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Dates from Hell

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A collection of humorous tales about disaster dates features Cheryl's encounter with her date's boa constrictor, Jessica's escape from her blind date out the window of the restaurant bathroom, and Tom's Elvis-obsessed blind date. Original. 25,000 first printing.

208 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

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5 stars
11 (16%)
4 stars
17 (25%)
3 stars
21 (30%)
2 stars
10 (14%)
1 star
9 (13%)
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for Stephanie.
147 reviews3 followers
March 20, 2016
My feelings on this book are a slightly mixed.

I read the second dates from hell book years ago and thought that it was laugh , out loud hilarious and had been eager to read the book that started it all for a very long time.
I guess because I'm older now but in reading this book I found that I looked at many of these situations differently than before.

While many of these people did indeed find themselves in dates and relationships from hell through no fault of their own, I couldn't help but feel that a large number of the participants in the book brought about the disastrous results they experienced by their own bad behavior.

Several people admitted that they were only interested in someone because of their good looks, large bank accounts and anticipated one night stands/easy sex.

These same people often then acted rudely and hurtfully towards their dates when their good looks, large bank accounts and easy sexual access weren't up to their standards.

These bad behaviors included lying to the person, standing them up, making false promises, outright ignoring them, ect.

Although a few sheepishly owned up to their bad behavior and admitted they acted like jerks, others still seemed incredulous that such disaster had struck them.

This review is probably a lot more serious in nature than people would like to read about a book like this so I'll close by saying some of the stories are endlessly amusing.And the books worth reading for those alone.Definitely the kind of stories you can pull out when someone needs a light hearted laugh
And there are even a few bad date experiences included from the 40's, 50's , 60's and 70's.
The book came out in 1992 so it was a nice touch to not only limit it to stories from the late 80's,early 90's era.


Profile Image for Angela.
204 reviews
May 10, 2014
After finishing up Kenneth Davis' "Don't Know Much About Mythology", I felt like I needed something a bit lighter and funnier so I chose this audio. Sadly it wasn't what I was looking for in a humor book. Luckily it was short and I was able to finish it pretty quickly and move on to something else that was more my taste.

While I found myself laughing at several of the dates described in this book, most were awkward and frightening and simply not funny. I had hoped that these would be dates the author had been on but instead this book consisted of dates gone on by multiple people and each date was read by a different person. And as is with many audio books, the thing that makes or breaks the audio is the narrator of the book. Unfortunately, the narrators in this book were terrible and completely over-the-top with their retelling of the dates from hell. The narrations made the book difficult to listen to and frankly, made them entirely unbelievable. I've read several books about dating in the past and they were all hysterically funny. This one was not.

If you are looking for a book on bad dates, stay away from this book. It simply will not satisfy your humor needs and will leave you wanting. Maybe this would be a better book if it was read rather than listened to. I'm not sure. I don't like to give one star reviews but this book did nothing for me except make me cringe most of the time. Sorry...
Profile Image for Sara.
11 reviews1 follower
September 22, 2013
This just is not my kind of book at all. It made me feel anxious more than it made me laugh. There should be a book of short stories involving successful romantic dates that end in happily ever after, because this just made me want to swear off dating. Bleh
Profile Image for Unwisely.
1,503 reviews15 followers
May 19, 2010
It's a series of vignettes of bad dates from different people, and man. I giggled, I cringed sympathetically, and I felt better about my own life. Fun!
Profile Image for Theresa.
8,792 reviews141 followers
July 24, 2011
graphic stories giving warnings to young girls and boys about dating
Profile Image for Library Cool.
47 reviews1 follower
January 8, 2013
Fun little diversion from the trenches of the dating world. It's always a relief to know that no matter how awful your date is, there has been worse out there.
Profile Image for Chelsea.
579 reviews5 followers
June 9, 2017
Hilarious tales about disastrous dates. And a particularly creepy one too; snakes. *SHUDDER*
Profile Image for Emma.
102 reviews
May 9, 2023
Some of the women's stories were funny, but most were not. The men were just plain misogynistic. Overall, this was an unbearable audiobook.
Profile Image for Richard Curry.
62 reviews3 followers
February 19, 2014
Re-reading this classic which I originally read in the 1990's. Great because it has categories or classifications, and short stories on amazingly disastrous or surprisingly goofy social expeditions. You can read a couple stories, and then put it aside for a while, then resume later. Sure to make you feel assured that YOUR experiences have not been the worst possible, or that you are not alone. Some are laugh-out-loud funny or tragi-comedic. Never a dull moment with this book!
Profile Image for Darth.
390 reviews12 followers
February 21, 2011
I got this in audio, thinking it was the book by the same title, that included stories by Kim Harrison - but this wasnt it.

Still, it was a quick listen and the stories were interesting if not great. I had the feeling a few of them were true stories in the way A Million Little Pieces was a true story - maybe with a basis in fact, but not strictly speaking true.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews