The I Hate To Date Club (Harlequin Next) [Mass Market Paperback]

Elda Minger (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harlequin Next | Publication Date: May 1, 2006

For five 30-something women, the only obstacle to marriage is...dating

Eva: Forget the dog. Eva is Man's Best Friend, with a pedigree of potentials-turned-pals to prove it.

Frances: Since her nasty divorce, she's avoided the romance rat race for two years too long.

Wendy: She's been given a diamond ring...by another woman's husband.

Ariel: A serial dumper--she cuts loose any man who tries to get too close.

Michelle: She thought she'd wed The One, and can't believe she's suddenly a SWF ISO (Single White Female In Search Of)...again.

Enough!

Together, they form a support group to turn their woes to wins, and discover the darnedest truth: Dating ain't so bad...when your girlfriend's got your back.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373880936
• ISBN-13: 978-0373880935
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,570,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in a small English village . . .
Actually, no. I was born in Hollywood, California, and have lived in Southern California most of my life. My parents were both teachers, so I grew up in a house filled with books and music. Also animals, and lots of relatives.
My grandmother taught me to read before I went to school. I can't remember a time I wasn't reading. We read everything. Comic books, the backs of cereal boxes, and lots of books. She also taught me to keep a journal from the time I was nine, so the pathway from my brain to a pen was developed early.
I never thought of being a writer. My uncle published a biography of Mozart. My father, a history professor, published three textbooks. As a child, I imagined that writers were alone at their desks, always isolated. They also got depressed when the rejections arrived. Not what I wanted to do for a living!
My parents always encouraged me to dream. Nothing was seen as out of reach, and a career in the arts was respected. When my father died two months before I graduated from college, I started writing a novel. It was my way of trying to find order in chaos and pain. Six years after I started, I published that novel, and went on to write a few dozen more.
I was so wrong about the writing life. You're never alone, you're surrounded by your characters, always thinking about them, laughing and cheering them on or crying when they face heartbreak. And as for the rejections? The truth is that writing is not for the faint hearted. You need a certain toughness which was hard for me to learn. But my Dad used to always say, the way to get Elda to do something is to tell her she can't. (Works like a charm.)
I've been a writer for many years now, and I can't think of a better way to live my life. My goal was always to give a reader a bit of the pleasure that countless authors have given me, and I hope I've done that.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding Happiness, August 18, 2006

By 

Jill (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The I Hate To Date Club (Harlequin Next) (Mass Market Paperback)

I really like "The Next Novel" books from Harlequin. The heroine or heroines are seldom 21 years old. They are mature women with some living under their belts. The I Hate to Date Club is no exception.

Five friends know that they want to get married - to have a meaningful relationship, they just don't think they are up to the dating process. They decide to form a club to support each other in their different approaches to finding an interesting man. Realizing that they will never meet the perfect man while they are sitting on the couch reading a book, they vow to get out in the world and seek their happiness.

The story is just like life....sometimes sad as Michelle deals with a recently ended marriage and Eva comes to grips as to why she can't get very interested in finding a significant other....and sometimes hilarious........giving Wendy moral support to break it off with her married boyfriend, "Rick the Prick" in a restaurant and their big getaway.

Mostly, the book is a lot of wonderful insights into finding what makes you happy, when it makes you happy and to recognize it and embrace it.

It was a quick and very uplifting read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The anti-romance romance, May 16, 2006

By 

Stephanie Vianelli (Burbank, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The I Hate To Date Club (Harlequin Next) (Mass Market Paperback)

Elda Minger is a romance author who does what no other author of the genre can do right now, get me to buy a romance novel. Her current book out by Harliquen under there Next lable could almost be called the anti-romance romance. Five friends living in LA are trying to figure out why relationships just aren't like romance novels, fairy tales, or the movies. The answer they don't like having to date and placing themselves out there. The story besides being laugh out loud funny at times is really a tale of the five women realizing what they want out of life and going for it. I whole heartedly recommend this novel to anyone, and I am glad I made the impulse buy.

3.0 out of 5 stars Two books in one, August 25, 2009

By 

Weekly Reader "Bobbie" (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The I Hate To Date Club (Harlequin Next) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book couldn't decide what it wanted to be when it grew up. It started out trying to be funny and a witty comment on dating in today's fast paced world, but quickly changed into a self-help book on relationships. Throw in several paragraphs about recipes and cooking and you have a mish mash with no clear direction. Also, the characters could have been fleshed out a little more. Except for Eva and Wendy, the other girls are pretty much interchangeable. I found myself not really caring what happened to any of them.