Please welcome guest bloggers Elisa Lorello and Sarah Girrell (both of whom were guests on Book Chatter last Friday night), co-authors of the great new novel Why I Love Singlehood, recently released by AmazonEncore. You can enter to win an ebook of WILS by leaving a comment below. I will draw a name from the comments at random tomorrow.

A Chronology of Valentines

The insanity begins around eight years old, when your mom sends you to school armed with 25 identical cards the size of bookmarks, one for each classmate – even the ones you despise – that says, “You are Special!” You count the cards you receive, desperate to be sure that you weren’t skipped by anyone (and more often that not, you were).

By adolescence, courtesy is out the window and you’re not getting the pity Valentines from politically correct moms. No, you’ve been upgraded to flowers distributed by homeroom teachers, and woe to the one who gets none. (Or perhaps you had the misfortune to be out sick when Valentine’s Day was on a Friday, and returned on Monday to three wilted carnations from your only three friends, none of them boys.)

By eighteen, Valentine’s Day is about the devotion. You not only clean out Hallmark’s card stock, but cuddly toys are now involved. You text your valentine incessantly, trying to figure out how many ways one can say, “I would *so* turn into a vampire for you.”

It only gets worse. At twenty-five, Valentine’s Day is synonymous with credit card debt. Because if you’re not maxing out your Visa on a trip to Puerto Rico with your beloved, you’re with your three best girlfriends in attempt to prove that you don’t need a man. And if, God forbid, you’re single on Valentine’s Day, you’re in that dark place of LIFE SUCKS AND THEN YOU DIE. ALONE. Russell Stover does nothing to dissuade you of this notion.

By your thirties, despite copious amounts of chick lit telling you to do otherwise, you’ve lightened up a bit. You now celebrate Valentine’s Day the day after, when you’ve scored on 50% off chocolates, regardless of whether you’re in a relationship.

By forty, the most romantic thing your Valentine can do for you is buy dishwashing liquid—or motor oil—because he/she noticed you were out of it. And, after considerable Googling, you’ve discovered that St. Valentine had a rather sordid past.

As the years go on, Valentine’s Day turns into a state of being rather than the emphasis on being with – or without – someone else. Reservations are no longer made, but perhaps the table is set with just a little extra care. Roses no longer need to be ordered weeks ahead because favorite flowers are bought on a whim in April or October. Most importantly, you’ve learned the Golden Rule that applies to every day, the lesson that The Beatles (or was it Dylan Thomas?) said best:

And in the end,
the love you take
is equal to the love you make.

_____________________________________

Why I Love Singlehood

Eva Perino is single and proud of it. Owner of The Grounds, a coffee shop nestled in the heart of a college town, thirtysomething Eva cherishes her comfortable life filled with quirky friends, a fun job, and no significant other. In fact, she’s so content to be on her own that she started a blog about it: “Why I Love Singlehood.” Yet when she hears the news of her ex-boyfriend’s engagement, her confidence in her single status takes a surprisingly hard hit.

So begins Eva’s clumsy (and occasionally uproarious) search for love as she secretly joins an online dating site, tries her hand at speed-dating, and breaks her own rule by getting involved with one of The Grounds’ regulars. Soon Eva is forced to figure out exactly who—or what—is the true love of her life. Sparkling with warmth and wit, Why I Love Singlehood is a charming and insightful must-read for anyone—single or otherwise—who has ever been stymied by love.