Oceanian & Australasians Peoples - Fiction & Literature, Oceanian & Australasian Fiction, Family & Friendship - Fiction, Love & Relationships - Fiction, Literary Styles & Movements - Fiction, Humorous Fiction, Occupations - Fiction
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Overview
Jon Marshall, a thirtysomething plastic surgeon, has come a long way. He's a partner in his own medical practice, owns a house in the suburbs, and cruises town in a BMW. He also has a six-month-old daughter, Lily, affectionately known as the Bean.
But Jon's life hasn't taken the path he thought it would in his twenties. Newly single, he's facing the challenges of dating in a post-Duran-Duran world. His computer has been seized by surly software. He accidentally peed on his date's cat. And while the Bean reminds him of life's possibilities every day, his new running buddy, Ashley, reminds him that relationship rules were made to be broken.
Editorials
Malcolm Knox
With his ear for the oddities hidden in day-to-day mass culture, Earls has perfect pitch.Publishers Weekly
A newly widowed Australian doctor finds himself caught between the demands of raising his infant daughter and those of the dating world in Earls's breezy but thoughtful romance. Dating proves far more difficult than child-rearing for Jon Marshall, the laser surgeon whose wife dies during childbirth. He quickly sinks a budding romance with Katie, a friend of his office manager, in a series of hysterical scenes in which Jon has some unseemly accidents with Katie's unfortunate cat. Things get a bit more serious when the 30-ish Jon befriends an attractive college student named Ashley: they start out as running buddies, but their relationship slowly blossoms into something more serious. The most intriguing subplot involves Jon's internal wrestling match with the legacy of his marriage, which had been problematic before his wife's death. He finds he must come to terms with his old relationship before he can make a go of it with his college-age partner. Earls spends far too much time dissecting Jon's social life in the context of '80s rock music, and while he writes touchingly about the joys of being a young single parent, he conveniently glosses over most of the nightmares. He earns kudos, however, for steering his would-be lovers away from a formulaic happy ending, though the feel-good resolution will still satisfy dedicated romantics. Dating can be daunting at any age, but Earls paints the battle of the sexes as a friendly duel with plenty of promising common ground, and readers should enjoy this amiable, well-crafted and genuinely romantic book. (Oct. 24) Forecast: A bestseller Down Under, Earls could be embraced here as the Aussie Nick Hornby, but it will take some good reviews and evenbetter marketing. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.Book Details
Published
October 1, 2002
Publisher
St. Martin's Press
Pages
368
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780312303037