Why am I passionate about this?

A friend once observed, “You know, Laurie, you’re a weirdo magnet.” I vigorously contested this label, all the while knowing he was right. And, so, I myself have experienced wildly outrageous dates, with what my friend dubbed “the weird.” These dates, while not ending in marriage, did provide endless fodder for my writing. What made them tick?  Why did I attract them? Were they always weird? The weird, I discovered, make excellent characters, filled with idiosyncrasies, mysteries, and lessons to teach me and my readers.


I wrote...

A Different Kind of Vow

By Laurie Collister ,

Book cover of A Different Kind of Vow

What is my book about?

At thirty-two, Laurie outgrows her sleepy beach town and moves to the epicenter of the anything-goes eighties: LA. There, she…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of From Sexless Marriage to Sex Goddess

Laurie Collister Why I love this book

I rarely see a book cover the dating world from this author’s vantage point: as a long-married woman entering the dating world after 25 years with an “I’m open to anything” attitude, yet with the gravitas and insight of a successful Manhattan psychotherapist.

Her forays into the worlds of polyamory and swinging made me go, “Wait! Stop! Go home!” Her bravery and vulnerability left me breathless. But then I realized that to find intimacy, those are the very qualities you must marshal.  Equal parts action-packed and introspective, the book gave me the tools to look at my own social life. 

By Alisa Kriegel ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked From Sexless Marriage to Sex Goddess as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For fans of Eat Pray Love and Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, a therapist's tale of mid-life sexual awakening as she bravely explores relationships, sex, and pleasure - and learns that it's never too late to desire and be desired. Is it ever too late to connect to the sexual part of yourself? At forty-eight years old, after her husband announced he had fallen in love with a man, Alisa Kriegel was determined to finally figure out this essential part of herself. As a psychologist, she had the tools to help others; now, it was time to help herself.…


Book cover of My Year of Really Bad Dates

Laurie Collister Why I love this book

In her late forties, Lithgow embarks on a dating campaign that proves wildly funny and often outrageous.

Her descriptions are enormously entertaining, but what I liked best about the book is that the author grows from her year of “putting herself out there.”  She comes to fascinating realizations, both about her dates and about herself – revelations that I could apply to my own self.

By Rachel J. Lithgow ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked My Year of Really Bad Dates as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

After two life-shaking events-losing her father and divorcing the man she's spent half her life with, who happens to be an actor from a famous family-Rachel Lithgow leaves a thirty-year career to write full time and pursue a relationship with a calming, delightful man she recently met online. She thinks she has it all figured out... until he announces he's joining a cult and moving to Phoenix with a blonde real estate agent. Through a year of terrible dates, peppered with a few great experiences and a lot of pinot noir, the author learns that patterns can be changed, that…


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Book cover of Built on Sand

Built on Sand by S R Kay,

Elsie has two feet in the 20th century. Smith has one foot in the 19th. Their marriage, founded on physical attraction, is built on sand as all around them the earth of Europe also starts to quake. Prised apart by emotional conflict and the loss of two children they are…

Book cover of This American Ex-Wife

Laurie Collister Why I love this book

In this boldly candid memoir, Lyz Lenz chronicles her escape from a marriage missing mutuality and respect only to discover the same phenomenon at play in the dating market.

I felt less alone in my shock at what men say to me on dates when I read what dates said to Lenz, a beautiful, successful writer: “If you want to be with me, you’ll need to be a better cook,” and “your professional accomplishments are not as impressive as my dick.” 

But ultimately, what I liked best about the book is Lenz’s hard-won conclusion – to never again lose herself in a man.

By Lyz Lenz ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked This American Ex-Wife as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A deeply validating manifesto on the gender politics of marriage (bad) and divorce (actually pretty good!) in America today, and an argument that the former needs a reboot—from journalist and proud divorcée Lyz Lenz

“This American Ex-Wife is a bomb, a bouquet (but not a wedding bouquet), a memoir, a manifesto, and a total joy to read.”—Rebecca Solnit, author of Men Explain Things to Me

AN ELECTRIC LIT BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Studies show that nearly 70 percent of divorces are initiated by women—women who are tired, fed up, exhausted, and unhappy. We've all…


Book cover of [Available]

Laurie Collister Why I love this book

Williams proves an engaging storyteller as she takes us through the slings and arrows of her marital breakup and subsequent foray into dating.

