A Girl Like You

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Pub Date 09 Feb 2021 | Archive Date 01 May 2021

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Description

When 50-something Jessica Gabriel finds herself heartbroken and single after failed marriage number two, her adult kids convince her to explore the world of online dating. With a new haircut, a gym membership, and a dating profile as a 49-year-old (everyone knocks a few years off, right?), Jessica trudges through a pool of not-so-eligible bachelors—from a pothead who tells her weed makes sex better, to a much younger man who confuses her with a different lover, to a dominant male with a penchant for clothespins.

Meanwhile, Jessica takes a job at the town hall, where she’s often left to do all of the work while her boss spends his days gossiping with his cronies. Eventually, these old-timers grow on Jessica, and she begins to count them as friends. When Jessica witnesses the lengths one of them will go to save his marriage, her hope in love is renewed.

Jessica’s journey is full of tears, laughter, and an astonishing amount of sex. She learns the meaning of “catfishing” and “ghosting,” finds herself pushing her sexual boundaries, and ultimately, embraces her independence. With the love and support of her family and friends, Jessica discovers being alone doesn’t have to be lonely.


When 50-something Jessica Gabriel finds herself heartbroken and single after failed marriage number two, her adult kids convince her to explore the world of online dating. With a new haircut, a gym...


Advance Praise

"The themes of love, loss, resilience, and rebuilding are familiar territory, and though Scribner’s candid tone will put readers in mind of a more explicit Sex and the City, the characters, observational humor, and frank (and sometimes graphically detailed) sexual exploration feel fresh. Fans of women’s fiction will want to take a look."

-Publisher's Weekly

"The themes of love, loss, resilience, and rebuilding are familiar territory, and though Scribner’s candid tone will put readers in mind of a more explicit Sex and the City, the characters...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781953639004
PRICE $16.95 (USD)

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (EPUB)
Send to Kindle (EPUB)

Average rating from 66 members


Featured Reviews

I loved this book, I was quickly attached to the characters and it had me feeling all the emotions, both the highs and lows of throughout the book. It also had me giggling so quite glad I’ve been working from home with no one to give me weird looks!

The stories are so relatable, and definitely make me glad to be in a relationship at the moment and just hearing dating horror stories through friends rather than having to go through them myself.

This book is such a great book, a really easy read and will definitely have you laughing! It is going to be published in Feb 2021 and I definitely recommend you read it!

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This was a fun book which was refreshing in having a heroine who was not in her twenties. The humour is great - smart and sharp - but what I really loved was the main character and the way she dealt with hilarious situation after hilarious situation.

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I liked this book, the story of Jessica, who is back dating after the break up of two marriages. She tries online dating sites and speed dating, having several adventures along the way. Perhaps jst as well she has a Gay best friend and grown up children who sound the voice of caution at regular intervals . I can understand having to get into dating again, but she does come across as naive at times. It was certainly an interesting read and at times funny and even pornographic.
I liked the way that emotions were written about, open and honest and relatable. It irritated me slightly that you need a man to be complete and some American references passed me by (being British) .
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARCin exchange for an honest review

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I love stories that feature a female main character that is NOT in her twenties. Following Jessica as she navigates dating in her 50s after her second failed marriage was a hilarious and fun to read. Lots of things that I found relatable as the reader!

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I enjoyed this story of a woman in her 50's navigating her newly single life. It reads like one big story, but each chapter has a mini story within it. It feels a tiny bit "Sex in the City" because of the way it's written. I wound up really liking the main character and was rooting for her to find happiness in her life. There are some vivid sex scenes- so beware if that's not your thing! Overall, I liked this book and would read a book by this author again.

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This book was like a cake recipe
A cup full of humour
A few table spoons of dirty talk
And a pinch of heartbreak.

It was really good. And the author did a fantastic job with making the reader feel all the emotions. Will definitely be looking for more books by Cari Scribner

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This book was the perfect escape. It was lovely and fun. It was my first book by this author and I will definitely be on the look out for more!!

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Cari Scribner’s debut chronicles the dating misadventures of a 57-year old Jessica in evocative, sometimes painful, detail. Having just barely survived the dissolution of her long term first marriage by throwing herself heart first into a new one, Jessica is heartbroken and shaken when the second fails as well in less than five years. Love, loss, and resilience are familiar themes for women’s fiction, but A Girl Like You is also shot through with shades of a grittier, more mature Sex and the City. Call it Sex outside the City or Sex and the small town. Although the contours of her situation are familiar, however, the characters, observational humor about the way we live now, and frank, sometimes graphically detailed sexual exploration, feel fresh. 3.5 stars.

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I really enjoyed this book and the full range emotions it took you through! It was easy to read and very relatable. I instantly felt connected to the main characters and was invested in what happened.

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A funny and relatable read. Anyone who has experienced online dating later in life will relate to Jessica as she struggles to weed out the weirdos from the Go Fish pool.

I particularly enjoyed the family dynamic in this novel, and this is a constant throughout. I have rarely read books with a main character in this age group, and I found her relationships with her adult children different and refreshing. There are plenty of other quirky characters sprinkled in too, not to mention the seemingly unending stream of daters.

