The Perfect Breasts a short story about boobs!
Hannah Clein will always remember the day she went to a department store with her mother to buy her first bra as her last best day, “B.C.” before the cancer. She considered herself an ordinary child who loved challah bread, reading, and her family – often in that order.
With a normal life in the rear-view mirror, we follow Hannah over three decades, as she navigates the tricky transition from girlhood to womanhood. All her life, she just wants to belong. Be normal.
In a tale that explores a women’s complicated relationships with her body, and the love of her life, we learn the psyche is a funny thing. What are the perfect breasts? And how does the loss of a loved one affect those left behind?
The Perfect Breasts mixes family lore with imagination in a compelling tale of loss, longing, and love.
I have published it on Amazon Kindle for breast cancer month, and all the profits will be donated to cancer research. All proceeds from every page read on Kindle Unlimited to every book bought will be donated to cancer research!
Cara Bertoia grew up in a strait-laced Southern family, but she was always fascinated with casinos. In her twenties on a summer hiatus from teaching in North Carolina, she drove to California and became a dealer at Caesars in Lake Tahoe. She discovered that after teaching high school, handling an unruly gambler was a piece of cake. Her mother highly disapproved of her working in a casino, “a place so bad it has ‘sin’ in the middle.”
Eventually, she succumbed to pressure from the family and returned east to take a hi-tech job in Boston. She also began working on her MFA in writing at Emerson. Her goal was to write the first realistic novel about casino life from the perspective of an experienced table games dealer. She is always amazed that normal and sometimes quite intelligent players become absolutely clueless in the casino. They repeat superstitious nonsense, and no amount of logic can change their position, maybe her novel will.
While in Boston she was offered the opportunity to join Princess Cruises as a croupier. Jumping at the chance, she spent the next five years circling the globe. Sometimes life exceeds your dreams. She was awed by the wonders of Venice, the fjords of Norway, and the Northern Lights in St. Petersburg.
Cara returned from ships with a very special souvenir, her Scottish husband Ray. They went to work at the Spa Casino in Palm Springs, and now live in Hollywood, Florida, where she writes about her casino years while wistfully gazing out at the ocean.
She loves to connect with her readers. Please send her a picture with any or her work. She will post those pictures to social media.
Avis: Welcome to another author interview on YNFA! Today we have Cara Bertoia joining us for her second time with a new short story, “The Perfect Breasts!” Great to have you on the interview again, Cara! Welcome! Let’s begin, shall we?
What are common traps for aspiring writers?
Cara: I believe that there are three traps for aspiring writers. The first is that their book won’t be good enough because there is some secret formula to writing a good book. So why even bother if you don’t have the formula. An easy way to disprove that is to look at any book you like, you will see that the reviews range from one star to five stars. There are many ways to write a book, and not everyone will like your writing style.
Second is that you need to have an agent. In this day and age unless you are a celebrity or have connections in the publishing world that probably won’t happen, but that could be a blessing in disguise. My first novel was self-published, and it did very well. The best part was that I got to keep all the profits. My second novel was published by The Wild Rose Press. You will find that there are many publishers who will accept manuscripts directly from writers. I am self-publishing my short story The Perfect Breasts because I want all the proceeds to go to breast cancer research.
The third piece of advice is that they are uncomfortable with criticism. As soon as you finish your novel convinced it is the best it can be you send it out to agents, and surprise- they all want to change it. Or you send out queries and the rejections follow shortly after. If you are lucky enough to get a book deal, the publisher assigns you an editor, and it seems like they want you to rewrite your book. Then once your book is out in the world the readers weigh in. It is said you aren’t a writer until you get a one-star review, at least they feel passionately about your book. Listen to every comment then decide if you think they are valid or not. The best advice I can give you is to develop a thick skin.
Avis: Great advice on all three points! Thick skin is a must, and the confidence to push past doubt! Great advice. I admire this story so much, and the fact that you self-published it so all the proceeds will go to cancer research is awesome! Let’ move on to question number two!
Does a big ego help or hurt writers?
Cara: I think a big ego can hurt a writer when you are uncomfortable with criticism because you are sure that you have written the next great American Novel. But writing is just part of the job, and a big ego can help with the marketing. Trust me the author will be responsible for the majority of the marketing.
