Love and Miss Communication: A Novel

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*Cosmopolitan Must-Read*
*InStyle Book Club Pick*
*Glamour Book Club Pick*
*#1 May read on POPSUGAR.COM*
*Featured on NPR*
*Featured on HuffPost Live*

This unforgettable debut novel asks us to look up from our screens and out at the world . . . and to imagine what life would be like with no searches, no status updates, no texts, no Tweets, no pins, and no posts

Evie Rosen has had enough. She’s tired of the partners at her law firm e-mailing her at all hours of the night. The thought of another online date makes her break out in a cold sweat. She’s over the clever hashtags and the endless selfies. So when her career hits a surprising roadblock and her heart is crushed by Facebook, Evie decides it’s time to put down her smartphone for good. (Beats stowing it in her underwear—she’s done that too!)

And that’s when she discovers a fresh start for real conversations, fewer distractions, and living in the moment, even if the moments are heartbreakingly difficult. Babies are born; marriages teeter; friendships are tested. Evie may find love and a new direction when she least expects it, but she also learns that just because you unplug your phone doesn’t mean you can also unplug from life.

From the Publisher

Stephanie Evanovich interviews Elyssa Friedland

Stephanie Evanovich (SE): Congrats on a super funny, super touching, super real book! Before you decided to become a writer, you had a career in law very much like your character, Evie. Who are some of the authors that inspired you to finally get started?

Elyssa Friedland (EF): Why, thank you! I’ve always loved to read novels and dreamed of becoming a writer well before law school. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure how to make a career of it and so I chose what I considered the safer path—law school. After a few years toiling at a law firm, I decided I had to be true to myself and at least try to make a go of writing. Authors that have inspired me throughout my life are Richard Russo, Ernest Hemingway, Jonathan Franzen, Thrity Umrigar, Alice Munro, Abraham Verghese, and Barbara Kingsolver. I read a bit of everything—classics, popular fiction, mysteries, and short stories.

SE: Your character Evie is beautiful, successful, and surrounded by great friends and family but has trouble finding men who meet her expectations or who don’t have some fatal flaw like being engaged to someone else! As a single lady, did you run into the same issues?

EF: I think ambitious women like Evie can sometimes get too caught up in the résumé details when they are dating. They look to check off boxes (intelligence, accomplished, funny, etc.) instead of succumbing more to their instincts. While there’s nothing wrong with a little pragmatism, finding a soulmate isn’t like finding a job. When I was single, I felt like I was on a mission to meet someone and, yes, I often did fixate on men that were unattainable, idealizing them because deep down I knew it could never be. Some of that came from not being ready to settle down, I think.

SE: I know a lot of single gals who are dating have rules about social media and texting like, no texts after 11 p.m. and no email/Twitter/Facebook after more than two drinks. What kind of advice would you give to single ladies?

EF: My best advice is not to reveal too much of yourself online. It’s not very exciting to go on a date with someone if you already know what they had for breakfast, where they work, who they are friends with, and their favorite books and movies. Try not to give it all away in advance. Grandma Bette would have said, “no one buys the cow if they get the milk for free.” I would update it to say “no one asks for a second date if they already saw sixteen Instagram posts about your juice cleanse.”

SE: Evie and Edward have a pretty awkward New Year’s Eve when he takes her to dinner at a surprise location that turns out to be the restaurant owned by her newly married ex-boyfriend. What has been your best/worst New Year’s Eve?

EF: I truly hate this holiday. It was obvious to me from day one that Evie’s terrible night would happen on New Year’s Eve. So many people despise this day as much as me, I wish we could all get together and boycott it. Maybe I’ll start a Facebook club called “It’s just December 31.” I’m always let down. When I was single, I was depressed about being alone when the bell dropped. Now that I’m married, I’m fighting with my kids who want to stay up until midnight when all I want is to be in bed by ten watching a Friends rerun.

SE: So now that you’ve published an amazing debut, what can we expect next from Elyssa Friedland?

EF: I’m hard at work on another novel (this one about marriage). I’m also keeping busy writing articles and first-person essays for a variety of publications. I’m also excited to hang with my kids more now that the madness of my debut novel is starting to subside. That’s way up on my list. Other goals include stopping to hate exercise and, of course, keeping up with my mission to look up from my smartphone more often.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00N0WPC80
Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks; Illustrated edition (May 12, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 12, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1629 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 402 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0062379844