Stacey Ballis
Born: 1970 in Chicago, Illinois
Connection to Illinois: Ballis is a Chicago native. Biography: Stacey Ballis is a writer, educator, and television broadcaster. She is the director of education and community programs at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. Previously, she taught high school English in the Chicago Public Schools for four years and was the director of education at a professional Chicago theater.
Awards:
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Selected Titles
Everything I needed to know about being a girl I learned from Judy Blume / ISBN: 1439102651 OCLC: 318487131 Whether laughing to tears or clamoring for more unmistakable "me too!" moments, girls all over the world have been touched by Judy Blume's poignant coming-of-age stories. Now, in this anthology of essays, 24 notable female authors write straight from the heart about the unforgettable novels that left an indelible mark on their childhoods and still influence them today. After growing up from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing into Smart Women, these writers pay tribute, through their reflections and most cherished memories, to one of the most beloved authors.--From publisher description. |
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Good enough to eat / ISBN: 0425229637 OCLC: 555643264 Melanie loses a large amount of weight and learns to eat healthy, but when her husband leaves her for a heavier woman, she is forced reexamine her own goals and her relationships with friends, family, and men. |
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How to change a life / ISBN: 0425276627 OCLC: 964291391 "A dare between friends leads to startling revelations and simmering tensions in the latest novel from the author of Wedding Girl. Eloise is happy with her life as a successful private chef. She has her clients, her corgi, and a recipe for the world's most perfect chocolate cream pie. What more could she need? But when her long-lost trio of high school friends reunites, Eloise realizes how lonely she really is. Eloise, Lynne, and Teresa revamp their senior-class assignment and dare one another to create a list of things to accomplish by the time they each turn forty in a few months. Control freak Lynne has to get a dog, Teresa has to spice up her marriage, and Eloise has to start dating again. Enter Shawn, a hunky ex-athlete and the first man Eloise could see herself falling for. Suddenly forty doesn't seem so lonely--until a chance encounter threatens the budding romance and reveals the true colors of her friends. Will the bucket listers make it to forty still speaking to one another? Or do some friendships come with an expiration date? Readers Guide and Recipes Included"-- |
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Inappropriate men / ISBN: 037325055X OCLC: 54855398 Red Dress Ink, Don Mills, Ont. : ©2004. |
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Off the menu / ISBN: 042524766X OCLC: 747529940 "As the executive culinary assistant to Chicago celebrity chef Patrick Conlon, Alana Ostermann works behind the scenes--and that's just the way she likes it. But with developing recipes for Patrick's cookbooks, training his sous chefs, picking out the perfect birthday gifts for his ex-mother-in-law, and dealing with the fallout from his romantic escapades, she barely has a personal life, much less time to spend with her combo platter of a mutt, Dumpling. Then a fluke online connection brings her RJ, a transplant from Tennessee, who adds some Southern spice to her life. Suddenly Alana's priorities shift, and Patrick--and Dumpling--find themselves facing a rival for her time and affection. With RJ in the mix, and with some serious decisions to make about her personal and professional future, Alana must discover the perfect balance of work and play, money and meaning, to bring it all to the table--one delicious dish at a time."-- |
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Out to lunch / ISBN: 0425265498 OCLC: 857370269 When her best friend dies, leaving her with financial custody of her Star Wars-obsessed husband, Jenna must deal with the widower's hair-brained business schemes while trying to figure out what direction her life is going to take. |
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Recipe for disaster / ISBN: 0425265501 OCLC: 881871579 "Stacey Ballis cooks up a delicious broth of a novel about a woman whose perfect life falls apart in spectacular fashion leaving her with a house to restore, an antique cookbook (but no cooking talent), and one very unhappy schnauzer. For fans of Jen Lancaster, Jennifer Weiner, and Emily Giffin. To an outside observer, Anneke Stroudt is a mess-her shirts are stained, her fingernails stubby, her language colorful. But, despite her flaws, Anneke's life is close to perfect. She has a beautiful historic house to restore and a loving fiance; who cooks like a dream. Until Anneke's charmed existence falls apart when she loses both her job and her future husband in one terrible day. In need of a new start, she packs up her disgruntled schnauzer and moves into her half-finished home, where she throws her pent-up frustration-and what little savings she has-into finishing the renovation. But at the first step into the house's overhaul, Anneke is sidetracked when she discovers a mysterious leather-bound book, long hidden away, filled with tempting recipes and steamy secrets from Emma Ditmore-Smythe, the cook for the house's original owners. Slowly, with the help of some delicious food and Emma's life lessons, Anneke begins to realize that, just like a flawless recipe, she's been waiting for the right ingredients to cook up a perfect life all along. With the perfect blend of humor and heart, Ballis's writing is powerfully honest and genuinely hilarious-- |
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Room for improvement / ISBN: 0425209822 OCLC: 64595985 Berkley Books, New York : 2006. Lily Allen's dream job working as an interior designer on the reality home improvement show Swap/Meet has become a nightmare, thanks to the show's ditzy host, a jealous competitor, feuding fashion czars, and a handsome but curmudgeonly carpenter who knows how to push every one of her buttons. |
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Sleeping over ISBN: 073355721X OCLC: 156752867 Red Dress Ink (Australia), Chatswood, N.S.W. : 2005. |
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The spinster sisters / ISBN: 0425213560 OCLC: 71790162 Berkley Books, New York : ©2007. Jodi and Jill Spingold are the Spinster Sisters. With a radio show, speaking engagements, DVDs, and two bestselling books, they've built a thriving cottage industry helping other single women find happiness. Their futures have never been brighter-until Jill turns out the lights on Jodi by announcing her engagement. Jodi is stunned. How can they be the Spinster Sisters if one of them is married? Complicating things is her own love life, involving three vastly different paramours offering three different kinds of happiness-none of which Jodi is sure she wants. And her ex-husband, backed by his lawyer girlfriend, may be angling for a piece of the Spinster Sisters empire. Now, Jodi must make some tough decisions, keep the business afloat, and get to the altar to stand by her sister-even if means that from now on she'll be single all by herself. |
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Wedding girl / ISBN: 0425276619 OCLC: 937059631 "You've Got Mail meets Julie & Julia in the new foodie fiction from the author of Recipe for Disaster. Top pastry chef Sophie Bernstein and her sommelier fiance were set to have Chicago's culinary wedding of the year ... until the groom eloped with someone else in a very public debacle, leaving Sophie splashed across the tabloids--fifty grand in debt on her dream wedding and one-hundred percent screwed on her dream life. The icing on the cake was when she lost her job and her home ... Laying low, Sophie moves in with her grandmother, Bubbles. That way, she can keep Bubbles and her sweater-wearing pug company and nurse her broken heart. But when Sophie gets a part-time job at the old-fashioned neighborhood bakery, she finds herself up to her elbows in dough and reluctantly giving a wedding cake customer advice on everything from gift bags to guest accommodations. Before she knows it, she's an online wedding planner. It's not mousse and macarons, but it pays the bills. But with the arrival of unexpected personal and professional twists, Sophie wonders if she's really moving forward--or starting over from scratch ... Includes Recipes"-- |