--- title: Twitter Love Story via Waterstones description: Infatuated with a London bookstore's Twitter account, one woman sought the writer behind it — and found love. They married over the weekend. canonical: https://time.com/4411284/twitter-waterstones-marriage/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-18T20:55:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:34:30.665Z og:title: This Twitter Love Story Is a Digital-Age Fairytale Come True og:description: The man behind a bookshop's Twitter became the object of one woman's affection. og:url: https://time.com/4411284/twitter-waterstones-marriage/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Twitter Love Story Is a Digital-Age Fairytale Come True twitter:description: The man behind a bookshop's Twitter became the object of one woman's affection. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Twitter Love Story Is a Digital Fairytale Come True > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4c7a8f50-a318-4f97-9776-812b8efb46c8&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 18, 2016 8:55 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 18, 2016 8:55 PM UTC Technology doesn’t always destroy old-fashioned romance. In fact, it sometimes sparks it. That’s certainly the case for newlyweds Jonathan O’Brien and Victoria Carlin, who can thank a [series of serendipitous Tweets](https://twitter.com/i/moments/754785332365754368) for their love story. Back in 2012, Carlin became enamored with the mysterious mastermind behind a quippy Twitter account for London bookstore Waterstones. So she did what any good millennial would do: she Tweeted at it. > [](https://twitter.com/VictoriaOB%5F/status/270953775747964929) The response was not necessarily encouraging: > [](https://twitter.com/WaterstonesTCR/status/270954791356747777) But Carlin wasn’t ready to give up. > [](https://twitter.com/VictoriaOB%5F/status/270957464109842432) She pursued the connection, finally meeting the Twitter author in person a few months later after a bit of back-and-forth. > [](https://twitter.com/VictoriaOB%5F/status/754751961103237121) “It was easily the best first date I’ve ever been on (and hopefully the last first date I’ll ever go on),” O’Brien [told _Mashable_](http://mashable.com/2016/07/18/twitter-bookstore-wedding/#qISvP7I%5F5aqY). “I brought a book of _The Wizard of Oz_ as a present because Victoria had mentioned to me how much she loves the film.” One thing led to another, and over the weekend, the two finally tied the knot. > [](https://twitter.com/VictoriaOB%5F/status/754723063464427521) And some things came full circle: the original Tweet that kicked off Carlin’s crush on the writer was actually about Pokemon… > [](https://twitter.com/WaterstonesTCR/status/270945636302602240) … and O’Brien decided to play some Pokemon Go while waiting for his bride on his wedding day. And yeah, he Tweeted about it. > [](https://twitter.com/JonathanOB%5F/status/753924928936747008) While their happily-ever-after is well on its way, however, it looks like a new chapter for Waterstones is just beginning: > [](https://twitter.com/WaterstonesTCR/status/755039575882526720) So, romantics, here’s proof: there’s hope for us all, even in the digital age. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4411284/twitter-waterstones-marriage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4411284/twitter-waterstones-marriage/"},"headline":"This Twitter Love Story Is a Digital Fairytale Come True","datePublished":"2016-07-18T20:55:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:34:30.665Z","description":"It's one for the books","url":"https://time.com/4411284/twitter-waterstones-marriage/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Technology","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4411284/twitter-waterstones-marriage/","name":"This Twitter Love Story Is a Digital Fairytale Come True"}}]}] ```