Mimi: Are you ever on time for anything? So, here we are in Collingswood, New Jersey. A scene in Love, Life and Linguine is set in Collingswood. But that's not our only connection to this town.

Melissa: I wrote L3 here. Right over there. Above Dr. Cohen's dental office. I rented a small apartment, called it my writing studio, and created L3. Except, the book wasn't called that as I writing it. My publisher didn't like my original title and changed it to Love, Life and Linguine.

Mimi: Which turns out to be a fortuitous title. Explain your crazy alphabetic superstition.

Melissa: Look at the Ls surrounding me. Lexi. Not only her name, but that L is the first letter of the title of my first book. Love, Life, and Linguine. More Ls, making L the first letter of the title of my second book.

Mimi: And the big L?

Melissa: Louis. Your last name. My father's first name.

Mimi: Talk about my first name.

Melissa: Your full first name is Miriam. One of my favorite aunts died just before LJATCOG was published. I named you after her, but gave you the much more modern nickname of Mimi. So, my dear, you are named after two of my guardian angels. Lucky girl you are.

Mimi: As are you. Let's talk about Love, Life and Linguine. Within the first eleven pages, I end up homeless, jobless and manless. Thanks a lot.

Melissa: Sorry.

Mimi: So, I move home to South Jersey to live with my mother and try to save my family's restaurant. My father died two years earlier and the restaurant is in financial trouble. Could you have made things more difficult for me? Jeez.

Melissa: But, but . . .

Mimi: Lexi James gets a posh Rittenhouse Square apartment and a high powered job. Me? I get bubkas.

Melissa: I had to take you off your path so I could help you find your right, true path.

Mimi: I decide to save my family's restaurant, although my brother wants to sell it. I want to maintain my father's legacy. Which is what you were doing, too.

Melissa: No, I wasn't. What do you mean?

Mimi: Your father wanted to be a writer. He died when you were a child and he didn't have time to pursue his dream. You are pursuing the dream for him and maintaining his legacy. The challenge you give me in the book is the same, but different.

Melissa: Wow. I hadn't thought of it that way. How very insightful of you.

Mimi: Your mom came up with that one. I talked to her last night.

Melissa: Oh.

Mimi: We also talked about the way you dedicated L3. You dedicated your first novel with "For my Mommy." This time, you wrote, "Because I am still Daddy's little girl."

Melissa: I am Daddy's little girl. But I am my mother's woman.

Mimi: Talk about your mother.

Melissa: My mother's name is Marlene. Queen Marlene, actually. I keep buying her tiaras but she refuses to wear them. The fact that they are dollar store tiaras makes them no less regal. Still, mom's a humble queen.

Mimi: Every mother is a queen. Your mother especially. At the age of 36, she was widowed with two young children and $600 in the bank.

Melissa: That's what happened to her. What she did about it is the better story. Mom worked menial jobs, put herself through graduate school, and got a good job. She kept us in our house, kept us fed and clothed, and kept setting the example of how to be a good person, and a great woman. What did I learn from her? What she taught me. My mother raised me to believe that I can do anything. Which is mostly good, but sometimes strange. Because I believe her.

Mimi: She believed that you could write novels.

Melissa: And, look. She was right.

Mimi: Your mom did a great job raising you and your brother. Although, I think Dave turned out better than you.

Melissa: I completely agree.

Mimi: I think this is a mother-daughter book. Not many women our age get the opportunity to form adult relationships with their mothers. I lived with my mom, and you lived with Queen Marlene so you could write full time.

Melissa: Living with mom was a very special experience. Funny, strange, insightful. I put a lot of that into L3.

Mimi: This is also a restaurant book. People are calling it "food lit."

Melissa: Yes! The restaurant world is filled with drama, chaos, conflict, unique characters, and humor. Perfect setting for a novel.

Mimi: My first job was at my father's diner. What was your first job in the business?

Melissa: I was a counter girl at Holly Bakery in Cinnaminson, NJ. I was fifteen. I worked every Saturday and Sunday morning, opening the bakery at 6 AM. Me and a girl named Colleen Connelly. We wore Keds, white aprons and ponytails. We took the donuts, sticky buns, cookies and cupcakes from the racks and arrange them in the cases. I can still see the shelves. Golden glaze, deep dark chocolate, pretty pink icing, honey brown, pure white coconut. And the smell. Cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate.

Mimi: Sugar and spice and everything nice?

Melissa: That's what my weekend mornings were made of.

Mimi: Cinnamon memories from the girl from Cinnaminson. Sweet.

Melissa: Sweet water. That's what Cinnaminson means in Lenni Lenape.

Mimi: What was your first experience working in a restaurant?

Melissa: Waitressing at Spaghetti Villa. Paper place mats, plastic menus, salad bar. Wow, I hated that salad bar. Not only did we have to keep it filled, but we had to empty it at the end of the night. And clean it. So nasty. But the owners were authentic Italians. Brothers, and their families. We had great pizza. Amazing calzones.

Mimi: Calzones and cookies. Pretty humble food beginnings.

Melissa: Yep. But there is joy to be had in every kind of food.

Mimi: Families, food. What else? Oh, New Jersey. The setting for my book. And let's come clean about something. The shocking truth. You're only half-Jersey girl.

Melissa: I was born in Philadelphia, raised in Jersey, then went to college in Philadelphia and stayed there until I moved back to write full time. So, I've spent half my life in Philadelphia, half in South Jersey.

Mimi: When you moved back to New Jersey in 2002, the area had changed.

Melissa: South Jersey had changed a lot. Gone were much of the woods and farms, replaced by residential and commercial developments. Being in Collingswood immersed me in the old-fashioned parts of Jersey. Small town, main street, independent restaurants, family owned businesses, farmers' markets, Indian names of things. And then I'd drive down the commercial highway to Mom's ultra-modern but generic condo development. It was geographical schizophrenia. I guess all suburbs are like that. And the thing is, I want both. I want my Dunkin' Donuts coffee and I want my farm fresh tomatoes.

Mimi: Sounds like you are describing my two men. Farmer Joe, and Aaron, the strip mall scion. How to choose between them?

Melissa: How is . . .

Mimi: Shh! Don't give away the end of my book.

Melissa: Oh. Right. Sorry. But your diva is happy?

Mimi: Very.

Melissa: Don't say I didn't give you anything. Lexi got Jack, but I gave you Aaron and Joe.

Mimi: I thank you.

Melissa: You're welcome. I take care of my girls.

Mimi: And how are you, girl? You finished writing my book before Lexi's book was published. Tell me about promoting Lexi James and the Council of Girlfriends.

Melissa: I had a blast. I was invited to book clubs, book stores, book festivals. I met awesome people. Not just people - readers. They gave me invaluable insight, fabulous feedback.

Mimi: Good grief. What will people say about me?

Melissa: I'll let you know.

Mimi: Time to go. We're meeting our mothers for lunch. I'm starving.

Melissa: What do you want to eat?