The Girlfriend Curse

by Valerie Frankel

Book Overview

It's uncanny Within six months of breaking up with her, Peg Silver's ex-lovers always meet and marry the women of their dreams. Even worse than being the eternal bridesmaid, she's the last girlfriend, the one who awakens in a guy theknowledge of what he's always wanted in a relationship ... and it's never with Peg. Obviously, a major lifestyle change is seriously called for, which is why the distraught interior landscape designer says good-bye...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060725540
• ISBN13: 9780060725549
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Fun summer reading

My daughter (16) and I both read this book in less than a week. We had many laughs while reading it. I would like to buy more books by Valerie Frankel. Neither of us could put it down and we stayed up way too late everynight until we finished. A nice ending, we hate when books don't end happily ever after.

I learned from reading this book

This is my first time reaing Valerie Frankel's books and it won't be the last. I loved Peg's character and how she went through her problems with Paul and Ray. This book was easy to read and easy to follow and shows you why relationships sometimes don't work out. I liked this so much.

Funny and thoughtful tale of romance and growth

When Peg Silver's ex-boyfriend asks her to join him for a drink, she expects a night of wild sex--not a sincere thanks for helping him get to the point where he was ready to get married--to another woman. Worse, when Peg looks into her history, she discovers that every one of the last seven men she dated ended up married--to the next woman they met. Peg is cursed to be the ultimate girlfriend--the one before her men turn into charming and married princes. Rather than continue, Peg decides to make radical changes. She sells her Manhatten apartment and buys a small farm in Vermont. Vermont starts with a bang. On the train, she meets a handsome man with the same problem she's had. All of his girlfriends marry the man after him. Could Peg have found the antidote to her curse so easily. It certainly seems so when a plague of mice drive her from her new home and into the 'Inward Bound' retreat where Ray is learning to deal with his issues. Peg signs up for Inward Bound, resolving to spend the time her home is being de-pested doing Ray. To her surprise, Inward Bound holds some surprises--and learning. Peg enjoys the yoga, hates the female co-counselor, and has mixed feelings about the director, Linus. Fortunately, Ray is there--ready for hot sex. Only, is Ray really the answer to her problem, or might he be just another symptom of the difficulties she's been having? Author Valerie Frankel mixes chick-lit with pure romance in an intriguing and very funny tale of growth. Peg makes an interesting character. She's strong, determined, intelligent, yet willing to settle for just about any attractive male who comes her way. Even when she knows she's been chasing men away by her determined behavior, she has a hard time breaking old patterns. And handsome Ray only wants to perpetuate those old patterns. If you're looking for some good laughs, accompanied by a really thoughtful look at romance and moving toward romantic success, THE GIRLFRIEND CURSE is a great place to start. I recommend it highly.

Brilliant! Sign me up!

I love Valerie Frankel. She is, frankly, the best! (Forgive the terrible pun.) The Inward Bound relationship program was hilarious. I read this book in a couple of hours and could not put it down! Also recommended: The Other Woman, Good in Bed, Carrie Pilby

strong chick lit tale

Peg Silver is tired of finding men, getting them interested in marriage, and having them wed someone else as her last boyfriend Paul Tester, her seventh failure in less than a decade, just did. She concludes that she needs a full body lifestyle makeover, starting with a change of scenery as she is sick of someone else gaining the fruits of her labors. Peg decides it is time to leave the asphalt jungle of New York where she has resided for her entire thirty two years of living and rusticate elsewhere, just not the burbs because that would be too much of a fall. During the grueling seven hour train trek to White River Junction, Vermont, Peg receives an accidental poke in the eye when she tried to be Good Samaritan and then meets womanizing Ray Quick who climbed on board in Hartford. She decides to delay her search for an organic male to join him at the Inward Bound retreat In Manshire, Vermont where he is going to attend a seminar on curing neurotic dating patterns. At the retreat, Peg finds herself still attracted to Ray, but also pulled towards the facilitator Linus Bester. THE GIRLFRIEND CURSE is a strong chick lit tale that focuses deeply on relationships mostly through Peg's troubles paraphrasing her thoughts that she can make men come, but not stay. The deep cast turns the tale into a powerful insightful look at why relationships work or fail. Peg is gold as the center of the novel while her two male competitors bring out the best and worst in her. Relationship drama readers will receive immense pleasure from this perceptive contemporary fiction novel. Harriet Klausner