Chasing Harry Winston: A Novel

I was really excited when I picked up this book. As I read I kept wanting to give it a chance, but was always disappointed. The characters start shallow, and they end just the same. I don't see any real development throughout.

This book saved me during a 9 hour bus trip. It was a totally fun, light read, that was very Sex and the City. I found myself thinking about he characters days after I was finished with the book - I grew attached! The book is well researched and very current. I did think that the beginning was slow and the trip to Bonaire could have been a lot funnier. Some parts were even repetitive (Adriana's beauty). However, there were many pleasant twists and surprises and I loved the development with the bird! Overall it was a happy, fun, & light read, and I am happy that I read it!

This is the story of three great friends living in Manhattan and looking to change their lives around and shake things up to get married and live happily ever especially now that they are nearing 30.
Emmy is now single because her boyfriend Duncan left her for the trainer she herself had paid for him... talk about irony!!
She was this close to the ring and the baby she's wanted her whole life but now she is ordering take out for one and is looking to find herself a man but her friends tell her she should sleep around a bit and forget about dreaming of Mr. Right. She will embark in the adventure and will do her best to forget her prim and proper attitude and begin her tour de whore.
Adriana is a famous drop dead gorgeous supermodel who has been born in Brazil and raised in the USA by her rich parents who are always paying her bills.
She is also about to turn 30 and is considering her mother's advice about men... beauty is ephemeral, there's always someone younger and prettier right around the corner to steal your man so it's better to pick one soon and to settle with him.
And finally there's Leigh, a young star in the publishing business who is within striking distance of landing her dream job as senior editor and marrying her dream guy... or maybe Russell isn't really her dream guy but he is the dream guy of every other woman she knows. To top it all off Leigh is chosen to edit the well known Jesse Chapman "enfant terrible of the literary world" who is brilliant and brooding and a genius and who has her go to his house in the Hamptons to work with him since he doesn't like to work anywhere else!! As you can imagine on one of those trips to the Hamptons to work on Jesse's new book they end up under the sheets and Leigh experiences the best lovemaking of her entire life.
Emmy will have to sleep around, Adriana will have to have a serious and monogamous relationship for the very first time in her life and Leigh, well Leigh appears to have it all and her life appears to be perfect... but do you really think this is so?
Read on and check out what happens...

Leigh, Adriana, and Emmy are three long-time friends and NYC residents rapidly approaching their thirtieth birthdays. Trouble is, none these ladies are particularly happy about this looming milestone. Leigh is a seemingly successful, type-A editor whose "perfect life" is actually anything but. She's in a relationship with charming, handsome sportscaster Russell, whose love seems suffocating and almost depressing to her, and her new client, eclectic author Jesse Chapman, proves to be a challenging case in unexpected ways. Meanwhile, Adriana, used to relying on her Brazilian gorgeousness to seduce any man she desired and spending her days doing little more than using her parents' money, wonders if she is losing her "touch" when it comes to men. Even more importantly in Adriana's case-does the ever-approaching "30" mean that it's time to actually commit to one man only? And for Emmy, recently dumped by boyfriend Duncan and feeling increasingly desperate for a baby, does her newly single status mean it's time to follow her friends' urgings, abandon her former "serial monogamist" tendencies, and embark on a man-catching adventure that will be the opposite of anything she's ever done before? With all of the drama surrounding the love lives (and general lives) of these "ringless wonders," the year ahead of them will be anything but ordinary...

While this book is not nearly the crisp, original page-turner that "Devil Wears Prada" was, it wasn't completely terrible either. Weisenberger's writing style is still pleasantly breezy and easy to read, making "Harry Winston" a decent anecdote to whatever arduous task you're recovering from or avoiding. And, I have to admit, I found that I usually wanted to keep reading just to see how pulpy crises of these women's love lives turned out.

But speaking of the characters, it is unfortunate to say that they were not the kind that are completely lovable (or easy to relate to). Leigh frequently comes across as a joyless "fun sponge" who readers will often wish they could just admonish to break up with Russell and relax already! Adriana's silliness does entertain during some of the novel, but then again, how much can readers enjoy a character who manages to whine her way through half of a novel, despite having a limitless designer wardrobe, looks to rival Gisele Bundchen's, and all the money she could desire without working? Emmy seemed like the sweetest of the characters, but the fact that she was portrayed as somehow "deficient" because she had not slept with hundreds of men during her life was disappointing.

So, you're not missing fabulous chick-lit if you pass over this offering, but if you do check it out from the library, realize that the not-so-subtle sluttiness=happiness message and lukewarm characters will make it little more than a decent diversion. I would definitely recommend some of Jennifer Weiner's books ("Good in Bed" and its sequel "Certain Girls") if you like your chick-lit to still have a little substance and staying power.

Easy beach read, but summer is now over. The story of three 30 something girlfriends in Manhatten looking for the perfect relationship. It reads like a script of "Sex in the City". One of the characters writes an advice column and aspires to be the next Candace Bushnell. Characters obviously not as developed as "Devil Wears Prada".