I adored Linda Holmes’ novel Evvie Drake Starts Over, a melancholy but realistic and deeply satisfying romance about two broken people who find each other when they are at their worst. Her latest book, Back After This, may lack some of the emotional heft of Evvie, but it is a similarly smart story about dating and relationships, set in the world of podcasting. Cecily, single for many years after a bad breakup, is pressured to participate in a dating experiment in which she will go on 20 first dates and it will all be recorded and analyzed on a new podcast. Before the dates kick off, though, she meets a cute guy on the street who keeps popping up at inopportune moments – is he actually the guy she should be with? I enjoyed the DC setting (Wonderland Books’ own Bethesda gets skewered) and the crackly dialogue. Back After This may not be Evvie, but for me, that’s an extremely high bar. I listened to this one on audio, and it was narrated by the author, Linda Holmes. She’s an experienced podcaster and did a nice job with the narration here.