{"product_id":"use-me-9780688165574","title":"Use Me","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe exquisitely artful fiction debut of Elissa Schappell: a novel told in ten stories that resonate with the most profound experiences in the life of a young woman--friendship and rivalry  the love for a man  the birth of a child  and the death of a father. Use Me explores the fierce bonds between close friends  fathers and daughters  mothers and children  and the underlying desire and loss inherent in these ever evolving relationships. As she grows from a rebellious adolescent in the preppy suburbs of Delaware to a sexually fraught and reluctant adult in New York City  Evie Wakefield struggles to connect and negotiate intimacy with the men in her life: Chas Wakefield  her larger-than-life father  who has cheated cancer for years; Billy  her sexy  responsibility--shy musician husband; and Charlie  her needy young son. All the while she attempts to keep up with her best friend and sometime competitor  the sophisticated and reckless Mary Beth McEvoy  who seems to draw to her just what she wants  and holds a mirror to Evies darkest desires. Use Me vividly captures the undeniable truths of loyalty and betrayal  of heartbreak and sexual yearning  as evoked by a young writer of devastating gifts. Evie and Mary Beth: two women who could hardly be more different--or more deeply sympathetic. They could be the light and the dark in one person  but in fact they are best friends  occasional competitors  reflections of whats missing from each others lives. Evie is emotionally articulate  painfully sensitive  and provoked by a desire to inhabit the hearts of those she loves most--her father  sick with cancer; her musician husband; her needful young son. Mary Beth is sharp  sophisticated  and utterly beguiling; the kind of woman who draws to her exactly what she desires (including  in one troubling evening  Evies father). Perhaps calculated  but certainly careless with her friends affections  Mary Beth makes her own life seem effortless. And for Evie  she serves as a reminder of the innocent sexual and emotional freedom she longs to recapture. As her father slips from her grasp  Evie falls into conflict with those she should be pulling close and tries to acknowledge her own weaknesses in the face of doing the right thing. Whats revealed in these stories are the undeniable truths of loyalty and betrayal  of heartbreak and sexual yearning  evoked by a young writer of devastating gifts.Evie and Mary Beth: two women who could hardly be more different--or more deeply sympathetic. They could be the light and the dark in one person  but in fact they are best friends  occasional competitors  reflections of whats missing from each others lives. Evie is emotionally articulate  painfully sensitive  and provoked by a desire to inhabit the hearts of those she loves most--her father  sick with cancer; her musician husband; her needful young son. Mary Beth is sharp  sophisticated  and utterly beguiling; the kind of woman who draws to her exactly what she desires (including  in one troubling evening  Evies father). Perhaps calculated  but certainly careless with her friends affections  Mary Beth makes her own life seem effortless. And for Evie  she serves as a reminder of the innocent sexual and emotional freedom she longs to recapture. As her father slips from her grasp  Evie falls into conflict with those she should be pulling close and tries to acknowledge her own weaknesses in the face of doing the right thing. Whats revealed in these stories are the undeniable truths of loyalty and betrayal  of heartbreak and sexual yearning  evoked by a young writer of devastating gifts.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45792615006261,"sku":"ByrdShop_0688165575","price":65.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780688165574.jpg?v=1784755962","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/use-me-9780688165574","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}