It takes a bit of ego to put yourself out there. You need to ask readers to review your book, social media influencers to promote it, you need to pitch yourself to book clubs, and local and national media.
I love to follow authors like Jeneva Rose on Tik Tok, her videos with her husband are fantastic. I have to believe it takes a healthy ego to produce such funny content. Although she might have a big ego, and I mean that in a good way, she also possesses the ability to make fun of herself. I love the videos she makes about Scott, her disgruntled reader. She writes good books but killing it on social media also helps sell books.
Avis: I love how you answer this question and are so right on both counts! Not accepting critique is a problem, but being able to promote your work is huge! It does take a lot of ego and creativity to grab the attention of readers with so many books out there to choose from! Here’s our third and final question!
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Cara: All of my books need to stand on their own because I like to switch genres. My first novel Cruise Quarters was a romance about my five years working on a cruise ship. It is a novelization, but it tells the story of my whirlwind romance. I met and married my husband within three months.
My second novel Casino Queen is a thriller. I wrote it because I have worked in the casino industry for over two decades, and whenever I read a book or watched a movie about casinos there were always technical errors in it. I watched Croupier and there were five mistakes in the first ten minutes. I knew I could do better. I gathered all the stories I had collected over the years and wrote a realistic thriller. I knew I had succeeded in my goal when The Desert Sun raved, “The author pulls from real-life experiences to create a worthy piece of fiction. And her own life is a vivid kaleidoscope of adventure.”
Now I just released my short story The Perfect Breasts. I wanted to examine loss, longing and love. It is a raw story which I believe belongs under the women’s fiction genre. It was a story I was compelled to write for breast cancer awareness month. Sometimes there is a story you just have to tell.
Avis: Bravo, Cara! You are so talented to write so successfully in different genres, and your short story is a real eye-opener for anyone who hasn’t experienced the loss of a loved one to breast cancer. For more information on Cara Bertoia and her work visit her links. There are also buy links so you check out her latest short story “The Perfect Breasts!” And finally, for a review of “The Perfect Breasts,” please scroll down.
Thank you for joining us today for our interview with Cara! Until next time!
- TIKTOK
- The Perfect Breasts — Amazon
- Cara Bertoia’s Blog
- Goodreads
- BookBub
- mailto:carabertoia@yahoo.com
Review by Avis M. Adams
Author Cara Bertoia’s latest work is “The Perfect Boobs,” (oops! I mean Breasts) a short story about a daughter who watches her mother change from a healthy, vibrant woman to a victim of breast cancer. Hannah, a shy, unassuming Jewish girl, admires her mother’s strength and womanly figure, but like most daughters is mortified by her mother’s ability to embarrass her.
Hannah’s journey begins precancer at a mother/daughter day at the local school. Hannah learns about menstruation, her changing body, and the hormones that come with puberty. She also notices the other moms’ jealousy over her mother’s beautiful, full figure. Hannah soon learns the hardest lesson of all, that her mom has breast cancer. She watches as her mother fights and wins the first round, but when the cancer returns the results leave Hannah without a mother and with heartache and loss.
Bertoia moves us through Hannah’s emotional journey with her mom and the progression of a disease. As she grows into her teen years and then college, Hannah develops into a full-figured young woman. She learns about her perfect breasts and the gene mutation that causes breast cancer.
She learns that Ashkenazi Jewish women, of which Hannah is one, along with a few other ethnic groups of women have a higher incidence of carrying this gene, and she realizes all too well that her own body might be a ticking time bomb. As Hannah becomes more mature, her thoughts turn to testing for the gene. It takes a special man to finally help Hannah make the dreaded decision.
Bertoia masterfully examines what it is to be the surviving daughter of a breast cancer victim. She explores the possibility of what it means to carry the defective gene. She develops a story and hero who is haunted by her mother’s death and how that informs her relationships with men and with her own body.
Bertoia’s “Perfect Breasts” brings to light excellent information on the gene mutation that causes breast cancer. She fills a gap currently filled with medical brochures and health documents with a short story that draws readers in and helps them process through Hannah’s experiences what it means to be a survivor.
All the proceeds from the sale of “The Perfect Breasts” will be donated to cancer research.
Avis M. Adams 