I read this book shortly after it first came out and I didn't like the book itself very much but that didn't mean that I couldn't relate to it. So let me explain...

Why I didn't like it:
-Tracey has really, really low self-confidence and self-esteem! A lot of women can probably relate to this, but I was tired of reading about how unattractive she thought she was.
-She was totally dependent on men for happiness which is pretty pathetic.
-She doesn't seem to have any personal goals or plans or desire to improve herself. Her entire focus seems to be on being thin and having a hot guy.
-I thought this was just a really bad way to portray women overall. We get enough of this in the media -- why is Markham trying to tell us that we should be like this, too?
-I didn't really like the ending. It was weak.

What I liked about the book:
-I could certainly relate to aspects of it personally because we (women) all doubt ourselves sometimes. I think we all feel "fat" sometimes and most of us do long for love in a way that can be pathetic at times. But I don't think the majority of us are quite as dependent and pathetic as Tracey.
-I saw SO much of Tracey's character in my best-friend-at-the-time and reading the book helped her to see how totally needy and pathetic she was being. At the time, she was SO hung up on a guy and had low self-confidence/high levels of doubt about herself as a result of it. I could never quite get through to her in terms of showing her that she was being way too hard on herself and deserved better and it wasn't until I told her to read this book that she started to see herself more clearly. So, in a way I am grateful to Markham for portraying a character like this because it helped my friend become not-like-this after some self-reflection.

For me the negatives outweigh the positives so I wouldn't recommend Slightly Single because it's uninspiring and does show women as the weaker sex.