Slightly Single

November 26, 2001
In this shopworn, Bridget Jonesy tale, Tracey Spadolini is desperate for love. Not surprisingly, given the genre, Tracey smokes, drinks and eats too much, and frets about her romantic life. Even more predictably, the 24-year-old plumpish protagonist from a sprawling Italian family in upstate New York has settled for an unfulfilling entry-level ad agency job with a smarmy boss, and lives in a "drab East Village flat." The good news is that Tracey's friends—pretty Kate, a bleached blonde with "fake aquamarine pupils," and gay stereotype Raphael, a Ricky Martin look-alike—love her. The bad news: life isn't peachy in the true love department. Will, Tracey's handsome, waspish boyfriend, is an actor with little talent and no time for Tracey. Their relationship "has been about as stable as an Isuzu Trooper at eighty mph on a hairpin curve," but a decent alternative turns up in attentive Buckley, a freelance copywriter. When Will leaves town to act in summer stock, a dejected Tracey starts slimming down, boning up on literary classics like Moby Dick
and generally re-evaluating her life. Markham—a pseudonym for Wendy Corsi Staub, award-winning romance author and ghostwriter for the likes of Fabio—has done little here to break out of pulp romance and into literature. The narcissistic upsets of a shallow crew of 20-something singles and the hackneyed ending now are sadly out of date and hold little appeal. Agent, Laura Blake Peterson.

December 15, 2001
Tracey Spadolini has always been insecure. She's somewhat overweight, unhappy in her job, and dating Will, a handsome but commitment-phobic actor. Will is spending the summer in upstate New York, leaving a morose Tracey behind in Manhattan, so she decides to use the time to turn herself into the woman she has always wanted to be. She goes on a diet and starts to read classics. She also meets Buckley, a good-looking, sweet guy who pursues a friendship with her even after he mistakes their first trip to the movies together as a date. Tracey can't help but compare him to Will, and Buckley comes out ahead every time. Will hardly ever calls and seems hesitant when she tells him she wants to come to visit him, but Tracey is sure that he'll be won over by her new look. It takes Tracey a maddeningly long time to come to her senses, but it's an undeniably fun journey for the reader.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)