cover image Tabloid Love: Looking for Mr. Right in All the Wrong Places

Tabloid Love: Looking for Mr. Right in All the Wrong Places

Bridget Harrison, . . Da Capo, $24 (372pp) ISBN 978-0-7382-1044-5

Harrison was 29 when she came to the New York Post through an exchange program with a London newspaper. After breaking up with her English boyfriend, her initial four-month stint turned into a permanent position, and soon the metro reporter acquired a Sunday column detailing her dating mishaps—all the while nurturing a crush on one of her editors. The abrupt shifts in tone—Harrison's typical day involves racing from the scene of a child murder to a dinner date with a matchmaker—are jarring but manageable, thanks to Harrison's engaging voice, and the urban newspaper setting is a zippy backdrop for the real-life chick lit drama. It's particularly amusing when Harrison and her crush start dating, and she attempts to write about their relationship in the column by changing his vital information, failing to fool anyone at the Post . However, other scenes drag, and the saga limps on for more than 100 pages after Harrison's interoffice romance grinds to a halt. Harrison's misadventures will inevitably draw comparisons to those of the other Bridget (Jones), but with a little more practice, this young Brit could remove all confusion. (June)