Synopsis:
*People would kill to be thin.*
Solu’s luxurious celebrity-filled “Cruise to Lose” is billed as “the biggest cruise since the Titanic,” and if the new diet sweetener works as promised—dropping five percent of a person’s body weight in just days—it really could be the answer to the world’s obesity problem. But Laurel is starting to regret accepting her friend Viv’s invitation. She’s already completely embarrassed herself in front of celebrity host, Tom Forelli (otherwise known as the hottest guy ever!) and she’s too seasick to even try the sweetener. And that’s before Viv and all the other passengers start acting really strange.
*But will they die for it, too?*
Tom Forelli knows that he should be grateful for this job and the opportunity to shed his childhood “Baby Tom-Tom” image. His publicists have even set up a ‘romance’ with a sexy reality star. But as things on the ship start to get a bit wild, he finds himself drawn to a different girl. And when his celebrity hosting gig turns into an expose on the shocking side effects of Solu, it’s Laurel that he’s determined to save.
Emmy Laybourne, author of the Monument 14 trilogy, takes readers on a dream vacation that goes first comically, then tragically, then horrifyingly, wrong.
Goodreads:
Review:
Skinny is in and fat is out......
You find out from your friend their is a pill that can be a cure to obesity. All you have to do is go on a cruise and be a tester to see how much weight you lose. Your friend is excited and she wants you to come along and enjoy the cruise as well as the chance to lose the extra weight you have.
Only when you get on the cruise ship things don't go as planned. You realize the hottest guy who is the host is the man of your dreams. Then your best friend starts taking the medicine and starts acting weird. At first you think it is sea sickness just like you have but then you realize that it is more than that and need to find out what is happening to all the people who have taken this medicine.
Then you get a big surprise when the host comes to aide you. He has also realized that something is going on and it is not right and e is ready to expose what ever it is and who ever it is.
Will the passengers be saved in time.......
SHORT BIO:
Emmy Laybourne is a novelist, public speaker, screenwriter and former character actress.
Photo: Fernando Lopez
Emmy Laybourne is a novelist, screenwriter and former character actress. Emmy’s Monument 14 trilogy has earned critical praise ("Frighteningly real… riveting" - New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice) and has been nominated by readers to the YALSA Teens Top Ten in 2013 and and won the #5 spot in 2014. Emmy’s book SWEET is due out in June 2015. It tells the story of a luxury cruise to launch a new diet sweetener that goes comically, then tragically, then terrifyingly wrong.
Before her life as an author, Emmy performed original comedy on Comedy Central, MTV and VH1; and acted in the movies "Superstar," "The In-Laws" and "Nancy Drew," among others. Emmy lives outside New York City with her husband, two kids and a flock of 6 nifty chickens.
LONG BIO:
Well hello there! Thank you for settling in for the long version of my bio! We're going to have fun.
Mugging for the camera at age 10.
I was born in the ancient year of 1971. I grew up in Manhattan. I was a goofball. In this picture you can see me with my best friend Kerry. Still my BFF, BTW and my darling little brother, Sam. (More on him later.) My parents had just about the coolest jobs you could imagine. My Dad was a TV producer and my Mom was an executive at Nickelodeon. To tell you the truth, she sort of invented Nickelodeon. You can read about her here onWikipedia. And you can check out my some of my Dad's incredibly cool work over here.
I started writing at a very young age. The first short story I wrote was about a male alien named Grog. He was sending out a rescue plea because he'd just mated with his wife and she was about to kill him and eat him (praying mantis style).
Here I am the daisy chain in 1991.
I went to Vassar college (class of '93!) and majored in English with a focus in creative writing. After graduating, I got a job as a PA for Comedy Central. It was there that I met Randy Sklar, who would later turn me on to the incredible comedy scene on the lower east side.
In the meantime, while not at Comedy Central I was doing improv with a comedy troupe called Freestyle Repertory Theatre. We did school shows all around NY state. I learned a LOT about telling a good story at these shows. This was because if you didn't tell a good story, the kids would start throwing stuff at you.
I'm at the bottom, with my pals from Freestyle Repertory Theater.
Somewhere along the line, I partnered up with Julina Tatlock (my best friend Kerry's older sister) and we created a play together. At first it was going to be an improvised play, but we quickly realized someone needed to write it, so I did. It was called “The Miss Alphabet City Beauty Pageant and Spelling Bee." The New York Post said it, “restores faith in our country’s comedic future.” The Daily News called it, “hilariously clever.” You can imagine - we were PSYCHED!
