A Special Series from Mrs. Agent Palmer
Back in December of 2024, I was highly pregnant (about 7 months) and lying in bed watching TikTok as I often did, especially when it’s dark and cold out and I don’t feel like doing anything else.
My husband is a voracious reader and while I once was as well, I have slowed down a lot, often resorting to video games as an easier distraction and stress relief from work. But he will regularly complain “Stop staring at a screen and read a book!” To which I give a childish response of blowing a raspberry in his direction and saying “I don’t wanna!” Even though I eventually will.
But that is why, that December night, I discovered I could use the screen to help solve the reading thing with the ease of internet purchasing and gifting myself a book for Christmas as it was right around the corner.
All it took was one Blind Date with a Book video to come across my FYP(For You Page) and I was immediately intrigued. Not only would I get a book, but it would come with some goodies, be shipped directly to me and the best part of all, the choice would be made for me and I could avoid that annoying choice paralysis that comes with having too many options.
The premise of the Blind Date with a Book, is to give you or someone else an experience of trying something new. As with the act of blind dating itself, you go into the experience… well… blind. You know very little about the person, or nothing at all, sometimes not even what they look like, although that has changed in recent times for obvious reasons. You would show up at a place for a date and then you would decide if there was going to be more to it or cause for another date.
Often, you were set up on a blind date by someone you knew, a friend, a sibling, a coworker. The book blind date is essentially the same thing but much safer and if you don’t like the book you can easily get rid of it by passing it on or donating it, much less awkward than telling an individual “No, thanks, I think we shouldn’t do this again,” then blocking them on whatever communication method you used to get in touch with them in the first place.
But I digress.
As I mentioned, the Blind Date with a Book is a way for you to get to experience a new book. Most of the vendors or individuals selling them will have several genres for you to choose from and the cost will vary depending on how fancy you want to go or how many “additions” you want for your blind date. But they all focus on letting someone choose a book for you and curate an experience around that book for you.
As this would be my first, I went fairly simple. I didn’t need a mug or a tumbler or articles of clothing, like I said you can get pretty fancy with your curated blind date. My goal was a book and some niceties but ultimately letting a stranger pick a book they thought another stranger would like. Of the half dozen or so genres to choose from (fiction, nonfiction, horror, romance etc.)
I selected Steamy Romance. It’s not a genre I have read a lot of, having read a few what I would call Hallmark-esque romance novels. I had not read many of the steamy variety because I read one chapter of 50 Shades of Grey and hated it so much it turned me off of “sexy books” for a long time. I thought 50 Shades was just so simplistic and obvious in its writing and gave off major bad fanfic vibes that I was concerned they would all be that way. I can happily say I have several “steamy” novels in my collection now that are very well written with so much personality. This book will not be joining them, but more on that in another post.
With my book, I received a small assortment of items. When you make your selection for your book genre, you also opt for either tea or hot chocolate to come with it, every date should come with a drink. Since I was pregnant and also on a very restrictive diet due to gestational diabetes, the hot chocolate was going to be a no-no, so I opted for the tea and received a bag of chamomile, which was perfect.
In addition, I received two bookmarks and five stickers. I don’t remember what all of the stickers were and don’t even remember if I kept all of them (I am writing this a long time afterwards) but they were all book and romance themed. The two bookmarks were also the same theme.
The book I received was Stinger by Mia Sheridan, a best-selling author I had not heard of, but again I am not overly familiar with the genre, which the Blind Date curator purchased from Target. I like the idea that the curator purchased the book from a store themselves, maybe read it as well to see if it would be good to recommend by way of including it in a Blind Date with a Book box.
It might be better if the book was purchased from a small bookstore, always good to support locally owned bookstores, but I am not going to fault someone for getting a book where they can. I will be writing a separate review of the book, so I will just say this about it now. It was a good book, but not really for me. I will continue to read other books in this genre, just this particular one did not really appeal to me. Look out for my full review.
While that may not be a glowing recommendation for the book, I do highly recommend the Blind Date with a Book as a fun and worthwhile experience. Whether it’s for yourself to discover new books or for someone else, because it makes a great gift idea for a book lover in your life, do check out the many Blind Date with a Book options on the TikTok shop.
Thank you for taking this trip with me in this first of many posts to come in the Married Woman Continues to Date series, up next getting close and personal with your furniture with the video game Date Everything.