Eric Luper – författare

Seth Baumgartner just had the worst day of his life.

His girlfriend dumped him (at Applebee''s), he spied his father on a date with a woman who is not his mother (also at Applebee''s!), and he lost his fourth job of the year. It''s like every relationship he cares about is imploding, and he can''t figure out what''s going on.

To find answers, Seth decides to start an anonymous podcast called The Love Manifesto, exploring "what love is, why love is, and why we''re stupid enough to keep going back for more." Things start looking up when Seth gets a job at a golf club with his hilarious and smut-minded best friend, Dimitri, and Dimitri''s sister, Audrey. With their help, Seth tracks down his father''s mystery date, hits the most infamous bogey in the history of golf, and discovers that sometimes love means eating the worst chicken-salad sandwich you can ever imagine.

When eleven-year-old Jeremy Bender does major damage to his father''s prized boat, he figures he has one way to avoid being grounded for life: Fix it before Dad finds out. But even if Jeremy and his best friend, Slater, combined their allowances for a year, they still wouldn''t have enough money for the cost of repairs.

Inspiration strikes when the boys see an ad for the Windjammer Whirl. Sponsored by the Cupcake Cadets, the model sailboat race pays five hundred dollars to the winner. There''s just one problem: You must be a Cadet—and a girl—to compete.

Confident that it will be the easiest money they''ve ever made, Jeremy convinces Slater they should dress up like girls and infiltrate the troop. But as the boys proceed to botch everything from camping to field hockey, they realize that being a Cadet is no piece of cupcake.

Can Jeremy and Slater earn their badges and win the money? Or will their Cupcake careers be over faster than you can say "vanilla frosting"?