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A frustrated lawyer finds release where she least expects it—and where she needs it most—in this exhilarating, sexy romp through the finest gluten-free indulgences in a New York City grocery store. After another long workday, the only thing Meredith wants is a nice big bowl of paleo maple-pecan coconola. But the hour-long checkout line at 7:00 p.m. at an all-organic supermarket stands between her and satisfaction, and the yupster mob is working her last nerve. Then, out of nowhere, a spontaneous flirtation with a stranger shows her there’s a lot more than coconola waiting for her in the bulk-food aisle.

17 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 14, 2019

289 people are currently reading
151 people want to read

About the author

Michelle Miller

20 books103 followers
Michelle Miller wrote pseudonymously until the publication of her debut novel, The Underwriting, which she initially released as an online serial before publishing with Penguin in 2015. It was subsequently translated into 16 languages and developed for television with Fox. Her short story collection The Fairer Sex was an Amazon bestseller, whose TV adaptation she’s currently writing with Amazon Studios.

She holds a BA and MBA from Stanford University and, in a past life, worked at JP Morgan, Bain & Co. and dabbled in the start-up scene.

Michelle lives between London and Asheville, North Carolina, where she was born and raised.

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5 stars
162 (13%)
4 stars
231 (18%)
3 stars
401 (32%)
2 stars
266 (21%)
1 star
170 (13%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 141 reviews
Profile Image for Sandra.
746 reviews6 followers
April 15, 2019
Sexy and strange little read about a lawyer (Meredith) looking for paleo maple-pecan coconola in a New York City grocery store and finding passion where she least expects it.
Profile Image for Michelle.
1,561 reviews268 followers
March 7, 2022
Meredith is in a massive queue in the supermarket contemplating if the items in her basket are really worth the effort when she meets Hugh.

This short story is part of The Fairer Sex, a collection of sexy, satirical, and sometimes harrowing short stories that explore the question: “What do women want?” The answer is different for every woman, but each can be read or listened to in a single sitting.

At time of posting this collection is available on Kindle Unlimited. 
Profile Image for TL *Humaning the Best She Can*.
2,356 reviews170 followers
March 13, 2019
eh, last one I'm trying of this collection

So-so writing on this one and rolling my eyes by the end.

*Read for free, part of my Amazon Prime Reading*
1 review
February 22, 2019
Ridiculous

This is really a foolish and kind of anti-feminist story. A single woman just wants luxury granola and a man to make her feel adequate? Gross.
Profile Image for — nova.
483 reviews342 followers
July 21, 2022
i think it's safe to say reading about public sex with a stranger in a whole foods is on my no thank you list
Profile Image for Kelly Werther.
39 reviews2 followers
February 21, 2019
So unrealistic. So strange. Having sex in the middle of a Whole Foods? I mean, what? The characters are superficial and there is literally no substance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Keith Book Korner.
202 reviews34 followers
January 8, 2025
Great story.. Really enjoyed it. I was caught up it how the passion between the two main characters just exploded in public.. had me on the edge of my seat.. felt it ended to soon.. I’m enjoying the author can’t wait to checkout next book in the series. Has some Spice
Profile Image for Kara Paes.
58 reviews58 followers
March 9, 2019
2.5 stars. Pretty unrealistic but still a fast, fun read.
Profile Image for Michelle Only Wants to Read.
523 reviews60 followers
April 25, 2019
Takeaways from this story:

1) Confirmation that Whole Foods is filled with overpriced food items.

2) There is some granola-based thing with chocolate, cranberries or pineapple worth staying 45 minutes on the shopping line. The aforementioned item's name was repeated about 500 times in a period of 20 minutes, and I still can't remember it.

2) Strange things can happen at Whole Foods and some people will ignore them as long as they get access to mangos.

3) Stay away from the grains bulk containers at Whole Foods.

4) It's apparently very easy to find the person next to you in line at the grocery store on Tinder in NY City, one of the most populated metropolis in the USA.
Profile Image for Brendan M..
124 reviews
April 17, 2019
This was the weakest story in the collection so far. It was fun, and I thought it was going to be about a love affair with food, which I wholly support and would have enjoyed, but then it's not? And they have sex in the Whole Foods? And the last line is just groan-worthy? It's maybe half of a good story.
Profile Image for Ronald Keeler.
846 reviews37 followers
March 2, 2019
Here is a comment I posted at the end of this review. I want to repeat here. This short story has very descriptive writing related to sex. It falls far short of porn, but it is NSFW (not this review, the short story). Consider this a trigger warning.

