Skip to main content
PastAuthor EventBook SigningFictionPaid

This event has passed

Luncheon with author Brooke Averick for her book PHOEBE BERMAN'S GONNA LOSE IT

Past event

Featured Book

https://lakeforestbookstore.com/sites/default/files/styles/event_image_large/public/2026-02/phoebe-bermans-gonna-lose-it.jpg?itok=tWNMfDsV

PHOEBE BERMAN'S GONNA LOSE IT

Meet Phoebe Berman: despite being a hopeless romantic, she’s about to be a thirty-year-old virgin. With one month before her milestone birthday, she’s determined to finally lose it . . . if her own anxiety doesn’t slow her down. The can’t-miss debut novel from podcaster and comedian Brooke Averick.

The first edition hardcover of Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It features beautiful designed endpapers and a foil-stamped case!

“I laughed (a lot), I cried (more than expected), I swooned (the perfect amount), and I looked into the metaphorical camera, wondering if this book was actually about me.”—Lyla Sage, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Soul Searching and the Rebel Blue Ranch series

Is it possible to find true love when going on a date makes you want to throw up?

Phoebe Berman fears the one thing she wants the most: love. Thanks to an extremely unfortunate first kiss attempt, crippling intimacy anxiety has plagued her since she was a teen.

Phoebe has so much going for her: a dream teaching job, a supportive and hilarious group of best friends, and all the romance novels a girl could want at her fingertips—but she can’t help but beat herself up over the one thing she can’t quite seem to figure out. Determined to change this, she drafts up the ultimate “Guide to Losing My Virginity” checklist with the hope of finally getting laid.

Suddenly, she goes from a relatively boring (basically non-existent) dating life to juggling three romantic prospects at once. There’s the gorgeous new fourth grade teacher at her school, a former high school classmate that resurfaces through Words with Friends, and there will always be her roommate, who might just be the best friends-to-lovers situation of her dreams.

Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It is a brutally honest and completely relatable story for anyone who’s ever felt stuck between coming of age and coming apart.

This book will be available for purchase at the event.

About This Event

How can you ever share true love's kiss without feeling like you're going to throw up?

Phoebe Berman is on the verge of turning thirty and still hasn’t lost her virginity. So she drafts up the ultimate "Guide to Losing My Virginity" checklist and complete all the steps in a month.

Actions as simple as “compliment a stranger on his outfit” or “redownload Hinge” are the easiest steps, while others, like “Go on a random dating app date” or “get drunk and make out with a stranger,” feel nearly impossible. Why? Phoebe has debilitating intimacy anxiety.

And then suddenly, her relatively boring (basically non-existent) dating life is filled with suitors. There's a new fourth grade teacher at her school with perfect arms, a childhood crush resurfaces via Words with Friends, and then there's Jonathan, her college best friend who might be a friend no more...

Rapidly, Phoebe’s love life is taking center stage in a way she never anticipated. But this love square she has gotten herself into, and the stomach cramps and dizziness that surface whenever she gears up for a potential date, are making things complicated.

Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It is a love story for those who devour romance novels and the latest Netflix rom coms, but struggle to find protagonists that feel authentic, grounded, and like real people.

Join us at The Lake Forest Club for a luncheon with author Brooke Averick!
$80 includes lunch and a copy of the book with a personalized Phoebe Berman cherry-designed bookplate (additional copies on hand for sale). Please call to RSVP: 847-234-4420

Featured Author

https://www.heyalma.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/brooke-averick-hed.jpg

Brooke Averick

Brooke Averick is best known for her podcast, Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast, where she speaks candidly and humorously about her struggles with OCD, anxiety, and depression, as well as her latest celebrity crushes, all while trying to convince her co-host to appreciate the magic of musical theatre. She's amassed a social media following of over 1.5M across numerous platforms. She studied Early Childhood Education at Boston University, and currently lives in Los Angeles with her two cats, Jonathan and Robert. PHOEBE BERMAN'S GONNA LOSE IT is her first novel.

About the Venue

The Lake Forest Club

Presented by Lake Forest Bookstore

554 N. Westmoreland Road
Lake Forest, IL 60045

Open in Maps