Girlfriends

Patrick Sanchez. Kensington Publishing Corporation, $13 (339pp) ISBN 978-1-57566-899-4

The recent craze of hapless singletons tackling seemingly infinite battles in career and romance has inspired yet another jungle of comical mishaps in debut novelist Patrick Sanchez's Girlfriends. From one-night stands to embarrassing high school reunions, Sanchez places his 20-somethings, a trio of chic, ambitious, unlucky-in-love (and often unoriginal) characters, in the most unbelievable though occasionally amusing circumstances. Clearly taking his cue from Candace Bushnell (Sex and the City) and Helen Fielding (of Bridget Jones fame), Sanchez's style is light and entertaining; the episodic nature of the novel may leave readers wondering whether a TV series is in the works.

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