NO GOOD GIRLS

Author: Jean Marie Pierson ISBN: 9780505527561 3/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: DORCHESTER

My name is Geri O'Brien, and I'm having a bad-hair life. My last date was with a guy who'd rather make tracks than make love; I work for a publisher who actually thinks a kids' book about the Donner Party is a fun idea; and the closest I'm ever going to get to my dream man is seeing him on the side of a taxi. When I started writing this, I thought that fabled New York minute was never going to come for me or my friends Maria, Emmy, and Sally. But when one of us got dumped, one of us got shot and one of us threw up on a 4 star restaurant window, I had a run of luck you need to read to believe. I guess it's true what they say: Every time we complain there are no good men out there, a great guy out there complaining that there are . . . No Good Girls

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

While I love the premise of NO GOOD GIRLS, I wasn't as enamored with the story as I wanted to be. About a group of girlfriends who should have had it all—careers, men, shopping, fun—in the City, it focuses mainly on the ups and downs (mostly downs) of being young, single and unfocused. I've got to admit the confusion surrounding these ladies became tedious after a while. I just wanted one of them, if not all of them, to find some sort of happiness. Closure. Satisfaction.

Fortunately, although it was a long time coming, there is a sense that these friends come to terms with themselves, their lives, their pasts and each other. They go through too many sticky situations to detail here, but the important thing is that they do, ultimately, grow from their experience. Although more drawn out in spots than I would have liked, this book is well written, especially its dialogue. "Listening" to these characters is like being a fly on the wall. They are genuine, and their long, sometimes convoluted, talks back that up.

A homeless man named Max is of particular interest to me. I would have loved to see more of him but his character is almost buried in this story. I can't decide if that was the author's intention or if it's one of those things that just happened, a mystery of sorts.

All in all, NO GOOD GIRLS by Jean Marie Pierson is a fairly interesting tale about friends and their winding journeys toward finding themselves in the midst of chaos.

Kay James