Männer mit Aussicht

by Andrea Meyer

»New Yorkerin, 32, sucht Mitbewohner für helle 2-Zi.-Traumwhg. im East Village. Ideal wäre: M, 30-35 J., rücksichtsvoll, ehrlich, locker, klug, humorvoll, kreativ, finanziell solide, gut im Bett. Er sollte leidenschaftlich gern Filme gucken, lesen und essen, seinen Alkkonsum im Griff haben und einer festen Beziehung nicht abgeneigt sein. Handwerkliches Geschick von Vorteil. Vegetarier, Bindungsangsthasen und Rechtswähler zwecklos. Nur Hundeliebhaber. Und ganz wichtig: Herz besagter F, 32, sollte bei seinem Anblick Purzelbäume schlagen. Wenn das alles auf dich zutrifft, ruf Jacquie an. Besser jetzt als gleich.« Die Journalistin Jacquie beschließt, beim Mann nur noch da hinzugucken, wo's drauf ankommt: in die Wohnung! Erst gibt's Annoncen, dann Avancen, und am Ende findet sie mehr als einen Mitbewohner ...

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Adult

381 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2007

Reviews

[❤️Court - Villains Do It Better❤️ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this years ago and the only thing I can remember is not liking it. So between 1-2 Stars.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

All in all, I thought it was a cute book. I have to say though, I was a little dissapointed with the end. Maybe it's because I have been reading more contemporary romance recently. I knew who it was that she would end up with the second the charachter was introduced, but through the whole book, I was really hoping that I was wrong. I initially really liked the narrator (Jaquie), but by the end, I kind of wanted to smack her upside the head with her whining.

[Dana Abel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love a good romance. One that you don’t have to think too hard while you read, and you just know everything is going to turn out happy in the end. That was what I was expecting, and that was not what I got. I mean, it wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t as light and fluffy and fun as I wanted it to be. It was kind of slow paced, with a lot of obscure references and way too much real estate talk. Which, I get, because that’s the point of the book, but it was just too much for me. Also, the romance just didn’t develop very naturally. I called who she was going to end up with very early in my reading, but I’m not kidding, he probably only showed up on 20 of the nearly 300 pages of this book. And I had pretty much zero interest in any of the boys in between. Even the supporting characters were pretty boring. I was surprised by some of the events near the end, though. AND the final romance played out with (seriously) a WHOLE BUNCH of Grease 2 references, and if that isn’t the greatest thing ever, I don’t know what is. Literally, they sang one of the songs together, and he told her he does “a mean Cool Rider". So yeah.

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5.

[Stacey Ashton · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVED IT!!

I have read this 3 times so far. Everytime I need a good laugh I pick this up. I love how different NY is compared to Cali in terms of real estate and looking for roomates. I have a friend who is looking for a roomate right now for her awesome place so the little wanted ads in the chapters sound a lot like what she's going through except we are not so descriptive about our houses and areas we'd like to live in. It makes me want a cute little apt in the city...

Definate MUST read!!!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got an advanced reader's copy of this at work and was surpised by how much I liked it!

Took it home because I was in need of some fluffy chick-lit and found it so entertaining I would recommend it to anyone who loves these kinds of stories.

Basically, if you love chick-lit, nyc, quarter-life crisis stories, dogs, and have ever looked for an apartment in nyc. then you should read this. So good!

[Lori Wilen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally adorable book. Was chosen by a member of a book club I belong to. Doesn't fit any challenge I am involved but wouldn't have missed it for a moment. I loved the whole premise of the book and I really did like each and every person in the book....even the annoying ones I was supposed to roll my eyes at. I hate that I figured it all out but I love the way that it got there which I really didn't predict. For fans of lower Manhattan, The East Village, Craig's list and love, let's not forget romance and love, this is a humorous and touching must read book. Cannot wait to see what her 2nd book will be about as this was a first novel for the author.

[Natasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would not recommend it

[Marnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible book. Don't waste your time. There is MUCH better Chick Lit out there to be read. I'm sorry I spent $2 on it in the bargain bin at the book store. The main character, Jacquie, has no redeeming qualities at all. The "mystery" of the guy she will be with at the end of the book is completely obvious. Honestly...

I started this book 4 months ago, read the first 10 pages and didn't pick it up again until a few days ago, because the first few pages of the story were so bad I didn't want to continue. The only reason that I managed to finish the book is because the writing was well paced... and that's the only reason I gave it 1 star.

Seriously... at the end she realizes she's in love with her apartment? And lo and behold she just falls on top of Zach the cute-hardware-store guy that happens to be there who has had a crush on her for years? She hasn't learned anything, and all she has to show for it is the burnt out shell of her apartment.

[Nancy Bielski · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was quite possibly the worst book I've ever read. The premise was great, but everything else just fell flat. This novel is a really poor reflection of society. The main character claims she wasn't looking for love or whatever, meets a guy LEAPS into bed with him and suddenly they're in a relationship. Let's just talk about how it's crap like that that makes real women think if you sleep with a man once he's instantly your boyfriend. This book was stupid, the characters were TOTALLY unsympathetic and what's more, it is a seriously bad reflection of how slutty and STUPID people in society are. This book just disgusted me. No wonder American women have such low self esteem.

[Marisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I took it to read while we were in Puerto Vallarta and had to keep reading it because it was the one book I'd grabbed for the trip. The main character is quite desperate and loose. She tries to meet men while answering ads for rental apartments. She does this while also trying to write a column about it for her job. I think it's pretty noteworthy that now three days later I cannot even remember how it ended...

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to force myself to finish this just to see if I "figured" out which character she ended up dating. I really didn't like the character, very self-absorbed and slutty. Naturally she meets and eventually sleeps with all of these gorgeous men, all the while not knowing how hot she was, puh lease! Like I need to feel ugly from a character in a book! Read it if you are stranded on an island and there is absolutely no other reading material available.

[Jourdan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a great chick-lit! Perfect for a nice evening with a tasty glass of wine. Surprising twist at the very end that you wanted to happen when you first get into the story. It's always interesting to read stories set in other cities that are so different from your own. Ausitn, TX is another world compared to NYC! Great book. Couldn't put it down!!

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't really decide if I liked it or not. I guess I wish the HEA was more developed throughout the book rather than in the last 5 pages. I would have been more interested in the characters love story than everything leading up to it. At times I was more interested in Courtney and Brad's story than Jacquie's.

[Sin Tien Tan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I'm not in the mood for chick-lit. I find myself skipping over lines here and there cause the cheesiness is just too difficult to stomach at times. I expected histrionics before lifting up the book but Jacquie's bulldozer of emotions plainly annoys me. The much-too-cliched ending is a bit of a let-down as well.

[Michelle Hoover · Rating 5 out of 5]

A funny, smart yet light read. Not my usual material, but I couldn't help be caught up in it, and I was grinning to be in Meyer's world for a while. The descriptions of NYC life, the apartment searches, the characters just zing. And the pages fly.

[Brittany Munden · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book difficult to get into but once I read a few chapters and it got the flow I was okay . Overall the story line was very cute but I found Meyer dragged out certain parts of the books and I caught myself skimming instead of actually reading .

[Irene Mama Bookshop · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so damn slow. Dreadfully, torturously slowwwwwww. I already knew who she was going to be with all the way in the beginning. Could have saved 200 pages and used 91 pages only for this book. But still a happy ending so that's good.

[Julia Merriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a palette cleanser for me/I’ll finally read it to get it off my shelf, and it was nothing special. One-dimensional, unbelievable characters, extremely cheesy, lazy writing that seemed like the author had never had an adult conversation in her life….don’t worry about missing this one.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

A silly chick-lit book. The main character has no redeeming qualities.

[Marie Buccellato · Rating 2 out of 5]

It really didnt do much for me....Pretty disappointed

[Abby Jean · Rating 1 out of 5]

blergh.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jacquie can't figure out what is wrong in her search for The Guy on her 32nd birthday when her boyfriend, who always says he isn't ready for a relationship, dumps her. Struggling to figure out her mortgage and her love life, she gets the idea to write a column about pretending to search for a room to rent to find guys. But what if she'd already found him?