My next play was a one women show called “Smorgas-Bourne.” In the show, the audience members were given a menu of sketches and they got to pick which ones they wanted to see. One night Lorne Michaels, yes, THE Lorne Michaels, came to see it and a few months later I was cast in a big, fat, leading role in the Paramount feature film, “Superstar,” opposite Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon. I cannot express in words how incredibly fun it was to film that movie! I can only express it in bad dance moves while wearing fake braces.
Incredibly fun!
One night Will Ferrel, Harland Williams and I sat in with Second City in Toronto for an improv set. Maybe one of the most fun nights of my life!
A selfie: Delta Burke and moi
Me, my manager Maureen Taran and The Rock! (He was guest starring on DAG)
After shooting "Superstar" I moved to Los Angeles. I went on to have featured roles in the films “Nancy Drew,” “The In-Laws,” and “Lucky Numbers.” Then I booked a job on a great, but short-lived NBC sitcom called “DAG.” On that show, also terrifically fun, I got to work with David Allen Grier, Delta Burke, Paul F. Tompkins, Lea Moreno Young, Lauren Tom and the departed and dearly beloved Stephen Dunham, who we all miss quite a lot.
Now, all through my life as an actor I was writing and performing my own comedy sketches as well as improvising. I loved writing sketches and when I lived in NYC I'd often write a sketch or a song in the morning and perform it that evening. Imagine the rush! That was in the glory days of the lower east side comedy scene, where we all gathered every Monday night to perform (and to hear Marc Maron rant and rave) at Luna Lounge. Somebody really should write a book about that incredible scene. Maybe me, someday. My favorite piece I wrote during that time was a song I sang with my brother, Sam, called: “We’re Related.” It's not on You Tube, but you can find it here.
As I said, all the time I was acting, I was also improvising and I've worked with some of the best: the Upright Citizens Brigade, Improv Olympic West, Chicago City Limits, Freestyle Repertory Theater and (my always favorites) the Heartless Floozies. In fact, my advice if you want to be an actor is to immediately get in a good improv class. Then, when you've got a few years under your belt on a Harold team, an agent will literally find you. (I forgot to mention, you probably need to move to NY, Chicago or LA for this plan to work...) Okay, on with my life!
My Harold group from IO West. I think we were called "Hardhat". Yes, that is Eric Stonestreet in the back!
After I got married and had kids, I decided I didn't want to act anymore. Friends, it was the auditioning. It was killing me. I just could not handle the auditioning.
Here I am on graduation day with my mom and dad and daughter Ellie, age 3 years old. Also pictured, sort of, my son Rex, age -3 months.
So I decided to turn to the writer in me. I applied to the film school at UCLA and ended up getting an MFA in screenwriting in June of 2006. While at UCLA, I won the Eleanor Perry Award for Excellence in Screenwriting from Women in Film for my screenplay, “Tulum.” I feel like I have to mention this because I haven't won many things in my life. Well, I did win $500 on New Year's Eve in a casino in Marrakesh, but that's a different story.
After I graduated from UCLA, I was just about to try to make my debut as a screenwriter, but my hubby got the chance to attend the Parsons School of Design. We moved to New York, and instead of trying to launch a screenwriting career, I took my good friend Susanna Einstein out to lunch. Susanna also happens to be an exceedingly excellent literary agent and I took the opportunity to pitch her 5 story ideas. One of them was about 14 kids who get trapped in a superstore while civilization collapses outside the gates. I called it: WE ARE VAL-U-MART. Susanna said, "I love the concept. I hate the title!" And that's how I started working on the novel that became MONUMENT 14.
In 2013, MONUMENT 14 was nominated for a YALSA Teen's Top Ten award and was a Quick Pick for Reluctant YA Readers. And SKY ON FIRE won the #5 spot in the YALSA Teen's Top Ten in 2014. (This is the third thing I've won, besides the UCLA prize and the $500 in a casino on New Year's Eve in Marakkesh.)
In March of 2015, I brought my two careers together in a new project called Spine Out. Spine Out is a live, stage event where novelists read personal essays. Ah, it's so much fun! Our first show featured Leigh Bardugo, Matt de la Peña, David Levithan, RL Stine and myself and it was simply a terrific show!
Happy, happy novelists!
In June of 2015, my new novel SWEET will come out! I'm very excited about it. I'm not going to tell you about it here, because you can read about it on its very own page, but I will tell you that I've had a lifelong battle with sugar addiction - and SWEET is partially based on my own experience battling food cravings.
Friends, here we are at the end of my bio. Nowadays, I'm either writing a novel, adapting my work for the screen, speaking at schools and/or libraries, or just, you know, hanging out and taking goofy pictures. Thanks for reading the long version. I feel we've grown closer together, don't you?
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