But the meeting-the-love-of-my-life thing, while nice, is sort of beside the point. The real objective of my little dating project—and, I hope, this book—was to show that dating can and should be really, really fun. Sure, there are terrible kisses with garlicky men, and moments of crippling shame the mornings after the nights before, but even those bits end up being fun in that slightly manic, gossipy, breathless way. Dating is surely one of the weirdest human behaviors we engage in—two relative strangers spending a few hours together in order to determine whether or not they want to see each other naked—so we might as well have fun while doing it.
Anyway, all of this is a long-winded way of saying that I hope you enjoyed the book, and I hope it inspires you to go out there and be brave in the big bad dating world. And, as I’d wished for myself and for Lauren, I hope you get to have lots of sex with attractive, non-psychopathic men while doing it. If you happen to meet the love of your life along the way, even better.
Melissa x
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would never have even attempted to write a book if it wasn’t for the patience and encouragement of my editor at Penguin UK, Hana Osman, so she gets the top billing—Hana, I can’t thank you enough for taking me out for that pint all those years ago. Sorry it took me so long. Enormous thanks to the incredible Felicity Blunt, who I’ve long been proud to call a friend and am now equally proud to call my agent, and to my wonderful U.S. editor, Tara Singh Carlson, whose insight and energy have been truly remarkable. Thanks to everyone at Penguin (on both sides of the Atlantic), with special thanks to the translation rights team led by Chantel Noel: you guys are awesome. Thanks to my foreign editors, particularly Andrea Best at Goldmann Verlag and Quezia Ceto at Companhia das Letras.
An unfillable debt of gratitude to Katie Cunningham, who fielded countless panicked emails and read countless half-formed sentences and never once lost her patience (or at least hid it well), and who has also been the best friend a girl could ever ask for these twenty-two years: I’d be lost without you. Endless thanks to Simon Robertson, who put up with lots of furrowed brows in the pub and weekends of me staring at my computer screen or into the middle distance: you make me feel lucky every day and I love you a stupid amount. Thanks, too, to Carly Peters, my partner in crime and exercise, who has supported and at times enabled my lunacy from the very beginning. Thanks to everyone at Curtis Brown, a lovely place to work and an even lovelier place to be represented by, with particular thanks to my office-mate Helen Manders, who answered lots of hypothetical questions about a book she hadn’t read and always offered excellent advice, and to Emma Herdman, for her help and good cheer.
Mom and Dad, I know this book has probably mortified you (sorry about that) but your constant love and support has been the making of me, and I can never say thank you enough. Chad and Meighan, I love you both and trust that you will ensure that my two favorite girls will never be allowed to read this book, at least not until I’m dead. To the lovely Robertson clan, thank you for being the best second family I could have imagined. And to both the Pimentels and the Robertsons: remember, it’s heavily fictionalized.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Duvall, Evelyn Millis. The Art of Dating. New York, NY: Association, 1958.
Fein, Ellen, and Sherrie Schneider. The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right. New York, NY: Warner, 1995.
Greenwald, Rachel. Find a Husband After 35 (Using What I Learned at Harvard Business School): A Simple 15-step Action Program. New York, NY: Ballantine, 2003.
Humphry, C. E. Manners for Women. 1897. Whitstable, UK: Pryor Publications, 1993.
Jour, Belle de. Belle de Jour’s Guide to Men. London, UK: Orion, 2009.
Moore, Doris Langley, and Norrie Epstein. The Technique of the Love Affair. 1928. New York, NY: Pantheon, 1999.
Strauss, Neil. The Rules of the Game: The Stylelife Challenges and the Style Diaries. Edinburgh, Scotland: Canongate, 2007.
Taylor, Kate. Not Tonight, Mr. Right: Why Good Men Come to Girls Who Wait. London, UK: Michael Joseph, 2007.
Looking for more?
Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books.
Discover your next great read!
Love by the Book Page 31
