Miss Match [Mass Market Paperback]

Leslie Carroll (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 26, 2002

For drama teacher Kathryn Lamb, being thirty-five and single means an endless run on the dating wheel. Everyone from her happily married sister to her meddling neighbor thinks it’s time for Kitty to take drastic action to find herself a wonderful man. So she enrolls in New York’s premier matchmaking service, which guarantees five potential mates or her money back. And if Walker Hart, the gorgeous entrepreneur of the company, is any example of the men who will be parading to her apartment, then Kitty will definitely be a satisfied customer.

But as each promising encounter turns into a disaster, Kitty realizes that the only guy who has captured her romantic heart is the one who doesn’t believe in happily ever after. Sexy and sassy, Miss Match is a hilarious first novel that delves into the anxieties of the mating game, where every now and then one has to bend the rules. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When 35-year-old drama teacher Kathryn Lamb joins her nosy neighbor's dating service, Six in the City, she meets brilliant entrepreneur Walker Hart, the temporary head of Six. He's living in his mother's penthouse and running her company while she's in Europe getting married or is it divorced? yet again. Though the two share an undeniable chemistry, Walker's serial-marrying mama has made him the poster boy for confirmed bachelors everywhere, and Kathryn's unwilling to settle for anything less than wedding bells. And so Kathryn embarks on a series of disastrous dates with other men, and Walker remains nearby enough to drive them both crazy. Carroll's debut is precisely what Ivy touts it as "Chick-lit meets contemporary romance." With its many encounters between the heroine and men other than the hero, this cutesy comedy will appeal more to fans of the former category. However, even chick-lit readers and hip Manhattanites (the book's target readership) will tire of the characters' aimless repartee, which is more scripted than sincere, and the numerous references to the trendy and designer. Despite an obvious allusion to Sex and the City, this dialogue-driven drama isn't likely to hook fans of that series.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Saddled with running his free-spirited mother's trendy matchmaking service while she is off on her latest honeymoon, financial analyst and resolute bachelor Walker "Bear" Hart finds his single status in grave danger when quick-witted, re freshingly candid drama teacher Kitty Lamb signs up for the service and totally disrupts his life. Sassy dialog, appealing protagonists, and a generally lively pace carry this story through one disastrous date after another. Squarely aimed at the urban singles market, this sexy, sometimes hilarious romantic comedy offers a happy ending that puts it firmly in the romance camp, but it is also brash, smart, and unconventional enough to attract a broader readership, as well. Carroll is a native New Yorker and an actress.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Ivy Books (March 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804119996
• ISBN-13: 978-0804119993
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,425,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I used to tell people that I was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx; but the truth is that apart from the stellar education I received at the Fieldston School in Riverdale, much of who I am was shaped by my two grandmothers, who encouraged me to follow my bliss long before it became the sort of catchphrase you find on tee-shirts and new-age tchotchkes. My East Side grandmother took me to FAO Schwarz, the New York City Ballet, and afternoon tea at the Plaza Hotel, where I dreamed of becoming another Eloise. My West Side grandmother took me to the Central Park carousel and the zoo and treated me to colorful paper parasols and gummy, lukewarm pretzels from the vendors whose wares my East Side grandmother deemed too "dirty" for human consumption.

There are writers on both sides of my family, and although I always loved to write, I never anticipated that it would become my profession. I had wanted to be a ballerina; and though my club feet were corrected at birth (from the stilettos I adore now, you'd never know) and my short Achilles tendons made my toes turn in (corrected at the age of 9), I was never going to end up en pointe.

About a year later, I decided to become an actress when (if?) I grew up, and I never looked back. I majored in Theatre at Cornell University, worked in summer stock, and took classes with a couple of acknowledged masters. I performed a lot of Shakespeare and other classics in New York parks, basements, church choir lofts, and the occasional Off-Broadway theatre; then founded and ran my own nonprofit theatre company for several years. And when things got slow, and I found myself working three survival jobs simultaneously (one of them as a journalist and editor), I decided it was time to pursue an additional creative avenue.

