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Good Girls Gone Bad
Janey Febre is obsessed with her old boyfriend and decides to get some help, but when her new friends from the support group suggest a plot to get back at her ex, she finds herself neck deep in trouble. By the author of Hunger Point. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.
304 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2002
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358 people want to read
About the author
Jillian Medoff
7 books423 followersJillian Medoff is the acclaimed author of WHEN WE WERE BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL (out 8/2), THIS COULD HURT, I COULDN'T LOVE YOU MORE (national bestseller), GOOD GIRLS GONE BAD, and HUNGER POINT, which was made into an original Lifetime movie.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
February 26, 2020
"We're both actuaries, which means we create mathematical models to calculate how much a finger is worth if it's cut off on a meat slicer".
Good Girls Gone Bad (Hardcover)
by Jillian Medoff
Does anyone remember Women's consciousness raising groups? Way back when, they were all the rage. My mom actually ran one. And I was but a little tot but oh how I wanted to join one!
Well this book is about such a group. Here we get a marvelous cast of wacky, wild and wonderful ladies all with an issue (or two or three!) and when they are all thrown together..the only result can be good girls gone bad!
This book was such a fun read. I have read another book from this writer called "I couldn't love you more" which I liked better but I liked this too. It is just so different. AND it brought back my yearning desire to be part of a consciousness raising group myself.
Unfortunetly these particular women get way more then they bargained for. I am not so sure their consciousness was raised. I think it kind of got thrown out along the way.
Good Girls also strongly reminded me of Olivia Goldsmith's The First Wives Club , a book I really did and do love. I was laughing alot with this book as we get to know all the various conscious raising attendees.
SPOILERS:
I did not like the dark turn it took but that in no way diminished my pure enjoyment of the book. I think this writer has other books I still have not read and I will have top get on that quickly.
Highly recommended.
Good Girls Gone Bad (Hardcover)
by Jillian Medoff
Does anyone remember Women's consciousness raising groups? Way back when, they were all the rage. My mom actually ran one. And I was but a little tot but oh how I wanted to join one!
Well this book is about such a group. Here we get a marvelous cast of wacky, wild and wonderful ladies all with an issue (or two or three!) and when they are all thrown together..the only result can be good girls gone bad!
This book was such a fun read. I have read another book from this writer called "I couldn't love you more" which I liked better but I liked this too. It is just so different. AND it brought back my yearning desire to be part of a consciousness raising group myself.
Unfortunetly these particular women get way more then they bargained for. I am not so sure their consciousness was raised. I think it kind of got thrown out along the way.
Good Girls also strongly reminded me of Olivia Goldsmith's The First Wives Club , a book I really did and do love. I was laughing alot with this book as we get to know all the various conscious raising attendees.
SPOILERS:
I did not like the dark turn it took but that in no way diminished my pure enjoyment of the book. I think this writer has other books I still have not read and I will have top get on that quickly.
Highly recommended.
March 6, 2013
I like Jillian Medoff's other novels, but this one fell short.
The story is told by Janey Fabre, an unreliable narrator. When she discovers her boyfriend has a fiancé, she starts group therapy with six other dysfunctional and unlikable women. Although I didn't like Janey, I did root for her.
If not for the last quarter of the novel, I'd have given this one star.
Read her other novels, they are worthwhile.
The story is told by Janey Fabre, an unreliable narrator. When she discovers her boyfriend has a fiancé, she starts group therapy with six other dysfunctional and unlikable women. Although I didn't like Janey, I did root for her.
If not for the last quarter of the novel, I'd have given this one star.
Read her other novels, they are worthwhile.
October 15, 2012
I gave this book a three because the writing was tight and descriptive. I liked the main character, Janey, and thought the actuarial references were hilarious (OK, I worked for an actuarial firm in high school), but the climactic event in the book is so far-fetched that it ruined the book for me. If you can get past that, the book is a good read.
January 22, 2021
A pretty solid chick flick/beach read kinda book.
The main character Janey Fabre is single, mid thirties and can't understand why she is still single.
She begins group therapy with 6 other women - also thirties who are unhappily single and childless.
