You already know that it's ridiculously easy to fool social media followers into believing that something completely non-existent is actually 100% real. (See: both Fyre Festival documentaries.) Most likely, you have never used that knowledge to do more than trick your ex into thinking that yes, you are actually having a great time on the beach right now and no, you are definitely not crying into your margarita! But in her new book, author Hannah Orenstein (who — disclaimer — is an editor at BDG Media) takes that idea and runs with it in a story about a jewelry shop owner who accidentally leads her Instagram followers to believe that she's engaged — and then decides to keep on pretending that she has a fiancé. Love At First Like doesn't hit stores until Aug. 6, but Bustle has an exclusive first look at the cover below!
Here's what you can expect from this charming new rom-com:
Eliza Roth and her sister Sophie co-own a jewelry shop in Brooklyn. One night, after learning of an ex’s engagement, Eliza accidentally posts a photo of herself wearing a diamond ring on that finger to her Instagram account beloved by 100,000 followers. Sales skyrocket, press rolls in, and Eliza learns that her personal life is good for business. So she has a choice: continue the ruse or clear up the misunderstanding. With mounting financial pressure, Eliza sets off to find a fake fiancé.
Fellow entrepreneur Blake seems like the perfect match on paper. And in real life he shows promise, too. He would be perfect, if only Eliza didn’t feel also drawn to someone else. But Blake doesn’t know Eliza is “engaged”; Sophie asks Eliza for an impossible sum of money; and Eliza’s lies start to spiral out of control. She can either stay engaged online or fall in love in real life. Written with singular charm and style, Love at First Like is for anyone growing up and settling down in the digital age.
Orenstein is perhaps the perfect person to write a story about love in the digital age. As Elite Daily's Senior Dating Editor, she spends her days exploring the nuances of falling in like and falling in love in the era of Instagram stories, Twitter retweets, Tinder swipes, and Snapchat filters.
She explored many of those topics in her first book, Playing With Matches, a rom-com about a 20-something who stumbles into a job as a professional matchmaker and unexpectedly falls for someone who is absolutely off-limits. But in her new novel, Orenstein focuses on the differences between social media and real life — and how to create happiness IRL and not just on the grid.
Take a look at the cover below:
Love at First Like goes on-sale on Aug. 6, but you can pre-order the book at Amazon or Indiebound.
