While sitting poolside near her grandmother’s West Palm Beach condo, young millennial Vanessa overhears a strange conversation: “What, you want to have phone sex?” Accustomed to little more than old folks with their card games and early bird dinners, Vanessa is shocked—but intrigued—and soon makes the acquaintance of Michelle.
The Unexpected Connection is an entertaining read. It has a universality to the dating scene regardless of one’s ages. All women who have utilized dating apps could identify with it. The main characters were relatable and their experiences were poignant and quite often funny.
– R. Kane, mother of a millennial dating daughter
As it turns out, Michelle is a widow trying online dating, while Vanessa is single and still recovering from tragic loss.
While sitting poolside near her grandmother’s West Palm Beach condo, young millennial Vanessa overhears a strange conversation: “What, you want to have phone sex?” Accustomed to little more than old folks with their card games and early bird dinners, Vanessa is shocked—but intrigued—and soon makes the acquaintance of Michelle. As it turns out, Michelle is a widow trying online dating, while Vanessa is single and still recovering from tragic loss.
Their morning meetings become a comforting daily occurrence. Separated by decades in age, the two women are extremely similar in many other ways and become fast friends. For Michelle, being single, no matter what age, is a roller coaster: one can accept the excitement and unpredictability or get off the ride. Michelle has learned to embrace the ride, and she encourages Vanessa to do the same, no matter past trauma.
Michelle even gifts Vanessa with her memoir, Keep Walking, based on her life as a widow and her baby boomer dating experience. At home in New York, Vanessa will have decisions to make as she has a new job waiting and a possible relationship in the wings. Michelle’s insights and optimism change everything. Surviving life is a challenge, but to thrive, young Vanessa must find her authentic self, all with the help of a serendipitous friendship by a Florida pool.
“Levin debuts her first novel, an exploration of the dating scene from the perspective of two single women at very different stages of their lives…The author takes readers down a long trail littered with “clueless” men behaving badly. It’s an interesting, sometimes depressing, and frequently funny journey…the compendium of cautions, pitfalls, and triumphs in the age of internet dating successfully communicates the author’s “message to men to respect women and for women in turn to respect themselves.:…laughs and warnings abound for straight single women.”
–Kirkus Indie Review
Friendship Across the Generations
…I read with interest “The Unexpected Connection,” the debut novel by Upper East Side writer, Dena Levin, about two women, separated by generations, who discover they are soul sisters…
The book-within-a-book device offers not only comic relief, but insights into Gray Dating, while sparing us chapter after chapter of flashbacks…
The elder woman’s accounts also seal their friendship deal, showing Vanessa the synchronicity of events both women share. Most importantly, the younger of the two learns by her new mentor’s example to focus on liking herself instead of blaming herself…
“Friendship Across the Generations”. By Lorraine Duffy Merkl. OUR TOWN, an upper eastside newspaper.
Published Feb. 6, 2019.
Meet Dena Levin
A New Yorker who received her master’s from CUNY’s Brooklyn College, she is a speech and language pathologist, writer, and painter. Author of the stage play Keep Walking, she is the proud mother of four and grandmother of five. The Unexpected Connection is her first novel!
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