Not the Girl You Marry

Christopher (One Night in South Beach) paints by numbers with this crass take on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Hannah Mayfield is a superstar sporting events planner who dreams of being vice president of her company. Dating men who were uncomfortable with her biracial heritage and unfiltered opinions has soured her hopes for love, so she immerses herself in work. Then her boss pushes her to demonstrate her range and expand into planning gloriously romantic weddings, which means fixing her reputation as a cynic. Reporter Jack Nolan is the perfect gentleman who has bent over backwards for each of the women he’s loved but can’t get one to stick around. Determined to put himself first for a change, he agrees to do one last fluff piece on surefire ways to get a woman to dump you, after which he’ll get the tough political reporting job he’s always wanted. Hannah figures she can date Jack just long enough for her boss to believe she’s capable of romantic emotions; Jack wants her to dump him so he’ll have article fodder. Nothing goes as planned, but their story holds few surprises other than the abundant sexual references. This rom-com will appeal to readers who want a fairy tale ending and don’t much care how they get there. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary. (Nov.)