Best to Laugh

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No one steps up to life’s banquet, holds out her tray, and orders, “Grief, please!” But as a child, Candy Pekkala was served a heaping helping of it. Every buffet line has a dessert section, however, and when a cousin calls with a Hollywood apartment to sublet, it seems as though Candy is finally offered something sweet. It’s good-bye to Minnesota and hello to California, where a girl who has always lived by her wits has a real chance of making a living with them. With that, Lorna Landvik launches her latest irresistible character onto the world stage—or at least onto the dimly lit small stage where stand-up comedy gets its start

“Lorna Landvik is immensely popular, and she brings an essential good-heartedness to her writing.  As much as BEST TO LAUGH is a celebration of a very special time and place, it is even more a celebration of character, desire, friendship, perserverance, and love – oh, and hamburger hot dish.”
— Elizabeth Berg, author of TAPESTRY OF FORTUNES and THE DAY I ATE WHATEVER I WANTED

“…BEST TO LAUGH, although fiction, is one of the truest accounts of a Hollywood life.  It takes a master of comedy to be able to write about the business of laughter, to interpret its roots and inner workings.  Lorna Landvik is precisely that.  I, for one can attribute countless gut-busting laughs to the genius of Lorna.  A great nostalgic tale.”
–MO COLLINS, Actress/Comedian

“BEST TO LAUGH is cheerfully outlandish, filled with ambition, love, adventure, kindness, swimming pools, nightclubs and baked goods.  Best of all, it’s laugh-out-loud hilarious.”
— Julie Schumacher, author of DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS and THE UNBEARABLE BOOK CLUB FOR UNSINKABLE GIRLS

“BEST TO LAUGH” had me laughing out loud.  It’s both funny and tender and full of memorable characters.  You can’t help but love Candy Pekkala and her quirky, mixologist grandmother.  Lorna Landvik has written a charming novel with real heart.”
— Shannon Olson, author of WELCOME TO MY PLANET