Secrets to Happiness: A Novel and over 360,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
69 used & new from $3.46

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
Secrets to Happiness: A Novel
 
 
Start reading Secrets to Happiness: A Novel on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Secrets to Happiness: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Do you want to know the secret to a happy marriage?..." (more)
Key Phrases: mighty moppets, big buddhist, Sarah Dunn, Two Feathers, Crazy Molly (more...)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)

List Price: $23.99
Price: $16.31 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $7.68 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Tuesday, November 10? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
36 new from $9.99 32 used from $3.46 1 collectible from $17.85

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Kindle Edition $13.05 -- --
  Hardcover $16.31 $9.99 $3.46
  Paperback $13.99 $13.99 --
  Audio, Download Offsite Link $18.37 or less with new Audible membership
Read an Excerpt
Read the first chapter of Sarah Dunn's Secrets to Happiness [PDF].

Best Value

Buy The Big Love: A Novel and get Secrets to Happiness: A Novel at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price.

The Big Love: A Novel + Secrets to Happiness: A Novel
Buy Together Today: $25.36

Show availability and shipping details

  • The Big Love: A Novel

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • This item: Secrets to Happiness: A Novel

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Big Love: A Novel

The Big Love: A Novel

by Sarah Dunn
3.8 out of 5 stars (75)  $9.87
The Girl She Used to Be

The Girl She Used to Be

by David Cristofano
3.9 out of 5 stars (35)  $15.63
Crazy Love

Crazy Love

by Leslie Morgan Steiner
4.0 out of 5 stars (37)  $16.47
Trouble: A Novel

Trouble: A Novel

by Kate Christensen
3.3 out of 5 stars (53)  $17.16
Love or Something Like It: A Novel

Love or Something Like It: A Novel

by Deirdre Shaw
4.2 out of 5 stars (40)  $14.96
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dunn charts several New Yorkers' lives in this snappy novel. The spotlight most often falls on Holly Frick, a 35-year-old divorcée whose egg walls are taking on the consistency of tissue paper as we speak. A writer whose cheeky first novel bombed, Holly now resides low enough on the TV totem pole to be cranking out after-school dreck with her gay pal Leonard. Meanwhile, her best friend, Amanda, is cheating on her husband, and Holly adopts Chester, a cute little dog with cancer whose hopeful approach to life mirrors Holly's. While Holly's love life follows a formula-familiar trajectory, Amanda's romantic flailing ensnares Holly, and Chester's destiny takes an unexpected turn that means big changes for both of them. Although clichés pop up (the supergay friend, a $1,200 purse splurge), the energetic and witty prose speeds along the narrative. It's smarter than the usual single-in-the-city fare, and funnier, too. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist

Holly Frick is smart and sassy, loyal and dedicated. All the qualities a woman could want in a girlfriend, but not the ones that seem to resonate with men, if her roster of failed relationships is any indicator. There’s her ex-husband, Alex, with whom she’s still in love; her ex-boyfriend, Spence, a womanizing creep whom Holly scathingly immortalized in her first novel; and Lucas, a 22-year-old boy-toy who, for all his playful sexuality, ultimately makes Holly feel like a cradle-robbing matron. But then she meets Jack, an opinionated Buddhist who is having an affair with her married best friend; and even though Holly takes an immediate dislike to him, she has to admit there’s something undeniable lurking just beneath the surface. Dunn displays a rapier wit; a perfectly nuanced gift for savvy, sophisticated dialogue; and an endearing moral compass, which she uses to great advantage as she blithely navigates the fraught and fatuous world of trendy New York’s treacherous dating scene. --Carol Haggas

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (March 25, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0316013587
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316013581
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,283 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category: (What's this?)

    #6 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Divorce

More About the Author

Sarah Dunn
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Sarah Dunn Page

Inside This Book (learn more)

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Secrets to Happiness: A Novel
75% buy the item featured on this page:
Secrets to Happiness: A Novel 3.8 out of 5 stars (79)
$16.31
The Big Love: A Novel
9% buy
The Big Love: A Novel 3.8 out of 5 stars (75)
$9.87
Crazy Love
7% buy
Crazy Love 4.0 out of 5 stars (37)
$16.47
Happens Every Day: An All-Too-True Story
5% buy
Happens Every Day: An All-Too-True Story 3.9 out of 5 stars (162)
$10.00

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(11)
(5)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

