City of Trees

“Even though I live every day with the nightmares, the lovely dreams outweigh them. But does that even make sense? In a perfect world, I would have grown up normal—whatever that means—in South Pasadena, California, the City of Trees.” It’s the groovy seventies, and all Finn Wyatt wants to do is get good grades, wear hip huggers without bulging, and go steady with her brother’s best friend. Unfortunately, her parents are crazy, her brother Skye is a successful pot dealer at sixteen, and her sister Gem is just trying to make enough money to escape to New York City. When tragedy strikes not once but twice, her parents move the family 300 miles away to revitalize a ramshackle resort in Northern California, where the nearest movie theatre is ninety miles away and a mineral springs is a magnet for locals and tourists—including Wynn Daily, a runaway movie star combating her own demons. And to make matters worse, Finn has started seeing ghosts. Finn thinks she might be losing it, but when one of those ghosts turns out to be Wynn’s mother, she might just have a gift after all. The two develop an odd friendship based on their unconventional childhoods, and a desire to make a new kind of family. When Wynn invites Finn to become part of her entourage in toney Malibu, she jumps at the chance. But life in Malibu has its own dysfunction, with movie stars like arrogant heartthrob Nate Raines showing up for dinner, and a new ghost who just won’t go away. Haunted by her past, and wanting to move forward, Finn begins a strange journey toward uncovering truths and righting wrongs. The hard part will be separating reality from fantasy. A coming-of-age novel before cell phones, text messaging and Oprah, City of Trees chronicles growing up in the seventies with all its weirdness, uncertainty, laughter, love, and sadnes

About the Author

Sandy Serva is a professional writer and editor who has written for magazines, the Web, and corporate America. She even managed to sell jokes to The Late Show with David Letterman, back when Clinton was president. She wrote her first book when she was five by dictating it to her mother, who was a most happy scribe. It was her version of Madeleine, complete with illustrations. She was always fascinated by the drama in Madeleine's life, including that rush to the hospital to remove an appendix. Sandy still has hers. That first book is long gone, but Sandy's dream of becoming a published novelist has never waned, despite some distractions along the way. As the mother of three (now grown) children, including twins, she now can sit in moments of solitude and actually put some complete thoughts on paper. Sandy lives in South Texas with her husband, two dogs and three cats. It is her hope that City of Trees will be just the first of many novels.

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