The Second You're Single: A Novel

Summary

Freelance writer Sora Reid believes in inertia. She’s the odd one out in a family of go-getters, including her Japanese American mom, who hints about losing weight, and her almost-married sister, who needs Sora to get a date for the wedding, otherwise she’ll be dancing with her Scottish great-uncle Bob. For Sora, the phrase “minimal input, minimal expectations” is a way of life.

The one thing that disrupts her inertia: an intense dislike for Valentine’s Day. What is it with the commercial love machine? Why do we get our hopes up, when staying home with a package of bacon and a bottle of tequila is better? Sora’s been betrayed before, and her heart feels like Grandma Mitsuye’s antique Japanese ceramic bowl with its gold-filled cracks.

When her pledge to stay single inspires readers to #GoSolo, Sora wants to empower her followers. It shouldn’t be that hard, right?

Enter Jack Mann, a muscle-bound baker Sora hasn’t thought of since elementary school. When a run-in at the grocery store leads to instant attraction, Sora knows she has to shut it down. She can’t #GoSolo and get the guy. She can’t let down her readers. And relationships always end, so why should Jack be different—even though he’s confounding her expectations of love?

Cheerfully irreverent, bitingly funny, and filled with romantic charm, The Second You’re Single is about navigating the most romantic month of the year, and how love always comes when you least expect it.