Men and Manolos: Love and Relationships In The Heels of A Hopeless Romantic
109 pages
Genre: Women’s Biography, Memoir, Emotional Healing, Dating
No one walks into a relationship without the proper footing…
In a collection of original essays drawn from her open ended and inquisitive relationship column “Sex and the Chester,” Alyssa Velazquez explores a twenty-first century world dominated by proverbial singles, foreign and domestic affairs, and emotional recall relationships. In her intensely personal memoir of unscripted cute meets, dates that should have never happened, and affairs to forget Velazquez searches through her past for wisdom, perspective, and advice on the survival of a hopeless romantic. Following familiar scenarios through her never ending, often time predictable search for love in flats, sneakers, rain boots, and even a pair of Manolos her electric honesty makes us contemplate if maybe the key to the “mating ritual” is all in our shoes.
**My thoughts**
Alyssa Velazquez didn't intentionally set out to become a relationship column writer when she went to school, yet that is the hand that life dealt her. Strongly influenced by Carrie Bradshaw and Sex and the City, she has spent hours analyzing her own love life and societal expectations. In this book, she has collected some of her thoughts originally published in her column, hoping to inspire us to do the same with our own lives.
I realize that I am getting older, because her voice sounded so young to me. Of course, she is in her 20s; I am a decade beyond. As the book went on, I found maturity and growth in her words and her thoughts, which is to be expected over time. Some of her words were actually thought-provoking. Others I didn't dwell on as much. I think reading someone else's thoughts and essays on a topic such as love is going to be different for each reader. All of us have our own experiences that will help us relate differently to each of hers. I think that my favorite one, by far, was the one that discussed definition in relationships. Do we really need to define them? How does society define them? Doesn't that sometimes demolish a decent relationship, once you put a label on it?
The book isn't laced with sexual escapades and raunchy details to make you blush as she reveals her innermost thoughts. I know little of Sex and the City, but that is kind of what I was expecting to read on occasion. Instead, it feels a bit more realistic, like you're reading the words of a good friend. You will probably recognize yourself in a few of her essays.
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Author’s Biography:
Living in New Jersey, Alyssa Velazquez currently works as a barista while daydreaming of mastering latte art. The product of liberal arts education, she has worked in D.C., Maryland, and Philadelphia as a conservation apprentice, production design intern, living history actor, and most recently a free-lance writer for The Women’s History Magazine and the Secretaries of Juliet Newsletter: Il Giornal de’Juilette.velazquezalyssa@gmail.com
Twitter: @AlyssaManolo
Website: http://www.alyssavelazquez.net.tf
This was a very good one! I enjoyed it.
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