Judith KrantzKirja-arvosteluja

Gorgeous, flamboyant Maxi Amberville is twenty-nine and has already discarded three husbands on two continents. Life is a stream of endless pleasure in her lavish Trump Tower apartment--until her widowed mother married a man who plots to sell her father's magazine empire. And Maxi turns her incredible lust for living into a passionate quest for power.

Maxi takes over the small weekly Buttons And Bows. She gathers her hot-blooded ex-husband, sassy daughter and a coterie of the powerful elite. Then, risking all, Maxi creates B&B --the glitziest, ritziest, most successful fashion magazine in the country. Here is a dramatic, sizzling story of love, family, ambition and one unforgettable woman who gives life and love everything she has

Maxi Amberville, another sensational heroine in another TV-miniseries-to-be-novel. Beautiful, thrice-married Maxi is independently wealthy, and flamboyantly carefree until she locks horns with her vile uncle over a matter of family honor. He would close down several unprofitable magazines in her late father's publishing empire, but she insists on trying to rescue the sentimental underdog. Her transformation scheme is a delight. Power struggles, steamy sex, high finance, and scandal in the Big Apple provide a fascinating cast of characters with a fast-paced story line that will keep readers turning pages late into the night

Lots of money, energy, sex and business politics in the magazine world. The denouement comes a bit quick at the end, but the story doesnt suffer too much because of it

The tale of a mother-daughter relationship gone desperately wrong, and of love and loss, set against the glamorous backdrop of the international auction houses. [return][return] Standard decent (for) Krantz fare, with mega rich selfish people, falling outs between mothers and daughters and the final realisation (due to a "life altering crises") that family means more than most

I forget how much we have changed as a society in what is considered acceptable and what isn't.

This book takes place from the mid-70's to the early 80's when certain things were considered normal and other things have yet to even happen
.
An example: Women who are pregnant drink alcohol. Yup. In this book and the previous one in this duet, two of the characters are pregnant (at different times). One (in the previous book) is going to have her kid in the next 24 hours (although she thinks it will be two weeks away). She thinks that alcohol that is made from fruit or is fruit flavored can't hurt the baby, because fruit is good for people, RIGHT? Although she is kind of ditzy in the book, she isn't stupid. Anyhow she talks the guy she is with into getting booze to drink because they are stressing out over being nominated for the Academy Awards (She's in it for best supporting actress and the awards are the next day). Anyhow, her guy gets like 10 different types of fruit flavored liquors including Framboise. She likes that it has practically no flavor but it smells nice. She and her guy get totally bombed. In that book there is nothing wrong with that. There is no internal monolog saying "maybe I shouldn't". Nope, they get bombed and there are no repercussions. It happens again in this book at the beginning when the main heroine finds out she is unplanned and unexpectedly pregnant by her new husband. She finds out because her Oscar dress was too tight. Her husband is up for best Picture (he was the producer). She is pissed and goes home and has a couple of brandies. Then the next day (in the beginning of this book) she had multiple glasses of champagne. Although she loses the baby early on, there is never any talk that it could have been from drinking

That and the casual infidelity as well as the general tone of the early 80's with its mass capitalism.

I did find it funny how towards the end of the book two of the main characters think that they could go into the catalog business to sell their big idea of vintage lingerie. However, they don’t' think it would be a good idea because what catalog only sells lingerie? Victoria's Secret hadn't been started yet. Also, in case you are too young to remember, Victoria's Secret was strictly a catalog store with more clothes, shoes and accessories than lingerie when it first came out in the early 90's. Actually, they didn't even have lingerie then (I don't think). It was a straight clothing catalog.

Another thing that made this book dated was the complete lack of technology that is abundant today. No computers, no cell phones, no phones that weren't actually attached to the wall (so no cordless phones). The plot depended a lot on that fact. People weren't as accessible; news wasn't so fast to get around.

Anyhow, I love this book, I read it for the first time in 1998 when I was stuck in my own version of quarantine at an in-law’s home in Jordan. No tv, nothing to do but read her books. She had a large library with all the Judith Krantz, Sydney Sheldon, Harold Robbins, and other books. It was there that I read my first "erotica".

I love this book! I don't care how many times I read it, and the fact that it was published in the 80's and takes place in the 70's, or that it isn't intellectual. It's a great story. I recommend it to any woman who is looking for a book to break her slump without thinking too hard. Judith Krantz is a great author for books that read easily and require little to no really depth of thinking. Sounds kind of mean to say that, but it's true. Kind of like the Sydney Sheldon of Chick Lit.

