Girls' Poker Night

January 7, 2002
When journalist Ruby Capote decides to flee boring Boston for the bright lights and hopefully more exciting world of New York City, she discovers love is still the same challenge it was in Bean Town. By turns endearing, funny and downright irritating, Capote ends one relationship with the annoying but handsome Doug and begins another with her editor boss Michael, all the while mulling things over with her circle of female poker pals. Rather like refugees from a bargain basement Sex and the City, the friends provide shaky support as Capote continues to search for meaning and happiness, both in her humor columns and in reality. Navigating the perilous waters of workplace romance, Capote wisecracks her way through until she discovers that she must deal with some real—and poignant—issues. Davis, herself an erstwhile newspaper columnist (and a writer for David Letterman), paints the newsroom universe and its inhabitants with colorful irony, while exuding empathy for single career women everywhere. Constructed of breezy chapters that often read like surreal "Lifestyle" columns, the trump card of this slim volume is its blend of humor and rueful sadness. The brittle Capote always has her guard up; she is quick with a quip and ready to run at a moment's notice the instant life gets serious. This amusing though somewhat dialogue-heavy first novel won't reveal the secrets of winning at poker, but it does teach an attentive reader that dealing from the bottom of the deck doesn't work. "You set yourself up for happiness or you set yourself up for sadness. Either way, it's your doing," notes Capote's therapist in an Ally McBeal-esque segment. Or in cardspeak: if you don't keep shuffling and playing, you'll never know when you'll have a winning hand. Deal.

January 1, 2002
Protagonist Ruby Capote leaves behind her job and her boyfriend in Boston when she lands a job writing a lifestyle column for the New York News. While it's not quite a sex column, the parallels to Sex and the City cannot be ignored once Ruby begins her weekly girls-only poker games hence the title and her six closest friends begin to contribute stories of their various romantic and sexual antics. These, of course, are retold in Ruby's column. However, Ruby is much wittier than Carrie Bradshaw, and the humor, though it sometimes serves to distance the reader, carries the novel. Ruby's romance with her editor, complicated by her abandonment issues, adds intrigue. Eventually, Ruby recognizes that in order to win at love, one must be willing to gamble again, see the title. This realization is a little trite, and the writing is a bit uneven and at times careless. Still, while this first novel by TV writer Davis may not be the first or best entry in the ever-popular Bridget Jones's Diary subgenre, it is a fun read. Recommended for larger public libraries. Amanda Glasbrenner, New York

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2002
Davis' debut novel is the breezy, light story of Ruby Capote, a columnist who makes a move from Boston to New York to escape her nice but imperfect boyfriend, Doug. Ruby gets a job at the " New York News" writing a column that chronicles the lives of her gal pals, who get together every week to play poker. Her handsome boss, Michael, enjoys her column, but he pushes her to dig deeper, to stop skimming the surface and actually analyze her own life. Ruby is falling fast for Michael, and he seems to reciprocate, but Ruby's standoffishness makes it impossible for the two to have a normal relationship. When Michael tells Ruby about a surprising detail from his past, the revelation sends Ruby running. As her friends begin to find their paths in life, Ruby wonders what it will take to find hers. Though the novel suffers from the same problem Ruby does and too often skims the surface when it should probe deeper, it is undeniably humorous and fun.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)