My Work
A CALIFORNIA MARRIAGE
Set in the San Francisco Bay Area, A CALIFORNIA MARRIAGE begins when on a Boy Scout camping trip on Mt. Diablo, Desirae Wadsworth finds her best friend’s eleven-year-old son dead outside the tent he was sharing with Morty, her neurodivergent son. Morty is blamed by his friend’s parents, the greater community, and even his own father for flouting the buddy system and not accompanying his friend when he left the tent to pee. Desirae, who was volunteered by her husband, Bill, to chaperone the trip, is blamed for not enforcing the policy.
To escape the tragedy and start over, the Wadsworths move across the bay to another mountain town and change Morty’s name to William. Unfortunately, Desirae can’t process her grief, nor William his torment. Inevitably, the family implodes and Bill remarries. However, the price of starting separate lives for Bill and Desirae and their struggling son may be steep because they can’t escape the tragedy that continues to follow them.
THE KIDS FROM ADAM
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After their unstable and violent father bolts from their lives, Honey and Joey want to feel safe. However, moving to Mom’s old neighborhood where the gangsters rule makes them feel like they’re flapping even harder in the wind. When they band together with the beautiful and ballsy Billy D, however, life looks up. But when Billy D’s life shitcans and he’s shipped away, the kids move on without him. He eventually returns angry and resentful, and as the kids soon learn, he won’t be left behind.
Starting during the Vietnam War and when monkeys were tortured to learn how humans love, THE KIDS FROM ADAM follows the personal struggles of a brother and sister who desperately want love and peace, but are forced into a war they are wholly unprepared to fight.
WHERE IS SHE GOING, WHERE IS SHE FROM?
WHERE IS SHE GOING, WHERE IS SHE FROM?
WORK-IN-PROGRESS. Ready for submission estimated June 1, 2026
Bree O'Day wonders if she was switched at birth. Her mother has never liked her. So, when Bree goes off to college, she looks forward to starting a new life, her real life. When she takes a DNA test with friends for a class project, the results don't make sense. Her father isn't her father.
This revelation sets off a series of events that leaves Bree unmoored and drifting into oblivion. To reclaim her identity, Bree needs some form of justice because moving forward isn't possible without it.
PRAISE FOR denise's novels
PRAISE FOR THE KIDS FROM ADAM
“I love your writing, the rich character details that make every character believable and compelling. You have so many challenges in this novel—kids’ povs, historical setting, multiple povs, thematic layers—but you handle each masterfully. This reads like a published novel from a veteran writer.”
Raymond Obstfeld, Author, Professor, Screen-writer
PRAISE FOR A CALIFORNIA MARRIAGE
"Thank you for the very compelling read. I was sad to put the book down and excited to pick it up again. This novel possesses that special kind of magic editors dream of finding." Andrea Robinson, Freelance Editor, former Acquisitions Editor with Penguin Random House