The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

First sentence:

"My brother's first serious girlfriend was eight years older–twenty-eight to his twenty."

Description:

"Generous-hearted, smartly comic, and wickedly insightful, The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing maps the progress of Jane Rosenal as she sets out on a personal and spirited expedition through the perilous terrain of sex, love, relationships and the treacherous waters of the workplace. What is love, she wonders, as she scrutinizes the wiles and ways of older, possibly wiser women; casts a questioning eye toward various species of couples; and holds out her wrists for a spritz of perfume from her beautiful boss . . . How do you find it (and keep it) -- and above all, who makes the rules?

In the throes of a budding romance, Jane repairs to the self-help shelves to take a sojourn with authors Bouncy Bonnie and Blown-Dry Faith who whisper in her ear and tell her what the rules are -- in their terms. 'Wear you hair long. . .Don't say 'I love you' first. . .Don't accept a date less than four days in advance. . .' and above all. 'Don't be funny! . . . Men like femininity," Faith says, crossing her legs. "Humor isn't feminine. . .'

When she is swept off her feet by an older man and into a Fitzgeraldesque world of cocktail parties, country houses and rules-that-were-made-to-be-broken, Jane learns what it means when her lover says he wants "to everything" with her, and the stakes become far too high.

A floating house in St. Croix (after a soul-stripping game of strip poker) has its own lesson to teach, as do a couple of sexy, come-and-go boyfriends, a drama around a Greenwich Village kitchen table, and a never-ending bloop-yatty-bloop wedding reception. Finally, when Jane has gone in all the wrong directions (but for all the right reasons), she learns not only when to fish and when to cut bait, but who really makes the rules." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a somewhat quirky and interesting book about relationships. I liked how Jane learned how relying too much on other people's opinions isn't the right thing to do.

Date read: 3/16/2010
Book #: 22
Challenge: A-Z Challenge 2010
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 067088300x
ISBN-13: 978067088300?
Publisher: Viking
# of pages: 274
Binding: Hardcover
LibraryThing page