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So to start with, someone was going to give me a copy of this book. I had an electronic version of the first chapter and got so hooked, that I didn't want to wait for the free copy and went ahead and bought it on Amazon. You would understand how big of deal this was if you knew just how cheap I can be.

By the time I was done reading, I was so angry with the author. I wanted more! And it was over and I was annoyed that there wasn't a second book for me to begin right away. This book had me so enraptured that I read it every spare minute I had (which isn't many as a law student) and I put off watching my favorite tv shows so I could keep reading.

Books don't often surprise me, but in this... More > one nothing I expected to happen happened! It was wonderfully original. I kept almost "cheating" and skipping ahead to the end of the book to see how things turned out, but I was able to control myself.

Fair warning though - there is an epilogue which just cries out for a sequel. So please join me in urging the author to write the next part of this compelling story. Trust me - you'll want him to too! < Less

"Great Read!"
Just finished this novel and, first and foremost, it was a great read. Things I loved: the narrative voice, especially the way the main characters think to themselves - that stream of consciousness stuff had such a true feel and was often funny and poignant.
Not to get too high-minded here, but these characters are of a very specific generation; parents that weren't all about parenting, but about painting in the woods and finding themselves and dating and chopping down trees in Vermont and whatever else. The Me Generation raised the Free Generation - as in, we can't commit because we saw how ravaged our parents' lives were by marriages and how they never seemed to... More > stick. But we're also free of other things - support, security, confidence in ourselves - that thing the author here calls "the shoe" is something many of us will identify with. We didn't really have mommies so we all have these addictions - Alex's is to sex, maybe so is Samantha's, but if you step through the doors of any 12-step program, you'll see lots of people our age with our story, addicted to things that gave them the comfort that never got at home.
What's my point? I think this novel really stumbles onto something few others
have. It's very particular to a certain age range and I found it so compelling, the exploration of how we try to stumble through "family" life without role models.
Also - as a female, I felt like I was being let behind the curtain of the male mind. The way Alex thinks and the ambivalence he feels about love, sex,
commitment, rang true and I found myself thinking - okay, give me more! I've always wondered what the hell guys are really thinking - how they can really love you but still cheat on you, all those questions. The peripheral characters are interesting and unique. The setting - never really been to Dallas but feel like I have.
I'm really impressed. I read a lot of books. I read like it's going out of style. And I truly enjoyed this novel - the whole man/boy, sensitive sex addict willing himself to commit thing will be very familiar to many people. The
style is singular, funny and very immediate. < Less