What I liked best was Williams’ admission that, in writing her debut memoir, she had to learn an entirely different language, translating her complex web of emotions and experiences into the written word. So, Williams’ prose carries a “riding this horse for the first time” giddiness, freshness, and fearlessness.

As a journalist accustomed to objectivity, I, too, had to learn a new language of subjectivity, penning my first memoir.  Williams served as a role model for me as I made this difficult transition.

By Laura Friedman Williams ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked [Available] as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Gripping' Vogue
'Empowering' Cosmopolitan
'Joyful' Financial Times
'Eye-popping' Daily Mail

When her 22-year-marriage suddenly ended, 47-year-old mother of three Laura expected life as she knew it to be over. What she hadn't expected:

* An incredible one-night stand
* A new-found sexual appetite
* Ten men in eight months
* That there is plenty of fun to be had after 40
From G-spots to bald spots, dirty talk to dating fiascos, Available is the unflinchingly honest, empowering, and humorous true story of one woman's love life after divorce.

'A real page-turner [...] Unexpected, original, funny and sometimes deeply infuriating, Laura…


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Book cover of The Parent's Guide to Birdnesting: A Child-Centered Solution to Co-Parenting During Separation and Divorce

The Parent's Guide to Birdnesting by Dr. Ann Gold Buscho,

Based on research about how divorce can affect children, you will learn how to best support your children's resilience, as well as your own. For parents who are separating and want to put their children first, birdnesting could be the interim or long-term shared parenting solution you’ve been looking for.…

Book cover of Modern Love

Laurie Collister Why I love this book

This collection of personal essays, culled from 8,000+ submitted each year to the New York Times “Modern Love” column, absolutely sings!

What I liked best about this book of true stories about love is the revelation that everyone is inherently a storyteller.  That’s because conflict is part of everyone’s life, and conflict, by definition, equals drama.

How revelatory to witness an artful 1,000 words woven out of the day a woman’s flirty email to her new beau is not answered, at least not right away. Also, I loved the writing style of each essay, as if the reader is eavesdropping on two friends telling it like it is over a cup of coffee.  

By Daniel Jones (editor) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Modern Love as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The most popular, provocative, and unforgettable essays from the past fifteen years of the New York Times “Modern Love” column—including stories from the anthology series starring Tina Fey, Andy Garcia, Anne Hathaway, Catherine Keener, Dev Patel, and John Slattery

A young woman goes through the five stages of ghosting grief. A man's promising fourth date ends in the emergency room. A female lawyer with bipolar disorder experiences the highs and lows of dating. A widower hesitates about introducing his children to his new girlfriend. A divorcée in her seventies looks back at the beauty and rubble of past relationships.

These…


Explore my book 😀

A Different Kind of Vow

By Laurie Collister ,

Book cover of A Different Kind of Vow

What is my book about?

At thirty-two, Laurie outgrows her sleepy beach town and moves to the epicenter of the anything-goes eighties: LA. There, she befriends a teenage wizard and a Russian defector. She enrolls in a Hogwarts-style psychic college. She gets a job at a hilltop Hindu convent. She dates an Indian guru and shares heart-to-heart conversations with a Catholic priest.

But it is only when her home nearly burns to the ground that Laurie finds what she is looking for: her true calling. Reading passages from a cache of 300 old diaries that were spared by the flames, Laurie locates clues planted in her past and gradually comes to a realization: she must let go of the conventional marital vow and fashion an entirely different kind of vow.

Book cover of From Sexless Marriage to Sex Goddess
Book cover of My Year of Really Bad Dates
Book cover of This American Ex-Wife

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Never Ready by Lucie André,

Never Ready is a story about the complexity of friendship and belonging, their fluidity and inherent loss.

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