Rating: 
Summary: Great time passer
Review: I really enjoyed "Slightly Single." The main character, Tracey Spadolini comes from a big Italian family in upstate NY, and moves to 'the big city'to be with her less than comforting boyfriend, Will. When Will goes away to an acting workshop for the summer, Tracey decided to improve herself--lose weight, read the classics, etc. I laughed and cringed with Tracey. Granted, why anyone would stay will such a jerk of a boyfriend may escape some people--but remember, Tracey is insecure with a capital "I". Many women can relate to this feeling, no matter thin or fat, short or tall. I was disappointed only with the ending, which could have been tied together better, IMO. "Slightly Single" is definitely a good book for reading on a rainy sunday or on the train/plane.
Rating:
Summary: Slightly Single
Review: I really liked this book. It was a little slow at first to get into, but I was happy that I did. I found this book humerous, I laughed over five minutes over the hair clip incident. I really enjoyed this book! One reviewer said that it was just a book about a character with low self esteem, and stereo-typical friends. I agree with both,, however I do not think that reviewer realizes that there are more people out there with self esteem problems than not. Many of us, particulary women, will indentify with this character. I certainly have experienced many of the emotions the character has! I did give the book four stars instead of five though because the characters friends were pretty stereo typical,,, not alot of imagination used creating those characters. But you can not help but adore the books main character. This book is just simply entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: How can the same book have so many different titles?
Review: The chick-lit genre is officially old. I just started Slightly Single and it reads almost exactly like the last "chick-lit" I read, and only slightly varied from a few others. Unlike the other books, there is never a "hook" to make it stand out --- something to give the main character heart, make you root for her. All she has is a major self-esteem problem because she's not thin. Wendy Markham seems to just follow the formula without adding anything original, and it is insulting and tiresome to read. She is already a successful writer in other genres, and it feels like she just tried to cash in on the post-Bridget Jones craze with this weak novel. The formula:
1. Set in New York (apparently, the American alternative to Bridget Jones' London) -- where heroine is overwhelmed by the competition because she is not thin and lacks confidence. Everyone resembles a celebrity -- bartenders are "Rob Lowe clones". If he looked like Rob Lowe, he would not tend bar, at least not in Manhattan, where he could get a job modeling somewhere. 2. She makes a small entry-level salary in the publishing industry, where she has a gorgeous, cocky, chauvinistic boss. There seem to be no other careers in London or New York except publishing. Career counselors, take note. 3. Doesn't like drab dreary apartment, where she still sleeps on a collegiate futon because of her salary. Like a real bed costs that much! Wishes she could move in with boyfriend instead, so she never actually decorates. 3. Whiny about relationship -- whether she actually has one or not.(She does in this book, and is worried he will cheat while he is away at summer stock. Yet she wants to lose weight to keep him. UGH.) 4. Core group of good friends - requisite gay friend who has more fun than she ever does because he knows better than to pine over guys. Another friend is invariably a transplant from the South --- stereotypes of Southern belles abound. At least one friend will be named Kate. That's if heroine has more than 2 friends in a city of approximately 7 million. The sense of deja vu from reading this is terrible, and I never remember the main characters' names -- which doesn't matter since they are all interchangeable. This is so flat and uninspired.
Rating: 
Summary: Slightly Pathetic
Review: I liked this book well enough as I was reading it, but the main character came across as very weak and unlikeable through most of the book, especially in regards to her actor boyfriend who never seemed to show an ounce of boyfriend behavior. Overall an okay read, but not stellar.
Rating: 
Summary: really average
Review: Although this book is completely acceptable as a light summer read, it just never got off the ground for me. The main character, Tracey, was such a weak person...pandering to her jerk boyfriends every needs and starving herself to be thin. Her best friend is such a stereotypical drag queen that it makes me wonder if the authour as ever met a gay man in her life.
Even if a character has faults, I like the writing to be capable and their voice to be somewhat original. This girl was so weak and insecure that I couldn't find any real empathy for her and I couldn't help but feel I was reading someones junior high attempt at journaling.
If you want a good summer read in this vein try Confessions Of A Shopoholic or Backpack or How To Be Good.
Rating:
Summary: Slightly Single to Slightly Disappointing....
