Book Review: 30 Guys in 30 Days by Micol Ostow

Ostow, Micol. 30 Guys in 30 Days. New York: Simon Pulse, 2005. 304 pages.

With its lime green cover and a title that was a little too absurd to pass up, 30 Guys in 30 Days tells the story of Claudia B. Clarkson as she begins her freshman year at Woodman College outside Boston. Starting in a new place also has Claudia starting a new life as a single girl for the first time in four years, having broken up with her high school boyfriend Drew. Very quickly Claudia realizes that she’s been out of the dating game for so long that flirting and approaching boys have become foreign to her. Thus her southern belle roommate Charlie suggests a sort of a challenge for Claudia, to meet one new boy every day for thirty days. Fondly nicknamed “target practice,” Claudia definitely misses the mark often at the beginning—throwing up on a boy, embarrassing herself in front of her professor, unknowingly flirting with the sorority queen’s boyfriend, among many other mishaps—but she definitely gets points for trying. Besides target practice, Claudia’s adventures in her classes and while writing some articles for the newspaper have got her pretty busy as she tries to make her way through her first semester and find her place in this new environment.

Clearly intended for teenage girls, the story gives insight to a different kind of love life that the modern young woman experiences. It also offers a message for any girl that is looking for a revival in her love life by challenging readers to take a chance and step out of one’s comfort zone, and that life is a series of making some silly mistakes but to have faith that it’ll be worth it in the end.