Disneyland for Lonely Hearts

Melinda Rhodes used to crack fortune cookies in search of the miraculous. She stole dandelion puffs from the yards of strangers even when pit bulls posed a threat. And to her, poetry always sounded like incantations, though she won’t admit it anymore. Since the death of her husband, Melinda has fallen out of love with love. Years later, this former romance novelist can barely fill out a deposit slip without crying. Her best friends Tara, a perennial beatnik, and Keri, a blind therapist, buy her an annual pass to Disneyland in a last stitch effort to help Melinda reunite with her own whimsy.

As a regular at the theme park Melinda tries to look behind fairy tale clichés, but finds herself going to salsa bars with Disney princesses, power walking through Fantasyland, and giving pep talks to the punk rocker inside the plush Minnie Mouse costume. In her new routine, Melinda meets Cole, a slacker who’s worked every job at Disneyland – from jazz trumpeter to Monorail attendant. They both have secrets they aren’t willing to share quite yet.

In DISNEYLAND FOR LONELY HEARTS, Melinda wanders amongst cynics and romantics to find a wonderland in herself far more complex than expected.