Scott Phillips' sketch of a crooked lawyer on the lam is amusingly ironic: though there's violence aplenty in the novel--including a morbidly comic finger-breaking scene starring Spencer, a philosophical bouncer at the Sweet Cage, one of the strip clubs Charlie oversees for Bill Gerard--this is Waiting for Godot rather than Goodfellas. Phillips masterfully sets up the reader's expectations for action and adventure, dropping cryptic hints about Charlie's past, present, and future, then gleefully keeps Charlie in a holding pattern, circling from one strip club to another, from bars to massage parlors to his former in-laws' house.
But when the world isn't scripted by Beckett, all waiting games must come to an end. Charlie's gamble--it would be cheating to tell you more than that it involves a little cocaine, a beautiful woman of indeterminate origin, a Christmas package full of cash, and an embarrassing photograph--pays off, and he heads out of town. How far does he get? Well, that's another story--and another opportunity for Phillips to show off the mordant humor that may brand him as the Cohen brothers' literary heir apparent. In his hands, Kansas doesn't seem far at all from Fargo. --Kelly Flynn
Create a foolproof Essentials list that will start you on the path to your dream guy
The most precious gem of all-a bright future with the man of your dreams-is within your reach! All you've got to do is put those tarnished costume jewels of relationships past behind you, and set your sights on something truly brilliant.
Customer Reviews:
FUNNY and INFORMATIVE.......2006-10-31
Great book! I've dated all these guys...thanks to Cooper Lawrence, I realize the destructive dating pattern I'm on. I'm going to turn my tarnished past into a dazzling dating future!
I wish this book had been around when I was single!.......2006-10-25
Not only incredibly informative, but relatable & fun! Even though I'm currently in a happy, healthy relationship, I think if I had followed the simple guidelines this book suggests when I was single, it would have saved me a lot of heartache. There were several examples that hit home for me, courtesy of my dating past. I often found myself nodding and smiling along as I actually had 'Been there, done that.' Other instances just had me laughing out loud. I have recommended this to all of my single friends; it is an insightful read without taking itself too seriously, by an obviously knowledgeable, personable author.
Clever, Smart and Witty !.......2006-10-16
A rarity to find all 3 in a self-help book! But this author seems to have a nack for truth (backed up with research), common sense and an affable way of transmitting to a reader. Well worth the time. And this is what I call a perfect gift for many single friends !
Love it!.......2006-10-16
This book doesn't just give good advice, it does so with flair. I like that everything is tied to research, so it's not just a book with anecdotal evidence. The writer is really funny without trying, so read everything or you'll miss out on some great lines.
Book Description
This collection includes three of Louise Bagshawe's bestsellers in one volume. In Venus Envy, Alex Wilde is 27, single, bored at work, and surrounded by flatmates that would make a glitterball feel square. Her little sister Gail is pretty, waif-like, and irritating. Femme fatale Keisha is flying up the ladder of success at work. It's time for Alex to get out and strut her stuff. In A Kept Woman, Diana Foxton has it all. Between hosting the most talked about parties in Manhattan, Diana makes being the perfect wife an art form. Then she discovers her husband is having an affair, and finds herself broke and alone, shunned by the glittering society that once embraced her. Can she make it on her own? In When She Was Bad, Lita and Rebecca are worlds apart. From the tough streets of the Bronx, Lita is determined to succeed—whatever the cost. When privileged Rebecca inherits an estate in England, it's just the start of a whole new life. Linked by betrayal, Rebecca and Lita are set against each other. Until they discover just how sweet vengeance can be.
Customer Reviews:
WELL ALMOST 4 STARS.......2005-12-04
The story was good.
The Characters human - the emotions believable.
The story could have had a bit more depth. The characters a bit more restraint.
It is what I call a marshmellow story with not much zing.
I expected more of Zack at 40 years old but maybe his biological clock was ticking.
I just wanted the story to be more rounded out than just her fears - where was the danger? she should have been looking over her shoulder more and hey, she couldn't expect the life style that the mob boss had given her.
