“Funny and sexy, raw and heartbreaking,
What’s Better Than This? is a memoir about finding love -- and then saying goodbye. Get the tissues and be prepared to read straight through to the end.”
Bill Ritter, New York, NY
Anchor, WABC TV

"...a love story you will never forget. 
It will make you laugh, and gasp, and weep, and finally
be filled with gratitude for being part of
a love so deep and real that it almost transcends time."
Abigail Thomas, Woodstock, NY
New York Times Bestselling Author of
A Three Dog Life and What Comes Next and How to Like It

“As a former cancer patient and avid reader,
I found What’s Better Than This? the guidebook I’d want every caretaker
to have read wrapped up in a love story
that everyone would want to be part of.”
Susan J. York, Woodstock, NY
Creator of The Gathering Goodness Mosaic

“It was six months of fun-loving,
soul-connecting, sex-filled,
laughing-all-the-time,
I’m-crazy-in-love togetherness.
But then the cancer Mackey thought he’d beat was back. And it wasn’t good.
A lesser person might have gracefully bowed out. But Lorraine Salmon did the opposite.
She went all in.
The story of their time together is gripping
and beautiful and, at times, very funny.
This isn’t so much a story about death as it is about life and living
-- about finding and celebrating love,
and then having to let go.”
Kathleen Friery, New York, NY
Emmy Award Winning TV Producer

“…Salmon turns tragedy into triumph by writing about it.
If this sounds like a simplistic prescriptive for grief, it might be just that. Sometimes magic is simple.
What isn’t simple about Salmon’s writing of this account is, of course,
the very act of processing her grief by expressing it in words on a page.
Transforming what happened into an artful, compelling tale that
brings readers to their knees with tissues in hand
affects how she now holds the experience for herself:
A tragedy, yes; one she’d rather not have endured.
But in sharing it so deftly, Salmon touches on the triumph of the human spirit.
It’s a good read.
“What’s better than this?” is a phrase that her lover Tom Mackey murmurs often while in the throes of their mutual happiness. To have translated that sentiment into the key takeaway from her experience is testimony of Salmon’s own spirit and talent as a writer.”
Ann Hutton, Hudson Valley, New York
Excerpt from: https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2019/06/13/lorraine-salmon-reads-her-new-memoir-at-golden-notebook/

What's Better Than This?  is a journey into the souls of two lovers and into the remains of their past loves.  It dares to consider the uncertainty that death might bring, and the possibility ... of never parting.

Lorraine Salmon is 48 years old when after a lifetime of waiting, she falls head-over-heels in love.  Tom Mackey, 58, has been in the periphery of her life for half of her days until the afternoon they share a few minutes at the same picnic table. Their new love is born in a single night in a motel room and births an undeniable expectation for a lifetime to be shared.  Mackey's humor and affection for Lorraine are captivating.   Her adoration of him, apparent.  The days, weeks, and months unfold revealing an indomitable love.  At the height of their infatuation, an ominous condition threatens to separate the lovers and Lorraine and Mackey must face the devastation that death, for one of them, is impossibly imminent.  

The couple’s days together are remembered in stories that explore not only the couple's love but the impact their love had on others.  As they each find a way to be there for the other, the reader is drawn to examine the choices they make each day and to explore the possibility of living in and holding on to the tiniest of moments.