Here's what I didn't like: A lot about this book. They went into line by line with movies and songs, gave tons of synopsis of those movies in big chunks of exposition. That whole Grease 2 thing. Jacquie was a flake and I found it hard to care much for her. I was really disappointed in the romance aspect because the guy she will probably drive nuts and away didn't reveal himself to her until the end so we couldn't watch them fall for each other. When the fallout from the article happened, I didn't feel anything like I should've.

Here's what I liked: the premise was good. I liked how Jacquie couldn't help herself whenever she saw a dog. I really got a sense of New York.

Overall, it was okay, but I was left wanting something more at the end of it.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Breezy beach read with catchy writing at a good pace, just enough local NYC touches to feel real for natives and rosy-lenses for transplants, but the characters were not all that sympathetic or relatable and their relationships were a bit cliche. The protagonist is irritating, shallow, dense, and self-centered (but she sort of realizes it at the end, although her final love interest adores her regardless) and her primary love interest borders on emotionally manipulative yet still gets called "perfect boyfriend" just because he is hot and employed. It's a depressing and unintentional commentary on the why so many people end up in dead end relationships. Also, the $2-4/word rate the protagonist was getting for her freelance stories had me screaming at the unrealistic absurdity, even for 2007 rates.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good and cute book omg. Jacq is definitley crazy for going through with the apartment idea but it was just so good and I loved it like I don’t even know what to say and it was so cute silly dramatic that I’m considering majoring in English like I can’t do this. The ending was good too but a little abrupt.

[Cassie Spanton · Rating 2 out of 5]

The storyline was okay, but the main character was incredibly unlikeable, as were some of the others. The main character is selfish and then surprised when people call her out on it.

I could have also done without "retarded" being thrown in so much. Sure, this was 2007, but still not a great look.

Looooooot of eye rolls during this read.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Going into this book, I thought the concept was good. And that was about where the good ended. MC was insufferable, just wanted to scream at her the whole way through the book.

Not to be rude towards the author, but I feel if the pitch of ‘looking for a boyfriend through rooms for rent’ was pitched to a different author it might have been better.

[Christie Alford · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not my cup of tea. The book is YA novel and I could not relate. The main character has a lot of issues with dishonesty and game playing. She doesn’t know what she really wants and her moral judgement is questionable. This book had a lot of dialogue and was way too long. The only thing I liked about the book was the New York City apartment descriptions.

[Danthony74 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author has a cute sense of humor, however the story was not to my liking

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Between 3.5 to 4 stars
It felt a little long in places but overall I really liked this book. I almost didn’t read it because of the negative reviews, but I’m glad I didn’t let it stop me.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I was at the library with a friend, and she picked up this book and was all "look how cheesy this sounds" and I read the back and I was all, "no, that looks like it has potential." And it did. This book was absolutely completely marvelous. And it was so me.
First, it's a pretty genius idea on how to meet boys. Maybe I'll try it one day.
Second this book was full of stuff I love, like films/movies and yoga and astrology and boys and Courtney's candle rituals and sage smoke and romance columns.
Third, this book was so me because of a few things, like how she's never satisfied with the nice boys, how she wants a "Harlequin romance man," the way she describes Anthony as her perfect guy (at their first encounter), the way she makes up nicknames for all the cute beings she sees (cute coffee house guy, cute hardware store guy) (which I do all the time), the way she lulls herself to sleep with fairy tale love stories. There were also certain passages where I thought "have you been inside my head?" Like on p.49, "The adorable barista smiles when he sees me and I stiffen, afraid he'll sense that I imagined him doing naughty things to me last night."
Fourth, I thought this book was really well written. It wasn't one of those books where you cringe that the girl is still with the guy, and shout to yourself: "Can't you see he's an idiot??!?", but you actually go, "Hmm, maybe he's not such a bad guy" at the same time Jacquie does in the story. And the description of her running home, and all the feelings, was completely real, like I was there running with her.
The ending was scrumptious and perfect as well. Like completely utterly perfect, exactly how I wanted everything to turn out, even though I thought it never would.
And the real estate ads at the beginning of each chapter were great. Just great.