How to Fall Out of Love Madly: A Novel

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B&N: So, I know you have a new baby at all. But have you read anything recently? Like anything new that was really stood out to you?

JC: I kind of did. I wanted to be a writer from the time I was like, 10 years old, I had a fourth grade teacher. I mean, you know how it is like, your elementary school teachers are so fundamental, and finding yourself, you know, it’s like, it’s almost like ridiculous how much power they have over you good and bad, you know. So that’s why having a great teacher can mean so much. I have this great fourth grade teacher. And he had this assignment where we all like wrote into these journals in class. And you could write whatever you want your great stories, you could write about your stuff, whatever. And then he would go when we were at recess and kind of look through the book, you come in from recess, and they’d be up on the overhead projector. I don’t know if the kids have those anywhere. Probably not. Maybe they do. Maybe I’m wrong, sometimes dinosaur things last forever. It’ll be up there. And usually it was up there as like a critique. I came in and my story was up there. And I like died inside. I felt horrible. Like, I was so worried about what people, you know, I just thought, usually he would talk about grammar and spelling out of it. But he had everybody read it. And he’s like, what, tell me what you think of it. And like the kids were all like, there’s this as misspelled. There should be this. And, and he was like, isn’t this beautiful? Like, something like that? He said, and that literally changed my life, you know, and he completely fostered my interest as being a writer. He just basically told me that I was talented at it, which is so important when you’re a kid. So yeah, that that moment is like defined my entire life, obviously. But no, I wanted it from then on. And I just kept going. I’ve got my friend Sophie from Paris,” Annie said, “Maybe she’ll invite me stay with her in Paris if she comes here first.” B&N: Regardless of which city you’re talking about, if you’ve had that experience living in a big city, you can relate to the you know, like you want to be there, you want to be where the things are happening. But you probably have to have roommates to probably are sacrificing a little bit to get there. Yeah, exactly. So Joy had a conversation or with her mom, or she was just reflecting on her mom, you know, in her 30s, she had a house, she had a family, she had a good job, she had a home. And that’s not necessarily the reality for a lot of people right now. Right? There’s that pressure to kind of do that.

A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism. JC: Yeah. Yes, I think absolutely. I think we’re so affected by it. I think like body image, I mean, I think most of us have some memory. And I think usually it’s pretty like a deep set memory of our moms like dieting, or talking about something about their body they didn’t like, or not wanting to wear a swimsuit this season for some reason or another. That kind of stuff affects you as a child, even though you don’t really think about it necessarily, you know, especially if it’s not like a major part of the relationship between you and your mom. It’s just something in passing. When I’m saying body image issues, I connect that very closely to relationships women have with men, because I think it all falls under the same umbrella of wanting approval wanting to be desired, wanted, needed. And so absolutely, I think it’s so paramount in how we think of ourselves and act. It’s really sad is what it is. JC: I thought I’m gonna read more because it’s gonna be like quiet in a way like when he naps and like my child literally does not nap virtually at all. And so I thought I had the energy that I’m going to be reading more during this time of my life. No. With wit, brains, and empathy, Jana Casale throws open the curtain on the inner lives of three young women and illuminates their pain and beauty. How to Fall Out of Love Madly is a literary triumph, and it’s also an absolute delight.” —Lauren Fox, New York Times bestselling author of Send for Me Two young women professionals looking for a third roommate. We’re neat but not crazy neat. We are respectful, yes, crazy respectful, and we have a cat.

It may have been unnecessarily fretful or even a little mean, but Joy was happy to hear Annie say it. With all the apartment bashing Annie had done, it was nice to indulge in the idea that it would be them against the world as they chose the dish soap scent and reorganized the refrigerator magnets. JC: Thank you. I know, I didn’t time this wall because my baby is only two months old. I have a book coming out. But you know, I’m rolling with it. I’m hanging in there. Joy hated the way Annie would rip into the apartment like that. It made Joy feel like Annie was just throwing everything away, or more accurately clearing it away like you would a dirty glass or a fogged windowpane. A blistering transparency of their little home would flash through Joy’s thoughts: the matching teacup and teakettle from a flea market they’d bought together, uselessly cheerful. The potted plant garden they’d spent entirely too much time planting. The blinds left half down in the dining room, suddenly with menacing abandon. Joy shook it from her mind.

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Friendships are a good thing to explore in this instance. You may find that while you were in love you let certain friendships lag that you really don't want to lose. This is a great time to try to repair them.

