Missed Connections

An entertaining and moving memoir about coming out, looking inwards, and the search for connection, inspired by the responses to a personal ad. A Loan Stars Top 10 Pick of the Month and one of Daily Hive's 10 Essential LGBTQ2+ Books to Celebrate Pride. In 1992, Brian Francis placed a personal ad in a local newspaper. He was a twenty-one-year-old university student, still very much in the closet, and looking for love. He received twenty-five responses, but there were thirteen letters that went unanswered and spent years tucked away, forgotten, inside a cardboard box. Now, nearly thirty years later, and at a much different stage in his life, Brian has written replies to those letters. Using the letters as a springboard to reflect on all that has changed for him as a gay man over the past three decades, Brian's responses cover a range of topics, including body image, aging, desire, the price of secrecy, and the courage it takes to be unapologetically yourself. Missed Connections is an open-hearted, irreverent, often hilarious, and always bracingly honest examination of the pieces of our past we hold close -- and all that we lose along the way. It is also a profoundly affecting meditation on how Brian's generation, the queer people who emerged following the generation hit hardest by AIDS, were able to step out from the shadows and into the light. In an age when the promise of love is just a tap or swipe away, this extraordinary memoir reminds us that our yearning for connection and self-acceptance is timeless.

In her first book for adults, the artist Sophie Blackall creates a deeply felt, poignant book about love—a book that captures the mystery, the yearning, at times the cosmic humor behind the “what if?” of a missed connection. Like a message in a bottle, a “missed connection" classified (usually posted on a website) is an attempt however far-fetched, by one stranger to reach another on the strength of a remembered glance, smile, or blue hat. The anonymous messages are hopeful and hopeless, funny and sad. Ms. Blackall, award-winning illustrator of Ruby’s Wish and Big Red Lollipop, has turned some of the most evocative (or hilarious) of them into exquisite paintings. Missed Connections is a collection of illustrated love stories. There’s “We Shared a Bear Suit.” “If Not for Your Noisy Tambourine.” “Hairy Bearded Swimmer.” Each is told in the shorthand of a “missed connection,” and then illustrated in Chinese ink and watercolor. The paintings are extraordinary: delicate yet full of feeling, each springing from one little detail of the post into a fully imagined world. Each brings the voyeuristic pleasure of watching love at first sight, and the pleasure of watching an artist discover a fresh new way to tell a story. And not all the connections are missed. Hidden in the book are three pieces that conjure up the magic of love found.

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: A radically new way of thinking about depression and anxiety 'A book that could actually make us happy' SIMON AMSTELL 'This amazing book will change your life' ELTON JOHN 'One of the most important texts of recent years' BRITISH JOURNAL OF GENERAL PRACTICE 'Brilliant, stimulating, radical' MATT HAIG 'The more people read this book, the better off the world will be' NAOMI KLEIN 'Wonderful' HILLARY CLINTON 'Eye-opening' GUARDIAN 'Brilliant for anyone wanting a better understanding of mental health' ZOE BALL 'A game-changer' DAVINA MCCALL 'Extraordinary' DR MAX PEMBERTON Depression and anxiety are now at epidemic levels. Why? Across the world, scientists have uncovered evidence for nine different causes. Some are in our biology, but most are in the way we are living today. Lost Connections offers a radical new way of thinking about this crisis. It shows that once we understand the real causes, we can begin to turn to pioneering new solutions – ones that offer real hope.

Two strangers share a romantic night together only to discover months later they're professional rivals in this grumpy meets sunshine romance novella from the acclaimed author of How To Fail at Flirting. Gia loves her job as a professor, even when it means dealing with an elusive rival academic who’s made it his mission to criticize her work. When she meets him for the first time, she’s shocked to learn they’ve met before. Months earlier, they shared a perfect New Year’s Eve together in an airport during a weather delay. After months of working together, Felix still can’t believe the person whose research he's been challenging is the same captivating woman he kissed that night. The two couldn’t be more different. Gia is bubbly, friendly, and extroverted and drives ordered, serious Felix nuts. Now the two have been assigned to embark on a five-school tour for work. Gia and Felix can’t imagine a travel partner they’d enjoy less until they feel the sparks fly over their shared armrests, security mishaps, and a shared hotel room. They'll need to decide if they can manage their professional tension, or risk missing the connection of a lifetime.

