What Publisher's Weekly had to say about my debut novel...

In Cook’s quirky debut, a woman conquers her fear of intimacy amid preparations for her bookstore’s grand opening. The Shopkeeper, a writer and a soon-to-be bookshop owner in Philadelphia, has always been a loner, due partly to a condition that causes her to fall asleep if she touches another person. Before her store officially opens, a sweet-smelling monk in training called ME wanders in. The pair immediately click, and ME leaves with the Shopkeeper’s last copy of her self-published book, Conversations with Harriet. After inexplicably finding a shelf full of her books at the university bookstore—copies that the Shopkeeper knows she didn’t print—she offers another copy to two members of her writers group, hoping it will bring them closer. As her book brings lovers together, the Shopkeeper pines after ME but keeps busy with setting up her bookstore. When the Shopkeeper’s pregnant sister, Elle, asks her to road-trip with her down south to their grandmother’s house, the Shopkeeper is forced to confront her fear of touch and the emotional baggage she left behind when she moved north. While far from a traditional romance, at the heart of Cook’s lightly allegorical debut is a love letter to storytelling itself. Readers eager for something out of the ordinary will be enchanted. (Sept.)