Jessica herself is a likeable character, flawed in a way which felt real, and I rooted for her all the way through, though I was thoroughly unprepared for the last few chapters. Make sure you have tissues!

All in all, an enjoyable book. I will look out for more from this author.

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☆☆☆☆☆ YAY! My first five star read of 2021! ☆☆☆☆☆

I loved this book SO much. I felt like I was reading Jessica's diary. She was such a refreshing character, of a certain age....like me and I could relate to this story SO much. This book made me feel so many emotions. It was sad, happy, funny and Jessica was so resilient and independent...There was even lots of sexy time and it felt so authentic.

I love how the book was open ended. The reader can decide for themselves if it end happily ever after or not. I am hoping it mean they're may be a book two as I would be so into that! Needless to say, if Jessica were real...I'd like to be her friend. All. The. Stars.

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Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. This book was a change from the average adult book, focusing on an older character rather than younger. I enjoyed the change in age and perspective of this story. If you are looking for a funny feel good book I definitely reccomend this. overall 4/5 stars.

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A woman in her 50s trying to get back into dating? Yes, please! As soon as I read the synopsis, I knew I wanted to read this novel and I have no regrets. While not myself that age, I enjoy reading about heroines in their middle age. We will all get there one day! And sometimes I like to read about someone who has life experience and not a young adult who... does not. That aside, the book is a lot of fun. The men Jessica dates range from disgusting to funny to wtf and I think many of us have been there, no matter what age we are. Another thing I loved is the way her children are supportive and also still trying to find The One (or The One For Right Now). Dating might seem easier at one age or another but you can struggle at any age!
The reason Jessica and her second husband break up are not some cheating scandal or anything that's stereotypical. It feels real and something people, I feel, can relate to. There were points when the dating adventures seemed to get boring. Very enduring, albeit a bit exhausting, is Jessica's tendency to get attached way too soon. But in the end this works out so perfectly. I foresaw the ending for a while and to be honest, was waiting for it to happen, and kept wondering why it didn't, but when it did, it was like, yes. This is why. Sometimes you have to go through all that shit to get to that one moment, as small as it may seem.

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Having completed menopause, I've pretty much moved through my chick-lit period. So I was a bit excited to read this, which was seemed to promise a chick-lit experience with an older protagonist. The premise lived up to the execution. This book was fun, funny and sexy -- I liked it a lot.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy for my review.

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This is a story about someone in their mid 50's who after two divorces finds herself starting all over again. Jessica Gabriel with the help of her two grown children creates an online profile of someone maybe a few years younger than she actually is and starts to look for love with very humorous results. She meets many unusual characters along the way. I don't want to give too much away with this because some of the men she meets made me laugh out loud! I really liked how this main character was older and had to deal with ageing in today's new way of dating and meeting people. I have been reading a lot of mysteries and historical fiction lately so this was a fun, welcomed change!

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A coming of age story for a new generation. After failed relationships, and trying to figure out what to do with her life, Jessica's children convince her to try online dating. Although online dating isn't a new concept to many of us, for those who are dating again after decades of relationships this world is new, exciting, and also quite scary. A string of weird (lets not call them failed, because there is a positive outcome there) dates, Jessica starts to learn more about herself and what she wants out of a relationship. This was a great story and I love reading about a woman coming into her own, no matter the age group.

4/5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Circuit Breaker Books for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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A fifty-something woman looking for The One after two failed marriages. So, she tries online dating, and, oh, the trials, tribulations, goofs, and outrageous behavior of some of those matches. I laughed so hard at times that I had to put my phone down until I could catch my breath again. But, like I have done, she finally comes to the realization that Time will make things work out the way it’s supposed to (or, as her children say, organically). This story is a good reminder to those of us that are still single, in our later years, that things will happen in their own time, you just have to wait for it to come about.
This was a great, entertaining story, and I hope to see more from this author in the future.

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A Girl Like You // Cari Scribner // I was so excited to read this book with a main protagonist in her mid-fifties.  How delightful for someone beyond her twenties to have the lead plot line in a book and the story about her love life, no less.  After two failed marriages, we follow along with Jessica as she re-enters the dating scene using online dating platforms while her young adult children are doing the same.  Some of the dates are absolutely cringeworthy while others are laugh out loud funny.  There is a pretty big section of “open door” romance (in fact super graphic sex) that I wasn’t quite prepared for but that was my fault for not knowing the genre/author.  Overall, I found this to be a sweet story of a woman trying to find the right partner in life and learning a lot about herself and her independence in the process. // “I hadn’t, because I knew both of us needed — deserved — more than what our marriage had become.  We stopped bringing out the best in each other” // 


Thank you to Circuit Breaker Books for the chance to review this book that is available as of today!

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I found a lot of humor in the book! Thoroughly surprised me. I guess I just didn't expect to be so entertained.. Twice divorced Mom and her 2 adult children all getting into the dating pool at the same time and comparing experiences.. So entertaining, but at the same time quite frustrating and sad thinking about what people have to go through to meet the right person.. Interesting to turn the pages and read about the dating process! On a side note some surprising details and I will never look at a clothespin without remembering this story.! Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy..

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