I bought another copy of this novel because my original copy has gone AWOL. It was a fun novel so when I saw it on sale for a bargain I thought I'd buy another to share :D.

"Following an alcohol-induced, relationship-combusting one-night stand, Isabelle Beckett finds herself suddenly single. Caught up in her big city career with an art auction house, her life is an enviable whirl of glamorous gallery openings, avant-garde ironing boards, and once-in-a-lifetime discoveries.

That is, until Isabelle faces the fact that being single in Sydney is an experience for which she is quite unprepared. Forced to contend with hostile taxi drivers, fanged spiders in the shower and the humiliation of being discovered by her latest crush in a wetsuit-tutu combo, she struggles to retain her dignity and belief in romantic destiny. And then, just when she seems to be regaining control of life, Isabelle finds herself on the hit list of a Serial Dater."

Update: It's already been through 5 people so I may as well turn it into a bookray.

Bookfrog - Sydney, NSW, Aus
TQD - Sydney, NSW, Aus
Havoc - Sydney, NSW, Aus
Noodlebowl - Sydney, NSW, Aus
Veracity - Sydney, NSW, Aus
Oneocean - Melbourne, VIC, Aus
Saine - Melbourne, VIC, Aus
Mundoo - Hindmarsh Island, SA, Aus
Guinevere69 - St James, WA, Aus
murmurrr - Bickley, WA, Aus
Catsalive, Sydney, NSW, Aus
Quilted-elf, Adelaide, SA, Aus
FuShMuSh - Sydney, NSW, Aus

Instructions:
1. Sign up for this BookRay by sending me a Private Message.
2. When the person above you on the list finishes the book, they will send you a Private Message to ask for your mailing address. If you are too busy to read the book in the next few weeks, let me know and I will move you down the list.
3. Make a journal entry when you receive the book to let us know you got it.
4. When you finish the book, make another journal entry telling us what you thought.
5. Send a Private Message to the person after you on the bookray list and request their mailing address. If the person doesn't answer within 7 days, please PM the one after, and then me.
6. Send the book on its way.

Rcd from FushMust at Cocktail meetup mmm cocktails!!! I needed that and now some chick lit to top off the night! Thanks mate!

WOW!!! This book was SO GOOD! I mean I was laughing so hard I couldn't read and had to wait til I finished reading before I could continue.

Isabelle was the heroine with the most, a bundle of nervous quirks and amusing anecdotes. She suddenly finds herself single on the Sydney scene and not sure what to do, being out of the loop for a while and also being a Melbourne girl.

Her comparisons of the two cities (Sydney and Melbourne) are just great and apt! This is a great piece of literature, should not be relegated to just being "chick lit" but I suppose that is whom it will appeal to.

I think tqd put her hand up as being interested but who is this to go to next fushmush. Thanks for letting it start with me! I could happily have this on my PC list to read a few times.

What else can I say... well the last time I laughed out loud it was a Terry Pratchett novel and this one had me belly laughing and unable to read so I will highly recommend it. Have I waxed lyrically enough about it yet! Had me hooked from the beginning as she moves from the ruins of her broken relationship to the dating scene, her quirky friends and her own quirks and chance encounters with men and women in Sydney.

Nice to have a familar landscape to read about.

Got this at Tuesday's meetup, and I'm already about a third of the way in! Absolute hoot, really enjoyable.

What fun! My only complaint would be that it ended, I wanted it to keep on going! :)

Passed on to fimcneill today at coffee!

I _did_ identify a lot with this book, and laughed at most of the rest. Although halfway through, I did had to remind myself "it's chicklit!!" and stop getting annoyed at Our Belle's obsession with boys. (Yes, I got annoyed with Bridget Jones too, with which this book has a very large number of similarities, although thankfully she doesn't have the same obsession with weight). She DID go on a bit ... that aside, I laughed out loud at a considerable number of places, which makes it a plus on my reading radar. And being a Melbourne-to-Sydney girl myself, I resonated with a lot of her comments (especially with the way the Harbour constantly reminds her of why she's still in Sydney.).

Two particularly favourite bits:

"'Actually he said that he does love me, he's just not in love with me. I wish someone could explain to me how a guy who is so entirely unaware of relationship etiquette that he didn't think it might upset his girflriend of two years if he didn't call her for weeks at a time, is now all of a sudden capable of making a subtle disticntoin between the two different forms of love'".

(Ouch ... been there, heard that.)

"I lived in Sydney and was now single so I suppose ... it was only a matter of time before I started to take Classes. ... every single girl I know in Sydney takes some sort of Class.".

(*blush* it's only three or four a week, yr'onner!!)

Have to check whether this has a named next reader or is to be released into The Wild ... thanks tqd!!

CAUGHT IN SYDNEY NSW AUSTRALIA

whoops, wish i'd remembered to log in before i made my entry!! above entry from me.

Received at cocktails last night from TQD. Thanks to FushMush for putting me on the ray =).

(we had dinner at circulate after cocktails, it was crap - attrocious service only barely forgiven for giving us a free meal and drinks. And this morning, I woke up a with huge swollen tonsil no doubt caused by some dodgy circulate staff spittle)

This was my companion when I was sick, so I have to say, I wasn't fully concentrating on the book when I read it. I really enjoyed her humour but found it got a bit annoying after the 3rd or 4th paragraph of overly extended metaphors. Nonetheless, I did find myself secretly cheering for Dr Jack and giggling in recognition at the soldier figuring collecting geek. (my boyfriend is a total geek) Loads of laughs, and always fun to identify with the love of Sydney. On to Veracity next.

received today...thanks!

