How I Came To Read This Book: I borrowed it from my sister.

The Plot: This isn’t just one book, but actually four novellas regarding four status & sex obsessed Manhattan-bound blondes. Janey Wilcox (subject of the full-length follow-up ‘Trading Up’) is a floundering model/actress that baits guys in exchange for summers in the Hamptons and a life she deems worthy of her greatness. Cecelia is married to a royal, but the media’s obsession with her every flaw keeps her high-strung personality on high-alert. Winnie is at a crossroads with her lazy husband – tired of being the power woman in the relationship she tries to motivate him to do something with his work, while both sides question whether they’re working. And finally the last story surrounds a writer who goes to England to find a man, a husband to be specific.

The Good & The Bad: Bushnell, much like Helen Fielding, the author of the Bridget Jones’ books, is a lucky girl indeed. A plum spin-off of her writing has landed her in the palm of chick lit publishing, allowing her to rifle off relatively lackluster novels that all follow the same theme: women-sex-men-power-work-Manhattan. This little collection epitomizes that by showing that none of these stories really warranted a full-length novel (sigh, Trading Up), that Bushnell’s creativity is limited by her own self-imposed style limitations. Of these stories I remembered finding Winnie’s the most interesting because it actually gave the man more of a voice for once. Janey’s was boring (as was her full book) and idiotic, Cecelia’s was hard to relate to, and the final story was completely forgettable. I can’t say I recommend this book if you’re a Bushnell fan because chances are, if such people exist, they’ll enjoy this book no matter what. Personally I think Lipstick Jungle is the only thing she’s written worth owning or reading, but that’s just me.

The Bottom Line: A blasé collection that continues to weave Bushnell’s tightly wound thread of plots and themes.
Anything Memorable?: Nope.

50-Book Challenge?: Nope.

a case for atheism

very, very dark. Everyone secretly wants anal and is openly shallow and empty and greedy. A great read if you're sick of being so happy and optimistic all the time.

I liked part one & two better than the others. But The story of Cecelia impressed me beyond my expectations, especially its last sentence. Didn’t like the last story.

4 historias de 4 mujeres distintas que están insatisfechas, que se tienen que enfrentar a situaciones que van a cambiar el rumbo de su vida.

Ninguna historia ha conseguido que me enganche al libro al 100%, por el contrario quería dejar el libro en muchas ocasiones, finalmente lo terminé y sigo intentando encontrar algo en las historias de estas mujeres.

I only gave this 1 star because it was an easy read and I will admit a line or two was funny, however, it was hard for me to give it 1. The main reason I bought it was because it was written by the author of Sex and the City and I thought it was going to be interesting or at least follow characters that were similar to the ones in the TV series but I was dead wrong. I kept reading only hoping (assuming) that at some point it may get interesting. The book should be called 4 dumb blondes. It’s NOT a novel like I expected, its set up as short stories (none of which end up being connected) that follow 4 woman who are basically complaining the whole time about the bad choices they made in their lives. In my opinion you should only read this if you are one an airplane or in a car with nothing better to do.

I loved Sex and the City (show). The movies were good as well. I have never read the book and at this point I'm afraid to.

This is my second Candace Bushnell book. Trading Up was complete garbage in my opinion. I was hoping 4 blondes would be better and it is but it's like comparing a pile of garbage to a pile of garbage that someone has placed a flower on. Yes I would prefer the pile of garbage with the flower on top but it's still just a pile of garbage.

This book is broken up into 4 stories about different women.

The first story is about Janey Wilcox. Janey is the character I absolutely hated in Trading Up. This book is set before Trading up so when I realized the story was about her, I hoped it would be the story of how a young woman turned into a cold hateful bitch because of circumstance. Sadly this story just proves that Janey was a cold hateful bitch even when she was younger.

The 2nd story is about a woman who hates her husband and her life. She has no problem talking down to her husband and making him feel like garbage. She sleeps with her husbands friend and tells her husband about it. He thinks she's joking so there are no consequences for her actions.

The 3rd story is this books saving grace. It's about a woman who married a prince and is buckling under the pressure of being a princess and in the public eye. Unfortunately the story goes on for far too long. After about 75 pages the story loses it's point and just meanders without any conclusion.

The last story is about a sex advice columnist who travels to England to write an article about how Englishmen differ from American men. This story has no point and just meanders around for a couple of pages and just ends.

All in all I'm more and more disappointed in Candace Bushnell's books. I'm starting to think I should just be happy loving the Sex and the City series and never pick up another Bushnell book again.

There are so many bad reviews about this book.

Firstly it's actually four books collected together as one.

The first one is about a model who is constantly using and being used by guys for sex. It's all about power for her. She wants power but so do the men.

The second one is about a couple who hate their married life but won't divorce because they have a son.

The third one is about a princess who can't handle fame and is a little bit psychotic. She's mental, and not in an ambitious way like Janey. She's very unwell.

The fourth one is about 20 pages and felt like it belonged in SATC. If you really read between the lines you'll see it is actually similar to the first episode of the tv show but being 20 pages it was too long for the SATC book and you can tell there's no name because it's about Candace's column and her own experience.

Despite other reviews some of the characters do crossover between more than one of the stories so it's not like they're completely disconnected.

This was an easy read and I couldn't put it down finishing it in one day.

My fave stories were the one with Janey and the third one. I reckon the third one could be fleshed out further.

There's a character Comstock Dibble who could also have his own book but being male I don't think Candace would write it.

The thing you notice after reading a few of her books is that there's a universe and some of her characters cross over in more than one book.

I don't think this deserves the bad reviews it's had. Book 4 (Single Process) is definitely in my view a continuation of SATC's columns.

I actually remember reading this years ago and going through the worst rated titles on goodreads the awful book springs back to my mind. I love sex in the city or sex and the city whatever universe your from, so I gave this a go. I picked it up in a charity shop so many years ago because of the author and it was just terrible, I mean I was really young but still I was young enough the realise how self absorbed these characters are and how dull this book was as well. Generally awful and so much body shaming and really bad ideals which could really harm a reader. It’s just trash.

And now we have a real dilemma: how do you honestly review a book that's so bad that you didn't really finish it and you were never interested in reading it in the first place?

Candace Bushnell (of Sex and the City fame) has written a book that is either disgusting in its skewed portrayal of vapid, mindless, and spiritually bankrupt women or genius in its satirical and ironic take on selfsame.

I'm going with the former.

Perhaps it deserves some kind of recognition at the very least for the entertainment value you get from reading the harsh reviews (which are the vast majority) interspersed with the occasional fawning acclaim (another example of ironic genius?)

Let's see if I can get this 0 star to stick.

The cover is very beautiful, the first story is the best, interesting and funny, the second one is better, and the fourth one is good. However, I did not like the third story, the drugs, the anorexia, the fame.........all in all, I enjoyed this book more than I expected since it's the lowest-rated book I've ever bought.

Quotes
"I don't know where I'm going but I know I'm going somewhere."
" You've got to learn to stand up for yourself. Because nobody else will."
"No one is too busy to pick up the phone, to make a one-minute phone call. No matter how busy say they are. Sorry."
"Memory is just an alternate version of reality."

Tā arī neizlasīju līdz galam. Varones liek zaudēt interesi jau pēc 2 rindkopām, un, lai gan gribēju 4 varoņu mijiedarbību, dabūju 4 atsevišķus un seklus stāstiņus.

The first thought that comes to mind is WTF. I am one of these people when they read a book it needs to have an actual story. This book was so boring, long winded, and I have no idea what I just read. I feel that I just lost a day that could have been spent reading something better.