Meredith by Michelle Miller can be found as one of the Amazon Original Stories (AOS) in a collection titled The Fairer Sex. This is Book Two of an eight-book series. All can be read one at a time for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription or the collection can be purchased as a set (not for free). All the short stories emphasize “short.” Meredith, the second story in the series is only sixteen pages. Grab a cup of coffee. You will get wrapped up in the story, but you can finish it before your coffee gets cold.

Meredith may not have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed, but she had ended up in the wrong store for fast check-out. All lines, to include cash only payments, looked like lines at a rock star concert. Readers will enjoy her contemplation as she reviews each item in her shopping cart. What items could she abandon? (I had to look up FAGE; I had no idea). Meredith knew she should have shopped online but she had made her selections and had found the secret of life in the form of paleo maple-pecan coconola. Not always available in stores; online shoppers always got her order wrong. Her discovery of the treat this time condemned her to an immediate fate of joining a community waiting to pay. It was amazing what one could learn about the personal lives of fellow shoppers.

Meredith at thirty-three was still finding herself but that was because no one else was looking for her. She had graduated from university with a useless degree for all but the student loan folks. They were willing to accept her payments into infinity. Meredith moved into the Big City in time to catch the full force of the financial crisis. She had lost her well-paying job and now did drudge work for a salary less than her male colleagues. After ten years, Meredith was spending her one free night from work in a check-out line. While waiting, she had eaten all her paleo maple-pecan coconola and parried annoying comments from a man also eating in the line while searching on Tinder.

She had to find more food. The annoying Brit promised to save her place in line. While searching the granola bins, she heard her name. It was the annoying Brit who had found her on Tinder. It was almost a joke post from ten years before; she had almost forgotten about it.

The very descriptive writing that follows is NSFW. It is also for those who are in training for Olympic gymnastics. This is another five Amazon star read as long as a reader doesn’t mind some NSFW stuff.


Profile Image for Richard.
2,344 reviews196 followers
February 17, 2019
This is a wonderful carefree encounter between two people waiting in line at a discount food outlet with a never ending queue.
Meredith uses the time reflect on the poverty of her life despite the promise it held for her when she made her home in New York City. Riddled with student debt and working long hours to make ends meet she gets more frustrated as there are too few cashiers and her wait continues.
She becomes trapped in her own reality and in the moment that threatens to impinge on her with various life situations playing out around her.
She seeks comfort in the food she is buying and starts nibbling away. The bloke behind her is eating tortilla chips and offers her one. She is polite then tries to forget about him even though he implies they are like being out to dinner together.
The conversation is strained but he tries to be charming and in her self loathing attitude questions why he would speak to her.
He then points out who else has pointed out s clothing malfunction to her he is trying to do the right thing.
Then she notices he is on Tinder rejecting each expectant picture swiping left.
She’s munched all her cereal and he offers to keep her place in the queue if she needs to buy some more. Next he is calling after her by name; final social disaster as he swipes her right but does not get a match.
How will this crazy meeting end; Meredith is clearly on a downer and this guy seems persistent? Beautifully told and telling about a female psyche can a relationship start in the cereal aisle?
A sense of unreal events between real people that will make your yoghurt curdle some more. From passive to passion and an insight into always looking beyond yourself. Great fun.
Profile Image for Dan.
3,652 reviews633 followers
February 20, 2023
Meredith is ready to check out at Whole Foods.

The grocery store is a mob scene. Even the express lanes are packed.

Meredith examines the contents of her shopping basket. Does she really need all of her items?

Plus, it’s the first evening she’s left the office before 10:00 PM. Is this how she wants to spend it—waiting for 45 minutes or more in a damn line at the supermarket?

She considers the possibility of leaving, and ordering groceries online for delivery. But she is absolutely craving the specific sweet treat that only Whole Foods carries.

Meredith’s introspection is compelling. When she first moved to NYC after graduating, this is not how she imagined her life turning out. Age 33, working 90 hours a week, and no man to speak of.

Sharp and witty prose and dialogue.

