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Portia Fallon is a wreck. While pining for her ex-boyfriend, Peter, who left her on Valentine’s Day, Portia has consumed countless bags of Cheetos and bottles of chardonnay. She’s watched Pride and Prejudice so many times that it could possibly be considered hazardous to her health. And her doctoral dissertation has been left to collect dust. She’s just starting to consider getting a cat or two to keep her company when her eccentric mother, Mags, calls and begs her to come home to Truly, Georgia, for the summer. She says it’s an emergency.
As it turns out, there is no emergency, but Mags’s plan works. Portia arrives in Truly, only to find that she’s been conned by the Miz Fallons: Portia’s batty mother, her Tarot card reading aunt, Vera, and her gruff grandmother, Bev. The gin-and-tonic-swilling Miz Fallons are infamous in Truly—not only for their family-run bookstore, the Page, but also for their uncanny ability to chase men away. The three live together and run the bookstore together, and they appear to have what Portia calls Penis Teflon—no matter what they do, they can’t get a man to stick.
The Miz Fallons had something very specific in mind when they decided to con Portia into visiting—a fling with Ian, the handsome British author who’s in town working on his latest book. They decide that it’s just what Portia needs to get over Peter. But just as Portia is beginning to fall for Ian, Mags invites Peter to town for a visit—and he arrives at Portia’s door with a diamond that promises to break the curse that’s plagued the Miz Fallons for generations.
Ex and the Single Girl has all the Southern charm of The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood—and all the wit and cynicism of Bridget Jones’s Diary. Portia is an undeniably likeable character. She’s neurotic and obsessive, and she’s just trying to make sense of her life (just like the rest of us). Anyone who’s ever pined over a relationship that ended—or one that never really began—will love her from the very first page. And the rest of the Miz Fallons, as a whole, are delightfully “barmy” (as Ian calls them). Their behavior will thoroughly amuse and baffle you—almost as much as they amuse and baffle Portia.
Once you pick up this book, you’ll have a hard time putting it down. It’s a quick and enjoyable read—one that I tore through in just a couple of days. And it’s as cool and refreshing as a gin-and-tonic on a warm Southern night.
