bonniegrrl | BOOK REVIEWS: Dumped & Crush

With my latest goal of reading a new book every month, I'll also be posting my reviews of them here. The latest books I just read are two dating books for teens called: Dumped: A Girl's Guide to Happiness After Heartbreak and Crush: A Girl's Guide to Being Crazy in Love -- both by author Erin Elisabeth Conley (Published by Zest Books). And ironically, they actually have some good advice overall, with a sense of humor.

The thing I can't stand most about dating books is when they take themselves way too seriously. Luckily these two books don't.Crush reminds you what it's like to flirt or how to pick up on body language cues. A lot of the book is for tweens and teens -- which means tons of quizzes and such. But I caught myself giggling on the how to stalk without stalking your crush. It reminded me a lot of when I gave similar tips to teens in my column Relationships 101. Trust me, getting the lowdown on a crush without seeming like a creepy groupie is hard.

There's also quite a few cool tips for first date locations and activities, crafty gift ideas, and so on. Honestly, the best section is "Warning Signs: 10 Ways to Tell He's Not Really Into You." Why? Because I think at some point in time we've all emailed or texted someone a little too much.

On the flipside there's the book Dumped -- to help you deal with the inevitable breakup. Again, this book is meant for teens, but it sure does apply to the rest of us in so many ways. The best tips like "don't call your ex" and "don't call his friends," are KEY. Many of us like to dissect and re-dissect every blasted moment during the relationship to search for clues indicating the relationship was headed for Splitsville, population = you! And this book points out the biggies like "he picked fights about stupid things," "you hardly ever held hands or kissed anymore," "you seemed to be the only one texting and emailing," "he suddenly got way too busy for you," and so on.

This book seems a bit different than other breakup guides because it actually has a whole chapter dedicated to letting you mope around. Usually most books want you to get right back out there, so it's refreshing to see a book admit that you might want to wallow in self-pity for a few months before wanting to read all those tips on how to pick yourself up again. And it really goes though the steps you'll be feeling and why -- Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

I also really liked the music and movie lists both books offered as things to listen to, read or watch when you're flirty, in love, sad, and angry. The "Play 'Em and Weep" list had everything from Badly Drawn Boy and Beck to Johnny Cash and The Beatles.

So if you want a fun read, or some pointers in dating, you might dig these two little books...