The group seems to have all kinds of issues, but they manage to bond and help each other through figuring out what they want/need in a relationship.
While the story saves us from wrapping everyone up in a happy ending - there is actually no ending - we do see tremendous growth in the main character - who in the very last chapter has dealt with her mothers suicide, her fathers perceived abandonment of her & her self sabotaging of relationships.
There were some very funny moments in the story and some very sad moments. All in all not a bad read.
The main character Janey Fabre is single, mid thirties and can't understand why she is still single.
She begins group therapy with 6 other women - also thirties who are unhappily single and childless.
The group seems to have all kinds of issues, but they manage to bond and help each other through figuring out what they want/need in a relationship.
While the story saves us from wrapping everyone up in a happy ending - there is actually no ending - we do see tremendous growth in the main character - who in the very last chapter has dealt with her mothers suicide, her fathers perceived abandonment of her & her self sabotaging of relationships.
There were some very funny moments in the story and some very sad moments. All in all not a bad read.
November 8, 2017
Meh! I got tired of these ladies complaining. Lots of turns and twists and back-stabbing.
March 25, 2018
Started out funny, then got depressing.
September 16, 2022
This book was well written....but DAMN were all the characters just unlikeable as hell!! It's a pretty good chick read though. So all in all I give it a 3.5.
July 6, 2023
I didn't love it and was going to quit.
It got better as I got more into it.
It got better as I got more into it.
August 21, 2025
these women are insane. i love it. solid read!
November 27, 2025
I felt like the story was all over the place but somehow came together at the end.
January 4, 2013
I have such conflicting emotions about this book. It was very well written and I definitely wanted to finish it just to see how the story ended, but I have real issues with the characters. None of them were likeable. We start out with Janey who is an accuary and her boyfriend Tobias. Janey seems like one of those socially akward people. Tobias ends up betraying her and humiliating her in front of all of his friends. Having suicial thoughts Janey joins a therapy group. Here we meet 6 other women who are just as damaged as Janey is. Women who use different methods to keep others at a distance but are in their late thirties and early forties who feel like they will never meet a man. The whole therapy group is really there just so they can figure out how to meet men. Eventually the group becomes friends and avengers seeking revenge on those who hurt them in the past. Then everything goes wrong and Janey is betrayed by her friends. I know in such a situation I would not be as forgiving as Janey was. In fact I still harbor resentments towards people I knew in high school. But somehow Janey figures out how to take charge in her life and works towards being a better person.
Like I said, I had a real hard time with these characters, they were just so absurdly disfunctional. I know we all how doubts and self esteem issues but these women were so far in the extreme that I had a hard time relating to them. I really hated that every man Janey met she was instantly infatuated with and envisioned marriage, children and a retirement home in Boca Raton. Every woman was more beautiful and younger than her and was sleeping with Tobias. And the group's mentality that "not-telling is the same thing as lying" regarding disclosure was just obsurd. This is definitely not a book I would reread or keep in my library. And the only moment that was remotely laugh out loud was when the girls were sneaking Janey into the nursing home.
Like I said, I had a real hard time with these characters, they were just so absurdly disfunctional. I know we all how doubts and self esteem issues but these women were so far in the extreme that I had a hard time relating to them. I really hated that every man Janey met she was instantly infatuated with and envisioned marriage, children and a retirement home in Boca Raton. Every woman was more beautiful and younger than her and was sleeping with Tobias. And the group's mentality that "not-telling is the same thing as lying" regarding disclosure was just obsurd. This is definitely not a book I would reread or keep in my library. And the only moment that was remotely laugh out loud was when the girls were sneaking Janey into the nursing home.
October 6, 2013
Janey joins a therapy group after her boyfriend Tobias embarrasses her in front of his friends. Janey, a 30-something loner, was often riddled with thoughts of suicide. She grieved for the mother she lost when she was young and was hurting over her relationship with her estranged father. In therapy she befriends a motley group of six other women. They aren't the most likable bunch of women, but they bind together and help one another. When they help Janey get revenge on Tobias, things go terribly wrong...or does it?
I enjoyed the book's humor and also have a much better understanding of the job role of an actuary.
