Most single women have experienced the sinking feeling of fishing for a date from someone special without receiving so much as a nibble. It is enough to make women wonder if there is something wrong with their bait.

Steve Nakamoto, a former Dale Carnegie instructor, personal development trainer, and professional tour director understands these feelings. He has written an intelligent, funny, and wise book for women who are looking to catch a guy---hook, line, and sinker. In this entertaining look at relationships, he compares men to fish who are secretly longing to be caught. Women, on the other hand, are wily yet compassionate anglers looking to reel in the big one.

Men Are Like Fish will take readers on a fact-packed fishing trip where they will learn tips on how to initiate great relationships or enhance the ones they already have. The book is sweetly old-fashioned, yet wickedly on target. Nakamoto has also sprinkled zippy cartoons/illustrations and unusually helpful quotes throughout the book.

While the title might imply a single-minded effort to drag an unsuspecting man into the net, the book is actually somewhat Zenlike. It will help women to improve their self-images, broaden their interests, and accentuate the unique qualities they possess that will naturally draw good relationships to them. Nakamoto also spends a good deal of time discussing the end of relationships. He shows women how to let go gracefully, with as little pain as possible, so that they can continue to grow without harboring bitterness. He uses several examples from his own life, sharing many of his triumphs and failures with a good-natured sense of humor.

Nakamoto shares one especially funny story about a tight jeans contest where he lost a shapely girlfriend/contestant to judge Clint Eastwood. He writes, I consoled myself with the thought that Deanna must have had a tough choice: Clint Eastwood (People Weekly s 2001 #2 most popular screen actor of all time) or Steve Nakamoto? It could have gone either way, right?

Nakamoto also shares good, solid advice. One especially helpful area is Favorite Fishing Holes: 101 Hot Spots Where the Big Ones Are Biting. It consists of a list of fun and inexpensive activities and places to explore that are bound to be interesting, even if they do not spark a new love affair. Among the many activities that Nakamoto recommends are going to art gallery openings, visiting wineries for wine tasting and tours, and taking city tours or day trips in one s own city or in a nearby town.

Nakamoto does not guarantee eternal love for readers. However, both single women looking for that perfect catch and those seeking to recapture the romance of an exciting relationship will find great value here. Men Are Like Fish is guaranteed to give even the most jaded and discouraged romantic angler a new, more joyful perspective on the oldest sport in the world. --- Reviewed by Kathleen Youman