Jennifer Johnson Is Sick of Being Single: A Novel

by Heather McElhatton

Overview

A wicked comedy about the perils of making your dreams come true

Quirky, clever, cubicle-bound Jennifer Johnson is desperate. Everyone around her is getting married, while she's still single and stuck writing ad copy about men's dress socks.

Her life hits crisis level, launching her into a humiliating and painfully hilarious quest to find Prince Charming at any cost. This includes agonizing online dates, diet-clinic cults, drag-queen fights, and a debilitating addiction to Cinnabon icing. When she meets handsome, wealthy Brad Keller, she wonders if he's the answer to all her dreams, or is he just too good to be true?

Darkly funny and outrageously honest, McElhatton's wit shines in this no-holds-barred cautionary tale about getting what you want—and how it can be the worst thing for you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061874413
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/19/2024
Series:	Jennifer Johnson Novels , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	739 KB

About the Author

Heather McElhatton produced the award-winning literary series Talking Volumes. Her commentaries have been heard on This American Life, Marketplace, Weekend America, Sound Money, and The Savvy Traveler. She lives in Key West with her pug, Walter.

Editorial Reviews

A heroine with Bridget Jones-like neuroses and klutziness learns the costs of scoring a glamorous life in McElhatton's delightful second novel (after Pretty Little Mistakes). Jennifer Johnson is a financially unstable copywriter toiling in the marketing department of Keller's, a family-run Minnesota department store. Jennifer learns her ex is engaged and is subjected to her younger sister's wedding preparations, horrid dates and a fire in her Hello Kitty-adorned apartment. Enter Brad Keller, the caddish heir to the Keller's department store fortune. Though at first she couldn't imagine that he'd ever be interested in her, soon enough they're dating, and a marriage proposal follows. Things, of course, aren't exactly as they appear, and Jennifer's eventually confronted with the classic dilemma: money or love. Jennifer's a wonderful narrator-honest, witty, self-deprecating and sharply observant-which more than redeems the story's familiar aspects (gay best friend, high maintenance sibling's pending nuptials, lame Internet dates). McElhatton blends just enough cynicism into the whimsical narrative, creating a fun romp through a woman's manifold insecurities. (May)

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Publishers Weekly

The second novel from the author of Pretty Little Mistakes (2007). Jennifer Johnson is 30. She's single and has a job writing advertising copy for a middling Minneapolis department store. She recently made the existentially significant shift from a size 10 to a size 12. Both her younger sister and her ex are getting married on Valentine's Day. Jennifer would like to be a real writer. She would like to kick her addiction to Cinnabon. More than anything, she would like to not be single. She's tried online dating. She's completely ignored the obvious affection of her sweet, attentive coworker Ted. Romantically speaking, she is utterly out of ideas. Then handsome department-store heir Brad Keller walks into her life. For reasons she cannot comprehend, he asks her out on a date, and she decides to make him her own-even if that means totally redefining who she is and what she wants out of life. Jennifer is self-absorbed to the point of being totally unpleasant and McElhatton has a tendency to lavish incredible detail upon material goods while completely ignoring emotional development-although the emphasis here is on Jennifer's kitschy decor rather than, say, Chloe jeans or Christian Louboutin pumps. Most of the novel is pretty much indistinguishable from other chick-lit fare. But, by the end, there's a spectacular-and problematic-shift away from the genre's conventions. Readers who love chick lit will almost certainly be dismayed, and readers who might appreciate McElhatton's ruthlessness are unlikely to pick up her book in the first place. An odd, flawed book with no obvious audience. Author appearances in New York and Minneapolis

Kirkus Reviews

This brash and funny novel plays with the form, with a dark, intelligent and wholly unexpected conclusion…Jennifer is uncomfortable, wickedly funny and ultimately likable….” — Minneapolis Star Tribune

From the Publisher

This brash and funny novel plays with the form, with a dark, intelligent and wholly unexpected conclusion…Jennifer is uncomfortable, wickedly funny and ultimately likable….

Minneapolis Star Tribune