Thanks to Jerry and Eleanor Hart; Karen, Bob, and Jake Sykes; Bruce, Xander, Nathan, and Zoe Orenstein; and Jamie, Karin, Dani, and Rosie Orenstein for all their love.

I am so lucky to have the most supportive family in my corner. Thank you to Audrey, Jack, and Julia Orenstein for always encouraging me to pursue my love of writing, and for their thoughtful feedback on every draft.

I write love stories for a living. Thank you to Saul Hamadani for giving me one of my own—it was truly love at first like.

Reading Group Guide

Love at First Like

Hannah Orenstein

This reading group guide for Love at First Like includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Hannah Orenstein. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction

In Hannah Orenstein’s Love at First Like, a New York jewelry shop owner accidentally leads her Instagram followers to believe that she’s engaged—and then decides to keep up the ruse.

Eliza Roth and her sister, Sophie, co-own a jewelry shop in Brooklyn. One night, after learning of an ex’s engagement, Eliza accidentally posts a photo of herself wearing a diamond ring on that finger to her Instagram account, beloved by 100,000 followers. Sales skyrocket, press rolls in, and Eliza learns that her personal life is good for business. So she has a choice: continue the scheme or clear up the misunderstanding. With her landlord raising the rent and mounting financial pressure, Eliza sets off to find a fake fiancé.

Fellow entrepreneur Blake seems like the perfect match on paper. And in real life he shows promise, too. But Blake doesn’t know Eliza is “engaged”; Sophie asks Eliza for an impossible sum of money; and Eliza feels drawn to someone else—Raj, the bartender down the street.

With a wedding to drum up more business on the horizon, Eliza’s lies begin to spiral out of control, and she’ll have to decide whether to stay engaged online or fall in love in real life.

Topics & Questions for Discussion

1. The novel begins with Eliza’s ex-boyfriend Holden becoming engaged. They’ve been broken up for many years, but she worries that “his engagement means that I’ve officially lost the breakup.” Why do you think this engagement gets under her skin so much?

2. When defending her choice to leave her Instagram photo up, Eliza notes in chapter 2 that there are some female entrepreneurs “whose businesses are bolstered because the founders have enviable lives.” Do you agree with this statement? Can you think of other business owners who have grown their brands by having what seem like interesting personal lives?