There is no suspense or tension.you know who'll she'll choose in the end. Perhaps that's the point but I believe this is a drawback in the story. It is made VERY obvious who is the better & the 'right' choice for Cass. The biggest drawback for me was the two suitors. Mom & Nadia’s battle of “Team Robert” & “Team George” is done with just the right touch of humor & seriousness.

It is fun for Cass to see the variety of relationship types & how this affects her choices. Her sister Nadia is married with one son & another baby on the way mom is widowed but had the 'perfect' relationship with her husband friend Dana is newly married & riding the wave of new marital bliss. What made this fun for me is the variety of relationships surrounding Cass & what she has to compare to.

Cass is likeable & all characters have a genuine, relaxed air to them. The story has, as you would expect, successful dates, awkward and/or miserable ones as well & the imminent battle between what Cass's heart wants as opposed to what her head tells her. The entire story centers around her trying to determine who the better suitor is based on a checklist from Dr. Both men are clearly interested in Cass but couldn't be more opposite in personality if they tried. Afterall, it's not the men that's the problem: it's Cass who needs to change her ways & quit falling for the same type of guy.Įnter two contenders as she starts her new quest: Robert & George. Spurred on by the insistence of her sister Nadia, she decides to follow the advice of self-help relationship guru Dr. You know the type: Non-committal, pretty much inattentive & absent. She's been featured in several short story anthologies (In One Year and Out the Other and Everything I Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume).Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.Ĭass is tired of dead-end relationships. Her books include I Did (But I Wouldn’t Now), Dixieland Sushi, Every Demon Has His Day, Can't Teach An Old Demon New Tricks, Pink Slip Party and the Bard Academy series for young adults. Since then, her work has been published by MTV Books and Pocket Books and she was a finalist for the Gayle Wilson award of Excellence in young adult fiction from the Romance Writers of America. She landed her first book deal at age 29 with Downtown Press, an imprint of Simon Schuster. Her novels have been translated into five languages and are sold all over the world.

She has written in several genres (romantic comedy, chick lit, young adult and science fiction and fantasy). She's published novels, including I Do (But I Don't), which was made into a Lifetime Original Movie starring Denise Richards and Dean Cain. Cara Lockwood is an established and successful writer who has made a career writing fiction.

Dater's Handbook by Cara Lockwood