Romeo and Juliet

At sixty-eight, Juliet is done waiting for life to begin.

Living in her son's upstairs guest room in the sun-drenched Old Northeast neighborhood of St. Petersburg, Florida, Juliet has everything she's supposed to need — family nearby, a roof overhead, respectful neglect. What she doesn't have is a life that feels like hers.

Then comes the Fourth of July. A costume party at the old Coliseum. A man in a painted mask who laughs like he means it.

Romeo is sixty-nine, twice divorced, once widowed, and entirely too open-hearted for his own good. He has a talent for beginnings and a complicated history with staying. But when he meets a woman who walks like she's carrying a secret she's not sure is worth telling, something in him goes still — and then starts moving again.

What follows is not a fairy tale. It's better than that.

It's bad coffee and good conversation. It's a son who means well and meddles badly. It's a best friend running out of time and making every moment count. It's two people in their late sixties discovering that the heart doesn't check the calendar before it decides to try again.

Told with warmth, wit, and the particular wisdom that only comes from having lived enough to know what matters, Still Waiting for the Sun is a love story for anyone who has ever wondered whether it's too late — and dared to believe the answer is no.

For readers of Waiting to Exhale, The Color Purple, and anyone who thinks the best chapters might still be ahead.