Review: I have never read a book by this author and it is not likely that I will again. The book in the abstract was great, the characters were lively and her talent for humor has you laughing aloud when you find that you have been in similar situations. Despite how enjoyable the book was, the author often strays from the storyline to interject explanations of other characters that are not really relevant to the book. It broke the flow of the story quite often and I found myself skimming over paragraphs to get back on track. I also found the plot to be predictable (it is all on the back cover) and I kept on reading to find a solid climax or ending. Then the inevitable happened...and I found that the book left me flat. I felt it was a rushed climax and quick ending as if the plot wasn't significant at all. It was a perfect fit for an unfinished work and I began to contemplate if she would have produced a thorough ending if she would have wrote it when she was still single. At one point, I almost found it ironic to see that there really wasn't life after "Will" and almost insulting to the women who live single lives. What happened to all the characters you begin to adore? You won't find out. The author explained at one point in the book how she was the type of person that ended up looking at the last few pages of a novel in effort to sequester her suspense of the outcome. In turn, she stops the reader from doing so as somewhat of a joke. I am the type of reader that doesn't have to look at the last few pages to see how it ends until I get there, but now I will be looking in the future, just to make sure the book was properly finished. Overall, if you want a book that is not predictable and has an ending with some sense of closure, I wouldn't recommend this novel at all.
Rating:
Summary: A book every single woman can relate to!
Review: Tracey is a single woman stuck in the hot city during the summer her actor boyfriend, Will, is in summer stock. What is a woman going to do while her boyfriend is gone? What ensues is a hilarious uptake on a single life in NYC. It is at best a light-hearted read ~~ perfect to take to the beach or the waiting room in a hospital ~~ and you'll relate to Tracey's dilemmas. Tracey does what every woman does when the man she loves leaves ~~ lose weight, goes shopping and rediscover herself in the meantime. At least she didn't stay home all the time and wait for her man to call ~~ she went out. And when she discovered that her man isn't really her man after all, she goes over to her new guy friend's house and cries on his shoulders. This is a really cute book ~~ I enjoyed the reading immensely though it's not made of "sterner" stuff ~~ who cares? It's a fun read and something to take along to the beach. I would read more of Markham's books!! 5-20-02
Rating: 
Summary: Great summer read!!
Review: Slightly Single grabbed my attention the minute I picked it up and read the back cover. I could totally relate to Tracey with all her ups and downs. I was sad when I finished the book.
Rating:
Summary: Pathetic! Read This One.
Review: People like Tracey Spadolini really do exist in real life, but that doesn't mean I want to read about them. The entire book is comprised of Tracey's complaints about everything and everyone. Even when things really aren't all that bad, she finds something to complain about. It was so irksome! She was constantly beating herself up. Even when things started looking up for her, she still managed to find something negative about it. For example, when she started losing weight and wearing old clothes that she hadn't been able to fit in in ages, she would look in the mirror and say, "But I still don't look like Cindy Crawford..." That irked me so much. It was pitiful. Another thing that [angered me] about this book was the unnecessary, uncalled for stereotyping. On page 17, the author writes: "I buy my Salem Lights and a copy of today's Post from the familiar newsstand on the corner, where the Pakistani proprietor sometimes greets me like an old acquaintance and sometimes appears not to recognize me at all. It's unnerving." It's as if she's suggesting that ANY Pakistanian person, even the ones who work at newsstands, can cause feelings of nervousness in others. That paragraph would have been just as effective without that last sentence. You wanna talk about unnerving? Fine! This book was unnerving! In Markham's weak attempt at characterizing a Black woman, she says the following on page 68: "She's a single mother trying to raise an adolescent daughter in a rundown neighborhood where her teenaged sister was shot in a drug-related drive-by shooting..." She's all of those things, huh? I just love how "Latisha" has experienced every type of hell that Markham can think of for her Black character to go through. I love it. It's quite brilliant. Quite unique. And then, at the top of page 141, this was the part that really got me: " 'You're Tracey, right?' I nod at the pleasant-looking African-American guy who greets me..." I had to put the book down when I got to this part. What does she mean "pleasant-looking African-American???" Here she goes again with her stereotyping. Is this generally how she sees Black people? As people who aren't usually pleasant? Was it really necessary to point out that this Black guy, "John Wilson," was pleasant-looking? Might it be too much to add that this John Wilson really IS pleasant? She might as well have said, "All a Black person can manage to do is LOOK pleasant, APPEAR pleasant, but don't you go believing that they really are!" That has got to be the laziest thing I have ever read in terms of describing a character in a book. Out of all the things Markham could have said about John Wilson, she chose this! It's really pathetic. Will was an [jerk], but he was funny. If you must read this piece of junk, then pay attention to Will. This character was the most interesting. But basically... It sucked, but I paid my money for it, hoping for a good read, so I read it, but as you can see, I didn't like it. The ONLY reason it got two stars was because I actually wanted to know what happened in the end. But even the ending leans toward [bad] because Tracey isn't much different by page 280 than at page seven. Don't waste your cash. Go buy a classic instead. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith was off the hook. Peace,
ajb
Rating:
Summary: Love it!
Review: I just cant put this book down! The main character is a riot! Everything is described perfectly so you can imagine yourself there with them! Recommend this one along w/See Jane Date!
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