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What happens when you are single, in your early 30s and a writer? Well, for Rachel Machacek, you write a book about dating, with a more scientific approach.
As someone who struggles to meet other single people, she decides to treat dating like an experiment, where she is both the observer and participant, and can then maybe “Discover a better way to date.”
Her approach is broken down into six realms, and she spends a month experimenting with each. They are:
- Meet men online
- Attend singles events
- Let the pros (matchmaking service and eHarmony) and friends (blind dates) set her up
- Read self-help books
- Date in other cities (Denver, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Chicago, New York)
- Work with a dating coach
I was excited to read this book. I put it on hold at the public library and waited a couple of months for it. And although I enjoyed it, I didn’t love it. I thought her methodology was off. Four or five dates in each category? How will you learn anything substantial from so few? Shouldn’t you have a larger pool of experiences to draw from if you really want to have solid results? The story covers a lot of ground and is very interesting, and although her dates are, I feel, limited in each area, I still enjoyed seeing her results with each experiment and what she learned from them. I am thankful to have never had the many laugh-out-loud and cringe-worthy experiences she had.
Some negatives: There is harsh language throughout the book. Also, the book is filled with clichés and similes that seem to be thrown in as filler, so much so that I almost stopped reading it by page 75. But the writing is easygoing, conversational and honest. She reveals much about herself, even the unpleasant things, and pulls you in with the emotion she brings to the story.
Rated: Moderate, for three to five uses of strong language and at least 30 uses of mild to moderate language, and mild sexual situations.
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