Zack was destroying his career by giving into his lust for "Natalie" - not that it didn't work out all right.
Ah well, almost as good as the previous book.
Cherokee Stranger and others.
From Back Cover.......2005-03-24
Once the glamorous mistress to a high-powered mob boss, Natalie Pascal was now a kept woman of a very different sort.
Her new keeper: U.S. Marshal Zack Ryder, the handsome man assigned to give her a new identity and a chance to cleanse her torrid past. Soon, only her guardian's presence could comfort her, only his touch could chase away her nightmares.
Zack always played by the rules and that meant never getting involved with a witness. If Natalie's cover was compromised, she'd be given a new life - one he'd know nothing about. But trying to deny his desire for the vulnerable beauty was compromising his very ability to see danger approaching.
By succumbing to Natalie's siren song, Zack could destroy his career and maybe his own safety. Now, who was keeping whom?
A Kept Woman.......2004-05-24
I love Sheri's writing style. She creates the most appealing heros with a slightly tough, bad boy edge.
And what a combination she's devised in A Kept Woman. The ex-mistress of a mob boss falls in love with the deputy marshall who's assigned to help her relocate. That alone was enough to get me hooked. But besides the romance, what I really liked about this book was that the characters suffered through true to life mistakes and tragedies. Sheri presented and resolved them in believable ways.
Oh yeah, almost forgot! The (...)tension was scorching too!!
A Keeper.......2004-05-05
A Kept Woman by Sheri Whitefeather is a tender moving love story.
Natalie Pascal was once the mistress of a mob boss. She is starting over with a new life after witnessing a murder. Helping her adjust is US Marshall Zack Ryder.
Zack Ryder was just planning on getting another witness set up in her new life. He wasn't prepared for the woman that he was assigned to help. Natalie wasn't the vamp he thought she would be. She was a beautiful, vulnerable woman.
As Zack and Natalie spend more time together they grow closer and both realize that what they have is rare. Zack and Natalie connect on so many levels.
A Kept Woman is an emotional sexy read. Sheri Whitefeather books are a joy to read.
Book Description
Diana Foxton has it all. Rich, British and beautiful she is married to the head of a publishing empire and fills her days with lunches, interior decorating and clothes shopping. Never out of the society pages, she hosts the most talked about parties in Manhattan and makes being the perfect wife an art form. Then she discovers her husband is having an affair, her glamorous bubble is burst and she finds herself without any money or any qualifications, shunned by the glittering society that once embraced her.
Alone for the first time, she takes the only job she can get, and settles awkwardly into a very different life. But can she make it on her own? And why does her new boss, the handsome Michael Cicero, take so much pleasure in watching her struggle?
Customer Reviews:
light read.......2006-07-04
To start off, speaking as a woman, extreme feminists should try to give speeches where they are due, not whenever they have a chance. Frankly, this is getting really tiring, and reading one of the reviews about this book you would've thought it called for the return of the "harem" women or something. Back to the book, though it is not a master piece by any sense, I found it to be a lot bettr than most of the other books in this genre, which tend to have challow, undefined characters. This book's main characters were outlined very nicely. However the book does have a lot of "hollywood stuff" in it, so you might not want to take it all that seriously. All in all, it is a great light read, ideal for a short vacation or for flicking through at the beach.
Despicable!.......2002-12-11
I can't believe a woman wrote this *** of a book. I would give it a half star if I could. First, the plot is nothing more than the reash "uptown girl meets blue-collar man" cliché. As for the hero, Micheal is nothing more than a chauvinist pig, who spends most of his free-time hopping in bars, drinking to oblivion, and going home with faceless women he can't even remember their names the morning after.
What's is more, Micheal is supposedly God's gift to women, and apparently no women who has been in his arms walk out without having experienced the big O. And true to form, since poor spoiled, rich, Diana who never had experienced the big O in her marriage with the ego-maniac Ernie, these two are a match made in heaven. In fact, Diana and Micheal seems to have nothing in common save the fact that "he can awaken" desire within the ice princess Diana.
