New Release Review, Short Q&A, and Giveaway! KISSING STRANGERS: HOW TO ONLINE DATE LIKE A BOSS by Alethea Spiridon

Funny, forthright, and hopeful, Kissing Strangers is a survival-based how-to guide about looking for love online … and how to separate the men from the frogs.

How do you realistically find time for dating with work, (a) kid(s), and a writing career?

You’re right, it’s tough and hard, and some weeks almost impossible. I made it more a priority when I was writing the book on online dating because I needed to experience dating. Now that I have, and know what most men are like, I’m not as eager or willing to give up what precious time I do have. All that getting ready (something men still don’t quite understand), driving to wherever, then the time invested in actually meeting…it’s a lot to do and to do to only be disappointed most of the time.

Now I only bother with people I feel there could really be a match with. Before I was open to seeing if matches could be found in unlikely places. I just don’t have time for that now. And many, many men are not understanding when it comes to a woman being busy and having other obligations, and needing flexibility. I may have to change date night or the time…they seem to want a woman who can be attentive to them and them only, and live in some bubble that isn’t impacted by responsibilities. They take it personally! I don’t need that.

Yes, dating takes time. I reserve that time for real potential candidates now, and even then, it’s tricky because, honestly, three quarters of the time I’m dog tired and just want to go to bed. Those are the times I wish I could fast forward and be at the already-know-you stage of dating where he could come over, bring fries, and we cuddle in bed watching Lovesick again because it’s that good. But reality looms large and to get to that sweet spot we. Must. Go. On. Dates.

About the author:

Alethea is a writer and editor (lots of romance books, so many) out of Ontario, Canada. When her marriage fell apart she realized she had to get back out there and figure out how to date again or accept a life of eating from the Dinner For One menu option permanently. The book in your hands (or on your screen) is the result of that research. If it saves one woman (you!) from the landmines out there in the DatingVerse, then she’s done her job. For more bits of dating advice and man mysteries solved, visit her website at www.littleblackhook.com.

Title: Kissing Strangers: How to Online Date Like a Boss
Author: Alethea Spiridon
Genre: Dating
Release Date: January 30, 2018
Length: 40,000 words

Blurb:

So many frogs. So few princes.

Every single (and soon-to-be-single) woman knows the Dating Horror Stories. The guy who charms your panties off before he bolts. The funeral planner with a foot fetish. The Early Ejaculator. Or that filmmaker looking for a soul mate—provided you don’t mind he lied about his height, his weight, his wife, and… oh look, a micro-penis. How nice.

The bad news is that these guys exist. The good news? There are ways to find them, avoid them, and concentrate your energies on non-fuckwits. Who, as it turns out, also exist. Hurrah!

From deciphering Man Speak to the sexy perks of 30-year-old men, Catfishing 101, navigating hookup culture, and the safety precautions every woman should take, author Alethea Spiridon taps into her own hilarious—and occasionally heart-crushing—experiences in the dating world. Funny, forthright, and hopeful, Kissing Strangers is a survival-based how-to guide about looking for love online … and how to separate the men from the frogs.

Find out more at: Goodreads | Amazon

Excerpt:

To Find a Prince You Have to

Kiss Some Toads

Back on the Block

I was curious and the solution was easy. Here were tons of potential suitors online. Just pick one, right?

Nope.

It means diving in and wading through thousands of men to hopefully come out with a few you won’t mind giving up a few hours for.

I joined Match.com for eighty dollars and three months, set up a picture (albeit an older one; yeah, I did that my first time), and wrote a brilliantly edgy, smart ass, and to the point profile. The messages and winks started rolling in.

Finding a decent man is hard work.

I sent my brother a text one night: Are men as awful as I remember?

His response blew me away: Oh sure. Good men are hard to find. That is very accurate. That’s why I have few friends. We know that too and avoid those guys.

Ha! Well, there you have it. A good man is hard to find. If I intend to find one (and I do), I can’t give up.

Three hundred days to a wakeup

I decided to go in hard for a year and see what was out there, how it worked, how men worked. What this dating thing was really all about and like. This is part of my story and what I’ve discovered along the way. Learn from it. Laugh at it.

Girlfriend to girlfriend, this is what I know and wish someone had told me.

You’ve Decided to Try Online Dating …Great!

Once you’ve decided to try online dating, you need to figure out which sites to go on. Each site has a different vibe and feel to it, and the only way you can effectively gauge that is by going on and figuring out what you like…and don’t.

My first bit of insight for you is this: Dating is a numbers game.

It’s as simple as that. Dramatic? Not in the least! Come back after you read this in full, and after you online date a bit, and see if you don’t agree. I want you to have fun kissing strangers, but I want you to go in with a realistic vision too. I want you to know how to online date like a boss.

Date by the numbers. That’s how men do it! And on this battlefield, there are fewer men for every woman. Like three women for every man. Ugh. Seriously. We’re literally duking it out on the battlefield. But let’s not! Please. We can share (and some of you love doing that, legitimately). That being said, the sad truth is that the odds are not in our favour, it seems. But they can be if…

We date like a man! You might get rejected, but you’ll be rejected from the guys you want a chance with. If you simply wait for guys to reach out to you, you might only hear from the guys you already know you don’t want.

So… get on the sites I list below and get on them all even. Rotate between three and four. Play by those damn numbers, because that’s how men do it and that’s how you’ll increase your chances of getting the guy.

Review:

Until now, I’ve only read relatively short articles about online dating–Kissing Strangers is my first full-length book on the topic. Ms. Spiridon’s style here is engaging and entertaining, and what she has to say on the topic makes a lot of sense. Reading it is a lot like sitting down and chatting with a good friend who’s already been there, done that just as you’re getting ready to head into the online dating scene.

Ms. Spiridon gives readers 17 “Single Girls Dating Rules” with tips, examples (many of them her own real life ones), and explanations. She answers single girl and guy questions about online dating, talks to a variety of experts on the topics, and even gives links to websites, articles, and studies that back up the points she’s trying to make. (Don’t skip the footnotes–there’s some real gold in there.) She rates and explains the current online dating options and apps, and stresses the importance of numbers–including some statistics about how many guys she interacted with online and how many actual face-to-face meetings that lead to (and how successful–or-not–those meetings were). The last section of her book gives a wide variety of helpful information–explains some of today’s dating terminology (those of us who went to college before Netflix existed might not know exactly what adding “and chill” to the online streaming service really means), first date tips, a “man speak” translator, how to date like a man, how to avoid scammers (along with online advice on how not be a victim–including .gov and .mil sites–and where to go if you are) and more.

If you’re re-entering the dating scene after being out of it for a while, or are just looking for a way to re-up your online dating game, this could be the book for you!

Rating: 4 stars / A-

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

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