Fast forward a decade. I'm now a multi-published author in three genres, as well as a freelance journalist. And I've also adapted a number of classic texts (IVANHOE; THE PRISONER OF ZENDA; THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL; Mark Twain's "The Diaries of Adam and Eve") for the stage. I began writing women's fiction and historical fiction simultaneously, but my first published novel was the urban romantic comedy MISS MATCH in 2002. In 2005, as I continued to write about feisty female New Yorkers, my first historical novel was published under the pen name Amanda Elyot. While keeping those literary plates spinning I made my historical nonfiction debut in the spring of 2008.

In what I laughingly refer to as my spare time, I'm still a professional actress, working when the scripts and the roles excite me.

I'm such a native New Yorker that I still don't have a driver's license, "Big Sky Country" means Central Park, and the farthest I've ever been from the Upper West Side for any great length of time was my four-year stint upstate in Ithaca, at Cornell, known for its rigorous academics and its equally harsh permafrost.

My birthday falls on the same day as two of my heroes--F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jim Henson. So I reread THE GREAT GATSBY every year and number Miss Piggy among the great actresses of her generation. My favorite color is deep hydrangea blue, and it just kills me that it doesn't look good with red hair.

I live in Manhattan with my husband Scott--who is my hero and everything I ever dreamed of. For the past couple of years we've been considering an addition to the family in the form of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, Insightful, Smart and Funny!, August 14, 2002

By 

"royanab" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miss Match (Mass Market Paperback)

I am not a reader of this genre in particular, but I saw this book and it seemed different from the standard "romance". Which it is. I found this book to be a delightful read. It's hilarious (i.e. the VFA - Very Famous Actor- chapter is hysterical. And I live in LA, I should know!) and really intelligent. Not many authors can successfully get away with lines from "Taming of the Shrew" in a lighthearted comedic bok. But Ms. Carroll does it. And very well. I have already recommended this to many of my friends who will get a kick out of the many bad dates (haven't we all dated a Glen?). GET THIS BOOK! It's the perfect summer read!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like A Movie in My Mind, March 28, 2002

By 

RavenclawAlumni (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miss Match (Mass Market Paperback)

Wow, what fun...I couldn't put this book down! Now, let's be realistic-I'm not saying that I couldn't put it down because I thought it was an important novel that will now belong to the Ages...I just couldn't put it down because it was just so breezy and fun. I'd liken it to having a good, witty friend telling you all about her misadventures in the dating world over a pint or two of Haagan Dazs. I swear, I could picture the entire story and characters immediately jumping out of the book and onto a movie screen...it was like having my own, personal Nora Ephron movie playing in my head. Each and every one of Kitty's dates was like a little novella within a novel; as they unfolded I kept holding my breath wondering how they would (inevitably) end in disaster. I also appreciated how we also get to see the perspective from the man's point of view as well-rare in a "Chick" book...and even rarer still is the fact that he isn't portrayed as an ignorant Neanderthal; just a good guy with flaws.

Again-let me be clear: DON'T do your doctoral disseratation on this work, DO take it with you to the beach this summer. I also suspect it will get a lot of single girls (and guys) through some long, lonely Saturday nights (along with the aforementioned Haagan Dazs). I won't be suprised if I wind up reviewing the movie version of this story on DVD/VHS here on Amazon in a year or two.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sophisticated banter makes this one refreshing, June 2, 2005

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Miss Match (Mass Market Paperback)

"Miss Match" is a funny romantic comedy about the lengths some people will go to find a significant other. Kitty has just been dumped by her fiance who'd rather look in the mirror than at her. She reluctantly signs up for a dating service owned by her neighbor after much cajoling, and feels an immediate connection to the person running the agency, Walker Hart (the owners millionaire son).

Walker is also intrigued by her, but because of the many, many marriages of his eccentric mother, he doesn't believe in a happily ever after that includes in matrimony. True to his commitment to his new client, he sets her up on five dates. He has conveniently ensconced himself in her apartment when his roof leaks due to a storm. Sure he could have gone to a hotel, but instead he crashes with her.

Each is a disaster in its own right - whether she is fending off the advances of a married man, or mistaken as a hooker; at the end of each date, Walker is there to lend an ear. Feeling guilty about one date, he offers a sixth date free.

He has a strong attraction to her, and the story never makes it clear if he's purposely picking all the wrong men for her. I loved his klutzyness too. He was always banging into stuff and breaking things. The story is chock full of sophisticated banter, show tunes, and literary quotes, not something you see everyday, thus making it a refreshing change of pace. A great beach read of escape from mundane office work.