Customer Reviews

Realistically Ever After: Finding Happiness When He's Not Prince Charming, You're Not Snow White, and Life's Not a Fairy Tale

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Cristina Ferrare has written a very humorous and yet honest account of the realities of marriage, divorce, giving birth and blending families.

She is honest in her recount of her marriage to John DeLorean in this book (in her beauty book written many years ago she told us her marriage to DeLorean was fabulous) so in retrospect it wasn't fabuluous and she does admit now that in hindsight and with a truly wonderful marriage at present, she was deluding herself about the realities of her marriage to DeLorean.

She saw the blending of the two famiies as "The Brady Bunch" and is very candid when she discovers that nothing could be farther from the truth.

Her sections on pregnancy and childbirth are so refreshing in this day and age when women are led to believe that Lamaze is synonomous with painless and where breastfeeding is a wonderful bond between mother and child instead of an incredibly painful experience.

I loved her fantasy vacations - off they go to Hawaii and Sun Valley and Theme Parks and nothing ever goes according to Cristina's vision of the perfect family on vacation.

The book does take on a somber note when Cristina reveals the depth of her son's drug addiction and his long road back as well as her estrangement from her daughter Kathryn. These chapters don't detract from the lighhearted aspects from the rest of the book and in fact give it more depth.

I have two small problems with this book:

1. She wonders if she can love her grandchildren as much as she does her children and then tells us she loves them more! I don't think I would feel very good if my mother told me that she loves her grandchildren more than she does me and I wonder how her daughters feel about that statement.

2. In discussing her writing, she starts off with the cookbook she wrote as if that were the first book. However, she did write a beauty book back in the 80's that she has totally dismissed in this book and I wonder why. Is it because she tells us what a fabulous marriage she has to John DeLorean in that book and those words have come back to haunt her? I wonder.

Some reviewers are going to dismiss this as so much fluff but I had a smile on my face the whole time I read it and found it to be very honest despite its lightheared tone.

If you are in the mood for a fun read (mostly) told by a funny lady, this is definitely worth reading

I have enjoyed watching Cristina on TV for many years (I even love "The Impossible Years"), wish she had gotten the co-hosting spot with Regis and hope to see her on TV again soon

An amazingly written, laugh-out-loud portrayal of family struggles and life lessons. I bought three more copies of this book to give to friends who share the same opinion. Everyone can relate to Christina's stories. She has an endless passion and vigor for life, a very admirable quality.

Your writing always hits home with me!!!

God Bless!

You go Cristina Ferrare, this book was FABULOUS!

Realistically Ever After was honest and humorous in a Erma Bombeck-ish way! I laughed, I cried and I giggled from the beginning to the end of this book.

As a much admired and well-liked celebrity, Ms. Ferrare has always been candid in sharing both the good and the troubling times in her life with her audiences and fans. I knew this book would reflect her warm personality, honesty and humor that she shares with us on TV. If you love to watch and listen to her as I do, you will love this book and in your heart you will thank her for opening up and sharing the good and hard times. It lets you know that we are all the same no matter who you are and that nobody has a perfect life.

Now when I need a good giggle or a little cry I don't have to wait for her to be a guest on a TV show, I can just pick up her book at anytime!

I truly recommend this book for women of all ages. I know I will be purchasing this book for my 27 year old daughter. I might add that I know my mother loves her more than me, and nothing could make me happier!
Read the book and you will know why I said this!

I've always found Cristina Ferrare on television to have charm, warmth, humor. She's also endearingly insecure, conscientious and doesn't take herself too seriously. She's also someone whose figure is never fully in control, so it's always piqued my interest to see what she looks like now - and when she's plump (a rare sight on television at any time), she looks far more appealing than other plump women.

Yet I think the most striking characteristic about her is her ambition - largely by marketing herself. There's nothing wrong with this - but it's something of a strange and American (largely West Coast, I think) phenomenon that is largely limited to women. (It would be strange to find a male celebrity of similar provenance hawking a new book about how he'd recovered from his wife's departure, noting his new line of highball glasses, writing of his bout with drug addiction, or appearing on television to sell his new line of after-shaves or blazers).

