Sushi and Sea Lions by Rachel Corsini

When a career-ending injury and a messy breakup send prima ballerina Daniela Verdi back to Queens, New York, she fills her days with countless distractions: meaningless sex, pinot grigio, and video games. It takes a chance meeting with her brother's best friend, Vincent LaBate, for her to remember who she was before the stage lights and distractions of the Upper West Side. She's convinced that Vincent could never love a girl like her: broken, insecure, and stumbling her way through life. What Daniela didn’t count on is that Vincent is as scarred as she is after divorcing his cheating wife and going through an equally messy child custody fight. Soon enough, old vulnerabilities rear their ugly heads, opening a crack in Daniela’s perfectly imperfect romance. As Daniela and Vincent's relationship develops, will Daniela learn to accept that a dream life isn't all it's cracked up to be?

Adult • Women's Fiction/Chick Lit • Contemporary Fiction • Women's Fiction • Women's Fiction/Romance • Romance

Content Warning: Disordered eating, emotional abuse, one scene of animal abuse

jlhines78 author / book blogger

I was to judge this book in the category of light read, and that it is most definitely not. Sushi and Sea Lions is a complicated and entwined story about heartbreak, learning to start over, discovering truths about yourself, and creating your own fairytale.