Arranged, by Catherine McKenzie

Wow. I really LOVED Spin, by Catherine McKenzie, so was excited to read Arranged, but gosh, it read like it was written by a different person.
The protagonist, named Anne Blythe (over the top, no?) is so desperate to be in a relationship that she pays $10,000 to an arranged marriage service.
This book just made me depressed. Without spoiling the "plot" for other readers, this just painted Anne as a sad and lonely and rather pathetic woman unable to live without a partner.
I thought women had come along way, baby, but you'd never know it from reading this.
I felt insulted as a woman and a reader by just about everything in this book, and am profoundly disappointed, as after reading Spin, I had thought I'd found a fun, new writer writing about realistic women, but I just have to say, read Marian Keyes instead.     

Spin, by Catherine McKenzie

When Kate has an interview for her dream job as a music writer, she knows she should have a good early night and be fresh and ready for her interview in the morning, but instead, she ends up getting horribly drunk- so drunk that not only is she late to her interview, but she gets sick during it.

She doesn't expect to hear from them again.

When she does, though, the magazing offers to send her to rehab- if she will use the time to spy on and report about troubled starlet Amber Shepperd at the expensive, exclusive facility.

This was so well done as Kate begins to realize she did have a problem, and as she opens up to herself and the other people at rehab, she and Amber become friends, and Kate has to question all the decisions she's made to get to this point.

Well written, funny in parts, and surprisingly and impressively thought-provoking, this is a great read.