Customer Reviews

Ex and the Single Girl

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Portia Fallon has a problem. Well a few of them. One being she thinks all men she cares about will eventually leave her and break her heart. Her father ran off when she was a young child, and her ex boyfriend Peter ran off without saying a word. He left her a little note. She even has a name for this effect, Penis Teflon. She thinks it's a trait that's carried on through generations of her family. Her grandmother had it. Her mother had it. Even her aunt suffered from it too!

Desperate times call for desperate measures. A little white lie sends Portia packing and heading back home for the summer to help out with the family business, a book store. Little does she know that it was all a plan to get her there to meet a man. This upsets her, but she deals with it when she happens to fall for this man, Ian, who also is only there for the summer to write his latest novel.

I'm not sure how to put into words how I felt about this book. I enjoyed reading it and I couldn't put it down. I read almost all of it today. It was heart warming and funny at times. It's not like you're average chick lit book. It ran a little deeper than that. You'll enjoy reading about Portia and her wacky family and the small town of Truly Georgia.

The Miz Fallons have a problem keeping men around. Four women, over three generations are single and can't get it right when it comes to love. What they can do, is enjoy a brief fling, in order to get the previous man out of the system.

The thing I found somewhat disconcerting about this book was how much all the women talked about the details of their relationships. The very nitty gritty details. Now, I'm close with my mom, but I'm not that close. The problem is minor, however, and the rest of the book is a joy to read.

What author Lani Diane Rich does best is her characterization of the men in the novel. They are just so nice, you can't help but fall in love with them a little bit.

Although the plot is sometimes thin, she has created a compelling story. She keeps readers with Portia until the very end, despite Portia's difficulty in sometimes making up her mind as to who (or what) she wants. The secondary characters in this story are also interesting, funny and compelling, and the book is well worth the read.

Lani just pulls you into this book in such a way that you have to read it in a few sittings as possible. Order pizza, use paper plates (so you don't have to stop to wash dishes), let the answering machine take your calls, and camp out on the sofa or in that comfy overstuffed chair. Great job, Lani! Now I have to go back and read your other books! ;)

I loved, loved Ex and the Single Girl. All of the Miz Fallons were a delight.

This is the best Rich yet.

It's funny, it's heart warming and the heroine is great. Portia's problems are real, and the family relationships are deep.

As an extra bonus, I also loved her very pregnant friend. And the hero -- may I just say -- yummy!

I'm not exactly sure what it was about this one, but I really loved it. Portia has just been dumped by her live-in boyfriend, Peter. By way of a short note written in the title page of his own novel. After watching entirely too much "Pride & Prejudice" and avoiding work on her dissertation, she gets frantic calls from her mother insisting that Portia come home to their tiny Georgia town for the summer and help the family out. Although it's the last thing she wants to do, she rationalizes that it's only a few months. But when she arrives, Portia finds that she's been set up and not only that, her family, the Miz Fallons, have decided to set her up with the hot British writer that has set up temporary residence in the town. It's going to be a long summer...

Maybe it was the fact that it was set in a small Southern town that reminded me not only of my tiny VA town but also the larger GA town I lived in; or maybe it's that the writing was better than average for the chick-lit I've been reading lately. Maybe it's because I saw a lot of myself in Portia. Whatever the case, I devoured this one. It always hepls that I learned a thing or two from it as well. I am under no illusions that my future will wrap up as nicely as Portia's, but it did give me a tiny bit of hope.

Ex and the Single Girl is a little more meaty/serious than your average chick lit.

PhD candidate Portia is conned into returning to her hometown for the summer, where she deals with her 'barmy' family, who refuse to explain themselves at all, her recent break-up and the sudden reappearance of her ex, her stalled dissertation, the father she hasn't seen since she was 2, a British writer she might be falling in love with, and the Teflon effect that prevents men from sticking to the women of her family.

I don't know how she put up with her family. I'd have washed my hands of the lot of them. Guess she's used to it.

Lots of laughs, and some serious moments as well. It really sucked me in.

i thought that this book would be totally lighthearted romance, but it was about so much more. it was funny romantic and heartwarming.

The four "Miz Fallons" have managed in three generations to never make it to the altar; in fact you might say they're purveyors of "penis teflon" when it comes to deflecting men. When the youngest Miz Fallon, perennial student Portia gets dumped by her live in lover Peter, her mother summons her home with rumors that her health is in decline. It is all part of her elaborate plan to help Portia forget her latest heartbreak by having a fling (or "fly") with the sexy British author Ian. Portia doesn't believe that any man has staying power, as all men have left her, including her father.

Ian is in town writing his latest book. Literary snob Portia literally snubs him when she finds out that he writes pulp fiction, as she plans to write her thesis on how Shakespeare stole plays from Christopher Marlowe. Their sparring about the subject is hysterical. While Portia is attracted to Ian and merely intends to get her groove on, she never plans to fall for him. And Ian has every intention of returning to England alone when he finishes the novel. This just adds more credence to the penis teflon theory, but maybe Ian can out that old theory to rest once and for all.

Author Rich has penned an engaging humorous story rich with humor, encouraging the reader to stick with the fickle Miz Fallons until the very end. She's an auto-purchase for me now.

When Portia heard her mother's voice on her machine that fateful day she just knew the Miz Fallons were at it again. Portia returns to her home town of Truly, Georgia, not so much by choice but rather by trickery.

Upon her arrival her mom, aunt and grandmother immediately start in with their meddling. They set Portia up with what was meant to be a one night stand with a handsome British author but ends up turning into a summer long romance...well, sort of. Does playing hard to get count?

After being dumped by her long time boyfriend and then British novelist Ian Beckett wanting to "just be friends" Portia is convinced that it's the curse of the Miz Fallons and their penis Teflon that is causing all of her man troubles.

Family secrets begin to reveal themselves. Portia begins to unravel the truth about her father whom she hasn't seen since she was three years old. The real story behind who her grandfather really was surfaces and what, or rather who caused the split between her aunt and the love of her life. Portia is determined to fight the curse of the Miz Fallons and penis Teflon once and for all.

Lani Diane Rich's style of writing is sure to give her readers some southern comfort.

Lani Diane Rich has done it again! This is a great read, whether you like "chick lit" or not. It has plot twists, a strong female lead and a sexy Brit - what more could you want?

Highly recommended!!