Confessions of a Nervous Shiksa

Book excerpt: Lights! Camera! Ultimatum! When movie studio publicity V.P. Alexis Manning's fiancé -- Jewish bartender/actor David a.k.a. Deke -- goes home with her for a holly jolly Christmas in Vermont with her family, there's a chill in the air and it ain't just the weather. Overwhelmed by the Christianity of it all, David confesses that he can't marry Alexis unless she converts to Judaism. Alexis might not know exactly what she wants to do with her life...but she knows she doesn't want to spend it pretending to be something she's not. Alexis believes in only one religion -- movies. So with her well-scripted romance on the cutting-room floor, she begins replaying favorite film scenes in her head and breaking down her own life into dramatic clips, searching for the right ending. If only she were Julia, or Demi, or Meryl, things would be different. Get me rewrite! Is Kirk, the hot new director of her latest project, meant to be Alexis's leading man? Or are she and David headed for a dramatic act-three reunion? And what of Andrew Sullivan -- the proverbial One That Got Away? Between film festival dramas, uncontrollable actors, egotistical directors, a heartbroken sister, an ailing, peculiar cat named Little (and her accompanying astronomical vet bills), and fantasies about simpler times back in New England, it's all Alexis can do to keep production on schedule. But surely there's a happily ever after for her -- and hopefully for Little, too -- before credits roll.