First published 2000
Bradley Smith cannot sleep. He walks the streets of Ann Arbor at night, struck by an idea from his friend Charlie Baxter. Bradley decides to gather love stories from the people around him. He visits his ex-wife Kathryn, who left him for another woman named Jenny. He talks to Oscar, who works at a coffee shop and falls hard for Chloe, a free-spirited art student. Oscar and Chloe marry quickly, but their intense passion cannot survive her restlessness and his jealousy. Bradley also speaks with Diana, Oscar's boss, whose marriage to David seems stable until unexpected desires surface. Each person Bradley encounters reveals how love arrives without warning, transforms everything, then often disappears just as suddenly. The stories weave together in this Michigan college town, showing how people stumble through romance, marriage, and heartbreak while searching for connection that might last.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, contemporary, contemporary-romance, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, friends-to-lovers
Setting: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Period: Contemporary
Paperback · PANTHEON. NY 2000