hi, friends!
what. a week.
Deeper Well dropped and has dominated my Spotify listening history. we went deep into Kate Middleton Tok. American Riviera Orchard (who approved this naming convention with all its hard “R”s?) launched its Instagram presence. finished listening to I REMEMBER NOTHING by Nora Ephron on Libby. started reading the copy of THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt that I bought in the Madrid airport nine months ago. got a new couch. snagged bar seats at Roscioli. dealt with credit card fraud. BYE, BABY came out…subsquently, me and fellow West Village Book Club member and my dear friend, Laura, fangirled over Carola at her New York event!!
the week ahead promises to be equally busy and buzzy! on the book front, Rebecca Serle’s latest, EXPIRATION DATES, comes out Tuesday. if you’ll be at The Strand event to celebrate, see you there! I’m still not over the fact that we have Rebecca on today’s sunday series, but before we dive into her Q&A, I have some rather *off brand* storytelling to delve into in regards to the aforementioned credit card fraud, in hopes it may help you.
on my walk to work on Thursday, I was going through my Gmail when I saw a slew of emails that put an immediate pit in my stomach. DOZENS of '“customer account confirmation” emails from [insert fake company here] all came in at 10:34p from the night prior. then, I saw the “thank you for your order!” email from J.Crew. I certainly did NOT order three pairs of men’s size 11 New Balances to be shipped to Westbury. so, further panic set in.
long story long, my J.Crew password was flimsy, someone got in (likely, this go-to password of mine was floating around on the dark web associated with my Gmail) and some lowlife started to play around to see how far they could go with it. foolishly, my Amex was saved to my profile, and that’s how they were able to place the order. so, this is me reminding you, DO NOT SAVE CCs to your store profiles, no matter how easy it makes future orders!
the “confirm your subscription” emails pictured above—which came in many more batches beyond that first one in the following days—were intended to get me to click on embedded links. of course, I didn’t! but still, it all felt so violating. I feel lucky that J.Crew customer service was incredibly kind and efficient in helping me sort it out; we rerouted the order so the suss person who was likely planning to resell said sneakers didn’t get their hands on them. Amex has a replacement card on the way, and I’ve changed all my email, banking, and key account passwords since.
but the real reason I’m sharing all of this is because it freaked the bejeezus out of me, and in the process of talking to friends and colleagues about it, I’ve learned a thing or two. I just got an annual membership with Aura, a fraud-protection service that a colleague recommended to me after having their email hacked. aside from the credit lock and identity theft protection features Aura offers, I’m most excited (ha, being 30 is funny…being excited about credit monitoring!) about the password management feature.
I’ve struggled to find a password vault system beyond Chrome itself (anyone else ever set up 1Password and then…forget the master password that you can’t reset?) that works for me, but Aura has it all figured out. the coolest feature is once you import/add your existing passwords, it identifies the weak ones and can AUTO change them. as in, you hit a button, and it resets your silly little passwords likely harking back to college days into the crazy complicated ones without all the copy and pasting, then saves them back down for you in its vault. ah, the powers of AI when used for good!!!!
anyway, I hope that incredibly out-of-left-field rant was helpful even to one person. to wrap up with more of my “regularly scheduled programming,” yesterday was the perfect day after a stressful week of dealing with all this. I posted a day in the life on TikTok, but for my fellow copy-loving readers here, I’ll share it in more detail.
I’m feeling extra lucky that my dream spring saturday looked a little like this…worked on this very Substack on my brand new CB2 couch with McNulty’s freshly ground coffee in hand, hit up the Abingdon Square farmers market, did The Class, picked up an iced cortado and pistachio ice cream from Rigor Hill Market, took the subway uptown to bid my friend Tracy good luck on her move, stopped by Casa Magazines to see Ali and grab the British Vogue cover that I still can’t believe isn’t CGI (how in the heck did they coordinate these women’s schedules??), popped into Murray’s Cheese for french butter and a baguette, dropped provisions at Laura’s new apartment, and to cap it all off, scored a walk-in at Roscioli with my girl Jenna. LUCKY, LUCKY girls! xKD
meet Rebecca Serle
to know my reading taste is to know that I’m Rebecca Serle stan. I’ve been in love with her writing since reading IN FIVE YEARS, and have since had the chance to interview her for SmartFlyer where we talked about all things Italy. it was extra special to go to her last Strand event for ONE ITALIAN SUMMER just before I was set to go to Italy myself, and now, I’m over the moon that she’s here with us for the sunday series. her latest, EXPIRATION DATES, is our West Village Book Club’s april pick, so this is just the beginning of what you’ll be hearing from me about this beautiful novel.
Kayla Douglas: Rebecca, huge fan here! But for those just becoming familiar with your work, your novels and screenwriting play with the tension between fate and free will. What draws you to this concept?
Rebecca Serle: I think it's really the central question of the human existence I'm most interested in—how much is in our control and how much is going to happen regardless of the choices that we make? I'm fascinated by that in my own life and naturally, I write about what I'm curious about!
KD: Tell us about the premise of your forthcoming novel, EXPIRATION DATES, set to hit shelves on March 19th.
RS: Expiration Dates is about Daphne Bell, a thirty-something woman who, every time she meets a man, receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—and that number is the exact amount of time they'll be together. The book opens with her receiving—for the first time—a paper with just a name.
KD: Setting is so critical to the tone of a story, and New York has often been a character in its own right in your novels. What made you decide to switch it up and set EXPIRATION DATES on the West Coast?
RS: Well, I live in Los Angeles now. Five years is pretty much my threshold of feeling like a city belongs to me (except Positano, of course). I moved back to LA in 2019 and really fell in love with this place in a very different way than I'd known it in the past. It was time to write about it!
KD: This is your first book where romantic love is the primary focus of your protagonist. What were you working through while telling Daphne's story, and how do you hope she inspires readers who may be discouraged in the waiting game of finding "their person"?
RS: I always wanted to write about the search for love, but for a long time, I didn't because I wasn't sure how the story would end. It felt like the right time.
I know it's hard to keep looking but my favorite life mantra is: trust the timing of your life. Be patient, what is meant for you will become.
KD: What was different about bringing your latest novel into the world from the experience with your other most recent releases, THE DINNER LIST, IN FIVE YEARS and ONE ITALIAN SUMMER? What about the process was the same?
RS: My writing process is very similar from book to book, but every time I write a new one, there are things I have to learn as if for the first time. It's a muscle that atrophies a bit while I'm doing the other parts of my job—publicity, touring, editing, adaptations. It's fun to have readers who have been with me for a few books now, though, because I feel like every time I go out on the road, we have more and more to talk about.
KD: Tell us about the most recent work of fiction that left you with a book hangover.
RS: Is a book hangover a good thing? If so: Good Material by Dolly Alderton!
KD: What book is on your TBR pile that you're most excited to pick up?
RS: My book club is reading Shark Heart by Emily Habeck. I'm excited!
KD: The Sunday Series was conceptualized as a love letter to my favorite day of the week. If we were with you in LA on Sunday, where would you take us to spend the afternoon?
RS: The farmers market at Melrose Place for the late am, obviously, and then weather dependent we'd go for a hike! I love being able to get outside here.
KD: Where can readers preorder EXPIRATION DATES and check out your book tour dates to join you on the road for a signed copy?
RS: My website has all the preorder links. I always encourage people to shop their local indie—and, of course, Expiration Dates is available everywhere books are sold!