Rachel S. (rspolitico) reviewed on 8/2/2012 + 10 more book reviews

I'd heard about this book while rereading a fiction book, Jemima J (yes, the characters discuss this book) and had randomly heard it mentioned here and there in women's magazines. My interest was piqued. The reviews on Amazon were so divisive. People were either is a rabid, foaming at the mouth rage, or they were in love with it. I figured either it would have some nugget of wisdom or would be completely hilarious. Win-win. Add a third "win" because I got it off of Paperbackswap.com so it was free!

So what about these "Rules?" Generally, they're pretty sound advice. There's also a lot of game-playing, that would be stressful to remember. I get the concept behind "no weekend dates scheduled after Wednesday" but they don't allow wiggle room for last-minute scores or surprises.

I'm not big on non-face to face communication, but I feel that the rule about not spending more than 30 minutes on the phone is a little silly, especially because women aren't allowed to initiate any phone calls or any other form of communication, ever, period, the end. If you get into a car accident, I'd surmise that a "rules girl" couldn't call the person she's dating to say she's going to the hospital unless she get a phone call from him first. Okay, I kid but still, some of the rules are just silly. I'm concerned that if these rules were followed to a T, the woman would come across as vapid and evasive.

I'm not an advocate for "hiding" your smarts or wearing white hosiery. I'm also not a fan of needy guys, which is what I feel would be attracted to a "rules girl." Sending flowers because you smiled or spent 5 minutes chatting after dinner rather than demanding to be taken home immediately or some other inane reason seems over the top to me, yet it's seen as a positive here. I also don't think it's necessarily a good thing that a guy that would be attracted to a "rules girl" would propose after a few short months, "so he could finally spend more than 2 hours with her" (some testimonial that was on the site I believe.) In general, many of the "rules" are sound but take the entire book with a grain of salt. But what do I know, I'm not a man and I don't know what pushes their buttons?

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