Customer Reviews

Tabloid Love: Looking for Mr. Right in All the Wrong Places, A Memoir

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Harrison revives the plucky insouciance of love-challenged journalist MTM throwing her hat in the air in the opening credits of the '70's best TV sitcom -- although Bridget's hat would be drenched in the alcohol and tobacco smoke that, with her Rhoda-type gal pals, were her constant companions. Updating MTM, too, Bridget takes us into bedrooms and hotel rooms for her occasional besotted zipless one-nighters, and -- far cry from Mary dating Lou Grant! -- much of her story focuses on Harrison's pining for, bedding, and then splitting with her immediate boss at the Post. Bridget, too, shares MTM's cheerful let-it-all-out approach to life in sharing her romantic frustrations with the world via the NY Post dating column she wrote for two years. In the best breezy tabloid style, the chapters are short and punchy, and left me wanting so much more.

In her blurb for Tabloid Love, newswoman Linda Ellerbee writes, "You don't have to be twenty-nine to enjoy this story. You only have to remember what it was like and that you were once young enough to think twenty-nine was old." I'm well past twenty-nine, and chick lit isn't my normal read, but I loved Tabloid Love and Bridget Harrison! I wasn't familiar with Ms. Harrison's NY Post column, and I was delightfully surprised. Like other reviewers, I spent a beautiful late summer day indoors and neglected housekeeping because I couldn't wait to read what happened next to our real life Bridget Jones.

As a wordsmith, I appreciated the insider's view of the "glamorous" life of a news reporter--standing on a subway platform on a steamy summer day just to get a photo of a thermometer reading 100 degrees was one of my favorites. On the flip side, her tales of her summer covering social events in the Hamptons are hilarious; anyone with aspirations of life among the glitterati might think twice after seeing things through Ms. Harrison's eyes.

Hopefully readers who think the grass is greener will have a greater appreciation of their lives and loves once they realize that life as a sexy single in the big city isn't all it's cracked up to be. Overall, a great, fun, fairytale of a read where our heroine lands on her feet. Hopefully, we'll learn that there's a happily ever after in her follow-up book.

Subtitled "Looking for Mr. Right in all the wrong places," I missed the fact, at first, that this is A MEMOIR -- real-life! -- and that makes all the difference. TABLOID LOVE reads like fiction, and comes dangerously close to oh-so-familiar territory in the first pages, with a thirtysomething, single English girl journaling thoughts on career, love and marriage, with cute abbreviations ("...need to be thinking about babies v.v. soon...") and an obsessive focus on finding The One. Very Bridget Jones.

However, TABLOID LOVE is saved from the same old syrupy, chick lit formula by:
1) A really good Prologue; 2) A true-to-life story (not all perfect endings & happily-ever-after); and 3) Harrison, fortunately, quickly moves off the relationship focus and on to her adventures as a tabloid news reporter for The New York Post, on an exchange program from London. Oh, and 4) Harrison is funny, smart -- very much a Rebel -- and one heck of a writer!

TABLOID LOVE is readable, and highly enjoyable as a behind-the-scenes glimpse into tabloid journalism and living single in New York -- what an alternate reality!

Best-selling author Candace Bushnell sums up TABLOID LOVE on a cover blurb:
"A real-life Bridget Jones meets Sex in the City."

Candace Bushnell is the author of Sex in the City, as well as a number of other books, including Lipstick Jungle, published in 2005 (good -- not nearly as great!). I would have to go further, having read all of Bushnell's books (and having been a big fan of the HBO series), that TABLOID LOVE is better (gasp!), because it is more gritty, more realistic, more true-to-life -- and knowing that, Harrison's adventures as a London journalist on exchange, working in New York; as a talented writer with her own dating column; and then spending a summer reporting on celebrities and life in the Hamptons; not to mention her clear-headed, stark account of 9/11 in New York -- a Day in The Life as it happened all around her -- TABLOID LOVE is better than fiction!

I LOVED this book! Take it with you, and enjoy it as the perfect summer beach read. If you can't get away, go hide in the bathroom for an escape -- remember to lock the door!

-- Sherri Caldwell, Co-Author: The Rebel Housewife Rules (Conari Press, 2004)
Humor Columnist & Reviewer at [...]

