Customer Reviews

A Kept Woman

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really enjoyed this novel as I have with all other Louise Bagshawe novels I have read. As with any other book, you have to be in a certain mood to read certain types of books. Well I was obviously in the right mood while reading this one. The story focuses on the central character Diana who is a society wife. She finds out that her new husband is having an affair so she leaves him. This novel is about a woman who has minimal life skills, and when put it a tough situation, shows everyone that she is more than just a blonde bimbo. It is a cute romantic novel with strong characters and a good plot. Definitly worth the read. If you like this novel and want to read more titles by Bagshawe, I would recommend "The Movie" (also known as "Triple Feature" something or other), then "Tall Poppies" which are both exceptional novels!!

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.

I have to say that this is not the book that will keep you on the hook. In fact, the plot was hardly substantial, revolving around the partnership/relationship of Michael and Diana, and how their exes plotted to destroy their reputation and what they had. This was quite a disappointment, since the acclaimed Louise Bagshawe reputation emphasized girl-power, and this book lack it much. The ending was rather abrupt and unsatisfying.

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.

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.

This book was a great summer weekend read! fast paced, sexy and not too deep. I was actually plesantly surprised.

I really couldn't put it down Louise Bagshaw is the new Jackie Collins.

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.

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.