I enjoyed the book's humor and also have a much better understanding of the job role of an actuary.
October 8, 2015
By a fluke I picked this book up at my library, and I am so glad that I did! A story of 7 women put together for group therapy and what happens when their neurosis all collide. Having run group therapy before, I can say that the author captures how personalities clash and therapists can lose control of the situation. But, the lengths these women go is hilarious! Who hasn't thought of revenge on someone who has done us wrong! I love the progression of the 7 women's relationship in the book, and the ending was a believable one. A treat to read and I am glad I came across it. I plan on looking for more by this author!
November 9, 2008
There were moments when I really liked this book, but overall, it was just a bit too "wacky." Or something. At the center of the story is Janey Fabre, who is carrying around a lot of pain from her childhood and feels invisible to men. She joins a therapy group, and the "girls" of the group concoct a bunch of schemes to assert themselves and get revenge against those who have hurt them. For me, the highlight of the book was Ivy, whose southern drawl is written out every time she speaks. ("Ah swear, Bethany, what in hell is wrong with yew?")
August 25, 2011
Someone recommended this to me and I have this problem where pretty much if anyone tells me to read anything I will. This book was awful. There was no complexity to the characters at all. They were these women in their mid-30's and really bitter about being single. They went to group therapy every week and bitched about the same shit and then ended up trying to get 'revenge' on this one dude. When I say it was bad - I mean that they formed a group and called themselves The Pussy Posse!! That's how fucking bad it was!
April 1, 2012
Fave lines
That love isn't love- its a vacuum that sucks up the last fragments of self, leaving us desperate, and depleted and alone.
Am I headed for portrayal in a Lifetime movie?
Watching her was the first time I associated laughter with a cry for help.
Not telling is the same thing as lying.
Sometimes silence isn't quiet. It's the loudest, most lonely sound in the world.
Pain, as we all know, is relative.
I recall the day with such precision, memory alone threatens to kill me.
That love isn't love- its a vacuum that sucks up the last fragments of self, leaving us desperate, and depleted and alone.
Am I headed for portrayal in a Lifetime movie?
Watching her was the first time I associated laughter with a cry for help.
Not telling is the same thing as lying.
Sometimes silence isn't quiet. It's the loudest, most lonely sound in the world.
Pain, as we all know, is relative.
I recall the day with such precision, memory alone threatens to kill me.
January 29, 2013
I love books about nutty people. In this one most of the characters are, as they meet in a support group. This was a fast, easy but well written read. I would say its a higher level of chick lit. Although I would not probably be friends with any of these women in real life, I was rooting for their self improvement. I would have liked to see a little more depth from some of the secondary characters. 4.5 stars.
February 19, 2008
A fun, comical read - a page turner - a cast of characters you can soon identify with in one way or another. Long after I read this, I remember what happened, especially toward the end, where the books turns from comical to downright crazical. I'd recommend this to somebody looking for an easy read - perhaps Chick-Lit with a wicked sense of rebellion.
February 26, 2008
chick-lit with a dark side....alot of fun with the characters and their commraderie with each other as they face their individual demons and crisis...a few laugh out loud moments. Overall, a fun & easy read.
March 12, 2009
This book was great! Totally funny and unpredictable...the main character really grows and comes to accept herself and her past with some pretty crazy shit along the way. Maggie Estep reviewed this book and I can see why!
April 28, 2008
Easy read. Read it at the beach. Similiar in concept to Nick Hornby's "A Long Way Down" - just more chicky and not as well written
July 24, 2008
Who doesn't love neurotic women who plot to kill ex-boyfriends? The characters quite literally resemble a car wreck - you know you shouldn't stare at them, but you just can't help it.
November 2, 2008
the moive is good too so is the book
December 11, 2008
A well-written, cant'-put-down book! You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll absolutely love this book!
October 16, 2010
I loved this book!
March 8, 2012
Disappointing. 2/3rd of the book is interesting and then becomes tiring.
December 27, 2012
The Good: good portray of how very different women can become friends.
The Bad: Some of the secondary characters where flat/ one dimensional.
September 7, 2014
This book was not a favorite of mine.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews