Gina Marie Parrillo writing under the pen name of G.M. Parrillo, is the quintessential Generation X “Jersey Girl”. Growing up in the Garden State, it is only natural that she is happiest with dirt under her nails as she digs in her garden with her two boys and dachshund, Pennie right by her side or with her toes buried in the sand as she sits on the beach with her husband at the Jersey Shore.

As a child, struggling with a learning disability, her mother encouraged her to become a bookworm. But it was one singular moment in April 1989 that would change her life forever. Encouraged by her mother, Gina Marie (Sisco) found the strength to voice her concerns about what it was like to be a student with learning disabilities to then President George H. W. Bush.

Not only did her letter reach his desk, it prompted a brief meeting while he was visiting her hometown. But the meeting wasn’t just a moment she would remember, it was the profound words of encouragement to face the adversity head on and that her disability should never hold her back. Those brief moments wound foster in her a desire to write her own stories for her own personal enjoyment, that is until now.

A Fall for Grace is a love letter to her husband of sixteen years of marriage, as their story serves as the sketch for Grace and Jim, this is G.M. Parrillo’s first published book.