Jennifer O’Connell goes inside the semi-fabulous world of reality television dating shows through the eyes of an undercover journalist in her new book ‘Bachelorette #1.’ Sarah Divine Holmes is a suburban wife, mother and free-lance writer in her mid-30s who long ago traded in stilettos and highlighted hair for sweatpants and Gymboree playdates. Her story has television movie written all over it: Sarah is approached by the aptly named Femme magazine to go undercover as a contestant on a dating show called ‘The Stag’ and write a revealing behind-the-scenes article about the female contestants and the man chosen to meet his wife on national television. Sarah is reluctant then intrigued by all the glamour involved. After a whirlwind makeover and a push-up bra courtesy of her hip boss (Suzanne, whose character screams Bebe Neuwirth), Sarah is able to beat out a gaggle of younger women for a chance to be a ‘hen’ one of the women clucking for the affections of the Stag.
Whisked off to California, Sarah misses her husband and baby daughter but becomes easily accustomed to her new rich lifestyle in a grand hotel. Her fellow hens represent a myriad of characters and add a healthy dose of energy to the story. The catty, back-stabbing bimbo clichés exist, just as Sarah expected, but many of the women are perfectly normal, albeit cynical, unlucky in love or all of the above. And, to her shock, Sarah finds herself attracted to the Stag himself, an Ivy-Leaguer from a family of old money.
Sarah’s character is the best developed she is neither all good nor all bad. The reader can see her as a real person with actual flaws as she honestly questions her life choices while pretending to be someone she is not. At times it reads like an early midlife crisis, as Sarah compares wedded bliss and babies to a world of cameras, beautiful people and hot tub rendezvous. It is a bit unbelievable, however, that a woman of her age would be so easily seduced by the pseudo-glamour of a reality television show.
‘Bachelorette #1’ is best described as a bubblegum novel that you want to hate for its lack of depth and yet, you’ll be able to read it all in one night with immense amounts of guilty pleasure. The story and characters are well written and descriptive, but not entirely original or unpredictable at times, it reads like a glorified ‘Baby-Sitters’ Club Post-Grad School.’ Luckily, ‘Bachelorette #1’ is supposed to be cute and engaging and it delivers (especially for fans of reality TV shows like ‘The Bachelor’). The ‘candle ceremony,’ the hot tub, the desperate-looking women and the smarmy host all bear a frightening resemblance to the ABC primetime hit.
A sweet and charming story, ‘Bachelorette #1’ falls perfectly into the long list of books featuring women and dating that have boomed since ‘Sex and the City’ and Bridget Jones’s Diary. And if the likes of Trista, Ryan and anything Firestone dominate your primetime, this is a must-read.
