Tina's Groove

Book excerpt: The shrewdly self-aware and empowered Tina boldly shatters the stereotype of 30-something single women as neurotics obsessed with high-powered careers or with marriage. Self-assured waitress Tina is the star of the strip Tina's Groove by cartoonist Rina Piccolo. Readers can follow the adventures-in her personal life and as she works at Pepper's restaurant-of this single, smart, attractive woman in her 30s. Supporting players include Tina's best friend, Suzanne, a fellow waitress with a busily buzzing social calendar and a penchant for offering unsolicited advice; Carlos, a man's man who talks a good game; Monica, a spacey, distracted hostess at the restaurant; Rob, the straitlaced restaurant manager; and Claud, the outlandish, storytelling, truck-driving Pepper's regular. Tina's Groove is sure to appeal to independent working women in their 30s who are hungry for a character to whom they can relate. In syndication for more than three years, the strip appears in such newspapers as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Arizona Republic, and the Toronto Star.