Slightly Settled is pretty standard Chick Lit. It doesn’t deviate much from what we’ve come to expect from the sub-genre, which isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but the “Chick Lit heroine” isn’t nearly as fresh and original as she used to be, and her flaws can be grating.

Tracey Spadolini, newly thin and newly single, wants more than anything to get over her cheating ex-boyfriend Will and move on to bigger and better things. She doesn’t much like being alone, but unfortunately, thanks to Will, her confidence in herself and her decision making is shot. When she meets hot new guy Jack at the company Christmas party, she decides he’d be the ideal Transition Boy, just the person to help her over the getting-over-Mr.-Wrong-hump. But what if Jack wants more? And why is Will calling again? And what about her good friend Buckley who is suddenly single again and looking very interested in something more than friendship? Decisions, decisions.

Markham writes well, and the book is full of funny touches, good interior monologue, and mini-cliff hangers, enough to tempt the reader to keep reading. And there is one hilarious scene involving a bachelorette party that is worth the cover price by itself. It’s rare that I will laugh out loud, but this scene more than tickled my funny bone.

However, as easy as this book was to read, overall it didn’t really satisfy. This was partly because the book had any number of familiar elements: the flaky heroine, the gay best friend, the crummy ex-boyfriend, the uncertain work situation (complete with boss problems), the annoying coworker, the annoying relatives, the repeated alcohol abuse, and the risky sexual behavior. None of the secondary characters, even Tracey’s primary love interest, was very developed. And the rest of the bunch were pretty cliché – the kind of characters that you can sum up in one short descriptive blurb.

Perhaps, in Tracey’s case, flaky is overstating it. Tracey is not so much flaky as she is highly undisciplined. She gets decent advice from her friends and her therapist – all of which she repeatedly ignores. She continually makes the wrong choices, but since none of her decisions have horrific consequences, she continues to do the things she knows in her heart are unwise. Her romantic happiness at the end of the book was unconvincing because she hadn’t dealt with her own insecurities or learned how to manage a relationship. Instead, she simply hooked up with a nicer guy. This is nice, but hardly reassuring for the reader, especially for a romance reader who wants to know exactly why this couple is meant to be together. The fact that they are two nice people who would rather be together than alone seems a trifle too pragmatic and everyday.

Still, reading Slightly Settled filled up an evening, and I wouldn’t mind reading this author again. I would just hope that next time around, Markham would beef up the romance and write a heroine with more backbone, self-discipline and common sense.