The ExFactor Author:Andrea Semple In her hip, hilarious debut novel, Andrea Semple skewers big-city mating rituals from a whole new angle. London advice columnist Martha Seymore is smart, sassy... and suddenly single. It's all well and good telling other people how to heal their broken hearts, but things have just gotten a tad too personal. — Ok, so I'm single again. Mind you, we... more »'re not talking Carrie Bradshaw-pining-for-Big single...
No, this is Charlotte York territory, less the fantasy wardrobe. And less one apartment, actually, since I walked out on Luke the Lying, Cheating Bastard (formerly known as the sexiest journalist on the planet).
You know when you dump a guy, only to discover years later that he's evolved into the perfect boyfriend -- for the high-school frenemy who convinced you to dump him in the first place...?
The ex in question is Alex. The "friend" is Desdemona, she of the gorgeous everything and toxic double entendres. Example: "Alex is a man of many talents" translates to "He's also a fantastic shag and right after you've gone we are going to enjoy a night of wild and rampant gourmet sex commencing right up against the kitchen wall." Ouch. Perhaps I'd be better off focusing on work...
Ah, the office. Home of the overstressed, the undersexed, and the psychotically ambitious...
I'll just forge ahead with something I'm really good at: telling other people how to conduct their love lives. But who knew the Power-that-Be would order me, the newly celibate, to "sex up" my column -- or else? Oh, the irony. Oh, the humanity. Oh, the possibilities.« less