That’s the title I’ve come up with for my current manuscript. Yes, friends, that’s the best I could do. I stink at coming up with titles. Ask any of my friends who’ve asked me over the years to help title their books. Clearly, it’s not one of my fortes. I have several friends who are absolute marvels at it. I keep saying I don’t want to bother them but I’m afraid I’ve no choice in the matter.

 I started out with another title that was very clever indeed. So clever, in fact, it was a catch phrase of the popular sitcom, ‘Seinfeld’. Naturally, it was the episode that centered around food. No, it wasn’t the one about the elusive marble rye. And, no, not the one with the mouthwateringly delicious chocolate baklava.

 It was the soup Nazi episode and its catch phrase - No Soup For You. That was the working title of my manuscript.

Catchy, right? And it fit so perfectly.

My book is about a cutting edge female chef whose innovative café is effectively shut down by a review she assumed was penned by a no-nonsense – albeit hot - and slightly rigid food reviewer. My chef, Nola, lives her life in the kind of fancy free way which, along with her bewitching smile, drives my ordered food reviewer, Val, slightly insane. Val lived his life in an ordered, methodical fashion and sees Nola as his complete opposite in every way.

They spend most of the book annoyed with one another. Wouldn’t you be if the man you are falling in love with had a hand in breaking your dreams? Never mind that you broke his leg. And just how do you stop someone who frustrates you to no end from claiming your heart? Her friends love her. Your eccentric family loves her. Even that brute of a bartender loves her.

Do you want the high concept angle? Here it is.

Think Ryan O’Neil and Barbra Streisand characters from What’s Up, Doc?. Think Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. Or Grant and Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story for that matter –except Jimmy Stewart’s character develops an unexpected sinister quality. (More on that another time.)

Still, with all those high concepts, I remain flabbergasted. I know my brilliant ship mates can come up with better titles than I can. They’re a clever bunch with or without the rum.

Well, gentle potential reader, given what I’ve stated here, can you come up with a better title than I did? I sure hope so. I’m about ready to let this one out of the proofing oven.