Dating Without Novocaine
Grade : C+

Warning: This Book Is Not A Romance. This is not a book whose central story concerns a woman and a man meeting, falling in love, and living happily ever after. Even though Red Dress Inc. is the newest imprint from the Big Kid on the romance block, Harlequin/Silhouette, they’re branching out into the non-romance “chick lit” phenomenon with this line (think of it as the category equivalent of chick lit). I like good chick-lit and looked forward to reading this book, but I’m sorry to report that I was underwhelmed here. Dating Without Novocaine is well written, some of the situations are amusing, and the protagonist (note I say “protagonist,” not “heroine”) is likable enough, but I was able to predict most of the direction of the plot, and there wasn’t enough of an emotional payoff for me by the time I reached the end.

Hannah O’Dowd is a free-lance seamstress and clothing designer living in Portland, Oregon; her best friends include her housemate Cassie, a New Age free spirit; Louise, an overly analytical psychologist who’s working at a crisis-intervention line; and Louise’s ex-boyfriend Scott, a dentist who delights in teasing Hannah with gory tales of his profession. Hannah’s thirtieth birthday is looming, and with nary a prospective mate in sight, she decides to be a lot less choosy in the men she dates, hoping she’ll stumble across – well, if not Mr. Perfect, then at least Mr. He’ll-Do-For-Now.

The book details Hannah’s forays into the modern dating scene, with predictably comical – and at times pathetic – results. She and her friends sign up for a computer-dating service and encounter some rather interesting people. Hannah dates a cop, tries very gently to discourage a geeky business contact, and she still can’t find the right guy. One of her dating-service matchups turns out to be a gay guy who wants to “try it” with a woman. There’s another scene where she goes into a sex-toys shop in search of the perfect vibrator; that was kind of funny, but it veered too close to the area of Too Much Information for my comfort.

Overall, while many of the scenes in the book coaxed a smile out of me, I didn’t find the book itself all that funny, or the characters particularly sympathetic. Lisa Cach is a good writer, but her talents are wasted here. Hannah creates an impression of desperation: she’s got to find someone, she’s got to meet Mr. Right, and she’s willing to try just about anything to do that. Her friends and her dates come out of Central Casting, with very little new or fresh about them. They struck me as shallow and obsessed with appearance, self-realization, and brand names. The sex scenes are just that – sex without any pretense of affection, or even of liking the other person very much. I found that rather sad and hollow. The characters might as well have been masturbating for all that they showed any concern for their partners. Maybe Hannah was unconsciously on to something when she bought that vibrator.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve enjoyed chick-lit before, when it’s done well, when the characters are people and not caricatures, when they’re empathetic as well as sympathetic, when the author has the space – and the word count – to spin her yarn. Those books have sold well and tapped into a new audience of readers. Red Dress is Harlequin’s move to snag a piece of this new pie for themselves. I wish them success, but I think they need to realize that a writer requires more than 280-odd pages of large type with lots of white space in an overpriced trade-size format to deliver a good story of this nature. If you’re curious about Red Dress books, let me suggest that you go to the library and check one out before you make up your mind about buying it for yourself. If you’re just looking for good chick lit, try something from Marian Keyes or Jane Green instead.

Reviewed by Nora Armstrong
Grade : C+
Book Type: Chick Lit

Sensuality: Hot

Review Date : March 13, 2002

Publication Date: 2002

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