Anyhow, I have always read this in paperback form. I would get the book from the local used bookshop. However, this time I read the Kindle version from Amazon. I have to say that I was really disappointed in the editing of it. There were many typos that I suspect were made because the person translating the book from print to e-book misread the words. I know that the paperback font can sometimes cause words like "club" to look like "dub" so this might account for some of the weird words that made no sense. Also, there were many times where a page break should have been made but wasn't. A major cut-scene wasn't made and I found myself wondering what was going on for a second. Also, some words were italicized for emphasis (not that the word was foreign) that made no sense. A sentence would have some random word in italics. If you can get past those editing problems which were littered throughout the book, the story outshines the book.

Now, a bit of a warning. This book was written in the very early 80's and its main story takes place in the mid to late 70's. So, if you aren't familiar with the times you will find yourself not quite understanding why the characters act the way they do. Why they allow certain events to happen.
The ideas of workplace harassment, sexual harassment, PC language and ethnic stereotypes being unacceptable haven’t made their appearance in American culture yet. So, be prepared for Asians to be labeled as Orientals, and workplace harassment, mansplaining, the treatment of women in general to be kind of behind the times. Hell, even I was kind of shocked to read about a 28 year old woman seducing a 14 year old boy. It wasn't at all considered wrong or shocking. She was just being the young cougar teaching a the son of a friend how to please a woman. This woman who knew the son and conversed with him since he was a young boy. Whom she watched grow into the adolescent knowing all the time she planned to have him.

Also, the pop culture of the time heavily plays into the story. It is full of refereces to celebrities of the day, famous events and places. Advertising and marketing of the times is a major part of the story. If you are under 30 and haven't watched any commercials or tv shows from that time (70s') you might not quite get the overall tone of the book.

Also, keep an app to calculate the dollars from the time period into the current dollars or else you won't understand the money. Many times monetary amounts are given in relation to living expenses, salary, or prices and since it's low you might not understand how a woman could live on $175 a week in New York while also supporting someone else.

I am not going to get into the plot of the story except to say that it is about Daisy Valensky who is the daughter of Stash and Veronica Valensky. Stash Valenski is the direct descendant to some Russian royalty and Veronica is a major movie star of the 50's when they meet.

About the story, it follows the standard Judith Krantz pattern of a quick bite of "current" and then delves into the character's past. In this case it delves into the main character Daisy's parents and grandparents past and brings the story up to the "present". It sounds like it would be overly long and boring, but it isn't. That's the secret about Judith Krantz books, they take a long time to get to the present, but the story getting there speeds by and is totally engrossing. This book shows us the best of love, loyalty, family, and life-long friendships with other women who only need to grab a shovel to help you hide a body.

The story goes into Stash's past from childhood. It might seem like that is kind of overkill, but it is important to understand current events in the book. Anyhow, Stash and Veronica have Daisy who is the heroine and main protagonist of the book. We follow her life. She is a great heroine, not TSTL, manages to have a brain and behaves in the way most women would.

Along with Daisy, there are other characters who are both major and minor in the book. They all have a place in her life and some, more than others are given time. Daisy basically pulls herself up by her bootstraps and manages to make a life for herself when she is forced to take on burdens that she never had in the past. The book isn't a romance, but it has a few romances in it. We don't have a "hero" per se until later, and the sex scenes are pretty tame, but don't let that keep you from reading it. It's one of those books that really don't need explicit sex to be enjoyable.

What I remember vividly from this book is Lily & Cutter's trists and Zachary's death. Loved this book as a teenager.

I remember anticipating this book so much and feeling utterly betrayed by it. It took the relationships I loved and trashed them. Stay away from this one.

good story

I laughed several times while reading this; I'm pretty sure it is not supposed to be a funny book.

this book is trashy rapey terrible nonsense but I loved it when I was fifteen and I still love it now, sorry not sorry

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12549040

I sometimes read what I call "airplane reading" or "escape reading". I might even refer to it as "junk reading". This book, however, is fully deserving of that title.

It was written in the 1990s but that doesn't excuse Krantz's lack of awareness of certain issues. Most upsetting to me, of course, were the animal issues.

The story is about several models and model managers, so of course we know it will include fashion tidbits. The models and others in this case wear fur, leather, silk, sheepskin. I may have missed the snakeskin and crocodile, but I"m sure they would wear those skins as well if there were sufficiently fashionable. They eat the usual run of beef, chicken, fish, and also foie gras and veal. Nobody gives a damn about what those animals go through to grace their bodies or fill their stomachs. Obviously I do.

That aspect of the book irritated me hugely. But a quick hint about the storyline and what else pissed me off:

Frankie Severino is second-in-command at a small model management agency. She works closely with Justine, who owns the company. Of late Justine has been receiving letters and other signs of affection from her father, Jacques Necker. Trouble is, Justine grew up as the sole daughter of her mother and never knew her father. It was only when she was dying that her mother told her the name of her father. Because he had run out on Justine's mother when she became pregnant all those years ago, Frankie is not well-disposed to him and does not want anything to do with him.