Yet one can turn on television at any time of day and see women famous in one area now seeking to earn some money in another. Why, there's Mariette Hartley talking about how laser surgery helped her - or Victoria Principal talking about skin care - or Suzanne Somers talking about her special diets - or Phyllis George selling quilts - or Stefanie Powers or Mary Ann Mobley or Connie Sellaca or Marilu Henner or Kathleen Sullivan or Kathy Ireland ... thousands and thousands of women celebrities selling, selling, selling.

Models and actresses selling diet books, exercise books, books about recovery from eating disorders, incest, child abuse, divorce, alcoholism, menopause, breast cancer, drug addiction, etc. - to sell products for hands and face or the wall or the bed, ways to entertain or meet that special man or keep that special man or raise better children ...

written or designed by people initially famous NOT for being themselves (and certainly not for that marketing niche) but for assuming other identities, whether as models or actresses.

We are informed that these particular subjects are ones that greatly involve the author. Yet when we sense from reading this book that Cristina Ferrare:

now apparently feels embarrassed at being associated with a loss of libido (now that her book on the subject has been out some years) ("I seem to have become the poster child..."). And we should know that it's "a problem from which I quickly recovered" - I guess it wasn't that serious; or that

The Home Show, to which so many fans were devoted (and for which at the time she expressed boundless enthusiasm, and created a very active webpage with a very active chat room among her fans) is one we have "probably never heard of" because "it wasn't the big time"; or that

Ms. Ferrare will always be battling her weight even though we see in the ads and website for Oxycise that she experienced "amazing results" with it - though no mention of Oxycise is in this book so I guess it isn't THAT amazing--

-- you have to wonder about the transcience of her enthusiasms - and their connection with whatever seems a good idea at the time.

Similarly, to see Ms. Ferrare selling her book on the Christian Broadcasting Network by speaking of her deep spirituality, her precious feeling about marriage, about family - and yet to scarcely find mention in this book of her first marriage - but instead to read of her two later marriages with the wealthy chairman of DeLorean Motor Co. and the wealthy former chairman of American Broadcasting Company - again makes one wonder about the durability of Ms. Ferrare's passions (and to hum, "If I were a carpenter ...").

I'm sure she's very attached to her current husband and children - but then wasn't she devoted to her first husband? After all, she writes here of how firmly she believed in the permanence of each marriage -- at the time - it's just that things happened, I guess.

Well, a gal's gotta sell.

And if beyond reading about "Style: How to Have It In Every Part of Your Life" (in which as other reviewers note, she describes her "fabulous" marriage to John DeLorean), "Cristina Ferrare's Family Entertaining", and "Okay, So I Don't Have a Headache" (in which she describes the loss of libido from which she quickly recovered), you want to read about how to recover from disappointments while in your third marriage to a corporate chairman, you're obviously welcome to do so.

But gee, didn't I read something like this from Suzanne Somers? Didn't I just read one by Deborah Norville (the crushing blow of unpopularity after taking over from Jane Pauley, the staggering effect of being fired from her interview program, the weight gain, the ... and of how we must learn to take things in stride, see the simple things that matter ...).

It's good advice - and it's given by the dozens of these books being published.

Still and all, if you find Cristina Ferrare appealing, as I do, you'll enjoy this slight book. I did. AS I wrote above, she IS warm and humorous and insecure ...

And don't worry, she'll probably have another out soon -- in fact, one day in the future, I expect that she'll have one published about how to market yourself -- even in your 80s.

Wow. Just finished reading this book! Can we just call Christina the Renaissance Woman of the YEAR!! Between her passion for her work and then her family.....so relatable...so real! Her book is incredible and I will gladly take the time to say so! Buy it, you will not be dissapointed!!

You are a spokeswoman for all WOMEN!!

This book is fabulous! I really enjoyed reading it! Thank you, Cristina Ferrare, for such a great read.

I used to be a fan of Christina Ferrare until I read this book. Besides being totally self-indulgent, the main objective appears to be a hook to launch her jewelry line.