Amazon.com Review
Dentophobe Hannah O'Dowd is almost 30 and she's determined to find a husband. She and her cozy circle of single friends live in Portland, Oregon, a city of 2 million souls, roughly half of which are male. Hannah hatches a plan to find her one man in a million via free Internet dating services--and challenges her friends to do the same. Unfortunately, all of Hannah's dates are turning out worse than your average root canal.
Lisa Cach's Dating Without Novocaine is a witty, sexually frank look at what a smart self-employed woman might do to find the man of her dreams. Will she make the first move on Wade, the wildlife biologist who keeps asking her out but has yet to even hold her hand? Will she agree to a second date with Pete, the hunky cop with attention deficit disorder? Could she possibly be attracted to a wealthy computer engineer who paints his toenails gold? Hannah's sure the right guy is out there, it's just a matter of finding him.
Like Bridget Jones's Diary and television's Sex and the City, Cach's first contemporary romance presents a single girl who has great friends and a variety of unacceptable romantic prospects. Wiser than Bridget and warmer than Sex's Carrie, Hannah may find her man just in time. --Jennifer Lindsay
From Publishers Weekly
Talented seamstress Hannah O'Dowd cuffs men's pants to pay the rent, but while her hands hover at ankle-height, her attentions are focused a bit farther up. She's 29 and hasn't yet found her backyard barbecue guy: "I don't want to turn thirty and still not know who I'm going to marry," she gripes, setting the tone for this mild single-girl tale set in Portland, Ore. At least she has company in her loyal but flaky roommate, Cassie, who is taking belly-dancing classes to unblock her "sex chakra," and the more sensible Louise, a phone counselor at a crisis center. It's immediately obvious that Hannah is going to fall for their mutual friend Scott, a sweet and successful dentist who's allegedly off limits because he used to date Louise. Although there's never any doubt she'll end up with him, it's still satisfying when he gets her into the chair. In her first contemporary novel (after five romances), Cach is funniest in her descriptions of Hannah's dental phobia, and she adds a few touching scenes when Hannah's mother suffers a stroke. Unfortunately, the characters tend to toss around clich‚s rather than engage in meaningful dialogue. Even the young, single audience to which the novel is clearly pitched will find the heroine's dating fiascoes the gay guy trying to go straight, the cop with attention-deficit disorder old hat, but those in need of a dose of the tried and true may appreciate the familiarity. Agent, Linda Kruger.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
