Emily A. Burton

Jack McCall is a fast-talking literary agent, who can close any deal, any time, any way. He has set his sights on New Age guru Dr. Sinja for his own selfish purposes. But Dr. Sinja is on to him, and Jack’s life comes unglued after a magical Bodhi tree mysteriously appears in his backyard. With every word Jack speaks, a leaf falls from the tree and he realizes that when the last leaf falls, both he and the tree are toast. Words have never failed Jack McCall, but now he’s got to stop talking and conjure up some outrageous ways to communicate or he’s a goner.

After telling her fiancé, Dana, that her entire family is dead, Manhattanite Alex whisks off to her childhood home in South Carolina to serve as bridesmaid at her high-maintenance, estranged sister Jeannie's wedding. As she tries not to steal Jeannie's thunder by telling her family that a) she's engaged, and b) the man she's going to marry is a Jewish African American, things get a little mixed up.

When they're sent to the tiny backwoods town of Little Hope to collect market research interviews, co-working opposites Linda and Kelly find there's literally no room at the inn, and they're forced to stay together at a local youth hostel. But sharing such a tight space produces interesting results.