First Lady

Drama, Humor, Lesbian Romance, published in 2004, Co-written by T. Novan, ISBN: 0974621013, $18.95, 347 pages

First Lady, 2nd edition

Story Summary
Author Commentary

Story Summary:

Planning a wedding is never easy. However, most brides don’t face the challenges that Lauren Strayer does. Her beloved comes with a ready-made family, something the biographer never imagined for herself. In addition, Lauren’s estranged father thoroughly disapproves of her future mate, who just happens to be the nation’s first female president.

Lauren tackles the perils and pleasures of parenting and the tension between her private nature and her new, very public role. At the same time, Dev, a dedicated public servant, struggles to find the balance between managing the nation’s interests, her family, her fears, and her stress, while continuing the development of her relationship with Lauren. The result is an action-packed, amusing and tender tale of the sort that fans of Cooper & Novan have come to love and expect.

Author Commentary:

Ah, sequels. So many expectations. I generally avoid sequels because I think so many of them are written when there really isn’t any story left to tell. But as you can guess, we managed to find something to write about!

In this sequel to Madam President, the focus shifted from those first heady months of falling in love, to living together, working together, and truly becoming a family. The humor is more overt in First Lady, but so is the tension. As one reader put it, “It was like everyone grew up in First Lady. Even the writing was more mature.”

I couldn't agree more.

In late 2004 I sold my interest in Dev & Lauren and their stories to my co-writer. It took over seven hundred pages, but I’d finally said all I had to say about these fun, and very real, characters.