Emily Belden of Elmhurst/Chicago HOT MESS Former Elmhurst native and current Chicago resident, Emily Belden, is enjoying watching her writing career catapult to new opportunities. She is a freelance food writer, storyteller and author whose bestselling 2014 memoir, EIGHTY SIXED, A Memoir about Unforgettable Men, Mistakes and Meals has been acquired for adaptation into a digital comedy series, on which she is the lead writer. Her first novel, HOT MESS, was just published this past March.

HOT MESS is the story of a young woman thrust into Chicago’s restaurant scene when her recovering addict-turned-celebrity chef boyfriend relapses and vanishes after she sinks her life savings into his hip new restaurant, and now it must open in a matter of weeks. The story was inspired by Emily’s real encounter with a boyfriend chef that once brought her to a vacant restaurant space and told her he had an “investor” and a “general manager”. “Though he never officially asked for money, the restaurant never opened,” says Emily. Several years later, she was reminiscing about that day and thought, “What if I had invested my life savings to help that guy open a restaurant?” From there the idea was born.

HOT MESS is currently for sale at every Barnes and Noble in America, at several Indie Bookstores, and online at Amazon. Signed copies can be purchased at www.emilybelden.com until supply runs out.

-Mindy Kyle

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