Wild and hot. Love Hugo. Sweet ending.
Profile Image for Elizabeth Edwards.
5,551 reviews9 followers
February 20, 2019
i would say, don't think i have said that with any of these reviews, i really enjoy these book covers, way cool. the narrator has a great voice as well. I think my fave 2 are Heidi and Clara ... they others not that i did enjoy them but i prefer those others more??! interesting take, i guess for me i wonder why in 2019 we are still saying FAIRER sex? i mean ... we are ladies, hear us ROAR ... not saying beat all men down. so not the case. just change the wording. I love finding these collections by Amazon ... this one is all by Michelle Miller ... i thought they usually were different authors not the same? I am still trying to figure how they are related - usually it is just the lady part? newbie to Michelle's writing??! was curious. they are easily listened to. not long at all.
Profile Image for Rissa.
1,590 reviews44 followers
November 25, 2019
Meredith is a failure in polka dot underwear but he sees her. He really sees her and sometimes thats all you need.
But sex in the middle of whole foods, really? That was a bit too much. Besides that i really enjoyed the short story.
Profile Image for Brianna Bello.
694 reviews5 followers
July 11, 2024
At first I kept think what in the world am I reading. But hear me out, it got better and better as the story went on. But in the grocery store? Ummm.. isn’t that illegal? Either way. Super interesting story.
Profile Image for Melissa.
1,085 reviews78 followers
November 7, 2022
I enjoyed this light sex romp in the grocery store fantasy about need and craving.
Profile Image for Hiridessa.
321 reviews8 followers
March 6, 2019
She just needed a good fuck...
To be such a short story it has two very distinct characteristics: one, it is very weird. The second, it reflects with a lot of accuracy the challenges that young women can face when pursuing their dreams in the real world, in a concrete jungle... and this is not only about women, I'm sure a lot of men go through that feeling of doom and failure and hopelessness, when things don't go according to plan and life just gets more and more complicated. It turns out we just need to unwind. We just have to take a moment, and breath. Maybe things won't work out the way we expected them to, but they will, at some point, hopefully, work out.
Profile Image for Terry.
210 reviews1 follower
August 15, 2019
Never saw that at Whole Foods

I don’t know what to make of this. It’s ridiculous but also sorta funny even though it’s a mild steamy read. We’ve all had them days where we’re stuck in a long line at the grocery store and everything and everyone and life in general is just irritating. Meredith’s thoughts made me laugh, and when she meets a cute guy in-line I just assumed I knew where the story was going. Not exactly. I kinda guessed right but it didn’t play out like I thought. Again, it’s ridiculous and if what happened at Whole Foods in this story happened in real life somebody would be filming it on their cell phones.
Profile Image for Amanda.
1,574 reviews73 followers
June 1, 2019
Summer 2019 - audiobook;

Finishing out 'The Fairer Sex' set because I lost my way from them a few months ago, feel into Star Wars books, and then out of my audible and back into my Spotify, and have come full circle. This one was just weird, and while I don't mind sex in my books, the idea you could just go for it in the bins aisle of the Whole Foods in New York without anyone caring and it all ended up being about a new different kind of granola was....too far. Too weird. Too short. I don't know what the point of this one was.
13 reviews
November 25, 2019
EXCUSE ME!!!!!!!!!!

Uumm okay I was not expecting that at all. I was expecting something much more in the vein of the last novella but nope. They have sex in a Whole Foods. Now I’m not a New Yorker (I am a country bumpkin) but I am like 100% sure that New Yorkers aren’t going to just walk around two people getting down in the bulk food section. Like the employees would be pissed because more likely than not the bulk food could no longer be sold and they are stuck cleaning up after these two idiots.

There’s some biting social commentary I wasn’t expecting either.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Les.
328 reviews20 followers
February 18, 2019
What?

Is this really how New York is!???
Can you really screw around in a whole foods in front of people and a) not get looked at and b) not get stopped by management!?
What in the world!?

i think im overthinking this whole plot lol. i mean, it is just a story.
BUT
uhm....leaving all that behind, i guess im happy homegirl got hers but for me it was nothing special.
Profile Image for Eve.
204 reviews18 followers
February 27, 2019
SURPRISE! PORN!

Okay, not really, but the ending definitely is on the erotica side, which completely caught me by surprise. Also, very unrealistic. I mean, I think even in New York City (or, maybe, especially in New York City) this is a pretty serious misdemeanor.

