Women’s Fiction
Date Published: April 14, 2026
Publisher: Acorn Publishing
Cece Belle is a high-functioning neurodivergent. She’s also a big believer in destiny, but when her soulmate Robby dumps her mid-flight to Israel, she instantly regrets ever telling him she’s on the spectrum.
Not one to dwell in misery, Cece sips some chamomile hibiscus tea to set herself straight. And with meditation and spirituality on her side, she looks to what’s next. Yet another blow hits when she is kicked out of her rabbinical studies program for “strange behavior.”
Then, she meets Joel. With his quirky demeanor and ability to say all the right things, he gives Cece the desire to begin a new relationship. There’s only one main obstacle: Cece loves living in Los Angeles, and Joel is a diehard New Yorker.
She marries him anyway, despite misgivings that extend beyond their geography. After all, this is her carefully drawn plan—marriage, then kids, then happily ever after. Sometimes though, the best-laid plans are better left in dreamland where they can’t go awry.
Cece in Wonder Land is a twisty journey down a rabbit hole of unexpected anxieties, disappointments, and more questions than answers. But where there is hope, there is life, and maybe Cece can hang on for the next bit of wonder bound to come her way.
Cece meditated with her eyes open the night before.
She prayed.
Cried herself to sleep.
Despite a heavy feeling in her chest that fluctuated between hurt and humiliation, Cece rallied enough energy to attend the early morning orientation breakfast. She sat next to her best friend, Sharone. It was a true-blue friendship born the first day of rabbinical school. Sharone was an attractive woman, a recent graduate of Columbia university. In her limited free time, between schoolwork and her internship, she practiced yoga and encouraged Cece to join her, for better mental clarity and focus.
Sharone wore her long brunette hair neatly tucked into a bright red scrunchie. Cece easily confided in Sharone, perhaps because they were two of the older graduate students in their class. Starting rabbinical school at the “ripe age” of twenty-five made Cece feel old compared to most of her classmates.
“Talk to me, Cece,” Sharone said, her brow furrowing with concern. “What happened? I’m here for you.” She looked attentively at Cece, centering in on her friend’s unusual frazzled, almost dazed expression.
Sobbing, Cece replied, “Robby . . . broke . . . up . . . with me. I can’t take this anymore.
How am I supposed to live without him? I’m shattered. What the hell went wrong?”
At that moment, Robby snagged a seat at their table as if nothing was wrong.
“Good morning, both of you,” he said cheerfully. “Good to be here in Israel!”
Cece lost it. Payback time. She jumped up and poured a pitcher of polar chilled water atop Robby’s flaxen head. Robby gasped in shock, then scurried with a humiliated expression to the cafeteria kitchen in search of a dry towel. Cece felt a moment’s satisfaction, but she’d failed to anticipate the reaction of her classmates, who wondered what was with all the dramatic “waterworks.” One classmate, supposedly Cece’s friend, yelled out from across the room, “That woman’s not well. Get help!”
Sharone, who was more compassionate, calmed her down and took her aside. “You really showed Robby. Good for you. He’s a snake to do what he did.”
Cece felt seen and understood. “Thank you. You get me. You understand my language. Life is a series of building blocks and education is the foundation. You ask me how I feel? This is about me and my future.” Thank goodness for friends like Sharone.
An administrative assistant entered the dining hall. In a no-nonsense tone of voice, she announced, “Cece, the dean wants to see you.”
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bonnie S. Priever majored in communications studies at UCLA before moving to Philadelphia. There, she attended the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, which prepared her for an assistant directorship at the Israel Levin Senior Adult Center in Venice, California.
As a way to process emotions and stay connected to her spirituality, Bonnie started writing about her experiences. In 2023, Newsweek published her personal essay about the challenges of aging. Currently, she combines her passion for writing and her love for live theater as a reviewer for CurtainUp, an online theater magazine.
Bonnie loves to travel but always looks forward to coming home to LA. She has one grown son and a backlog of great ideas. Based on a true story, Cece in Wonder Land is her first novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment