LIVE A FABULOUS SINGLE LIFE! Are you stressed about meeting "the one," getting "the ring," and exchanging "I dos" at the altar? Do you feel frustrated by the seeming lack of relationship- worthy guys? Would  you  date yourself? Move over, Carrie Bradshaw! Dating and relationships guru Demetria L. Lucas, creator of the award-winning blog  A Belle in Brooklyn,  celebrates the joys and the challenges of singlehood in this fun and candid book. Filled with relatable anecdotes and lessons from her own experience, advice garnered from interviews with other experts, and revelations from hundreds of conversations with her Male Mind Squad--a committee of thirty men from varying backgrounds who answer the tough questions about sex, dating, and relationships-- A Belle in Brooklyn encourages you to embrace your freedom and foster your personal development. It also offers invaluable tips for finding a suitable mate  when you are ready for one . In the meantime, enjoy your single life--with or without Mr. Perfect. "A Belle in Brooklyn is fun, sexy, witty and captivating. Picture it as your no-holds bar girlfriend telling you a series of real life stories over cocktails. From page one you're invested... because the writing is just that damn good." --Vibe Vixen "This may be slightly sexist, but I'm going to say it anyway -- [Demetria Lucas] is one of the most self-aware women I've ever met. The level of forthright self-assessment she exhibits in her blogs is extremely rare and commendable. It may be an act, but if so, she deserves a f*cking Oscar." -- Very Smart Brothas Lucas opens up her life for the greater good of her readers. You don't feel as if you've accompanied her to a private exam; it's more like you're hanging out at an intimate girlfriend's gathering." -- ESSENCE A Belle in Brooklyn is like a warm hug and firm-but-thoughtful counsel from that girlfriend you trust unconditionally--honest, straight-no-chaser. --Denene Millner, co-author of the New York Times bestselling Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man "Lucas gives it straight no chaser. She provides brutally honest bits of her personal life-from a frightening sexual assault by a "friend" to laugh-out-loud/this-can't-be-real-life moments (Suge Knight? Comedy.) to those so familiar and almost indescribable pangs of like, love and lust." -- Madame Noire Affectionately known as "Belle", Demetria L. Lucas is the author of  A Belle in Brooklyn: The Go-to Girl for Advice on Living Your Best Single Life (Atria); the creator of the award-winning personal blog ABelleInBrooklyn.com; and the founder of Coached By Belle, a boutique life-coaching service, where Demetria helps clients solve their dating dilemmas and build healthy long-term relationships. Demetria is also a contributing editor for The Roo t, where she pens a weekly dating and relationship advice column, "Ask Demetria", and is a contributing writer for the websites of Essence, Clutch, Vibe Vixen and Uptown. Demetria was named one of "the Blogosphere's Best" by Black Enterprise Magazine, selected among "30 Black Bloggers You Should Know" by The Root, picked as one of Essence.com's "40 Fierce & Fab Under 40", and featured as "The Best of Brooklyn" by Brooklyn News 12. Additionally her debut book, A Belle in Brooklyn, was nominated for "Best Self Help" at the 2011 African-American Literary Awards, and her blog was awarded Best Personal Blog in the 2010 Black Weblog Awards. Since being dubbed "the Black Carrie Bradshaw" in a Washington Post profile, Demetria has become a sought after media personality and speaker. She's appeared on The Today Show, The Anderson Cooper Show,   The Dr. Drew Show on Headline News,  Access Hollywood , Good Day New York, Issues with Jane Velez on Headline News , and the Oprah Radio Show. She's also been a guest speaker at Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Howard, NYU, and Spelman College. INTRODUCTION While I was writing this book in 2010, there was an onslaught of articles ( Washington Post, Economist, New York Times ), prime-time TV segments ( Nightline —twice), books, and countless blogs examining “Why Black Women Are Soooo Single.” It seemed that whenever a media source needed some sort of Nielsen ratings bonanza or to send their website’s comments section into a frenzy, they’d trot out a horrific tale of no love and lots of loss. The plot was always the same: a single Black woman from a densely populated city clinging to a flavored martini, a Louis Vuitton Speedy, and/or a perfectly coiffed girlfriend wondering where all the good men had gone. (Go-to answers: dead, gay, unemployed, on the down low, in jail, or with a White woman.) As I watched, read, and listened to the same story over and over, I wondered why “the problem” of singleness was being presented as a Black issue or even a female one. There are 96 million people in the United States who have no spouse, according to a 2010 study from the U.S. Census Bureau. That means 43 percent of a