Over the years Necker has accumulated a great deal of wealth and he decides on a complex scheme to bring his daughter to see him in Paris. She's onto him, though, and avoids the trap. However, three of her models, accompanied by Frankie, head for Paris to work the runway for a show financed by Necker.

So we have four young attractive women in Paris. And we have Justine back in NYC coping with a broken furnace and an attractive repairman.

Love breaks out all over the place. There are other side issues, of course, but the main theme seems to be that we need romantic love to make our lives complete.

It's pathetic. The whole book runs on a 1950s axis.

I hope that the next person who reads it agrees with at least some of my positions. How can you ignore it all?

Maybe all "chick-lit" is like this and I'm just not familiar, but this was terrible. It was flighty and confusing, the characters didn't stand out, and it was simply ridiculous in the way these strong, independent women gave up their lives within an hour of meeting a man. I was not impressed.

A complete wish fulfillment fantasy of the first order. Super rich super beautiful super successful characters have all overcome some difficult early bumps to rise above the firmament and blaze through Beverley Hills. The sex is spaced out and mechanical and fairly crude, the c word is used more than I remembered or is now current. The best part are the little fictional bio-essays of some of the characters which discus aspects of the fashion or movie industries.½

Not a very compelling read thus far. (Pg.214) with so many characters and multiple story lines this easily could have been 3 or 4 books.½

This was the first of this type of book that I'd ever read. I was still a teenager. I didn't even know books like this existed. Until then, everything I'd read had been of pretty high quality. I had no idea people wrote books for pure sensationalism and shock value, which is what this is. So much of it was so offensive! Pedophilia, incest, rape... I can't remember what else. I kept thinking it would go somewhere. But you know, stories like this don't have anywhere to go. They have no point other than to titillate. That said, I have to admit the story has stuck with me all these years. I remember more from this book than most, even ones I've loved. At the same time, I've never read anything else by Krantz.

did not like. read only 2 pages

really couldn't get into this book

very interesting

This was another one of my beloved books back in the days when growing up. (Well never managed to) ;)

Light read but great story. Have read this book at least twice. Later there was a mini series based on this which I loved as well.

Read this years and years ago. I remember that I loved it and red it more than once. I think I was 15/16 at that time so reading all those books (Harold Robbins comes to mind) where you read about sex I devoured it.

So yes my taste has changed over the years, but for the above reasons I am giving this 5 stars.

ok novel @ Jazz - photographer set in Calif.

Inside the fun-filled photographers' studio in California known as Dazzle, Jazz Kilkullen reigns supreme. At twenty-nine, this playful, gifted, and thoroughly sexy woman has become one of the most successful celebrity portrait photographers in the world.

But her charmed career and her dashing private life, which includes three fascinating --- and fascinated --- men, are rocked when an unexpected tragedy leaves Jazz to battle her father's vengeful ex-wife and the machinations of her own half-sisters. At stake is the Kilkullen family ranch, a three-billion-dollar paradise of unspoiled California land that developers all over the world would do anything to possess ... and Jazz will do anything to protect. Absolutely anything.

okay saga of de Lancel girls, family, flyer, actress

Eve dared. . . Eve, with passion that overruled her total innocence, ran away from home to live in unrepentant sin; won stardom singing on the stage of the Parisian music halls before Worlds War I; married into the world of international diplomacy; and become the greatest lady Champagne. Eve's younger daughter, Freddy, inherited all of her mother's recklessness. Growing up in California, she became a pilot by sixteen; throughout World War II she ferried war planes in Britain--a glorious redhead who captured men with one humorous, challenging glance. Eve's elder daughter, Delphine, exquisite, gifted, and wild, romped through the nightlife of Hollywood of the thirties. On a whim, she made a screen test in Paris and soon found herself a great star of French films. She chose to risk her life in occupied France because of a love that transformed her frivolity into courage.

@ publishing take over Maxi Amberville

Gorgeous, flamboyant Maxi Amberville is twenty-nine and has already discarded three husbands on two continents. Life is a stream of endless pleasure in her lavish Trump Tower apartment--until her widowed mother married a man who plots to sell her father's magazine empire. And Maxi turns her incredible lust for living into a passionate quest for power.

Maxi takes over the small weekly Buttons And Bows. She gathers her hot-blooded ex-husband, sassy daughter and a coterie of the powerful elite. Then, risking all, Maxi creates B&B --the glitziest, ritziest, most successful fashion magazine in the country. Here is a dramatic, sizzling story of love, family, ambition and one unforgettable woman who gives life and love everything she has

did not like. read only 2 pages

start of a store

Scruples is the novel that created publishing history, the first-and widely acknowledged to be the very best-novel ever written about the staggeringly luxurious life of a Beverly Hills boutique and the people who work in it.

It was okay. i read it a while back when I was a teenager. I enjoyed some parts of it, the girly parts, but wasn't expecting any sexuality in it. It was a disappointment, though. i thought it was much better.