How to Shop for a Husband: A Consumer Guide to Getting a Great Buy on a Guy [Hardcover]

Janice Lieberman (Author), Bonnie Teller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2009

Janice Lieberman brings her vast shopping expertise as well as her personal knowledge of the dating marketplace together to tell you how to shop for the most important “purchase” of your life—your spouse. How to Shop for a Husband uses smart shopping principles to formulate rules that will help women select a spouse and “close the deal.” This savvy shopper’s guide provides a checklist all women can use in their hunt for the ultimate bargain, and also highlights potential pitfalls.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While far from romantic, this common sense dating guide from NBC's Today show consumer reporter offers some charming-if simple-advice for spotting good deals on the dating market. For example, research on marital success indicates that "shoppers" should seek someone as similar in social status and background as possible; Lieberman makes this her Mirror-Image Rule (i.e, "Be Sure to Use the Mirror in the Dressing Room"). A chapter on "Good User Interface" asserts that "the killer app when it comes to guys is good communication." Some may be turned off by the hyper-practical (some might say "traditional") tone: "Marriers are guys who like to be married. They need a woman who will coordinate their social lives... their homes and just generally provide support." Still, Lieberman provides enough hints and data to prove she's done her comparison shopping; a careful analysis of modern methods for mate-finding (online, group events, professional matchmakers, flying solo) is exceedingly helpful and demystifying; the shocker is that face-to-face speed dating is the best option for busy professionals interested in high-quality dating candidates. Though at times familiar, this rational dating primer makes a solid, sound and self-aware alternative to The Rules.
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Review

"While far from romantic, this common sense dating guide from NBC’s Today show consumer reporter offers some charming—if simple—advice for spotting good deals on the dating market. For example, research on marital success indicates that “shoppers” should seek someone as similar in social status and background as possible; Lieberman makes this her Mirror-Image Rule (i.e, “Be Sure to Use the Mirror in the Dressing Room”). A chapter on “Good User Interface” asserts that “the killer app when it comes to guys is good communication.” Some may be turned off by the hyper-practical (some might say “traditional”) tone: “Marriers are guys who like to be married. They need a woman who will coordinate their social lives… their homes and just generally provide support.” Still, Lieberman provides enough hints and data to prove she’s done her comparison shopping; a careful analysis of modern methods for mate-finding (online, group events, professional matchmakers, flying solo) is exceedingly helpful and demystifying; the shocker is that face-to-face speed dating is the best option for busy professionals interested in high-quality dating candidates. Though at times familiar, this rational dating primer makes a solid, sound and self-aware alternative to The Rules."--Publishers Weekly

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312549989
• ISBN-13: 978-0312549985
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,179,725 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Advice for Single Women, May 24, 2009

By 

R. D. Katz "Avid reader" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Shop for a Husband: A Consumer Guide to Getting a Great Buy on a Guy (Hardcover)

It's smart, practical (and hysterical) advice for all the women out there
who think they want to be married and should be married, but aren't yet. I
should know, I was one of them. While thankfully I did manage to get
married, I'm only sorry this book didn't come out 20 years ago so that I
would have learned these practical lessons earlier.

For all the single women out there who are seeking to get married, read
Janice's book immediately and really, really follow her advice. It's not cynical, just a smart way of looking at things, and overcoming obstacles, like being too picky, all of which seem related to fear of intimacy and commitment. If I agree to this one, will I miss out on an even better possibility? This type of thinking can lead to permanent singlehood, unless the cycle is broken. Charles Grodin's advice to Janice about what is important is very important: read it every day, in fact copy it and put it on your bathroom mirror.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it!!, May 19, 2009

By 

Miriam Friedman "bookreadergirl" (Coconut Grove, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Shop for a Husband: A Consumer Guide to Getting a Great Buy on a Guy (Hardcover)

Funny, smart, and exceedingly down to earth. This book is filled with real stories and useful advice. It's like a consumer guide to actually finding a husband: what makes a marriage work, what makes people attracted to each other, and how to really "close the deal". You may think this sounds like a fun-only book--but you'd be wrong! Lieberman says she was sick of hearing "why aren't you married?" So she set out to research what the experts have to say about long-term marriages and shares the information. Really, this is much more informative than those gimmicky books, while still being fun. I love the story about the girl who mis-dials and finds a guy . . . who winds up not being the man of her dreams. And caveat emptor couldn't apply more aptly than to the relationship area.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Man's Perspective, May 19, 2009

By 

Howard M. Aubrey (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Shop for a Husband: A Consumer Guide to Getting a Great Buy on a Guy (Hardcover)

I loved this book so much I bought 5 copies--5--and gave them to all my ex-girlfriends. They could really use some of the advice in this book. I'm not kidding. It's kind of weird how well the rules that consumer experts use also apply to the dating world. My favorite is: "make him think he's doing the shopping". How true that is! I don't think my ex-girlfriends will mind--we're still good friends--and I really think they can benefit from the no-nonsense approach that Lieberman advocates. If you know a girl who should be married and isn't, this might be the book that does the job for her. Also, if you have a friend/daughter/relative who keeps getting scammed, or meets all the wrong guys, or doesn't know how to close the deal, this is the book that will teach them that caveat emptor applies in dating too. And if anyone out there knows five nice, upstanding gentlemen . . . .