I got so caught up in her hilarious journey from London to New York and all of the mishappenings she has with men along the way. Every woman dating in the city can relate to her mistakes and lack of luck with finding a decent man. This is a positive must read for the single woman searching for Mr. Right in all the wrong places.

Bridget Harrison is the girl you just want to hang out with.. I admit so many books don't keep my attention but I couldn't wait to get back to this when I put it down,

Its a true story of Bridgets move to NY from London and all the changes in her job, love life and the growing up she had to do with humor , class and even her mistakes are things we can all relate too as single women in a big city

Its like a real version of sex in the city, without all the over the top glam.. its a real woman, in the real city, trying to live a real life with humor, gusto and wit.. I don't even know her and have come to adore her!!

Good luck Bridge.. hope there is a sequel! It really is a great read!

Bridgett Harrison's Tabloid Love can be described in just three simple words: cliche, cliche, cliche. I was really excited about this memoir, a story about a young journalist who moves to New York City to fulfill her dreams as a New York Post reporter. But it turns out that if you don't have a boyfriend then, as a woman, it doesn't matter whether you've fulfilled your dream and made it in a big, scary city.

To be fair, I loved the parts of the book that described her trying to get the story. Her description of being a journalist covering 9/11 made me cry (but what description of that horrible day wouldn't remind us how horrible it was?). I also really did enjoy the middle of the book when she finally did find someone to fall in love with, but I was already so put off by her constant moaning about needing a man to feel fulfilled that I couldn't find myself being really happy for her.

I felt like the book should have finished fifty pages earlier as well. The last section of the book, in typical chick lit fashion, talks about her experience in the Hamptons, describing in detail every rich person and their designer clothes. I liked the idea of her being a regular girl who meets regular guys, then all of the sudden she's dating Mr. Lear Jet. Ick.

And, to top it all off there were so many typos I started keeping track of the page numbers where I found glaring errors, including such phrases as "When I got home, there was already was an email..." Double use of the same word, such as "the the" and "she she" were not uncommon in this book and it drove me crazy. Someone who worked for a newspaper for years should know the value of a good editor. In all I found 29 errors, or approximately one typo for every 10 pages in the book. Not a good ratio, especially considering I wasn't even counting punctuation errors.

I should have known it was going to be horrible as soon as I saw that Candace Bushnell gave it a good review. At least Harrison's book was better than Bushnell's "Trading Up." That's not saying much though.

P.S. Any book that actually has the words "I pine for you" in them should be avoided at all costs.

Just like Suzanne Schlosberg (who wrote a blurb for the back of the book) I found myself rooting for Bridget all the way. I had to keep reading to find out how all of her adventures would turn out. I read the last half of the back very quickly because I really got into what would happen between Bridget and one of her love interests.

Poor Bridget made so many mistakes but they were mistakes that almost everyone makes. Like when she would decide to pick a ffight and get defensive rather than actually talk about what is bothering her. It felt so real.

I had to remind myself that this was someone's life experience so it may not get wrapped up with a neat bow like a work of fiction. But I really liked that this was a true story and would take twists and turns that I could relate to.

I would highly recommend this book.

I purchased Tabloid Love to take with me on vacation, half way through the flight I was OBSESSED with this book. It is so well written, funny, sometimes shocking and most of all I could hardly put it down. As a man I wasn't sure I could relate, but anyone who has had a dating nightmare will laugh their pants off. I highly suggest this book.

While you might think 'been there, read that' before you start this fun memoir, by the third page you will be quite happy you picked it up. This is a really fun, true to life (in a good way) read. Bridget is someone you would love to know, love to read about, root for the entire way and wish the story would continue. Its 'best of' any sort of chick lit. I hope the saga continues!

Tabloid Love is the memoir of British journalist Bridget Harrison who comes to New York on an exchange program and begins working as a reporter for the infamous New York Post. The subtitle of the memoir is "Looking for Mr. Right in all the wrong places." The humorous stories of all of the frogs she meets on her quest for the prince are outrageous and hysterical. We also get to witness the life of a newspaper reporter in New York City. This is a great story for everyone. Bridget is a likeable and charming woman who greets every new experience in her life with open arms and a huge heart. I can't wait to read more of Ms. Harrison's enticing and enjoyable work. Comparisons to Sex and the City and Bridget Jones are going to be numerous, but Harrison offers us even more! A fantastic book!