Raspberries and a Cherry Tree

Spine-tingling young love, friendship, and big dreams! A sweet YA for readers looking for unconditional, everlasting true love. "You can't run away from what you are. No matter where you go, your feelings for her are going to follow you." It's a lovely early summer night, the kind of night where nothing could possibly go wrong, just perfect for anything, absolutely perfect for her seventeenth birthday party. Marika has invited her entire circle of friends over. The Rook crew, named for The Rook Café where they get together. She can't think of anything better than all of them together, just hanging out and doing nothing. Everyone is there including Matteo, Matteo Zovigo: ash brown hair, worn like he just got out of bed, and intense sky-blue eyes. They have known each other since childhood, and have been best friends for almost as long. But while he's a gorgeous, athletic, popular guy with a smile that makes your mind go blank and your mouth go dry, she is just like so many other girls her age: uncomfortable about her looks and her weight - neither super-skinny nor blonde like the cheerleader types - and certain that Matteo is out of her league. They have grown up with very few cares in the world in the midst of vineyards in the rolling Berici Hills, rocked gently by the rhythms of school and friends. But hundreds of miles away in the big city, in an elegant old building downtown, their destiny is about to be changed from behind a luxurious mahogany desk. "The Rook Crew" includes Book One "Raspberries and a Cherry Tree", Book Two "Sweet Cherry Chapstick"