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Ms. Elisa Lorello

Picture of Ms. Elisa Lorello

Lecturer

Biography

The youngest of seven, Elisa Lorello was born and raised on Long Island, New York. In 1995, she moved to southeastern Massachusetts, where she attended University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth for both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Her career in rhetoric and composition studies began in 2000, and since then she has been teaching first-year writing at the university level. In 2006, Ms. Lorello relocated to North Carolina, where she currently teaches and writes.

Lorello independently published her first novel, Faking It, in November 2008. One year later, its sequel, Ordinary World, was also published. Both novels took off on the Amazon Kindle. In January 2010, Faking It peaked at #6 on the Kindle Store, while Ordinary World peaked in the Top 40. Both novels stayed in the Top 100 for about six weeks.

In June 2010, Lorello signed with Amazon Publishing imprint AmazonEncore. Along with Faking It and Ordinary World, AmazonEncore released Elisa's third novel, Why I Love Singlehood, co-authored with Sarah Girrell.

Lorello attended the Stony Brook Southampton Writers Conference on Long Island, NY during the 2011 summer, where she studied with screenwriters Stephen Molton and Will Chandler as well as short fiction writer and artist Frederic Tuten. Additionally, Lorello's novels hit the Amazon Kindle BestSeller list again this past summer, peaking at #14 (it remains #1 on the Women's Fiction list). Maritime, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin-Harcourt, is re-releasing the trade paperback of Faking It on August 23, 2011  She is currently working on a fourth novel.

Lorello's writing influences include Aaron Sorkin, Nora Ephron, Marian Keyes, Richard Russo, and scholars Peter Elbow and Donald Murray. Her blog "I'll Have What She's Having" encompasses all of Lorello's interests and keeps her readers up to date on her works in progress (and, as she says, "sometimes it's funny").

Publications

Faking It

What happens when a writing professor and a male escort become friends?

Thirty-four-year old professor Andi Cutrone has broken up with her fiancé in Massachusetts, moved back to her native New York, and wants to be a better lover. So after meeting Devin, a handsome, charming escort, she proposes an unusual arrangement: lessons about writing in exchange for lessons about sex. When Devin accepts Andi’s proposal, he draws up a contract in which the two are forbidden to see each other socially. There’s just one problem: Andi also wants Devin.

Faking It is a witty, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart-wrenching story about relationships, writing, and getting real.

 

Ordinary World

Six years after leaving New York, Andi has everything she wants: a tenured professorship at Northampton University in Massachusetts, a published collection of essays, good friends, and a blissful relationship with her husband. But what happens when tragedy strikes and the world as she knows it changes in an instant?

Author Elisa Lorello reunites us with Andi and has created a story of love and loss, joy and sorrow, and heartbreak and hope, all the while keeping us hooked through the laughter and tears.

 

Why I Love Singlehood

Eva Perino is single and proud of it. Owner of The Grounds, a coffee shop nestled in the heart of a college town, thirtysomething Eva cherishes her comfortable life filled with quirky friends, a fun job, and no significant other. In fact, she’s so content to be on her own that she started a blog about it: “Why I Love Singlehood.” Yet when she hears the news of her ex-boyfriend’s engagement, her confidence in her single status takes a surprisingly hard hit.

So begins Eva’s clumsy (and occasionally uproarious) search for love as she secretly joins an online dating site, tries her hand at speed-dating, and breaks her own rule by getting involved with one of The Grounds’ regulars. Soon Eva is forced to figure out exactly who—or what—is the true love of her life. Sparkling with warmth and wit, Why I Love Singlehood is a charming and insightful must-read for anyone—single or otherwise—who has ever been stymied by love.

Education

  • Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (with emphasis on Organizational Behavior) from UMass-Dartmouth, 1999
  • Master of Arts in Professional Writing (with emphasis on rhetoric and composition studies) from UMass-Dartmouth, 2003