79 Reviews
5 star:
 (22)
4 star:
 (26)
3 star:
 (25)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (79 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful escape, March 18, 2009
I loved this book. I've been waiting for it since I read The Big Love two years ago, and it didn't disappoint. The story subtly weaves together the lives of several New Yorkers wrestling with real questions about friendships, love, and how to live...I was captivated. It's been awhile since I started a book and didn't want to put it down, but this was one of those stories. Grab Secrets To Happiness for your next free afternoon--It will make you a little bit happier.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Amusing, Gritty Look at Manhattan Love, February 9, 2009
By Jody (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
  
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I would not jump to classify this book as "chick lit." The author, Sarah Dunn, tells a more realistic and gritty anti-love story through different characters throughout the novel. There are girlfriends, ex-husbands, boyfriends, boy-toys, work partners, pets, siblings - a variety of relationships are explored as the characters intertwine. All types of relationships can lead to or lead from one's personal quest for the secrets to happiness.

It takes a few chapters to get into this book, the main characters, Holly and Amanda, are not immediately like-able possessing a somewhat chilly city charm. By the end, though, I felt refreshed for choosing to read an interesting take on adult relationships and not another girl finds self, gets man, story.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars No Secrets for me, June 20, 2009
Based on the title, Secrets to Happiness, and the cute puppy on the cover, I was expecting a light summer read with a happy ending. Now, don't misunderstand me - I don't need a happy ending to enjoy a book - and this book did have a happy ending of sorts - it was just not what I was expecting. (I guess that is why they say don't judge a book by it's cover!)



Holly is the main character - she is middle-aged, divorced from a man she was still in love with, and her career is in a downward spiral. She had been a successful sitcom writer with Leonard - but had taken a break to write a book. (Leonard's career also took a nose dive after this when he decided to make a very very gay movie). The book was not the success she had hoped for and was pretty much about her ex-husband Alex, and her ex-boyfriend before the husband, Spencer.



Holly does some crazy things in the following months - I would say she was searching for that 'elusive' happiness. She has an affair with Lucas who is only 22 and the younger brother of her friend Betsy. Then she moves on to Jack who she met while he was having an affair with her married friend, Amanda. Somewhere in the midst of all this she adopts a dog, Chester, who has brain cancer.



I did not feel a connection to anyone in this book - and there were a lot of characters. I will admit that I had to go back occasionally to figure out who they were talking about - the characters just did not seem very distinctive for me. The book overall didn't hold any excitement or anticipation - it didn't seem to 'build' to a climax, but just sort of ended. I suppose that mirrors real life in some ways though - situations resolve, relationships evolve or end, but life continues on. Please take a look at some other reviews (below) - just because it wasn't for me, doesn't mean it won't be for you!
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars thirty-sh single women in New York
The story of Holly, a single thirty-ish woman in New York seems like the story of all single women in high density populated urban areas. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Pourpier

2.0 out of 5 stars hard one to finish
I picked this book because of the cute dog on the cover of the book and should have passed right by instead. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Annie

1.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't deliver
I was sorely disappointed by this book. It just feels stale and boring: the same old whiny "oh, I'm thirty-something and haven't got a man yet"-story. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Liselore

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Read for the 30-Something Crowd
This novel will remind you of entertaining shows like "Sex in the City," "Desperate Housewives" and "Seinfeld" because of its focus on relationships and its clever humor. Read more
Published 3 months ago by June B. Patch

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, smart, deep-- everything you look for in a book
I loved Sarah Dunn's novel. The characters are drawn so beautifully. They're utterly real and charming. I wish I had friends like that! Read more
Published 3 months ago by SEATTLE READER

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a self-help book
One of the characters in this book has published a novel, and doesn't like it when they call her book chick lit. Read more
Published 3 months ago by D. P. Birkett

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Books Love Jessica Marie
When I first started the book I didn't think that I was going to enjoy it because there are so many different characters that you have to follow, but I am glad that I stuck it... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Jessica Gallagher

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed it, but not as good as The Big Love
I read this book on the strength of Dunn's first novel, The Big Love.

This book has many of the same themes -- again, it's about a women (this one's name is Holly)... Read more
Published 3 months ago by S. Thompson

4.0 out of 5 stars Grown Up Chick Lit
I think I wanted to read SECRETS TO HAPPINESS by Sarah Dunn based on the cover alone. I mean, who can resist this adorable little puppy who looks so contest? Read more
Published 3 months ago by Julie Peterson

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming and optimistic
I really enjoyed this book. The narrator is a quirky woman with an interesting take on life due, in part, to her religious upbringing. Read more
Published 4 months ago by R. W. Brewer

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   




Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.