Blown Away by Blurbs
Beyond grateful to these brilliant writers for their words on NOTHING SERIOUS.
It’s a remarkable feeling when the people you most respect really get what you’re trying to do, see it, so much so that they can articulate it—often better than you can, teaching you about your own work—and in that you realize they see you, the parts of you you’ve worked so hard, for so many, many years to make visible.
I’m thrilled to share the blurbs for NOTHING SERIOUS from these immensely talented writers.
"Nothing Serious takes an anthropologist's eye to digital dating and real-life friendship and explores those battlefields with a weary and tender heart. Funny, sharp, and tragic; a brilliant and unforgettable debut about public and private selves in the digital age, wrapped in a (maybe!) murder mystery. Emily J. Smith is an enormous talent, and I am now a devoted fan."
—Katie Gutierrez, bestselling author of More Than You'll Ever Know
I read Katie’s debut, More Than You’ll Ever Know, as part of a book club when I was querying my own. At the time, I was eager for literary books with a mystery element, and her novel felt like the example of excellence. The whole book club devoured it, and it feels unreal to now, years later, have a blurb from her for my own novel.
“Sharp, funny, engrossing and deeply felt, Emily Smith’s Nothing Serious seduces with its yearning in a world that so often feels as if it has no space for yearning, compels and entrances with its questions and its mysteries, and satisfies with its humor and its honesty.”
— Lynn Steger-Strong, author of Flight
I’m regularly in awe of
’s writing, everything from her novels to her newsletter. I sometimes go back and read her essays, just to remind myself why I write in the first place. I took a class with her over eight years ago and it shaped how I think about fiction; her upcoming novel, The Float Test, cannot come fast enough. A blurb from Lynn truly means the world.“Nothing Serious is an unflinching and incisive look at modern dating, womanhood, friendship, and obsession. Smith's unforgettable voice, wit, and cultural precision will make you crave her take on all contemporary quandaries. Her debut is cause to clear prime shelf space in eager anticipation of everything else she writes.”
— Courtney Preiss, USA Today bestselling author of Welcome Home, Caroline Kline
Courtney’s debut novel, Welcome Home, Caroline Kline is the funniest, warmest love story I’ve ever read. I’ve been reading Courtney for nearly a decade and saved her first feedback note to me in a writing workshop because I knew, without a doubt, she was destined for fame.
“Nothing Serious is a delightful debut that weaves the everyday indignations of a single 30-something woman into an engaging tale of self-discovery and suspense. With hauntingly real characters and Smith's sharp prose, Nothing Serious left me gripped to the very end. Its questions around technology, accountability, and modern womanhood pull you in and leave you thinking long after the last page.”
— Jo Piazza, internationally bestselling author of The Sicilian
“This is the modern, feminist dating world thriller I've been waiting for. I tore through Nothing Serious over a single weekend. It’s a fast-paced story with characters so fully realized they linger in your mind long after the central mystery has been resolved. Smith paints a fresh and honest portrait of 30-something life that is as hopeful as it is clear-eyed about the trap of ‘having it all.’ I know that this is a novel my friends and I will be referencing for years to come.”
— Kate Brody, author of Rabbit Hole
Kate Brody’s Rabbit Hole is the epitome of a propulsive literary mystery-of-sorts, probing real human issues, relationships, and ambiguity, everything my novel aspires to. I was constantly highlighting resonant passages as I tore through it.
“This smart, exceptionally readable novel lays bare the hazards which confront women working in tech, an industry monoculture whose patina of brilliance masks its witlessness about the psychic damage brought on by its preoccupation with power. Emily J. Smith draws a haunting character, Edie Walker, whose efforts to maintain her integrity ironically lead her to take on a series of dodgy self-identifications. It’s both touching and maddening to follow her as she seeks for honest answers in an inescapable algorithm-driven world where everything is quantified, preordained and relentlessly toxic.”
— Sarah Blakley Cartwright, New York Times bestselling author of Alice Sadie Celine
Alice Sadie Celine is a stunning novel with gorgeous prose. In it, Sarah renders a cutting exploration of female friendship and the mother-daughter relationship, shifting seamlessly between points of view. It’s a tremendous honor that Sarah enjoyed Nothing Serious.
“Nothing Serious had me holding my breath as I devoured it in two sittings. Emily J. Smith captures the intricacies of modern dating, technology and obsession, masterfully. Everyone should buy this book for that one female friend they admire. Juicy, queer-coded, smart-as-hell, and propulsive.”
— Chloé Caldwell, author of Women
Chloe was my first writing teacher and her classes changed my life. Her novella, Women, is iconic and transformative. She’s funny and smart and has a way with details that make you feel like you’ve known her forever. Everything she writes is a gift.
“Nothing Serious is unputdownable from start to finish. It's that rare gem of a book that is compulsively readable while also brilliantly probing issues of power, gender, and the slipperiness of digital relationships, and Emily J. Smith manages to drill to the heart of modern life in a way that is consistently fresh, funny, and #retable. I can't wait to see what she does next.”
— Sara Petersen, author of Momfluenced
“A slyly humorous and deeply relatable ode to female obsession. Smith’s whip-smart commentary on modern dating reveals the perils of flattening oneself to serve an algorithm—and the power of embracing the complicated person in the mirror.”
— Sarah Kasbeer, author of A Woman, a Plan, an Outline of a Man
Sarah’s essays are a force. If you haven’t read her book, A Woman, a Plan, an Outline of a Man, you must. She continues to astound me with everything she writes. And for her to call my novel slyly humorous (her speciality) is the greatest of compliments.
“Nothing Serious is a pulsing page-turner of a mystery, and a wise and clear-eyed critique of the enigmatic and inequitable worlds of dating and tech. Emily J. Smith's endearing, obsessive, and utterly relatable protagonist, Edie Walker, engages us from page one in her quest for the truth about a fair-weather friend-crush, a murdered feminist icon, and, ultimately, herself. With wit, honesty, and great insight, Emily J. Smith brilliantly captures single womanhood in one's thirties—and all of the undue challenges and pressures that accompany it—in this smart, gripping, hilarious, and vitally serious debut.”
— Jessie Chaffee, author of Florence in Ecstasy
I was just starting to write fiction when I read Jessie’s debut, Florence in Ecstasy and it blew me away. I related so much to the main character’s struggles, and the depth of the pages felt like a perfect example of everything I wanted to create.
“A smart, nearly sociologically-drawn story about the kind of thirty-something woman we all know and maybe once were: intelligent, ambitious, adrift. Smith’s protagonist is a woman eking out her own idea of selfhood in the tech goldrush of mid-2010’s San Francisco where online dating, feminism, fertility and family collide. Nothing Serious is many things—funny, propulsive, thoughtful—but above all, it is a whodunit snapping into a who-am-I: a satisfying story of a woman coming to be.”
—Hyeseung Song, author of Docile
It is truly hard to comprehend the vastness of Hyeseung’s talents. She is a brilliant artist, and her debut memoir, Docile, is intensely moving and unputdownable. Her prose tells a story much like her paintings, with exquisite, gorgeous detail. The last line of her blurb perfectly captures the essence of the Nothing Serious.
Thank you to these talented writers for the very, very generous blurbs.
It’s thrilling to give readers more context and texture to NOTHING SERIOUS. It would mean the world if you pre-ordered a copy, and shared with anyone who might be interested. And, of course, please check out the work of these writers who I truly cannot recommend enough!! ❤️