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From the New York Times bestselling author of Evvie Drake Starts Over and Flying Solo, a podcast producer agrees to host a new series about modern dating—but will the show jeopardize her chance at finding real love?

Spice rating: 2/5 closed door.

Cecily Foster loves to make podcasts. She fiercely protects her colleagues, dearly adores her friends, and never misses dinner with her sister. But after a disastrous relationship with a colleague who stole her heart and her ideas, she’s put romantic love on hold.

When the boss who’s disappointed her again and again finally offers her the chance to host her own show, she wants to be thrilled. But there’s a catch—actually, two catches. First, the show will be about Cecily’s dating life. And second, she has to follow the guidance of influencer and newly minted relationship coach Eliza Cassidy, whose relentlessly upbeat attitude seems ready-made for social media, not real life.

Cecily would rather do anything other than put her singledom on display (ugh) or take advice from the internet (UGH). But when her boss hints that doing the show is the only way to protect a friend’s job, she realizes she has no choice.

To make matters more complicated, once she’s committed to twenty blind dates of Eliza’s choosing, Cecily finds herself unable to stop thinking about Will, a photographer she helped to rescue a very big and very lovable lost dog. Even though there are sparks between the two, Will’s own path is uncertain, and Eliza’s skeptical comments about Cecily’s decision-making aren’t helping. On the one hand, Will seems great. But on the other hand . . . don’t they all?

As Cecily struggles to balance the life she truly desires and the one Eliza wants to create for her, she finds herself at a crossroads. Can Cecily sort through all the advice and find a way to do what she loves without losing herself in the process?

Don't just take our word for it...

“I can’t imagine a more delightful meditation on the value of listening to your own voice in a loud, loud world. Back After This is romantic, smart, and exactly the book we all need right now. I adored this.”
– Annabel Monaghan, bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script

“Back After This is a sweetheart of a novel—fun and warm, full of Linda Holmes’s signature charm. You’ll sink into this story and never want it to end. The dialogue is sweet and snappy, and the characters so real you could touch them. There’s so much to love in this book: dreamy men who do backflips, found family, the perfect revenge, and an adorable dog. What more could a reader want?”
– Elissa Sussman, bestselling author of Funny You Should Ask

“Hugely uplifting and hilariously funny, Back After This is the kind of smart, grounded romance that’s made Linda Holmes one of the most beloved voices in fiction. She’s just so good.”
– Katie Cotugno, New York Times bestselling author of Birds of California

Taste the very first page

In Studio D, I was trying to record a short intro that should have taken less than fifteen minutes. The board in front of me was lit up, the mic lights were green, my headphones were on, and the host was in the chair on the other side of the glass. I pressed my talk button. “Tell me what you had for breakfast.”

“Well,” Miles began, leaning intimately toward the micro- phone, as if I were really asking. “I had an omelet. Four eggs, goat cheese, and arugula. Oh—and a diced tomato.” He knew that one purpose of this exercise was to make sure his P’s didn’t pop un- pleasantly at the poor public, but he managed never to eat any- thing for breakfast with P’s in it. No potatoes, no pepper, no prosciutto or pancakes.

“I’ve never known anybody who eats as many eggs as he does,” Julie muttered from the chair next to me in the booth, fir- ing up her laptop. “I’m never sure whether he actually smells like eggs, or whether I just think he smells like eggs because I look at him and I can’t stop thinking about eggs.”

I pressed my button again. “I need to hear some P’s, Miles.”

March 2025