Any Moore? No thanks

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I have just finished reading dot.homme by Jane Moore.  As I wrote previously, I read this as a friend thought it was of a similar theme to the book I've just written.  And it is, kind of.  My novel is about a woman in her 30s who has trouble in finding decent men, so she signs up to an internet dating site.  Moore's novel is about a woman in her 30s who has trouble finding decent men, so her friends sign her up to an internet dating site.  And that's about as far as it goes on the similarity front.

Without giving too much away, the story starts off with Jess waiting outside somewhere to meet one of the internet men.  She sees him and approaches him but he denies being who she knows he is.  After a few moments he basically tells her that she looks nothing like her photo and she's uglier in real life than her photos.  It's here that I feel really sorry for her, and I'm sure you would to.  The thought that someone could be so cruel on a first meeting.  I appreciate his honesty, but only as an observer.  I doubt I'd be as appreciative if that actually happened to me.  Then … then … further on in the book, Jess arranges to meet an internet man somewhere.  She stands outside the rendez-vous point and sees a man who looks like the man she’s supposed to be meeting, but she doesn't like his appearance.  He sees her and approaches her but she denies being who he knows she is.  She pretends to be her sister and leaves the man standing and waiting for someone who is never going to turn up.

So now I don’t care about Jess.  I didn’t particularly like her that much at the beginning of the book, but now I think that she deserves all she gets from now on.  So yadda yadda yadda, she meets people, goes on dates, does some other stuff, and [SPOILER ALERT] she eventually meets a nice guy.

I don’t mind a happy ending, but it’s the vomit inducing, almost holier than thou, moral, advice-like page of garbage that sits smack bang in the middle of the happy ending that I do mind.  Jess turns to face us, the reader, and says “… there’s no shame in searching for Mr Right online, it’s simply the modern way of doing things.  We live in a fast-moving, soundbite society, and it’s a way for busy people to cut through the crap and specify from the outset what they want from a relationship.  So, if you’re in a happy one, count yourself lucky and never stop working at it.  If not, get online and start searching!”

Possibly this is Moore’s voice taking over for a moment, but I wish she’d keep quiet!

I doubt I'll read any of her other books, but I don't feel like I've wasted time reading this one.  It just makes me realise how much better my book is.