Joy and Annie are friends and roommates whose thirtysomething existences aren’t exactly what they’d imagined for themselves. Struggling to make ends meet, they decide to rent their extra bedroom to Theo, who charms Joy with his salt-and-pepper hair and adoration of their one-eyed cat. When Annie goes to live with her boyfriend, Theo and Joy settle into a comfortable domesticity. Then Theo brings home Celine, the girlfriend he’s never mentioned and who is possibly the most stunning woman Joy has ever seen. Joy resolves to do whatever it takes to nurture the bond she and Theo have forged. Anything Celine might deny him, Joy will grant. Distracted by her need to please Theo, Joy fails to see that Celine’s beauty doesn’t protect her from her own insecurities. Celine is so haunted by an event in her past that she can’t access the confidence she yearns to exude. Annie is worried about Joy’s senseless devotion to Theo, but she has her own troubles. Eager to please her commitment-phobic boyfriend, she can’t stop parsing his texts and pretending to be the easy-going, cool girl he wants. At work, where she leans into her natural assertiveness, Annie is a star. But then an anonymous letter lands on her desk accusing her esteemed and supportive boss of sexual misconduct, and Annie is forced to decide who and what she’s willing to stand up for. Perceptive, mordantly funny, and full of heart, How to Fall Out of Love Madly tells the story of three women who believe in equality yet inexplicably tolerate terrible behavior from men, equating being desired with worth. As Joy, Annie, and Celine grapple with the ways their lives have been subverted by the forces of gender, money, power, and the need for intimacy, they realize their futures will be determined by how hard they’ll fight to reclaim control. How to Fall Out of Love Madly by Jana Casale – eBook Details She also made me proud of the women that stand up for others. The ones who decide that they’ve had enough of the men around them getting away with inappropriate touches or comments. She made me think about all that we suffer silently. Sexual assaults that seem easier to just let go, because they’re ‘not a big deal,’ even though they’re a violation of your body all the same. It’s a conditioning so deeply ingrained. Annie is baffled by Joy's senseless devotion to Theo, but she's consumed by her own obsessions: she can't stop parsing her commitment-phobic boyfriend's texts in an exhausting mission to maintain his approval. At work, where she fully embraces her natural assertiveness, Annie is a star. But when an anonymous letter lands on her desk accusing her esteemed and supportive boss of sexual misconduct, she is forced to decide who and what she's willing to stand up for. Annie is baffled by Joy’s senseless devotion to Theo, but she’s consumed by her own obsessions: she can’t stop parsing her commitment-phobic boyfriend’s texts in an exhausting mission to maintain his approval. At work, where she fully embraces her natural assertiveness, Annie is a star. But when an anonymous letter lands on her desk accusing her esteemed and supportive boss of sexual misconduct, she is forced to decide who and what she’s willing to stand up for. B&N: Well, no, nothing was better than you had a line about, you know, I think it was Annie looking in the mirror, it could have been Joy looking in the mirror. And the thought about, you know, thinking she’s unique, but she looks like her mother, her mother looks like her grandmother. And it’s like, like, oh my gosh, I’m not even an original.Annie is worried about Joy’s senseless devotion to Theo, but she has her own troubles. Eager to please her commitment-phobic boyfriend, she can’t stop parsing his texts and pretending to be the easy-going, cool girl he wants. At work, where she leans into her natural assertiveness, Annie is a star. But then an anonymous letter lands on her desk accusing her esteemed and supportive boss of sexual misconduct, and Annie is forced to decide who and what she’s willing to stand up for. Whelp, this salt and pepper haired man does something for Joy because soon enough, she falls head over heels for him. She absolutely caters to this man, to the point of even doing his laundry and making his lunches for work (despite the fact that they have crossed no lines and are simply just roommates). Soon enough, Annie’s boyfriend finally asks her to move in with him. So now, it is just Joy and Theo…until Theo brings home the most picture-perfect woman Joy has ever seen and introduces her as his girlfriend. Celine. Much of this book is very relatable. Joy and Annie are close friends and roommates who are around 30. Annie has a bad boyfriend that she insists is great. Joy is single and depressed about it, she is starting to feel that being fat means she will not be loved. When they rent out the third bedroom in their apartment to handsome, flirtatious Theo everything gets complicated. To me, the thing as a writer that you should always be working towards is like, how can I make this just be delicious for the reader?”