Click, Date, Repeat by K.J. Farnham: A story of Frogs and Prince Charming

I read this as a married woman who never had a desire to date. I married my first boyfriend at twenty five. I almost worried that I would hate Chloe, our protagonist, as we have nothing in common, and never get to the end of this book. But I told myself to keep an open mind and keep reading and hope that we get to see how she falls in love with “the one.”

Click, Date, Repeat is a story about having to kiss a lot of frogs just to get to the prince. Chloe Thompson is a twenty five year old school teacher who decided to give online dating a try after multiple failed relationships. So online dating: click on the profile you like, date the person and repeat this maddening process until you get to the Prince. Sounds simple enough, right?

The idea that you could meet someone online and potentially fall in love was such a novel concept in the early 2000s. Fast forward to the present day and I’m sure I can speak for my generation (early 1980s babies) when I say that you literally need to have some form of social media now in order to date. Or at the very least, be able to find your potential suitor and go through his photos and friends list to assess what the person is like. But that’s a different topic for a different day.

This story begins with Chloe going on a one sided, cringe worthy date. She’s polite enough, tries to look for a positive in the situation and like most passive aggressive people, hope that her silence equates to “I’m sorry but this thing is never going to happen, ever.”

So, since I never got to date around, I completely lost myself in her world and thanked the Universe that I never had to. I’m not as picky as Chloe is and chose the life I live in now, without thinking about my friends’ opinions about how relationships should go and how we’re supposed to be while we’re in them.

I’m Filipino and I laughed so hard every time she went over to her parents’ house. Yes, Asian mothers have no filter and will shout even when you’re a few feet away. It also provided some insight on what my mom would have thought had I lived closer to her during my early twenties and dating people I met online. The situation would be awkward at best, and I wouldn’t be going to her house to borrow her computer just to see who Yahoo thinks my perfect match would be. You are a twenty five year old teacher, Chloe, and should have your own computer!! There is no excuse for not having one! My college roommate was an elementary education major and she was going to Europe on her teacher salary. I’m digressing here.

The title of the book pretty much sums up the entire story but she explores how this new concept (remember this is a year into the world of The Bachelor) and how her friends’ and family’s relationship and viewpoints revolve around her love life. I like that she’s a bit whiny and unsure about who she is and what she wants and yet, puts herself out there for the Universe, anyway. That’s what happens when you want to find love. I like that some people she met online made her change her parameters of what she’s looking for and then apologetically, reaffirm the original parameters. We were all twenty five once and someone, somewhere –most likely an Asian mother – deemed that it was time to be “grown up” at that point and have a house, an established career and a family. Some of us took a leap before our friends, others kept a marriage and baby pact with friends and very few decide to take matters into our own hands, sift through an online personals ad, click, date and repeat.

Rated: 4 stars