Books published by publisher Sun Dial Press

With perfect pitch for the humor and heartbreak of everyday life, Julie Buxbaum has fashioned a heroine who will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has loved and lost and loved again.When successful twenty-nine-year-old Manhattan attorney Emily Haxby ends her happy relationship just as her boyfriend is on the verge of proposing, she can’t explain to even her closest friends why she did it. Somewhere beneath her sense of fun, her bravado, and her independent exterior, Emily knows that her breakup with Andrew has less to do with him and more to do with...her. “You’re your own worst enemy,” her best friend Jess tells her. “It’s like you get pleasure out of breaking your own heart.”As the holiday season looms and Emily contemplates whether she made a huge mistake, the rest of her world begins to unravel: she is assigned to a multimillion-dollar lawsuit where she must defend the very values she detests by a boss who can’t keep his hands to himself; her Grandpa Jack, a charming, feisty octogenarian and the person she cares most about in the world, is losing it, while her emotionally distant father has left her to cope with this alone; and underneath it all, fading memories of her deceased mother continue to remind her that love doesn’t last forever.How this brave, original young heroine finally decides to take control of her life and face the fears that have long haunted her is the great achievement of Julie Buxbaum’s marvelous first novel. Written with the authority, grace, and wisdom of an author far beyond her years, The Opposite of Love heralds the debut of a remarkable talent in contemporary fiction.

From the inside flap: A great white shark, an adolescent killer whale, a giant nearsighted tortoise, a temperamental dolphin - these creatures of the deep are some of the daily companions to a man who claims he's spent more time underwater in the last ten years than any other living person. Don Reed's occupation is one of the most unusual in the world: oceanarium diver at San Francisco's Marine World. It's a job that calls for an appetite for the unexpected, an ability to maneuver a way out of dangerous situations, a strong sense of humor, and a special kind of insight into the psychology of exotic natures that often seem as variable and quirky as those of human beings. Don Reed is a man who loves his work. He's been a scuba diver nearly all of his adult life, ever since a stint on the Mississippi as a deckhand convinced him that working underwater would be a whole lot better than working on it. He's put all his knowledge and his love into this delightful book.