This short story definitely had some funny points. Otherwise, I was thankful it was so short.
456 reviews6 followers
September 25, 2021
I don't like shopping and I especially don't like shopping at Whole Foods. I died a little inside every time the narrator said "Coconola"...and she said it a lot.
Profile Image for Amy.
125 reviews3 followers
April 25, 2022
So I thought this was cute right up until that sex scene in the middle of a grocery store. I literally laughed, shook my head and closed my kindle. That is to much internet for me today 😂
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Francisca Ashley.
543 reviews14 followers
February 20, 2023
Overall, the collection of short stories in The Fairer Sex by Michelle Miller are either amazing or not worth the time. I like that the cover has each woman's name in a different font. As for reading a novel by Michelle, I think I'd pass as she has some toxic blind spots that I don't want to endure.

Candace: A strong start to the series. If I wasn't married and dating, I'd create my own list. 5 stars

Meredith: I was initially laughing, imagining myself in the Whole Foods with Meredith. Then it took a turn that I couldn't decide if it was real or fantasy, which took me out of the story as it was so unrealistic. 2 stars.

Alicia: I hate-listened to this story and enjoyed it. The whole time I kept thinking, "Karma...". The end was really good, I just personally don't think it's fair, for a multitude of reasons. 4 stars.

Heidi: The beginning is hilarious. However, I found it boring (this coming from someone with a degree in accounting; different from finance, but not by much.) I did like when Heidi stopped writing her story and it became about her and Paul. 2 stars.

Clara: I really enjoyed this book. Clara's relationship with Michael, Lawrence, the intimacy, the twist...a lot was packed into this story. 5 stars.

Lauren: I was immediately put off by Lauren, describing her growing up in wealth and in the next breath taking about living in a cutting-edge place that was "far enough from Chinatown that [visitors] weren't put off by the stench." So unnecessarily offensive and filled with privilege, making it hard for me to have any sympathy for her.

I was intensely physically triggered with the description of her bulimia episode, which I hated. If you've never had an ED, then it will definitely give readers/listeners insight as to what it's like. However, I lived it and didn't need to live it again in such detail. 1 star.

Eleanor: this was as good as Clara. I loved how Eleanor dealt with her husband, except for the "we just did" line. 5 stars.

Keridee: I didn't see the point of this book and couldn't get into it. I understand she's pretty, but having other characters in the book who are only described as fat and their occupation is ridiculous. 1 star.

Samara Naeymi was a good narrator, embodying each woman and her story.
Profile Image for Melanie.
1,643 reviews378 followers
July 12, 2021
Meredith details an encounter between two patrons stuck in a long line at the supermarket.

Meredith has had a long day at work and knows the only thing that will help is her favorite snack from the local organic supermarket. All day Meredith has been dreaming of a bowl of paleo maple-pecan coconola only to arrive at the store to a checkout line an hour long. When a nearby stranger begins to flirt with Meredith while in line, she realizes there's a whole lot more to be found at the store than her favorite snack.

To put it mildly, this was one of the worst things I've ever read. There was no point to the story and it bordered on the ridiculous at times. I did not care at all about anything that was happening. Not the story, not the characters, none of it. Then when Meredith and the guy she's flirting with in line decide to get out of line, the pair go and have sex in the bulk food section. So in the middle of the store while it's open and people are still shopping. And no one around them seems to care. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a bit fan of explicit stories but this was just stupid.

Overall I did not enjoy Meredith at all and I will not be reading anything else from this author.
Profile Image for Rellim.
1,676 reviews43 followers
July 13, 2019
Audio borrowed for free via Amazon Prime membership. At 25 minutes long (including intro & credits) this is a very short story.

Meredith is in line at Whole Foods eating maple pecan Coconola (we know this is what she’s eating because it’s mentioned every other sentence). She’s annoyed with all the people around her including a guy who is left-swiping on a dating app. While in line she runs out of snacks and heads back to the bulk foods to get more. Hugh (left-swipe guy) follows her as he’s found her profile on the app and decides to swipe right.

Apparently he’s actually decided to have sex with her in the middle of Whole Foods. Meredith agrees and they go at it in front of shoppers (one who grumbles because they’re blocking pineapple chips or something). Somehow they manage not to get arrested.

The story ends as soon as the orgasm is over so no clue about Meredith or Hugh or anything else.

I can’t imagine spending money on this or ever listening to it again. It’s an intriguing concept & perspective and the narrator was great. However, this felt incomplete and the public sex was OTT for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 141 reviews

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