Review: How Many Dates Does It Take?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 11, 2013
Sarah is single and feeling every inch of it after her best friends, and then good friends, start pairing off. So what does she do when New Year's Eve plans with her good friends change to include the men they're seeing? Sarah does the most logical thing--she signs up for a dating service in hopes she'll have that perfect date for New Year's Eve.John owns Brew Ha Ha, a quaint coffee shop, where Sarah's decided to meet her five Internet dates. He watches as, one by one, each date ends in catastrophe. Well, four end rather bad. Date Five didn't bother to show. But through it all, even after one date ends with broken dishes and an angry wife, John remains her friend, offering comfort, encouragement, and compassion.This is a quick read. The title warns that this is a short story, and it is. But what it lacks in length it more than makes up for in the wealth of characters. Each person--Sarah, Angie, Becca, Claire, Jane, John, and Abby--involved is as unique as each of Sarah's dates. And despite the high-handed personality of one of the characters, it was obvious that Sarah thought (or eventually thought) well of her group of best/good friends.This story is also told in first person, a POV I usually have a hard time reading but found absolutely delightful this time. Told strictly from Sarah's POV, it was fun and entertaining seeing the "couples" world from her standpoint, and how she handled her status of being "the last single girl." It was also chuckle-worthy reading about that moment when she realized it was John all along.Ms. Quinn did an excellent job telling a story about a beautiful, successful woman whose only setback in life was she was single, how she went about rectifying that, and how the man she needed all along was right there in front of her.