Rikki Greene is thankful for everything she has—a satisfying career as a Hollywood movie publicist, good friends who are more like family, a sense of humor that comes in handy in a business where you never have to grow up, Moppet, her four-legged BFF, who shares her passion for McDonald’s vanilla soft serve, and a budding friendship with Hollywood tough guy actor Jake Stanley that maybe, just maybe, could blossom into a romance…  

 

But, like her idol, Dorothy Parker, every time the phone rings, she wonders – what fresh hell is this?

 

Rikki has dealt with more than her share of fresh hells in her 40 years, and she has the scars to prove it. But when she gets an urgent phone call on the set of her friend’s latest movie, she has no choice but to walk into the fire once more. Rikki’s domineering, manipulative mother has passed away. And now, ten years since her last disastrous visit, Rikki goes back to the small New England town where she grew up. Back to being Rachel Greenberg. Misfit and outcast.

 

Planning her mother’s funeral, moving her diva-esque father to the Jewish Nursing Home, and selling the dilapidated house she grew up in, is more than enough for Rikki to handle. But her very own “Mommy Dearest” took one final shot. A tiny little codicil to her will—a “How Can I Get My Daughter to Feel Guilty for the Rest of her Life Manifesto”—that could force Rikki back into Rachel’s world for the rest of her life.

 

Trapped in her hometown until she can untangle the legal mess her mom created, Rikki has to juggle nosy relatives who want to pick over every last cup and saucer in her parents’ house, misguided neighbors who refer to her parents as “the two dearest people in the world,” and over-the-top gossip about Rikki’s life in La-La-Land. At every turn, a new fresh hell tests her will—including a family secret that threatens to push her over the edge. At this rate, she’ll need a lifetime supply of vanilla soft-serve just to get through the next few weeks.

 

Can Rikki finally say good-bye and good riddance to Rachel Greenberg once and for all and claim a chance at her own happy ending? Or will this fresh hell turn her life into a permanent bad movie?