The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club isn’t just any old chick lit novel – it’s a chick lit novel that takes its show on the road. As the book is at pains to point out – often, and clumsily – you couldn’t ask for a more romantic setting than the hot streets of Argentina. The people have flashing eyes and delightful manners, the shopping is brilliant, there is music and laughter in the “fresh, sweet air,” and you can have sex with a fling-type guy – specifically “Antonio, gorgeous Antonio,” who is “good in bed, who dresses impeccably, who looks like a movie star.”

Our heroine, Cassie, is a nice girl who goes off the rails one evening and drunkenly books a six-month holiday in Buenos Aires. And it’s all because of The Plan. The Plan is control-freak Cassie’s life goals, all neatly laid out and postdated: successful career, marriage to the cute lawyer guy, beautifully decorated home, one girl, one boy, dog, etc. Her dreams nearly come true, until her fiancé dumps her, her job disappears, and she is suddenly left homeless, all in one soul-destroying afternoon. So she concocts a new Plan, one that involves becoming a more interesting person. And so our reborn heroine – did I mention that her personality is a mixture of savvy urban woman and vulnerable child? ­– springs out from under her fluffy down duvet and heads off into the unfamiliar world of South America.

So far, so formulaic. Cassie goes on to experience some life lessons. Along the way, she acquires the requisite tougher, sluttier best friend, Zoe, who talks like a nightmare episode of Maude. (Zoe has one good zinger, though, which seems to sum up the central conundrum of these novels: “Do you want a husband or do you want Jude Law?”)

Cassie is tempted by a guy she doesn’t love, but who offers security and an amazing engagement ring. She eventually hits her emotional rock bottom, and then learns to let go. End scene. End book. What’s on TV?