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Secrets to Happiness

3.13 of 5 stars 3.13 · rating details · 1,328 ratings · 330 reviews

Holly Frick has just endured the worst kind of breakup: the kind where you're still in love with the person leaving you. While her wounds are still dangerously close to the surface, her happily married best friend confesses over a bottle of wine that she is this close to having an affair. And another woman comes to Holly for advice about her love life--with Holly's ex!

Holl...more

Paperback, 304 pages

Published July 2nd 2010 by Back Bay Books (first published March 25th 2009)

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Jan 11, 2012 Danielle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

entertaining, but scattered and lacking in substance.

ms. dunn really needs to put more focus on character development and the climax. i could not understand what motivated these people to do what they did because each character was filled with fluff and nutella. that being said, i rarely understand people, yet find them amusing and enjoyable, so can't (won't) discount this book on that basis.

as for the climax....i'm still wondering where the WOW factor is? it was all so typical. where was the...more

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Jan 02, 2012 June rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Of course no one can resist a needy puppy, so this was a good ploy to humanize the protagonist, whose shallow, pointless life is rescued first by adopting a dog with brain cancer and then by adopting another puppy who has been left in the pound. Throw in some cute neglected dogs and everyone is happy (according to the old Hollywood adage)! Thus, this novel is full of cliches, both linguistically and in depiction of its of characters.

I lived in NYC and and know that not every woman believes that...more

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Jan 12, 2009 Anika rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just reviewed this novel. I didn't realize until after I read the whole thing that I had read her earlier novel, Big Love. This one has a similarly confused ex-evangelical main character. A love story, sort of. Chick lit, sort of. Drama, sort of. Comedy, sort of. Nice.

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Aug 16, 2008 Miriam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This made me laugh out loud. So it gets 5 stars.

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Jan 25, 2009 Kristi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I almost didn't finish the book because it was about a bunch of New Yorkers doing drugs and having casual sex and affairs, desperately dating people they actually despise based on superficial characteristics, and spending outrageous amounts of money on really stupid stuff.

However, it turns out it is a good story and a good bit of the book is about the protagonist, Holly Frick, and how she doesn't approve of the garbage. She even tells people she doesn't approve.

And the cover is adorable.

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Sep 18, 2012 Theresa rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction

If I could give this negative stars, I would. It only got one star because I managed to finish it. A group of hateful people ruin each other and themselves out of middle class boredom. That's basically my take on a terrible example of "chick lit." I'm really annoyed I read this. Maybe I'm missing some kind of humor the author intended, but I honestly came away from this book thinking Dunn is the biggest misogynist I've ever come across. Well, to be fair the male characters are equally atrocious....more

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Apr 10, 2012 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chicklit, dog

I am the WORST! This book was a splurge grab at the counter when I was checking out some other books and I only grabbed it because it had a dog on the cover. SO CUTE! But this book had pretty much nothing to do with a dog. It was mainly some Girl's relationship with Dudes and her best gal friend. Dog was a very very minor part. Thankgod I didn't buy this book for that reason otherwise I would have been majorly disappointed. I read something from this author when I was living in New Zealand, and...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Jess rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

I have heard numerous female authors complain about the fact that any book about a woman by a woman gets unfairly ghettoized into the "pink section" of the bookstore. Sarah Dunn's author protagonist complains about this very thing in this book, in fact. While I've never seen Dunn make this complaint directly about her own work, she's perhaps the "women's fiction" author whose complaints in this direction would be most justified. This oddly philosophical foray into the complicated relationships o...more

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Aug 17, 2009 Ariela rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Secrets to Happiness” revolves around the lives of several thirty and forty something New Yorkers whose lives are loosely connected through their friendship with the main character, a writer named Holly Frick. Holly’s husband left her even though she’s still in love with him, her novel “Hello, Mr. Heartache” was unsuccessful, and now she finds herself writing for a tween television show she despises. Needless to say, Holly is not a happy woman, and the other characters aren’t any better off. Ho...more “Secrets to Happiness” revolves around the lives of several thirty and forty something New Yorkers whose lives are loosely connected through their friendship with the main character, a writer named Holly Frick. Holly’s husband left her even though she’s still in love with him, her novel “Hello, Mr. Heartache” was unsuccessful, and now she finds herself writing for a tween television show she despises. Needless to say, Holly is not a happy woman, and the other characters aren’t any better off. Holly’s best friend, Amanda, is cheating on her husband because she feels lost in the abyss of new motherhood; Holly’s writing partner Leonard is wallowing in self-pity because he’s gambled away a fortune, and is lonely… and oh yes, likes to snort his medications. Then there’s Holly’s ex-boyfriend, Spence, who can’t help but cheat on every woman he’s with, and Holly acquaintance, Betsy, whose career is at a dead-end and who finds herself fooling around with men she hardly likes. The one bright spot in this ensemble is that Holly is having an affair with Betsy’s twenty something younger brother. That is, until she drops him in favor of Amanda’s lover.

