Chat Love

Chat Love, by Justine Faeth.

When I get home, I walk into my apartment and head straight for my room. Without bothering to take off my coat or shoes, I grab my laptop and sit on the edge of my bed. I go to the Chat Love homepage and as soon as I log in, I see that I've received several messages from interested men. I take a deep breath and click on the first one; it's time to give this site a chance. After all, what do I have to lose, besides the lonely feeling I get when I see couples walking hand in hand on the street or looking at each other lovingly while having dinner? I'm sick of sitting on the sidelines, watching everybody else's happiness. I want to experience that for myself, and from now on, I'm counting on Chat Love to help me get there.

Chat Love is a dating site, similar to OKCupid or Match.com, and in this novel, a lot of Lucia's friends have been using it as both a matchmaking site and a hookup site. Lucia's family, who is Italian, has been pressuring her to get married now for a long time, and she's approaching the "old maid" age of 28; her sister, 24, is married and expecting her first child. Lucia's hasn't had much luck with men lately, and her friends finally cajole her into trying Chat Love. This book is about her experiences on the site and also her feelings for one of her coworkers, technically her boss.

Official synopsis, from Amazon:
City girl Lucia is having trouble finding a man. With a few nudges from her friends, she decides to try out Chat Love, an online dating service for New Yorkers. Hilarity ensues with one disastrous date after another…where do these men come from? Mars? Certainly not Manhattan! She finally meets someone from work who is almost perfect, but decides to move on as he’s still seeing other women. She keeps in contact with a man named Jack on the Chat Love site. Could he be the one? What about her love interest at work? Just like the lovable cast of characters from Sex and the City, Lucia is Carrie, a stylish woman who has found her “Mr. Big” but can’t seem to get him to commit. Danni is Samantha, who loves to have fun and is wild and promiscuous. Autumn is Charlotte, desperate to meet the right man and settle down. Skyler is Miranda, level-headed and quick to offer advice. Will these ladies ever find love? Will Lucia find her man? Chat Love will give you something to talk about!
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I'm a big Sex and the City fan and I actually would not have even made these comparisons in the description, although they do technically fit. I could definitely identify with Lucia in this novel, because I am 26 and single; her family cracked me up a few times, because they were hassling her so much to get married. One of her friends, Skyler, met her fiance on Chat Love, and Skyler urges Lucia to try it out; however, Lucia is not really a fan of online dating. Meanwhile, one of her coworkers, an adorable Brit named Jackson, is interested in her, even though they used to be "enemies" of sorts, and she starts to have feelings back for him; the only issue is, he's kind of a player, and isn't interested in settling down just yet like she wants to.

Some of the writing in this book was a little awkward. I both could identify with Lucia and at some points disliked her, because she was SO obsessed with finding a guy. I liked her core group of friends a lot; they definitely all had different personalities, and they helped to round out the novel. Parts of the book were very predictable, including who she ends up with, and about halfway into the narrative, a You've Got Mail theme started to emerge, when Lucia starts talking with someone named "Jack" on Chat Love - who is an American Brit looking for love. (you can probably figure out just from that description who he is)

Overall, I would recommend Chat Love as a quick "beach read," but I have to say that it didn't draw me in as much as other romance/fiction books have in the past.

3 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I was provided with an e-copy of this book to review from the author. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.