Getting Over John Doe

Is there anything worse than being in love with someone who -- suddenly, out of the blue, with no reason at all -- stops loving you back?

Here is a remedy for that all-too-familiar chapter in every girl''s life: getting dumped.

It''s not really Ben & Jerry''s that soothes the sting -- or getting even -- though that certainly helps. Rather, it''s learning to lose him and respect yourself that puts you on the path to sanity-and gives you some Zen with men.

In this quirky romantic comedy of errors, Suzy Yalof tells her John Doe story from the pitch "open -- minded, smart, funny" to sex, the L-word, and the big dump (a subzero day on a chairlift) to finally getting over John Doe (Hint: Do the things he always hated). Like all of us, Suzy Yalof has survived the exaltation, embarrassment, and disappointment of romance. But with the realization that for every frog there is a prince, she''s rebounded with style. Hers is an exemplary story of a woman scorned -- and then inspired.

Every woman who has ever loved and lost and then gone on to exhaust her mom, her pals, and the neighborhood bartender with her John Doe story will find a well of unconditional empathy in Getting Over John Doe. It is a love lesson for our time -- and far more titillating than dating John ever was.