I have mixed feelings about “Secrets to Happiness.” The book brings us into the lives of everyday people looking for happiness, yet completely clueless about what happiness means to them or where to find it. Amanda decides having an affair with a handsome Buddhist is the thing, while Holly decides to rescue a dog from the pound even though the poor thing has brain cancer. Two very different actions, but at the center of each is a woman who is deeply lonely and searching for something to give her life meaning. Overall, I appreciated the author’s ability to capture the characters’ ambivalence while simultaneously weaving their stories together.

“Secrets to Happiness” gets off to a slow start. It isn’t until about 1/3 into the book that Holly’s personality becomes more tangible and you begin to see how all these random stories about people in New York fit together. Once that happens the novel becomes much more interesting, though I couldn’t shake the sense that it wasn’t going anywhere. In the end each character does find their own measure of happiness, but their resolutions are bittersweet – compromises between what they wanted in life, and what they ended up getting. Holly’s story is left largely unresolved, though she does have another broken heart story to write about, and yes, there are hints of romance on the horizon. In this sense the title of the book is somewhat perplexing. There was no definite moment where the author seemed to say “Here, here is the secret to happiness!” Maybe that’s because she doesn’t know any more than the rest of us do.(less)

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Jun 29, 2009 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

Though I thought this book would be a fairly typical example of the chick-lit genre, I was pleased to discover it was much edgier and funnier than expected. Holly is not your typical heroine, and can in fact be quite annoying at times. Her interactions with the dog Chester unexpectedly make her much more a character than a characterization, and make this novel stronger. Best friend Amanda is easy to dislike, and though I thought her actions could have been more fully fleshed out while the story...more

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Jun 10, 2009 Hilarie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Sarah Dunn is a truly talented writer. Her writing is witty, lively, and flows beautifully. However, for me, Secrets to Happiness wasn't the book to showcase that talent. In fairness, let me start off by saying that I am probably outside of the target demographic of this book. I am a fairly conservative, career woman turned stay-at-home mother, who is totally devoted to my husband and children. The characters in this novel would likely describe me as a naive optimist.

The central character of the...more Sarah Dunn is a truly talented writer. Her writing is witty, lively, and flows beautifully. However, for me, Secrets to Happiness wasn't the book to showcase that talent. In fairness, let me start off by saying that I am probably outside of the target demographic of this book. I am a fairly conservative, career woman turned stay-at-home mother, who is totally devoted to my husband and children. The characters in this novel would likely describe me as a naive optimist.

The central character of the novel is Holly Frick, a recently divorced writer on the downward slope of her career, who has been anything but lucky in love. Holly lives, works, and plays in New York city. In general, Holly is a bit at a loss as to how to find happiness in her life. It turns out that most of her close friends, including her best friend Amanda, haven't figured that out either; despite appearances to the contrary. Secrets to Happiness presents us with a host of characters, and their search to find fulfillment.

Initially, I really enjoyed this book for the first few chapters in which the author introduced Holly, and some of her history. However, a few pages more had me wondering why Holly would choose to spend time with many of the other characters, especially her best friend Amanda. I found the majority of the characters in this book to be self-centered egoists who treated Holly as a quaint little country girl because she sometimes voiced a moral qualm with regards to the consequences of destructive behavior, like adultery. The character of Amanda particularly had me wanting to hurl the book out of the window. I think it was partly because I was still enjoying the post-reading high from Everyone is Beautiful, and suddenly, here was a character who drugged her infant with Benadryl so that she could enjoy uninterrupted sexual fantasies about a man she met at a park.

