatable Poppy Lively out of the mess that is her life, into finally finding herself."
—Kay Bratt, Million-Copy Bestselling Author

"Reading an Ann Garvin novel is the next best thing to hanging out with your funniest, most good-hearted friend. THERE'S NO COMING BACK FROM THIS is a relatable, moving, laugh-out-loud story of determination, grit, and the things we do for love. It's the best kind of fish-out-of-water story, and a ton of fun."
—Jessica Strawser, author of A MILLION REASONS WHY

"There's No Coming Back From This, is a fabulously fun look at a woman's search for a new life and finds it in the ins, outs and intrigue of the unseen side of creating costumes for the movies."
Valerie Zielonka Emmy award-winning Costume Supervisor for The Watchmen; credits include, Hidden Figures, King Richard

"THERE'S NO COMING BACK FROM THIS is a hilarious romp of a novel that may well have you looking at Hollywood a little differently. Packed with characters you'll wish you could meet, shenanigans you'll want to partake in, and villains you'll hiss-boo at, Ann Garvin delights with every page. A fun, escapist treat of a novel!"
—Hannah Mary McKinnon, internationally bestselling author of The Revenge List

"In THERE'S NO COMING BACK FROM THIS author Ann Garvin takes us for a raucous ride on a cross-country trip bearing a trunk filled with taxing baggage and headed for viperous territory, to reveal how life changes when we put ourselves at the center of it. The story's star pops from the pages on a journey of reconciliation to get her heart and mind together and reclaim her spark. Garvin is a driving force in the literary world, and this book shows us why. Well done!"
—Alli Frank + Asha Youmans Author of The Better Half a Mindy Kaling Pick


Chapter One

TEAM LIVELY

I half jogged, half walked to catch up with my seventeen-year-old daughter in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, giving myself a pep talk. You are good at pivoting. You are the pivot. Be the pivot. I dodged a drug-sniffing dog who lifted his head as I slid by. For all I knew, my nervous energy could be detected, and I’d be labeled as a threat to national security. If I was detained and stripsearched, my ungroomed body hair alone would trigger alarms. No one would be the same after that—and that was the last thing in the world I wanted. The very last thing.

If I kept my anxiety in check, my secrets stowed, Robyn would spend her summer unaware of the mess I’d made of our lives. By the time she returned for college, I’d have a solid plan for the IRS debts, our house back in our name, and money for her to start college. The only evidence of a struggle would be a few gray hairs on my head, which I could dye.

“Robyn, did you weigh your luggage? It costs a ton if it goes over fifty pounds.”

“It’s at forty-eight,” she said over her shoulder. “I was careful.”

Of course she’d checked. We were cautious people who didn’t like surprises.

It was May, and Robyn had graduated valedictorian along with sixteen other valedictorians— don’t get me started. And on graduation day she’d been brimming with confidence and possibility. Today, though, she looked young and vulnerable. When a neighbor recommended her for a nanny position in the Big Apple, the job sounded like the perfect summer experience before starting nursing school in the fall. Now, faced with the unknowns of a big city, a new family, and three solid months away from home, she was like a cat skidding on a slick floor toward a swimming pool.

“It’s normal to be nervous about change,” I said, tucking a strand of her silky hair behind her ear.

“I’m going to miss everything,” she said, her brown eyes wide.

Robyn didn’t realize how true that statement was. She’d miss IRS calls where I’d use my highpitched stress voice begging for dispensation, pleas to the mortgage lender for a loan deferment, and the final gasps of our family business finally being kicked to the curb. She’d miss witnessing her mother trying again and again to get in touch with the accountant who’d pocketed all our money and applying for jobs that wouldn’t make a dent in the debt in time for anything.

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