Party Favors [Hardcover]

Nicole Sexton (Author), Susan Johnston (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nicole Sexton worked as a Republican fundraiser for fifteen years and served as the Director of Finance for the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2002 – 2005 where she helped to regain the Republican majority in the Senate. She currently works for the ONE Campaign helping to raise awareness of the crisis of AIDS and extreme poverty around the world. 

 

Susan Johnston is a native West Virginian and four-time published playwright who completed her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her plays have been produced all over the country and she’s been the recipient of a MacDowell Colony residency, a Jerome Fellowship and was a Fulbright nominee. Susan worked as a film industry reporter for Interview magazine as well as a writer for A&E’s popular Biography series. She currently lives and writes in Los Angeles, CA.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599214598
• ISBN-13: 978-1599214597
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,264,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Summer Read EVER!, July 3, 2008

By 

Mark Twain "NY Book Addict" (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Party Favors (Hardcover)

This book is outstanding (understatement of the decade). The writing is fresh, witty, sassy, sharp, hysterical and biting, all rolled into one. I couldn't put the book down! It has the dynamic edge of a "Devil Wear's Prada" with the D.C. twists and turns of a political best-seller. This mix of fiction and fact was one of the best books I've read in YEARS. Picking out the real-life characters in this fictionalized tell-all was like putting a puzzle together...(I'm still trying to figure out who a few of the characters may be in real-life.)

I rarely find a story and writing style that flows so well, and sucks me in so strongly and immediately. From the first page, the writing style alone had me hooked -- one of the best written pieces I've come across-- with clever phrasing, word-choices and hysterically-colorful descriptions that had me hanging on every word. I'm normally not a political reading fan, but I've been converted by this book alone. Sexton and Johnston are without a doubt a winning writing team!

This book is was fantastic that it prompted me to leave my very first review on Amazon ever, even though I buy and read books here like they were bottles of water.

If this book isn't turned into the 2009 summer hit Block-Buster movie, I'll be shocked... it has all the elements of a winning film. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy today -- this is one book that is definitely not to be missed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars from a former Political special events coordinator, August 28, 2008

By 

Gina Gold (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Party Favors (Hardcover)

A fantastic book, and so reminiscent of my stint as Administrator of the mayor's home, Gracie Mansion, in New York City during the Koch administration. As someone responsible for executing hundreds of dinners, cocktail parties, and huge events at the mayor's home and at the city hall of the most-visited city on earth, I can say that this book captured the frenzy, fun, food, and frazzle of trying to organize a political event. Temple Sachet's do-or-die determination to please everyone, seat everyone in the right place, and make sure every single person gets a handshake and photo with the biggest honcho in the room, is spot on! Nicole Sexton and Susan Johnston even nailed the crushing panic of last-minute disasters... Reading this book reminded me of one of my own...The day I arrived to oversee the set-up of a huge dinner for the Governor of Tokyo only to realize that the gardeners had just fertilized the lawn. The whole mansion literally reeked of s#%t! A few staff members and I raced all over the Upper East Side of Manhattan buying up incense. We lit it all over the mansion and it worked! The house even had the faint but welcome scent of a Japanese temple... These are the kinds of authentic stories you will find in this page-turner.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super-Entertaining with a Serious Side--a PERFECT read!!, August 12, 2008

By 

Emily A. Armstrong - See all my reviews

This review is from: Party Favors (Hardcover)

I just went on an overseas trip and little did I know that the most important item I had packed could fit right in my carry-on: PARTY FAVORS! I quickly discovered that when I pulled it out on the flight, and it was really the perfect tons-of-fun plane trip read that made the time pass lightning fast! I could not put it down. It was so interesting (I LOVED the fundraising stories and political insider info, I had no idea that even went on in DC like that)--and it was wildly funny, I laughed out loud several times and people around me kept looking over to try and see what I was reading!! I really liked Temple as a protagonist, she was a really strong, inspiring woman and I was able to relate to her at the same time. It's refreshing to see the contrast between her invincibility-on-the-job and her moments of insecurity and her personal losses. And it definitely made me want to buy a red YSL power suit someday, haha.

I will be shocked if it doesn't become a TV show soon...it has a great world to explore and would be a refreshing way to make a female lead be part of a show that has both drama and fun but also has a real, serious political side. I think that several of my female college friends would enjoy that, who currently like all the soap-opera-ish comedy type shows on TV but also read "The Economist" and the NY Times regularly and would like a way to combine entertainment with real issues of integrity/politics. So bravo, I am a big fan!

Pick up a copy of PARTY FAVORS and I promise your next trip--whether it be on the subway, on a jumbo jet or just to a park bench in the sun--will be much more enjoyable!