I am giving this book two stars because I really mean it when I say that Dunn impressed me with her ability to turn a phrase. As much as I disliked this novel, I still found myself wishing I could write like she does.
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May 22, 2009 christa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not sure why I thought a book about a single woman writer living in Manhattan wouldn't be chick lit, since most chick lit begins with those very same ingredients. It's kind of like taking ground beef, adding orange powder, serving it in a hard shell and saying "But it's not a taco."

But in Jancy Willett's review of "Secrets of Happiness" in the NYT's Book Review, she says point blank: " ["Secrets of Happiness":] was definitely not written just for women, no matter how it’s packaged. True, the...more I'm not sure why I thought a book about a single woman writer living in Manhattan wouldn't be chick lit, since most chick lit begins with those very same ingredients. It's kind of like taking ground beef, adding orange powder, serving it in a hard shell and saying "But it's not a taco."

But in Jancy Willett's review of "Secrets of Happiness" in the NYT's Book Review, she says point blank: " ["Secrets of Happiness":] was definitely not written just for women, no matter how it’s packaged. True, the protagonist is female, the setting is Manhattan, and the focus is on relationships — and there’s a big shopping scene. True, mostly women will read it. But then women are the ones mostly reading everything. Besides, it’s not about shoes. And the shopping is for books, at the Strand. Also, unlike chick lit, chick TV and chick movies, “Secrets to Happiness” is actually funny.

And I believed her because she writes for the NYT's Book Review, which means that reputable writerly people accept e-mails from her, and they probably wouldn't call security if she walked into their office.

Granted, I wasn't expecting "The Great Gatsby," but the cover suggested at least Tom Perrotta, so I bought it.

Holly is a recently divorced 30-something TV writer, one-time novelist living in New York. She has recently begun a no-strings-attached relationship with the 22-year-old younger brother of her friend. She adopts a dog with a brain tumor. Her best friend is in the early stages of consummating an affair with a hamburger-eating Buddhist. Holly's exboyfriend -- the one who is a barely disguised character in her only novel -- has recently been busted cheating on his long-distance girlfriend, and said long-distance girlfriend calls Holly to flesh out the situation. Holly's friend Betsy keeps hearing she is too old for a) her job; b) men in her age group.

The short chapters star different voices from the handful of characters, and by different voices I mean the same voice with a different name or gender and a lack of depth. Each is sorta droll and sorta neurotic, and the scenes are like episodes from a collection of " ... guess what happened to me ... " stories. The least-interesting character is, ironically, Holly. I laughed twice, once at a joke about what kind of a person rapes people at 7 a.m. ["I mean, who's in the mood to rape another person at that time of day?" said Holly. "I can barely put my contact lenses in.":]

Um, Jincy? I'm not sure what Devil-Wears-Prada-Lipstick-Jungle-Bitter-Is-The-New-Black books you've been reading, but this is chick lit.

So. What's wrong with chick lit? In this case it's lazy, cliche-laden drivel that is actually insulting. When a male character lands a blind date with a heavy-set woman, he immediately checks out for the duration of the date and gets drunk. When he touches her shoulder, it is like "grabbing a deboned chicken carcass." While furthering his role as the asshole of the novel, the intrinsic autobiographic nature of most chick lit leads me to believe that on some level, the author is an asshole, too. Meanwhile, Betsy is repeatedly asked out by a chunky dude who works at her gym. She finally agrees to go out with him, and in the course of the date decides that she guesses it is okay to like him even though he is fat. And this is written as though it is a moment of growth.

Largely, I think that chick lit is written by women who don't like men or women very much. Saying this probably makes me sound like someone you don't want to invite to a party, but I assure you I'm fun.

I prefer to not read it because it isn't satisfying to me. Which is weird, because I've never seen a Lifetime Original Movie that I didn't love.

NOTE: Full disclosure, I loved "Bridget Jones' Diary."(less)

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Feb 13, 2013 Mónica Silva rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Opinião no blog http://howtoliveathousandlives.blogsp...

Esta é uma leitura leve, despretensiosa, mas que considerei demasiado pobre em conteúdo para me cativar. Mostra-nos um conjunto de indivíduos, cada um com um complexo diferente, desde medo de compromissos, a infidelidades consecutivas, passando por neuroses, isolamento e vidas desperdiçadas. Ao fim de alguns capítulos, todo este disfuncionalismo acaba por ser repetitivo e maçador.

