Possibly british book about dating/relationships from the early '00s?

May 10, 2017 8:26 PM

I need to find a dating/relationship book, probably British, about 150pp, published as paperback with a black, white and pink cover. Likely by a UK columnist, I'm 90% sure female. Meant as comedic but serious advice about relationships and aimed at women wanting a long-term relationship. There was a long section on "BOTS" or "Bits on the side", for being the married man's girlfriend, and also a passage about how they were "the one" if you could dance in the kitchen with them and twaddle like that.
posted by dorothyisunderwood to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Textbook Romance? Here's a different cover, with reviews and description.
posted by the webmistress at 9:10 PM on May 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

Are you thinking of a title from the Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups series?
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:12 AM on May 11, 2017

Response by poster: This was definitely published in 1999-2001 era, and was Cosmopolitan-type feminism, not ironic hipster.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:53 AM on May 11, 2017

The description reminds me of Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl.
posted by bunderful at 8:56 AM on May 11, 2017

Possibly The Universal Dating Regulations And Bylaws?
posted by bassomatic at 1:36 PM on May 11, 2017

Best answer: Google Books suggests this is Love Lies: What Men Don't Know and Women Won't Admit by Deborah McKinley - although the date looks a little early at 1994.
posted by Ballad of Peckham Rye at 3:59 PM on May 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Ballad of Peckham Rye, your google-fu is astounding! I have ordered a copy from Abebooks, and look forward to rediscovering exactly how bad it was.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:17 PM on May 11, 2017 [1 favorite]