Sex, Lies, And Online Dating (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
I'm thinking that maybe Sex, Lies, and Online Dating should receive even less than 3 stars, but after reading two previous Gibson books that I absolutely adored (they were my first of hers and total hits: It Must Be Love and See Jane Score) I'm reluctant to give a worse rating.The writing was good I guess, though Gibson sometimes cuts up her sentences very oddly and one feels like a period was put in one place when it should have been a few words earlier or later. On the plus side, Lucy's female-writing posse (who are all heroines of their own book - stories TBR) was interesting and provided several funny and lighthearted moments - especially Maddie, she was a riot and I'm looking forward to reading her book! Also, she writes in some good red herrings.CRITICISMFor me, the book had two major problems that I just could not get over and that were tied to one another in that they both have to do with the fact that Lucy and Quinn start off their relationship by "lying" to one another - I put lying in quotations only because although it's 100% accurate, they are both using covers for valid professional reasons. But still, it makes the love story and how it plays out completely implausible for me.(1) Quinn thinks Lucy is a serial killer ... and he keeps on thinking she's a serial killer because everything keeps pointing in her direction ... yet he likes her. Ummm, so that's fine, but let's be upfront here: he obviously is just lusting after her and likes her body, because if he's liking her for her mind or her personality ... well that's just sketchy, since in his eyes she's a raving lunatic sociopath who goes out killing men through erotic asphyxiation.(2) Lucy falls in love with Quinn WAAAAY too early - and page-wise it may have been a tad on the soon side, but still could have worked, however story-wise: no way. First of all, she doesn't even know the guy - he's still pretending to be a widower plumber and is lying to her practically nonstop - and second of all ... well, again, they just don't know each other (can't be said enough - it's all physical, nothing else)! He thinks she's a serial killer for god's sakes - it's not like they've had any great philosophical or even just everyday serious discussions, he's just trying to get her to sleep with him so she'll try to kill him. Call it lust, but don't call it love, because that just doesn't ring true.WRITER FRIENDS SERIES1) Sex, Lies, and Online Dating - Lucy Rotschild and Quinn McIntyre2) I'm In No Mood For Love - Clare Wingate and Sebastian Vaughan3) Tangled Up In You - Maddie Dupree and Mick Hennessy4) Not Another Bad Date - Adele Harris and Zach ZemaitisBOTTOM LINERead It Must Be Love, See Jane Score, or Truly Madly Yours instead. Those are all by Rachel Gibson and much better than Sex, Lies, and Online Dating. Also, if you like See Jane Score, you'll probably love Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
HAHA! Sex, Lies, and Online Dating definitely put a smile on my face this Saturday! Just goes to show that honesty is the best policy! Lucy is a murder mystery writer and she uses online dating programs to go on "dates" to do research for her books. Basically, she takes down mental notes on the people and then she "kills them off"... In her book of course! But she doesn't realize that some crazy woman is using her books as an instruction manual and committing real crimes! Now Quinn is a cop who went undercover trying to catch "Breathless" as our murderer became known. He also used online dating to catch this killer and would go on "dates" to try to rule out suspects...Do you see where I am going with this? Lucy and Quinn meet on a "date", not telling the other that they are using each other for ulterior motives. But what is something else unexpected happens?...Rachel Gibson is a goddess for fun flirty reading with an edge of suspense in the mix. Not to mention she has great taste in man description. YUMMMM! However, Rachel, what is the deal with the crappy names of our hunks?!?! Loved the description for Mr. Hunktackular, but Quinn? Really? The whole time I was conjuring up an image, I couldn't help but think of Dr. Quinn every time I read his name. No matter, I will always be a Rachel Gibson fan and moving on to the next book in the Writer Series.
What do You think about Sex, Lies, And Online Dating (2006)?
The book had some potential. The title was intriguing, so - could be - the plot, but unfortunately, it totally failed both at suspence and at romance. The language was bland, the romance was sudden and without any reasons to it (sorry, I'm not really into love at first sight "just because", but some writers just manage to pull it off - this was not the case however), as for the suspense... There just wasn't much of it. Which is a real shame, because the idea - if not new - still was quite good.Definitely would not recommend this book to my friends. Or even enemies.
—Anna
The premise is fun and I liked both the main characters. I especially enjoyed the fact that the writer included a friendship between four female writers in the story, though I would have preferred to see more of it. At times, it felt as though those characters were there so the writer would have characters to write more books about later on. Mentioning them more throughout the story might have made those friendships feel more organic.The part of the book that fails for me is the mystery. The writer introduced two characters out of the blue and then barely referenced them again for the rest of the book, making it clear that they were only introduced so that one of them could turn out to be the murderer. This isn't a case where the mystery was easy to solve because of clues and foreshadowing. It was easy to solve because the murderer was poorly integrated with the plot. Not to mention that those two characters introduced out of the blue are given so little personality that you don't find yourself caring which of them is the murderer. They could be the same person for as far as I cared.Overall, it's a fun read, but it could have been better.
—Emm Roy
This is the first book in Gibson series about 4 friends who are successful writers in different genres and while I enjoyed her funny lines, fast paced writing style and nice characters I couldn't overcome the fact that the plot was a bit of a letdown for me.Lucy is a writer. She writes thrillers and is currently researching a new story about a killer who chooses his victims online so she sets up a few dates through an online dating site. Quinn is a police officer investigating a series of crimes where the victims also used an online dating site and as far as he can tell Lucy has the right profile and has dated all the victims so he sets up a date with her to see if she is the real killer.They both pretend to be someone else and Quinn discovers very quickly that Lucy is not the nurse she pretended to be which only helps him get the wrong idea about her. I think my main problem with the story was that Quinn is determined to woo Lucy on false pretenses. Not only that but you can see that she is a nice girl and that she doesn't want to get hurt and tries to avoid him but eventually falls for it. Now it could be said that Quinn also falls for her but what kind of sympathy can I have for him when he lets himself be wired so his colleagues can hear their dialogue and then proceeds to make love to her? Sorry, this just didn't work for me and I felt he should have stayed in the dog house a lot longer than he did.While Lucy is mad at him and rightfully so, the killer starts sending her letters and so they have to work together to discover who the real killers is and avoid a new murder. If this plot won’t be a problem for you then I am sure you'll enjoy this book as I did several of the previous Gibson books that I've read. The heroine and situations are funny and enjoyable but I just couldn't get over my dislike of the whole plot situation.Grade: 3.5/5
—Ana T.
