Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not worth reading
Review: I bought this book for my vacation, and I am glad I finished it before I even left (it would have just ruined the lovely vacation I am expecting). The characters in the book are not that great. There is an attemp at humor, but I found it to be only an attemp. The storiline is pretty bad - it is a story about an unhappy girl with a suger daddy who is an alcoholic, whose father dies, then this guys she is dating doesn't work out because he just doesn't get it, then she gets cancer and nobody loves her, so she decided to follow a "guide to fishing and hunting" which screems - games from high school - to find out the boy she wants to "catch" likes her the way she is, without hints from the guide. Come on! If this is intended for women in their late 20s, early 30s I hope most of them are over "game" plays. We don't really need to be told not to play them in order to get to true love. All in all, one of the worst books I've read - the only reason I finished is because I couldn't sleep, and it was an easy read for 3am. And don't be fulled by the begining - it gets worse and worse with every chapter.
Rating: 
Summary: The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing
Review: I thought it was one of the funniest books I've read in a long time. Although I'm no longer single, I could really identify with the stories about dating experiences and the challenge of trying to be yourself. The main character, Jane, was quick with the one-liners. I really enjoyed it! You just can't take it too literally.
Rating: 
Summary: Why all the hype?
Review: To be honest, I cared so little about this book and its characters that I didn't actually finish it, so maybe something amazingly wonderful happened at the end that I've missed. But I doubt that. Though not badly written, the wandering, boring story is certainly not worth buying. Why praise was heaped on this book, I don't know, but it seems lately, any whiny novel about relationships written by a woman is deemed "Fabulous" by the media. There are plenty of good writers, both female and male, but this genre has been exhausted.
Rating:
Summary: Buy the tape or the paperback - both are great
Review: I really liked this book. Its humor made me laugh out loud, but I quickly realized the humor was of the self-deprecating kind, and there was no cruelty in any of it. In fact, the main character's amazing gentleness with people she interacts with was one of the reasons I liked it so much. I listened to it on tape, and Melissa Bank's Sela-Ward-meets-Elaine-May voice was perfect - in fact, so perfect, I wondered as I finshed the tape yesterday if I would have enjoyed it so much if I had just read it. Well, last night, I met up with a friend and recommended the book to her. It turns out she was already reading it - in paperback - and we had a very amiable, but heated, book vs. tape discussion, each feeling her medium was best. Obviously, we both "got" the book, because as we went through the rest of the evening, things would remind us of the book and we'd quote lines to each other. A lovely book.
Rating: 
Summary: Girls Guide
Review: Why does everyone keep comparing this book to Bridget Jones, its not at all like Bridget Jones, granted their both about thirty somethings looking for love but while Bridget is zany,ridicolous, and sidesplittingly funny, The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing is more realistic, more wistful, more sad. It was a very engaging book but more like a collection of short stories than a novel. The two unrelated stories didn't bother me too much, my favorite story out of the whole bunch was the one about the woman and the breast cancer although I thought it was kind of selfish of her to leave him after he had stuck by her. This was a very interesting book but maybe not as meaningful as it tried to be and not as much fun as Bridget Jones. Still, the stories are worth a read and I recommend this book to anyone with time on their hands. Just don't expect Bridget Jones.I did like the main character Jane though. She was much more realistic than Bridget and I liked her sense of humour.I just didn't find her to be terribly interesting. The first story was probably the best. Never having heard of The Rules before I didn't care too much for the last story.
Rating:
Summary: Very witty and moving book by young author
Review: This book was so much BETTER than Bridget Jones, I cannot even believe the reviews on this page! I returned Bridget Jones to the store after four pages...YUCK, drivel...maybe if you are in EXACTLY the same situation as she is, but many of us are NOT and still read, and for those of you who can manage enough imagination to want to read about a life different than your own, GIRLS' GUIDE is far superior. Some of the less smooth aspects of the book keep me unsure if it's really a 3 star rating rather than a 4 star rating (Anna Karenina is a 5 star rating, but there's so much grade inflation on these writeups that I didn't want the book to look like a loser.)It's a quick, relatively light read, with a little more weight than I expected when I picked it up, and I thought it offered a fresh perspective on the relationships between and among friends, lovers, siblings, and parents.
Rating: 
Summary: Best of the genre!
Review: Melissa Banks novel is the best of the contemporary urban novels out there for single women in their late 20's to late 30's. I loved it and it is written in a very original manner. This book is better than either of the Bridget Jones' series and is on par with In the Drink and Fried Calamari (two books I would highly recommend for those readers who liked TGGTHAF)
Rating:
Summary: Quite Intriguing
Review: I agree with those who state this is not a book of dramatic prose or unique use of language. It is however, how many of us late twentysomethings and early thirtysomethings are dealing with our imperfect lives - wronged relationships, how to get into a relationship, how to get out of a relationship, career decisions, and lifestyle choices. I found Ms. Banks to be lighthearted and bold enough to express how life's complicated problems are really quite simple. I also agree with another reviewer who commented she did not want the book to end. I think if you can relate to Jane, you get pulled in by her story and follow her loyally to the end. If you would like to read something uplifting, but without the uproariously ridiculous happy ending, read this. This book shows how life doesn't always go as planned and it can still be a good. If you want prose and language, pull out Pride and Prejudice.
Rating:
Summary: A totally involving story
Review: This book is so deeply involving that it almost becomes aggravating when the main character exercises her own will. In each chapter, you're drawn right in to Jane's world no matter which stage of her life she jumps to. And she does make some big jumps. She goes suddenly from being an early adolescent in one chapter to being a twenty-something in the next. The gaps, while a bit startling, are not a deterrent to the story. Actually, the book reads like a collection of short stories - they just happen to be about the same person. My only two complaints can readily be argued as positive qualities of the book. First, there's a red herring in one chapter. It's rather frustrating because the story is just as involved as the others in the book - it just goes unresolved. The book's ending, too, is troublesome. While completely believable, it wasn't what I wanted to happen. It was frustrating to see Jane go in a direction I didn't approve of even though it was appropriate for her character. You could say I didn't want her story to end yet. And such is the mark of a good book.
Rating:
Summary: Good for a light read
Review: GGHF was recommended to me by an English major friend of mine. It took me a while to finally get around to reading it, but I'm actually glad I did. I'll admit that it wasn't as good as Fielding's Bridget Jones, or a lot of other short fiction that's been hitting the shelves lately, but I wasn't looking for a literary masterpiece. If you want a fairly quick, light read, this is a great book. It's not one to get too overly analytical of, as some readers seem to have done. I read it over the span of a few busy days where I could only pick it up for a few minutes at a time, but I never felt lost. Some stories are poignant, touching, and others are very funny, causing my friends to glance at me warily when I read it during a terribly boring class. Don't read it expecting literary genius, read it expecting a simple set of stories that give us a glimpse into Jane's world, that many of us could identify with.
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