Apesar de perceber a intenção da autora em criar personagens...more

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Jun 17, 2009 Cindi rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Holly was one of the most annoying characters I've ever read about. She was, however, very much of the opinion that one should always do the morally right thing - even tho her "friends" repeatedly told her that her "hypocrisy" was what drove them away from her (certainly it wasn't their affairs while they were dating or married to her, or even her best friend's fault when she decided to elope with Holly's current boyfriend). I was really quite flabergasted because I hear the author loud and clea...more

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Apr 08, 2011 Khaya rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: chicklit, should-ve-been-shorter

Okay -- before I rip this book, I will say some positive things. I give the author credit for trying to write a chick lit book that transcends the genre by having some depth and asking some philosophical questions. Holly, the main character, is from a religious Christian background (though she is not currently affiliated) and frequently contemplates the morality of her Manhattan friends' happiness-seeking behavior, not to mention the elusive nature of the happiness they pursue. Her friends gentl...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Alexandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I LOVED this book. Simply adored everything about it, even the parts I didn't like, if that makes sense. At first, while reading the book, I thought that the cover was a little misleading. It seemed like one of those covers you find on those "feel good" books about women in their mid-thirties who find themselves and then find the perfect man, getting involved with all kinds of cheesy, kooky antics along the way. (This book is nothing like that.) But then, after I finished the book, I realized th...more I LOVED this book. Simply adored everything about it, even the parts I didn't like, if that makes sense. At first, while reading the book, I thought that the cover was a little misleading. It seemed like one of those covers you find on those "feel good" books about women in their mid-thirties who find themselves and then find the perfect man, getting involved with all kinds of cheesy, kooky antics along the way. (This book is nothing like that.) But then, after I finished the book, I realized the cover fit perfectly. It was flawless really.

Secrets to Happiness involved a few different key characters, the main one being Holly Frick: a recently divorced author of a novel that didn't really do so hot. (Although that doesn't really do her justice. She is very smart and reasonable and righteous.) There is also Leonard, her gay writer friend; Spence, her a-hole ex boyfriend; Amanda, her married with a new baby friend, and a few others that weren't featured as prominently. They all live in New York and are looking for happiness, as the title suggests. Secrets to Happiness is kind of all about the way we go about looking for happiness, if we deserve it, if we follow a path or if everything is just fate. Things like that. I was actually surprised because in the beginning of the book it's all sex and drugs and more illicit sex and then it gets spiritual and then wham bam thank you m'am, it's God. It was like hmmm..I see what ya did there Sarah Dunn...

The book wasn't at all preachy or in your face. At least I didn't think so. It gave you lots of interesting things to think about. What I love about Sarah Dunn's writing is that it's so spot on.
She gets it. Things that were in this book were things I have thought about quite frequently. And probably they are things that everyone thinks about but maybe they don't talk about. It's hard to explain. But every single word in this book is true and accurate and..what I mean to say is, Sarah Dunn is phenomenal at describing things, particularly philosopical musings and thoughts that run through people's minds. It's amazing to me because, I get stuff, but I could never put it into words like she does. I loved this book.

I look so forward to reading her first novel, The Big Love.
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Aug 06, 2010 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Purportedly about a woman recovering from a divorce and a dog she adopts. I don't read too much "chick lit" and normally that description would not be enough to make me pick up the book. However, I really liked the author's prior book and she has a great voice - smart, funny (in a dry sort of way), never cliche. The same can be said for this book. She has a fabulous sense of humor and writes in unexpected ways. That said, the book was okay-to-good for me, not great. First of all, it's only a lit...more

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Mar 27, 2011 Jane rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well, I've just read Room and Never Let Me Go, two pretty intense books. I picked this one up from the library because I like that "Happiness" is in the title and I needed a break from abuse/rape/genocide. It was funny. I laughed more than most of the people who reviewed this book. I loved the dogs in the book. The protagonist, Holly, was sort of pathetic, but in an "I've felt this sorry for myself," kind of way. The cover on my book isn't half so wonderful as the cover on the copy that arose wh...more

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Jul 19, 2009 Christin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Secrets to Happiness proved to be the ideal read for my flight to Ireland. It was breezy, entertaining, and also very funny. I also enjoyed the meta observations on the perils of writing chick lit. It was not overly predictable, which is a mark of Dunn's talent without sacrificing readability. However, I found it extremely lazy that she would often indicate pregnant pauses with "--" rather than make the effort of explicating them. I am a stickler for words, words, words whenever possible. I fi...more

