“A tender love story sprinkled with a bit of angst. Slip it into your beach bag and enjoy.” –Linda Rosen, author of The Emerald Necklace
Old scars. New love?
Suellen Atkins’ trust fund has given her everything except love. As the youngest attorney in a major law firm, her life is filled with reckless spending and meaningless flings. But when she dumps her latest wild guy, he doesn’t leave quietly.
Unable to shake the feeling she’s being watched, Suellen runs into an old classmate at a colleague’s farewell. Adam Isaacson is one of the good guys — and that might be more scary than her stalker ex. With the echoes of her parents' tumultuous marriage still ringing in her ears, Suellen can’t imagine anything this promising.
When a shock medical diagnosis complicates things, her proclivity for self-sabotage goes into overdrive. As life turns upside down, her lunch friends at the law firm become a lifeline in the storm. But even they, with all their good intentions and well-meaning advice, can’t save Suellen from herself. Nor can the man who’s fallen in love with her. Only she can do that.
Book Review:
Not all love stories are soft and simple—some come with sharp edges, old wounds, and second chances. Lunch Tales: Suellen by Lucille Guarino is a heartfelt, honest, and sometimes raw journey through love, fear, and self-sabotage, wrapped in the warm embrace of female friendship.
Suellen is smart, successful, and falling apart beneath the surface. With a stalker ex, a kind-hearted man who scares her more than danger ever could, and a medical diagnosis that flips her world upside down, she becomes her own worst enemy. What kept me hooked wasn’t just the romance—it was her inner war between vulnerability and control, between trauma and healing.
The dialogue is snappy, the friendships are fierce, and the emotional stakes are real. It’s not about being saved—it’s about choosing to save yourself.
A deeply relatable and refreshingly complex read. For anyone who’s ever pushed love away out of fear, this one’s for you.
