Happily Never After

#10. Decide to make time for reading, take on "Tabloid Love" a memoir by Bridget Harrison as more of reference material than shameless reading. COMPLETED

Proclaimed as "A real-life Bridget Jones meets Sex and the City" by Candace Bushnell (author of Sex and the City) I had some expectations going into this one. The cover states rather boldly..."Looking for Mr. Right in all the wrong places." Bloody hell, was this the book for me! [Not that I'm looking for Mr. Right/Wrong or Indifferent, you know, because of the list and all that but...]

Trying to snag a copy of it was like looking for, well, for something really really hard to find (an albino elephant with one tusk and two left feet perhaps?). The local Coles store wasn't carrying it, even Chapters in Halifax didn't have a spot reserved on their shelves for a juicy copy or two. So I had to order the book (hardcopy no less) through Indigo.

Two weeks and $32.50 Cdn plus tax and shipping later...

I eagerly began my journey into swinging New York City circa 2000. To summerize: Bridget is a lowly reporter in her native Britain and comes to work at the New York Post on some type of reporter exchange thingy. She ends up staying in the Big Apple to follow her dreams of becoming world class news hound. Let the misadventure begin! No, wait, not yet. There's more...

Bridget decides to break it off with her steady hunky beau Angus who's back in Britain because:
a) long distance relationships are hard damn it
b) realizes in a cheesy movie-music-montage type of moment that he's not "The One"
c) cheats on him with the first American guy to show her some attention at a costume party
d) his name is Angus
e) all of the above

Yes folks, it was THAT predictable. [For those of you still guessing, the answer is "e" but I threw in "d" just to mess with you]

Alright! Now "Bridgie"can let loose on the single scene! Let the misadventure begin. No wait, not yet. True, Bridget meets some real creeps, has some random shagging and goes on some completely horrible dates but I found myself finding it hard to read. Not just because it wasn't as witty as some literature I've reviewed (Sophie Kinsella for example) but mostly because it was hard to stomach Bridget making herself way too accomodating for these wankers.

"Ding dong"
"Who's there?"
"It's Bridget, the British doormat"

I mean, ugh. Have a bit of self-respect.

[Note to self: perhaps am a bit too far on the other side of the spectrum and don't allow guys to get close enough to see what color my eyes are let alone chance any potential disrespect].

Bridget then gets her very own dating column in the Post and she begins shagging her Editor/boss Jack after mooning over him for two years. Ok, now the misadventure begins and Bridget has become my new hero. But alas, things don't quite work out for Jack and our British babe.

More bad dates with New Yorkers and less random shagging ensue. All her friends become smug marrieds with babies. Her parents long for the day when Bridgie will meet a guy who sticks around.

But do we get a happy ending? I don't want to spoil it for those of you who might actually read the book. Ah what the h***, I'll tell you anyway. In the end, Bridget comes to terms with her single life and realizes [tear] that she is the single sexy girl in the red dress at her friend's wedding and what could be more exciting than that?

Groan.

Turns out my dating life [former dating life] is just as exciting/horrifying to read about. Save yourself the $32.50 Cdn plus tax and shipping. And Jack, if you're reading this...call me ;)