Review: Love and Miss Communication by Elyssa Friedland

Title: Love and Miss Communication   

Author: Elyssa Friedland         

Published: May 2015, William Morrow Paperbacks   

Format: Paperback, 400 pages    

Source: Publicist  

This unforgettable
debut novel asks us to look up from our screens and out at the world . .
. and to imagine what life would be like with no searches, no status
updates, no texts, no Tweets, no pins, and no posts

Evie
Rosen has had enough. She’s tired of the partners at her law firm
e-mailing her at all hours of the night. The thought of another online
date makes her break out in a cold sweat. She’s over the clever hashtags
and the endless selfies. So when her career hits a surprising roadblock
and her heart is crushed by Facebook, Evie decides it’s time to put
down her smartphone for good. (Beats stowing it in her underwear—she’s
done that too!)

And that’s when she discovers a fresh start for
real conversations, fewer distractions, and living in the moment, even
if the moments are heartbreakingly difficult. Babies are born; marriages
teeter; friendships are tested. Evie may find love and a new direction
when she least expects it, but she also learns that just because you
unplug your phone doesn’t mean you can also unplug from life.

My thoughts: This was a fun debut for Elyssa Friedland and the idea behind it – completely unplugging and going off the social grid definitely called to me. How many times have I just needed to take a break from all my social media sites, not that I am even on them 24/7, either to just refresh my batteries or just because I was so busy at work that I really needed to buckle down and stay focused? Well, Evie Rosen does that to the extreme – she unplugs completely.

I found Evie’s character to be refreshing, though at times a bit annoying. Not only does Evie decide to stop using Facebook and other social media sites, she goes completely off the grid, and stops using computers and the internet. This did provide for some missed updates from friends and family but in the end, it made her have to reach out to those she really wanted to stay in touch with. No longer able to rely on texts for updates on friends’ lives, she had to go the distance to find out what was going on with them. She had to have real conversations with people to keep up to date with them – what a novel concept!

I also loved Evie’s grandmother – what a pip! Even with her diagnosis of cancer, all she wants is for her Evie-le to be happy. But, boy oh boy can she be sneaky, too! The bond that Evie has with her grandmother, though, is really strong and this is one of the best relationships in the whole book.

This is a light-hearted, fun book that really does make you think about whether you can handle going completely off the grid…would you be able to unplug completely like Evie did – no texting, no facebook, no twitter, no internet? Do you put limits on yourself from time to time when it comes to social media or are you able to balance it all without being on it 24/7?