Ladies with Options [Paperback]

Cynthia Hartwick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2006

The members of the Mostly Methodist Club were used to swapping recipes, not stock tips. Until a pink-haired young rebel found her way into the group and tipped them off to how fun--and lucrative--taking a few risks can be.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Members of a Saturday morning club in Larksdale, Minnesota, in 1983 venture timidly into the alien world of investing. This group of eight mostly married, mostly middle-aged, mostly Methodist members soon become the Larksdale Ladies Investment Club, resembling the much-heralded Beardstown Ladies of several years ago. Eventually these novices strike gold through investments in new companies such as Intel and Microsoft, thanks to insights from the group's sole young member--a pink-haired rebel named Skye. Hartwick intertwines the investment naivete of the club's eight members with their own personal development. Their financial savvy grows along with the portfolio's value, as does their control over their own lives and the influence they wield in their communities. In this rosy take on small-town life, nearly everyone experiences a crisis of some sort and works her way through it with the support of the group. And the men in their lives, mostly abusive or sly scoundrels, barely stand a chance as the women grow wiser and more fulfilled, not to mention wealthy beyond imagination. Suzanne Young
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Review

A joy from the first page to the last. (Jennifer Chiaverini, author of The Sugar Camp Quilt)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (February 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425208443
• ISBN-13: 978-0425208441
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,443,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Ladies deliver!, March 6, 2001

By 

Thomas L. Deits (Okemos, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ladies with Options (Mass Market Paperback)

Ladies with options is a hoot. Hartwick has created a delightful group of women, each with her own particular foibles, but who, together, make a team that accomplishes miracles. Set in a fictional small town in Minnesota,life in the Upper Midwest is described by the narrator who provides a wry, urban perspective while revealing that she, too, has her needs and dreams. Rest assured, everything works out in the end in a most satisfying fashion, but on the way we are treated to ups and downs ranging from the merely comic to the hilarious. Hartwick also peppers the narrative with a menagerie of witticisms, including a few puns that are real groaners. Suffice it to say that the book carries you from page to page, from chapter to chapter and delivers the goods all the way to the end. We want more from Cynthia!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very much a fun book..., March 4, 2001

By 

J. Freedman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ladies with Options (Mass Market Paperback)

Imagine yourself a middle-aged housewife of a nondescript town in Minnesota. Imagine yourself being 14.5 million dollars richer.

"Ladies with Options" is a humerous and well-written story of a group of 4 houswifes, 2 librarians, and one grad student turning $ into a fortune enough to rival Bill Gates' on the stock market. Told from the perspective of their lawyer, and daughter of one of the housewifes, the story is both unbelievable and funny.

What would you do if all of the sudden you had a couple extra million to spend at leisure? That's what the book's about, of course. The book is just so very fun to read, with a touch of romance and characters that seem real. The escapades of these ladies are hillarious. You'll be amazed at what a bunch of old ladies can do when they put their minds to it.

I recommend this book to everyone. It's positively delightful, and you won't regret reading it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cheer-Up, Feel-Good Money Comedy!, July 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Ladies with Options (Mass Market Paperback)

In early-'80s Minnesota, some small-town women decide they're tired of living life on the margins, so they start BUYING on marginstocks, that is. Thanks to their pink-haired tech guru, Skye Terrell, they latch onto winners like Dell and Microsoftand boy, do they get rich.

Getting rich means the chance to turn the tables on all the bosses, neighbors and family whove dissed them over the years. But it also means the chance to rise above the way they've been treated, and much of the fun comes in the inventive ways the Larksdale Ladies deal with treacherous boyfriends, crooked accountants, envious husbands and, finally, the rust belt threat to their whole way of life.

One of the cable networks, naming LADIES to its summer's-best reading list, called it "Bridget Jones meets the Beardstown Ladies" and that sounds pretty fair. The plot's a comic romp like an old-time screwball comedy; but the narrator, a newly-minted lawyer named Sophia Peters, has a hip, modern way of laughing at the whole world, herself included. The result is admittedly pretty light stuff (with heart), but also a very upbeat, jolly read. Perfect for chasing the summeror winterblues.

I loved it!