Author:  Lauren Weisberger

 

I REALLY wanted to love this book. I mean, I loved The Devil Wears Prada (book & movie) and this is the sort-of sequel to it all. It has characters you already know, gorgeous settings of New York and LA, political intrigue, women in business, infidelity, and payback … all the stuff that says “give me a tiki hut, margarita, and this book and I have a perfect summer day!” Unfortunately, if you are like me and need to root for the protagonist, there may be an issue here. In her previous book, The Devil Wears Prada, we all loved Andrea – she was a normal girl with a crazy boss – we can ALL relate to that! These ladies have perfect lives and they are seriously unhappy. Perfect neighbors who are all just gluten-free, organic food, sex toy party balls of weirdness. Perfect, organic, stay-at-home and still afford couture lives that is not usually available outside of a Bravo show! The most interesting story is when Karolina Hartwell (the former famous super model) is arrested driving her son home. She was set up by her husband, Graham, and his political ambitions and plans to be with another woman. That was the only reason I kept reading – I wanted Graham to get what was coming to him. (Thankfully – he DOES.) The other two characters just tended to irritate me with their behavior and all of them irritated me with their SUPREME privilege. In our current state, I admire hard-working hustlers with a heart of gold. I wish this book had more of that!

 

The council rules:  Sure, get it for your summer reading but only for the infidelity pay-back story line. Those are always fun!