Finally reached this one on the TBR pile. It's a cute, amusing little vignette of Sydney life for a young frivolous girl. There are some incredibly funny bits in this book, but it made me (somewhat uncomfortably) remember how tortured my own early twenties were. Enjoy!

Released on Friday, July 16, 2004 at Postal Release in Sydney, Australia Controlled Releases.

Acck! Sorry about the delay on this one. Sent off today.

Received today, just as I finished off my TBR pile - perfect timing!

I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time! Took this along to the footy yesterday and got through most of it waiting for the game to start (had to get along early to get a seat). La'Brooy has a really individual, quirky writing style - I loved the metaphors, giggled almost non-stop and had lots of moments when I could identify myself, or someone I knew. Also very thoughtful of her to locate it in bits of Sydney I know! Loved the idea of 'gastroporn' pictures in recipe books - those things always suck me into buying yet another, in the hope that my dish could look like that!

Passing it onto saine.

At last, a book which depicts someone who is rational about spiders!

I'm going to try to send this out ASAP, as soon as I find time between work, exams and moving houses. Going slowly insane. Anyone got a straight-jacket?

Received today in the mail.
Next in the TBR pile

Is it really that bad as a young woman in the dating scene? There were times in reading this book where I though Isabelle was a 'loser'. All she seemed to think about was having sex, and most of her romance was in her head (oh now I think about it seems true for most of our life). I was not surprised she didn't seem to have any decent boyfriends, they would never have lived up to her mental expectations. She didn't even seem to like her job and I did think at times how did she pay her bills with all the time she had off with wallowing about men, those who had left her or those she was hoping to meet?

I did laugh out loud a few times. The spider section I read out loud to my husband, HE has the same 'irrational' reactions, except he wouldn't have been on the other side of that bathroom door, he would have been out in the street waiting for me to come home to 'deal with it'! And I am one of those who remove huntsmen spiders outside into the garden. I always know when there is a spider in the house, he is outside in the yard as far away as he can be. LOL.

Not knowing Sydney I didn't identify with locations but this was an enjoyable read and typically Australian in flavour.

Released on Thursday, November 04, 2004 at about 3:30:00 AM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at By Mail in Controlled Release, Given to a fellow bookcrosser Controlled Releases.

RELEASE NOTES:

Posted to guinevere69

got in mail today along with my bookcrossing t-shirt!! Yahh thanks Mundoo!

Cute chic lit novel which was more interesting than some as it was based in Sydney so I would think alot of Sydneysiders would get more out of it than me. I did laugh out loud a few times eg when she was discussing girls getting their romance ideas from Jane Austen whilst boys are getting theirs from The Lord of the Rings. I also liked this bit which I read while thinking about all the lucky sods at the conference.
"Sydneysiders are hostile to Melburnians; have complete contempt for anyone from Brisbane; tolerate Adelaide because it produces good wine and is like a younger, unfashionable relation; are only vaguely aware that Perth exists;deems Hobart and Darwin to be slightly shameful; while it is not considered good form to mention Canberra in public under any circumstances at all."
Will pass on to murmurr at mini meetup on 28th

Picked up at the Perth mini meetup.

Laughed out loud more than once while reading this. Possibly not such a good thing reading in company as some of Isabelle's antics were a little on the bizarre side and didn't necessarily respond well in the recount. Very enjoyable and quick holiday read which makes it the perfect book to read at this time of year. :^)

Have pm'ed for the next address and will have it on its way as soon as I hear back.

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed on to catsalive

I thought Isabelle was too much of a pain in the proverbial, but I did get a few chuckles out of it. I'm really glad they found Hamish & I can relate to the "Classes" as noted by Havoc... I even tried yoga & I must go back to it some time as I think I might need that calming spot in my life.

It's an easy & quite enjoyable read, but I did have to overcome Isabelle's obnoxiousness a couple of times to continue with it.

Posted to Quilted-elf 10/2.

I got this last week and thought it was time to pull the finger out of the proverbial.

Now to read!!!

Well I finally read it!!!! YAY!!!

Word of warning.... do not read if already feeling mildly depressed!!!

I did enjoy it, the descriptions were fantastic and the interactions between the people were interesting. I especially like the way in which she looked at the various single men around, Cory the third, the construction worker, Doc Jack etc etc

But it did get a bit bogged down with the whole i'm so sorry for myself thing. but once I got past that I was laughing out loud at all the things that she and Doc Jack were saying to each other!!! Oh to verbally duel with a quick witted man!!! LOL

Favs are:

"To say that Fran was romantic and idealistic was a bit like saying that Casanova didn't mind the odd shag and Einsein was quite bright for his age."

"Art collectors could range from sweet and genuinely interested in art to the 'I've been hooked up intravenously to an Obnoxious Twat drip since I made my first million' species."

"'Can I please have the tin of Milo and a spoon from the kitchen?'
'You're going to eat Milo from the tin while we watch a movie about a kitten called Milo?'
I nodded contentedly. 'That's what made me think of it.'"

The only thing I did think that after all that when she's chatting inthe taxi with Doc Jack that it all ended a little too soon. Oh well can't really complain as many books do that.

RELEASE NOTES:

Off to fushmush!

Thanks to everyone for being involved in a successful bookring. I've now passed this on to a non-BC friend. I'm hoping she'll catch the BC bug.