The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online
The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online is a romantic tell-all memoir spanning over 250 online dates in almost 15 years. This best-selling book is filled with heartfelt, witty, and hilarious stories.
Julie Spira, a pioneer in the Internet industry, became the first on her block to post an online dating profile. You’ll follow her journey as she skillfully navigates the web, hoping to replace what she once thought was the love of her life with
Rating: 
(out of 28 reviews)
List Price: $ 9.99
Price:
Find More Dating Online Products
Review by C. Hampton for The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online
Rating:
The only positive thing I can say about this book is that, mercifully, it is very short. Had it been longer, I might have wanted to put my head in the oven rather than finish it.
For starters the book is misnamed. There is little you can learn from this to help you avoid ‘the perils of cyber-dating’. Far from educational, it is merely a retelling of mostly boring dates and a few ill fated relationships. There is no plot, no drama, no epiphanies, no moral to the story, and sadly, no good laughs either.
Of course, I wasn’t expecting anything particularly deep, but I had hoped for insight into a woman’s mind and to be entertained along the way. I got little of the former and none of the latter
The one thing I did learn is that women (like us men) can be arbitrary and capricious. The author has practically made a career out of dating, yet rarely goes on a second date and rejects man after man for no particular reason. Before you’re halfway through the book it becomes abundantly clear that the author loves the idea of a man better than real men, and unless a mirror should somehow spring to life she will never be able to be committed to a real live person complete with faults.
She is also proud of the fact that she has never had a one night stand. She seems to consider that quite virtuous of her and that no doubt is why she felt compelled to include it in her book, as if we should all congratulate her on her virtue. She even goes so far as to tell a story that reminds me of the old saying “I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken”. In that story she was on vacation, and it was the only time in her life that she ever went to bed with a man for what she thought would be casual sex, but she ended up in a 3 year monogamous relationship with the man. I have no doubt that the story is true, she strikes me as an honest person who tells her stories exactly as they happened rather than taking creative license, and I respect her for her journalistic integrity. What I don’t understand is why she thinks I should respect her for never having had a one night stand. The book is completely sexless, which I find odd for a book with this title. If sex isn’t perilous enough, and important enough to be addressed in a book called ‘the perils of cyber dating’, what is? In fact, after reading the story about the `boy next door’ who she describes in glowing terms, and moves very slowly with (from what we know from the book, it was a long time before they even held hands), the nice guy with whom she had a great deal in common, ended up getting dumped because he had a dog she was allergic too. I felt sorry for him. Contrast that to her treatment of the `Latin Lover’ bad boy. She continued to go out with him although it was pretty obvious he was cheating on her. When she finally had proof he was cheating she broke off the relationship, but continued to have occasional trysts with him nonetheless. Ms. Spira has proven yet again that nice guys do finish last, which is not a new concept, but I must thank Ms. Spira for driving home the one and only important lesson in her book.
In her acknowledgments she describes this as a `juicy tell-all’. I’d call it a meatless memoir, devoid of sex, completely without passion, going into no detail regarding how to handle common dating problems, no emotions, really nothing at all but glossed over stories of meeting people and then passing on each other for no good reason other than a subscription to the fantasy that maybe the next person will be even better. In my opinion, the idea that you can toss everyone away because you’re always one personal ad away from an inbox full of email from potential suitors may be the greatest peril of cyber-dating. At some point, you should grow up and think less about finding some fantasy person, and replace those thoughts with an attempt to BE the right person.
June 25th, 2010 at 3:36 am
Review by Tamsen Fadal for The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online
Rating:
This is a must read! As a relationship expert, we love to recommend Julie’s online dating advice to our clients! So, if you are looking for love online? The Perils Of Cyber Dating Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking For Love Online, is just the book you need to take from the city to the beach this summer!
Julie Spira dishes it all as a hopeful romantic looking for love online. From her fabulous Rules of “Netiquette” that map out what men and women say vs. what the actually mean, to one hilarious story after another, she has mastered it all in a few clicks of her keyboard. This tell-all memoir spans over 250 dates in almost 15 years online. Way to go Julie!!!
June 25th, 2010 at 3:47 am
Review by C Janson for The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online
Rating:
I love this book!!! I laughed and oooo’d through this whole book and could not put it down. Been a long time since I’ve read a book in one day. Passing along to my girlfriends, single, married and out in the dating world again. Again, real life is more interesting than fiction.
Enjoy!
June 25th, 2010 at 4:14 am
Review by Victor De Castro for The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online
Rating:
Julie Spira has really done it with this book — a virtual primer on internet dating, using her experiences as a guidebook for either the uninitated or frustrated. Describing herself as a “hopeful romantic” Spira addresses the topic with both the sophistication of a veteran of the cyber dating scene along with this charming naivete of hers that someday, someway she’ll find that special someone through the internet. The book runs a gamut of emotions — from romance, disappointment, excitement and, of course, humor. Great job, Julie!
June 25th, 2010 at 5:07 am
Review by Reader2008 for The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online
Rating:
The book really wasn’t that helpful for internet dating. I have read quite a few of them: The RULES, internet dating and others, but the best one on the subject for me (because it was short – 60 pages) was:
Unlocking the Secrets of Internet Dating
Anyway, this is the content of the review I agree with:
——————————
The book is all over the place. There’s absolutely no flow to it, no consistency – some chapters are very short recollections of a few first dates gone bad, others sound like an advice column (with little to no valuable information to anyone who knows anything about human nature,) yet others consist of some out-of-place reminiscing over a past love interest.
Proof reading has been invented for a reason. I hate to sound like a spelling-Nazi, but this book is full of mistakes: spelling, punctuation and tenses are used incorrectly way too many times.
The book offers little to no literary value, it’s short, absolutely NOT funny, and even depressing (it seems that even though the author describes herself as smart, witty and attractive, any man she has ever been truly interested in completely fooled her; it’s actually quite embarrassing.)
June 25th, 2010 at 5:14 am