Confessions of a Serial Dater, by Michelle Cunnah

*sigh*

I meant to write about Michelle Cunnah's Confessions of a Serial Dater (excerpt) weeks ago, but I completely forgot. I actually especially wanted to write it quickly, because I'd promised Jennifer (who sent me the book) that I'd send her my impressions, but it just slipped through the cracks.

See? That's what happens when I forget to enter a book in my reading spreadsheet.

I love my boyfriend. Probably.
So how can I be so tempted by someone else
at the very first sign of trouble?

After all, it's not that Jonathan's not wonderful. He is. He didn't mean to cripple me by giving me shoes two sizes too small. He didn't think that I would actually wear too-small shoes to a dinner with his very bizarre boss (and I know about bizarre from working with porn stars all day). He certainly couldn't have known I would use said miniature shoes to cripple the lecherous boss to keep him from slipping me the tongue.

But what kind of guy chooses to tend to his disgusting boss's minor heel-inflicted wound instead of siding with his poor abused girlfriend? More important, what kind of girl just ignores the overtures of a gorgeous doctor who shows up and carries her -- actually picks her up and carries her -- away from the grabby boss, the embarrassing scene, and the vise-gripping shoes?

Not this girl. And so I go from man to man, until one day I sit down at my best friend's wedding reception and realize I've been to bed with every last man at my table. How did this happen? I'm beginning to think the worst is true: My name is Rosie, and I'm a serial dater. This is my story ...

Ohhh, I just love Michelle Cunnah's voice! Just like with 32AA, I enjoyed myself so much while reading this book, that I'm giving it a B+, a higher grade than what I'd give it if I had to be really objective.

This is just the type of funny book that I like: one that's written with a light hand, but which doesn't skimp on the emotion and depth, and also one where the "humour" isn't based on making the heroine act like and idiot.

Our heroine, Rosie, is a wonderful character, likeable and interesting, and someone I was happy to root for. She's refreshingly centered and competent, a fixer, more than someone who leaves disaster in her wake, as her interactions with her mother show. And speaking of this, I liked that Cunnah didn't go as far as making her a martyr. Rosie wasn't at all indiferent to her mother's problems (and the woman was a mess), and she helped as much as she could, but ultimately, she concentrated her efforts on helping her mother stand on her own two feet and stop depending on her.

Ahem, can you tell this is an important thing with me? Moving on. The romance here is interestingly more important than the one in 32AA, even though Rosie and Luke probably spend less time together than Emma did with her hero. What happens between them is something that was strikingly different from the usual.

I'll try not to include spoilers, but the whole conflict in Rosie and Luke's relationship is based on a misunderstanding that could be cleared with a 5 minute talk, and Luke knows that very well. Rosie simply refuses to listen. And yet... it makes perfect sense for Rosie to do that. It's the decent thing to do, and in the same situation, I'd probably refuse to even let Luke speak, and just as adamantly.

The "different" comes in what actually causes that misunderstanding. Let's just say that Luke's difficult circumstances are such that you often see as being the premise in many romance novels, not the problem in another relationship.

Something else I liked was the cast of secondary characters. Rosie's friends really are good friends... they're supportive and loyal, and real characters with well-drawn personalities. And the secondary characters who are not her friends were just as interesting. Elaine was a bit over the top, but her antics were just so funny that I didn't care.

This was a very quick, engrossing read. I grabbed it the minute it arrived and finished it pretty much immediately. Thank you Jennifer for sending it! :-)