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Jun 09, 2009 Serena rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"A lot of life, it seemed to Holly, was turning out to be just like that. You keep walking, and you keep breathing, and then one day you notice, again, the feel of the wind on your cheek." (Page 275)

Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn focuses on the life of Holly Frick and each of the people she effects with her decisions and how their decisions impact her life in a gigantic web. From Holly's ex-boyfriend Spence Samuelson to Betsy Silverstein and her friends Amanda and Mark to her screenwriter/pa...more "A lot of life, it seemed to Holly, was turning out to be just like that. You keep walking, and you keep breathing, and then one day you notice, again, the feel of the wind on your cheek." (Page 275)

Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn focuses on the life of Holly Frick and each of the people she effects with her decisions and how their decisions impact her life in a gigantic web. From Holly's ex-boyfriend Spence Samuelson to Betsy Silverstein and her friends Amanda and Mark to her screenwriter/partner Leonard. Each of these characters is dissatisfied with their current lives and is seeking happiness and contentment in their lives.

"It was probably, primarily, mostly, the chemical hair straightening. Leonard had spent four hundred dollars to get his hair straightened with the new Brazilian hair-straightening chemical, and now it clung to his head like a wet washcloth and then spiked out at the ends down at the top of his neck, which was huge, due to the steroids he got from a pharmacist who ran an underground steroid ring out of his fourth-floor walk-up on Christopher Street." (Page 25)

Dunn has a great talent for description and character development. Secrets to Happiness delves into the various situations, emotions, friends, careers, and other elements in people's lives that they believe make them happy. Each of these characters experiences turns their preconceived notions upside down, leaving Holly, Spence, Betsy, and Amanda to make pivotal decisions.

"'I don't tell Betsy about my personal life.'

'Good. You know what? Don't tell anybody. Let's just keep this our little secret,' said Holly. 'And now I even sound like a child molester.'

'That's straight out of the handbook.'

'Page eleven,' said Holly. 'Right after the part where I lure you back into the back of my van with a box of kittens.'" (Page 21)

Overall, Secrets to Happiness reads well with a modicum of interruption from narratives that scope farther back into the lives of the characters. While some of these narrative, which mirror background checks for the characters, are well written, readers could find that they are distracting and unnecessary. Dunn is a talented women's fiction writer with a flare for dramatic and unconventional characters, and her ability to dig beneath the surface of these professional New Yorkers is uncanny.(less)

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Sep 05, 2010 Elaina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Another good book for a plane ride.

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Jun 26, 2011 QueenAmidala28 rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 19, 2009 Esme Pie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

I don't have a "chick lit" shelf because I don't read much of it. But sometimes, it's just what the librarian ordered. AND best librarian ever, Nancy Pearl, recommended this author. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Dunn is a very funny writer--some of her observations were so right on, you could imagine them being said by a stand-up comedienne, but they don't read as wise cracks, or as being inserted frivolously because the author knows how funny she is. Thoroughly likable...more

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Apr 13, 2011 Swissmiss rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a highly entertaining peek into the lives of several more-or-less neurotic New Yorkers looking for love. I very much enjoyed the dialogue and the characters. It read a lot like a rom-com movie.

The only drawback for me was that although one character, Holly, seems to be the lead character, about half of the chapters were from the point of view of other characters, some of whom had little or nothing to do with Holly. I kept waiting for the story lines to pull together, but they never did...more

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Jun 19, 2009 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was a total treat to read. Seriously, my husband had to leave the room, because I had to stop quite often in order to read him a passage. When something is that good, I have to share. I would compare this work to one of my all time favorites "Heartburn" by Nora Ephron, because like Heartburn, it had moments that just cracked me up and were completely impossible to not share. Also I totally could not put this book down! Sarah Dunn has an absolute powerful way of bringing her characters...more This book was a total treat to read. Seriously, my husband had to leave the room, because I had to stop quite often in order to read him a passage. When something is that good, I have to share. I would compare this work to one of my all time favorites "Heartburn" by Nora Ephron, because like Heartburn, it had moments that just cracked me up and were completely impossible to not share. Also I totally could not put this book down! Sarah Dunn has an absolute powerful way of bringing her characters to life in a way that is almost beyond belief. They live and breathe and cause feelings of love and hate.