The worst about this book is that you could figure out the plot within 1/4 through. It's utterly brainless and worst, it is insulting to women. For example, you have Diana saying of Micheal that in the bedroom, "Micheal's word is law" (she is totally at his mercy since the sex he is giving her turns her brain into mush). Talk about a self fufilling prophecy. Micheal the sex God. It get's better: Micheal, having sex with Diana, is thinking that for the first time in his life he is learning to "MASTER" a woman. With his humble beginning, blue-collar-make-good Micheal gets to melt the ice princess. Get real! No, it gets worst. You have Diana begging and pleading Micheal... "*** me Micheal". At this point I got sick in my stomach.
In short, I think the premise of this book is deeply flawed. The characters (save Diana, who does try to change), have nothing to aspire us. What is worst, I have never seen a hero I detest more than Micheal. He does nothing productive with his time other than drinking, having sex, and of course making money (if you think these are productive activities). He is a chauvinist with a capital C.
Moreover, I think the author has a poor opinion of women, since she portrays most of the secondary character women has either *** hungry or gold diggers. Through Micheal's eyes Bagshawe tells us that most women are lemon heads and spend their time trying to get into a man's pants or get a man to look after them. Bagshawe totally infantilizes these women.
Finally, half way through the book, it becomes clear that Bagshawe's project is to try to pass lust for love (not unsual in today's romance fiction). Other than the "great sex" part, Diana and Micheal have no chemistry and are not compatible. In the end, Diana turns out to be Micheal's trophy wife. Her good breeding seems to be her most important asset, something that man like Micheal (or nouveau riche) are most willing to bank on.
In all, I am going to return this book right this minute.
Not Louise Bagshawe's Best.......2001-12-14
I was rather disappointed in the love story featured in this book. HAving read and loved an earlier novel, Venus Envy and just adoring the love story in that novel, I was rather disappointed by the one in this book. I enjoyed the rest of the plot but found the love story rather wanting. It seemed to be to be rather crude and I could not see why these characters liked each other apart from the sex, that was all the relationship was about, no romance in it as far as I could see. I did not feel the characters were developed well enough, the growth of them as people was lacking and also disappointing. I would be happier to go and back and read Venus Envy once again.
A Kept Woman.......2001-10-11
I've always enjoyed Louise Bagshawe books and this one did not disapoint. Although I don't think it was her best effort, I couldn't put the book down. The book center's on Diana, who starts out as a ditzy society wife who learns how to use her brains in the workforce after divorcing her rich husband. Although I did think the pacing was a bit slow at parts overall I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone.
Maybe Louise had a deadline to meet..........2001-07-20
This one was a rush job. I envision Louise hunched over her computer, furiously trying to bang out a couple of chapters to meet her editor's deadline.
While I warmed to the characters by the middle, the opening chapters didn't really grab me. As another reviewer has noted, the plot is pretty pat, and the action pretty lame (how many times do we read that the company is saved once again by Diana's fine headhunting - I wonder if the auther just cut-and-pasted the same paragraph over and over to save time?)
Bagshawe likes to use brand names to round out her characterization, and impart that little extra bit of eliteness to the world her characters inhabit. I like this, when she does it well. Here again, as with other areas of her work, she needs to research a little more carefully, or blunders become annoying(a white LEATHER Stella McCartney coat?) One could say petty, but to the extent to which Ms. Bagshawe uses name brands, she'd better know what she's talking about.
Book Description
Every month, Stuff Magazine resident sexologist Dawn Yanek interviews women from all walks of life and uncovers the dirt they never tell anyone - but wish more men knew! With Dawn and the editors of Stuff as your guides, the hidden recessess of the female mind are yours to explore...and exploit. Become the guy who has all the right moves...says the right things...gets the sexy girl...is her greatest lover...and has more sex than ever!
Average customer rating:
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Kept Woman
Audra Grayson
Manufacturer: Firebird Distributing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
Adult Fiction | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 190138831X |
Average customer rating:
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The kept woman: Mistresses in the '80s
Edna Salamon
Manufacturer: Orbis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Marriage & Family | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Culture | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0856136069 |
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