Good Girls Gone Bad starts off sounding like many of the other single women books out there--seven single women, aged 35 to 45, attend a therapy group together to work on improving their disasterous relationship histories. The main character, Janey, is obsessed with Tobias, a guy who slept with her while engaged to another woman; however, she carefully rationalizes her behavior to convince herself that she is not stalking him. As Janey and the other women in the group begin to bond, they dub themselves the "... posse" and vow to take revenge on Tobias, but as you might expect, their plan goes horribly awry. At this point, the book becomes more serious, as Janey questions her bond with her friends, delves into her childhood, and finally faces the truth about her mother. While the story seemed predictable early on, several unexpected revealations help set this book apart from its similar peers. A great read for someone who enjoys a fun story about women but with a little more depth.

What a clever read! Medoff leads the reader toward one direction and then the course of the story changes dramatically. Good Girls Gone Bad is a dark comedy that is to be relished from cover to cover!

Janey Fabre suspects that she isn't quite normal. After all, she's stalked her ex-boyfriend for two years and is tormented with a painful past. But when she joins a support group that consists of female patients, she is comforted with the fact that there are far more neurotic New York women out there. The women in the group are all middle-aged single women. There's Suzanna -- a.k.a., the Dream Weaver -- a woman in love with her dog; Laura, a one-night stand enthusiast; Bethany, a forty-year-old divorcee who now lives with her mother. And there are the neurotics-bordering-to-insanity -- like Ivy, a sexy southerner who thinks that getting plastic surgery is like brushing her teeth; Valentine, an attractive overweight woman who overeats when she's anxious; and Natasha, who is preoccupied with contamination and diseases. Each of one of these ladies supplies laugh-out-loud situations.

Despite the dark language in the novel, Good Girls Gone Bad is a tale of friendship and sisterhood. The women, namely the protagonist, face events that change their lives. I loved this novel and I look forward to reading more books by this talented author.

Good Girls Gone Bad is a wonderful, wholly original, delightfully rendered novel. It's characters, especially Janey, are all parts of ourselves--gone to an extreme that puts us in touch with our deepest fears and desires. Not only are we all Janey, but we are every woman in this book. And we are also Tobias, who surprisingly does not turn out to be just an enemy, but becomes a full character through the course of this novel. The sharp humor, dazzling prose, and gripping plot all underscore the psychological depths this book explores. It is engrossing, engaging and absolutely unique. I laughed, cried, and was truly affected by Good Girls Gone Bad.

Hunger Point is a hearbreaking story following the life of Fran, a sarcastic and funny character whose mother is obsessed with food, sister is bullimic and in a hospital, and father is sort of out-of-it...Well, anyways, Fran has to find a job (she's a waitress, but she's looking for a serious job). She keeps getting distracted, though. Shelly (her sister) dies unexpectedly from a drug overdose, her mom is cracking up, her parents are fighting, her grandpa is dying...and she falls in love. She is baffled by her sister's death, and finds herself searching for answers, sometimes getting ones she doesn't understand. I've read this book (listened to, whatever) twice, and each time was very satisfying

I was duly impressed with Jillian Medoff's Good Girls Gone Bad, and so I didn't hesitate to pick up this book. Hunger Point is a poignant novel about a young woman's struggles with the unraveling of her family.

Frannie Hunter, unable to sustain a job and an apartment of her own, moves back with her parents. As she tries to get her life in order, she witnesses her sister's battle with Anorexia, her mother's two-timing behavior, and her father's career woes. As a former anorexic, I can relate to the hardships the protagonist and the other characters go through.

The subject matters that Medoff addresses in Hunger Point -- eating disorders, depression, grief, etc. -- are mixed with poignancy and humor. Medoff is as witty as she is insightful. I laughed out loud in many occasions. Her work is similar to Anna Maxtet's; however, Jillian Medoff has a particular brand of comic timing and keen storytelling all her own. She is one of the best new authors out there and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

I say women's lit, because that's what HUNGER POINT, by Jillian Medoff is. Definitely not chick-lit, and so much better. HUNGER POINT is moving, charming, disturbing, captivating and real. Very few authors succeed at creating characters that are so rich with life and infused with emotion that they literally jump off the pages of a novel. However, author Jillian Medoff has gone above and beyond in her creation of Franny, the main character. Franny is a perfectly imperfect 26-year old woman standing at the brink of indecision and uncertainty in life. She is lazy yet ambitious, intelligent yet naïve, clingy yet distant. As the book opens, Franny has just moved back in with her parents after being laid off from her office job. Things at home are a bit uneasy; her relationship with her perfectionist mother is difficult at best; her father is distant; worst of all, her sister Shelly is in a mental hospital, trying to recover from anorexia. Franny is half-heartedly looking for a job while working as a waitress at night. Life for Franny is okay, but it seems to be balancing on a thin tightrope that could snap at any given time. As Franny's sister is released from the hospital and their grandfather comes to live with the family, things tentatively get a little better, although Franny is unwittingly jealous of the attention her seemingly recovered sister is receiving from their family. Suddenly tragedy strikes the family painfully, and things plummet into disaster. Shelly inexplicably loses her battle with anorexia nervosa, and the family is thrown into mourning, each handling it in their own way. Franny seems to go off the deep end, her mother distances herself from the family, and her father blocks everything out.

The modern family portrayed in HUNGER POINT is both charming and a little disturbing. Jillian Medoff weaves a silken web of sadness, hope, occasional laugh-out-loud moments, real-life emotion and startling clarity in this brilliant novel. Readers will be spellbound as they watch this family try to pull themselves together and move on. Franny slowly goes through the many stages of mourning for her sister, sometimes appearing to take one step forward and three steps back.

There are some tough subjects addressed in the novel, and they are all handled admirably and skillfully by the author, and they are portrayed realistically. You will not find the sugarcoating of anything in this book; everything is honestly told, almost painfully so.

HUNGER POINT is a stunning portrayal of one modern family's struggle to beat the odds of society and life, and one girl's plight to recover from her sister's tragic death. A fantastic debut novel. Highly recommended!