I enjoyed how the story centered on Holly Frick but also gave us smaller stories to enjoy along the way in the lives of those who were close to Holly. There were little lessons on lives in each and every one. Choices were made throughout this book, and many of them I didn't agree with and neither did Holly, but I am surrounded by that in my own life, and that is what made this story real.

In order to totally avoid spoilers, I am going to keep certain things out of this review and throw myself into a discussion group somewhere, because this is definitely a book you want to share.

Here is what I loved: Each and every character was REAL. Sometimes so real that you wanted to hit them. I loved how Holly had moments where she was faced with her friends failings and expected them to do the right thing. I loved how Holly herself had to make some decisions that were right even though they were painful.

Here is what I didn't like: I felt like Holly did and wanted people to behave in the way that was appropriate. Of course that is just not the way life is always going to be. You can only control yourself, and you have to let that be enough. So really I liked that too. That is what is good about this book. You are not going to like some of the decisions that are made, but it is true to life.

Honestly, I loved this book. This book is a keeper and it is a book I will share. Mind you, I will have my address label inside this book, because I want it back. (less)

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Mar 10, 2012 Abeer Hoque rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not often led astray by VSL (Very Short List) but their book recommendation one month was "Secrets to Happiness" by Sarah Dunn and it wasn't up to scratch. Ms. Dunn's writing is often clever and funny, and her characters straight out of a Sex and the City episode (so they're entertaining at least). The heroine, Holly, is a failed writer and ex-wife in NYC, and nursing her wounds from both. Friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and past/present lovers make appearances, sometimes taking over the...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Pamela Pickering rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: can-t-recommend

So many things missed the mark for me with this book. The most obvious: when the cover of a book has only a picture of dog you expect the dog to have a decent role in the story but nope, not this one. The dog is hardly mentioned as far as it affects the supposed lead character (Holly). Speaking of lead characters, there really isn't one even though the book jacket leads you to believe there is one. There are only several poorly developed, self-absorbed thirty-somethings who are trying to find lo...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Stefanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

This book was so strange.

I had a somewhat difficult time keeping up with the different characters and how they all fit into each other's lives. That made the reading a bit clunky to me. Perhaps others who can either a.) keep better track of which one belongs to which family and is dating/married to which person's brother, etc. or b.) just not give a crap about how they all connect would find it easier.

Another thing I found odd/strange about the book is how the author would block different thing...more

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Feb 26, 2012 KJ Luepke rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 50-books-a-year-2012

Warning: this review is a study in overkill of the word, "enough": I actually really enjoyed this book. It moves fast and there are enough characters that you are curious as to what happens to so-and-so by the time you start to tire of the story line of another character. It's 'hip' enough that you feel like you are reading about another lifestyle (NYC minus a lot of the godawful Sex and the City sludge) but some of the characters are 'normal' enough that you can somewhat relate to them. Some of...more

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Sep 06, 2009 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As I first started reading this book I thought the writing was funny and clever. In fact, I laughed out loud a few times which is unusual for me when I am reading a book. But by about page 100 I started to get weary of the whining and lack of integrity of most of the characters. The protagonist Holly, I found especially annoying and it's hard to read a book when you find the lead character annoying. It finished nicely and redeemed itself somewhat- Enough that I am curious to read the author's fi...more

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About Sarah Dunn

Sarah Dunn (born 1970) is an American author and television writer. She was educated in the University of Arizona.

Coming to prominence in 1994 with her book Official Slacker Handbook, Sarah Dunn went to Hollywood, where she wrote for such series as Murphy Brown, Veronica's Closet and Spin City.

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Quotes from Secrets to Happiness

“Ordinarily, I am the person who falls in love quickly and somewhat inappropriately and then goes on to destroy what is a good thing. That's always been my style. So, you know: I get it. And I feel right now the way I imagine all those guys felt with me. And I have to say, for the first time in my life, I feel something approaching compassion for them.” — 45 people liked it

“You've got to let people be just, you know, people. Everyone does bad things sometimes, for all sorts of reasons. You've got to at least understand.” — 21 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8049519-secrets-to-happiness?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344267457l/8049519.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8049519-secrets-to-happiness?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn[/url]

Secrets to Happiness

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