Evelyn Lozada New Book Reflects Her Life

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Puerto Rican-American reality television personality, author, and entrepreneur Evelyn Lozada is on a roll. Following the success of her first novel Inner Circle, Lozada is back with The Perfect Date, which follows the relationship between a single mom and a star baseball player.

The book is fictional, but Lozada says she drew inspiration from things she's really experienced. "I always try to add some of my real life," the mother of two tells CHICA. “Inner Circle was about a basketball player, and at the time I had just ended a relationship with a basketball player. [The Perfect Date] is about a baseball player, and I have a son with a baseball player.”

Like Angel, the book's heroine, Lozada is from the Bronx, and she was once a young single mother interested in nursing. "It was really important for me to really have people feel like they're in the Bronx," says the 43-year-old. The book includes details inspired by Lozada's own years in the Bronx, including things like the kinships she formed with women at beauty salons. "I'm Puerto Rican, this is my culture," she explains. “Going to the Dominican hair salon and getting rolos is a thing. I met the most amazing women at these hair salons, and it becomes almost like a family.”

Lozada started writing The Perfect Date a year and a half ago with Holly Lorincz, and as she got ready for her book tour, the reality of her upbringing hit her. The star had no literary idols growing up and didn't read much because she was more focused on survival. "Growing up, it's sad to say, reading wasn't a thing," she says. “Everyone is trying to survive, to make sure you make it to the next week. Make sure you pay your bills, your rent. I don't remember a bookstore. I remember going to the library.” Now, she's hoping to be an example to those in her old neighborhood who might be in similar situations. "One message I always want to give," she says, "is that everything is going to be OK."