Insider Dating

by Jennifer O'Connell

Abby Dunn, barely thirty and recently divorced, has taken herself off the dating market. Instead, she's using her experience to turn the tables on the opposite sex by building a dating database to rank underperforming men and set women straight when investing their greatest asset: themselves. Now, what started as a pet project is becoming a fulltime enterprise. But while Abby's busy hedging bets, someone is skewing her data and threatening to ruin...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451221168
• ISBN13: 9780451221162
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: New American Library
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

"Nine guys is a mission statement"

A year after the finalization of her divorce from Alex, investment broker Abby Dunn applies her financial knowledge to an on-line members-only database of eligible Boston bachelors. She isn't ready to take the plunge into the dating pool yet - she's waiting for a sure thing. As the members enter data about their dates and ex-boyfriends, they in essence are enabling other members to forecast the probability of compatibility based on his historical dating and behavior patterns. When Abby finally meets someone too good to be true, her quest to find out what is wrong with him nearly costs her everything, including her heart. Can you learn from her own past to look at a future with another man? O'Connell can always be counted on to tell an entertaining story filled with humor and a flawed but realistic heroine with realistic friends who accept her despite her quirks. She takes a departure into more serious territory with a seemingly unsympathetic character in Abby - but shades of humor flow through Abby's aloofness asshe hides her insecurities. Though it can get a little heavy at times with her introspection about what went wrong in her marriage (and as the book progresses, it becomes evident), the payoff is a sometimes funny and often poignant look at a modern woman who will do anything to protect her heart.

poolside page-turner

I picked up Insider Dating on a whim because the back cover synopsis made it sound intriguing. It was time for a new novel and I finished this one in under a week. Although I have not shared the same experiences as Abby (main character), I can relate to her and the trouble she got herself into, stemming from unfinished business in her past. Her "crime" was completely inappropriate for a 30-something to commit, but she is easily forgivable because you can see that behind her mistake, she is a good, likable person with the same weaknesses and fears as the rest of us, and she takes responsibility for her actions. If Ms. O'Connell should write a sequel to this novel, I would buy it in a hearbeat.

worth reading

i enjoy jennifer o'connell's writing, and it seems to improve with each book. the main character's emotions result in unethical behavior, beyond what i'd usually accept in a likable person but somehow you do still feel for her. the dialogue is what i really enjoy about o'connell's writing. she has a way of providing depth to characters with a-typical conversations. i particularly enjoy her male characters because while attractive, they are not storybook. neither are her endings for that matter; satisfying and good endings but lessons are learned, not erased.

Amazing

I've been a fan of Jennifer O'Connell ever since I picked up BACHELORETTE #1 four years ago. I've loved all of her books - and she just keeps getting better! INSIDER DATING is warm, funny, and oh-so-truthful. I related so much to Abby. She touches on themes of heartache and moving on (but still wanting a little revenge on the guy who screwed you over). This is a terrific book, and I highly recommend it to any woman who's ever suffered a terrible heartbreak. (Which is all of us, right?) You won't be disappointed.