Fiction Tuesday - The Singles

What do you do with the friends who haven't found the love of their life yet? This is one debut novel that has left many readers wanting more. Modern romance tales are sometimes hit or miss. Some readers feel the main characters are just too self absorbed. Meredith Goldstein has some how found a balance of showing real characters as real friends in her new novel.

Book Description:
Take an instantly recognizable social dilemma—attending a wedding alone—add a good laugh (and maybe a cry), and meet The Singles, the warm and witty debut by Boston Globe “Love Letters” columnist Meredith Goldstein.

Beth “Bee” Evans’s first vow as a bride is that everyone on her list be invited to bring a guest to her lavish, Chesapeake Bay nuptials. When Hannah, Vicki, Rob, Joe, and Nancy one by one decline Bee’s generous offer, the frustrated bride dubs them the “Singles,” adrift on her seating chart as well as in life.

“Anyone who's ever attended a wedding solo, will feel an immediate kinship with the five, wonderfully complicated characters of The Singles. Meredith Goldstein's witty prose follows these guests as they gather to celebrate, reunite with friends, drink too much, dance inappropriately, worry about their careers, struggle with jealousy, and negotiate family dynamics. This book is full of dark humor and heart, and you won't want to put it down.” -Jennifer Close, author of Girls in White Dresses

I gave The Singles 4 out of 5 stars only because upon finishing the book, I was left wanting more. I was eager to find out how things turned out in the lives of the characters I'd just grown to know. However, true to her realistic and unique voice, Goldstein refrains from tying up the lives of her characters in a perfect bow. Their future is left to the reader's imagination...or hopefully a second book!  -waiting for more

The Singles is the incredibly well-written debut novel by Meredith Goldstein. This is not just a story about a wedding. It's more than just chick lit.

The Singles is an absorbing tale with characters that draw you in to a weekend of adventure, vulnerability, and learning. Whether you're single, or in a relationship, this book is a must-read that will leave you wanting more.-worldtrekker

I hated all the characters--couldn't find empathy with any of them. They were caricatures rather than true people. Their behavior was disgusting--especially the bathroom scene with Hannah and Joe.  -Junebug

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