Twenty years weren't enough for either of them to forget.A chance encounter, a missed connection.Two wayward stars that collided in a turbulent sky, at the right place, but at the wrong time in both of their lives.What happens when they meet again? Do the same unforgettable sparks still fly?Titan Jennings and Jesenia Van Buren may come from two different worlds but their hearts are open to second chances. No matter who or what may stand against them, love is what anchors their lives together.Love may be infinite but time is not, Missed Connection is a novel about making the very best you can with what little you've got.

This anthology of comics inspired by real-life missed connection ads posted on Craigslist and in local papers around the country will tug at your heartstrings and make you think. Lonely hearts, romantics, and even cynics pore over missed connection ads in search of love, to gawk and giggle, or out of curiosity. These posted stranger sightings and chance encounters lay bare the truths and oddities of real-life loneliness and attractions and bring out the voyeur in the best of us. I Saw You takes this phenomenon and makes it even better. Julia Wertz has gathered the stars and soon-to-be-stars of the graphic art world, including Peter Bagge, Jesse Reklaw, Tom Hart, Sam Henderson, Laura Park, Emily Flake, Keith Knight, Janelle Hessig, Gabrielle Bell, Aaron Renier, Austin English, Corinne Mucha, Jeffrey Brown, Alec Longstreth, Minty Lewis, Joey Sayers, David Malki, Kazimir Strzepek, Ken Dahl, Shannon Wheeler, Shaenon Garrity, Rodd Perry, Abby Denson, Damien Jay, Sarah Glidden, and dozens more, to interpret these plaintive, hopeful postings in drawings that range from laugh-out-loud funny to disarmingly strange.

Your wife is having an affair with my husband. It has caused some trouble in my marriage and I thought you should know. One phone call in December 2005 begins the compelling, unpredictable story of Fake Missed Connections. A child of divorce with an already fragile sense of trust, Lauer unravels at the betrayal, begins divorce proceedings, and moves back to Brooklyn where he spends too much time alone, fixated on the idea that a murderer from 1898 might be haunting his apartment. Eventually, as he starts to peruse online dating profiles, he becomes obsessed with "missed connections" precisely because they provide what online dating doesn't: a story. He begins writing phony missed connections to post on Craigslist and, though he feels a stab of guilt when he posts them, he is hopelessly intrigued by the responses he receives. Real documents illuminate Brett's dating adventures, from love (and hate) letters and instant message conversations to Brett's online dating profile and wedding announcement. Fake Missed Connections is an unconventional yet deeply moving look at the modern search for love, the ways in which we fail to communicate, and the quest for a genuine moment of connection.

"The narrative and dialogue are fast-paced and sassy, and the chemistry between the protagonists is quite sultry.... Readers looking for an escape and a few good chuckles will enjoy this escapade."—RT Book Reviews You've Got Mail meets The Devil Wears Prada when Sarah can't get sexy—but off-limits—Jack out of her head. Torn between the bad boy she can't keep and a sensitive stranger who bares his soul online, her heart and body are in two very different relationships...or are they? What should have been a sizzling NYC summer has been hijacked by demanding bosses. To cope, I spend my nights cruising Missed Connections, dreaming of finding an uber-romantic entry all about me. Of course, the moment I finally find that Missed Connection, real life comes crashing down in a night of unbridled passion with totally off-limits Jack. Best. Hookup. Ever. Gorgeous and wealthy, hot as sin, Jack can give me everything I need—except an emotional connection. That I get from my Missed Connection, the romantic stranger who never fails to make me swoon. But there's only so much of me to go around. Torn between the bad boy I can't keep and the sensitive stranger who bares his soul online, my heart and body are caught in two very different relationships...or are they? Summer Love Series: Missed Connections (Book 1) Summer Indiscretions (Book 2)