BIO:

Lara Reznik, a native New Yorker, escaped to New Mexico in a Karmann Ghia that she jump-started cross-country in the late 70s. As an English major at the University of New Mexico, Lara studied under esteemed authors, Rudolfo Anaya and Tony Hillerman. Lara has published three novels, The Girl From Long Guyland, a psychological thriller, The M&M Boys, a coming-of-age baseball story, and Bagels & Salsa, a multicultural romantic comedy. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lara-Reznik/author/B009JD9QTU.

After the breakout success of her first novel, Lara quit her day job as an IT executive to write fulltime. She currently is focused on a screenwriting career, and has written three screenplays, The M&M Boys, Bagels & Salsa and Dance of Deception. Her screenplays have garnered numerous film festival awards. A self-proclaimed pickleball addict, Lara lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and two mini-Aussies.

BAGELS & SALSA - A multicultural comedy by Lara Reznik (US)

LOGLINE

A Jewish sociologist from Manhattan takes a romantic gamble and follows her fiancée, a handsome, Latino doctor, to rural New Mexico where their love is tested by his controlling mama, gorgeous ex-girlfriend, and cultural differences.

SHORT SYNOPSIS:

Loosely autobiographical, Bagels & Salsa highlights the turmoil that surfaces when Jewish New Yorker, Laila Levin, follows Dr. Eduardo Quintana to his family ranch in New Mexico to work together on the epidemic problem of teenage pregnancies, and give their relationship a chance. Once in New Mexico, Laila is rejected by Sylvia, Eduardo’s controlling mama, who desperately wants him to marry the beautiful Violet, his high school sweetheart. Violet has just returned home from the dark side of Hollywood.

The question becomes can their relationship survive the fierce clash of cultures, Eduardo’s mother’s rejection, and their own uncertainties about the upheaval that their unconventional interracial union will have on their lives?

STORY OUTLINE:

The story opens at a high school assembly hall in a tough section of the Bronx where Laila is presenting her dissertation on the epidemic problem of U.S. teen pregnancies. Dr. Eduardo Quintana is there desperately searching solutions for his hometown of Española, New Mexico ranked #1 per capita for pregnant teens.