The Ex factor

With her job on the line, a newly single advice columnist, ordered to "sex up" her column, examines her own love life, starting with her exes, to learn from past mistakes, while, with the help of her party girl roommate, rediscovers the joys of dating. Original. 35,000 first printing.

A woman who bills herself as a "relationship guru" should never find out that her boyfriend has cheated while she's in the throes of passion. That's exactly what happens to Martha Seymore, advice columnist for British fashion mag Gloss. Soon she's questioning every relationship platitude she's ever passed off as advice. She moves into the home of party-planning beauty Jacquie, who leads her into a life of wild parties and weekends in Ibiza. It's a life rife with alcohol, drugs, and sex, and the racy depictions of this are bound to make a few readers blush. Martha soon realizes the wild life isn't exactly glamorous. She finds out that her problems with Luke run deeper than she thought and that her job is in jeopardy. All her problems seem insurmountable, until her best friend gets attacked. Suddenly, Martha realizes she needs to quit wallowing and start taking her own advice. This plucky heroine will appeal to fans of Bridget Jones, but readers will be pleased to find a character who's less self-deprecating and more self-assured. Aleksandra Kostovski
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