Diva Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)DIVA tells the story of Caitlin McCourt, a sixteen-year-old opera fan and singer, as she attempts to break out of her old life by transferring to a performing arts school. Among the things Caitlin is escaping are an abusive ex-boyfriend, vacuous "friends" who don't understand her interests, and the advice of her overbearing and superficial mother. However, her new school comes with its own share of difficulties. She has to learn to dance and act as well as sing, and she's afraid she's too "normal" to fit in with the artsy students.
Caitlin is an incredibly sympathetic character. Despite being burdened with a mother who's more interested in flirting with Caitlin's guy friends than supporting her daughter, and a father who's started a new family that rarely includes her, she manages to believe in and look after herself. Her voice is realistic and open, letting the readers in on all of her insecurities (which many teens will share). Her decisions make sense for her, even if readers don't always agree with them, and throughout the story she comes more and more into her own.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Caitlin's story is how her relationship with her mother evolves. Much of Caitlin's personality appears to be a product of her mother's hot-and-cold attitude toward her daughter. As Caitlin steps out from her mother's shadow, she sees not only her own needs and desires more clearly, but also her mother's. Caitlin's discovery that there's more to her mother than she realized is poignant and believable.
DIVA will be enjoyed by any teen, especially girls, struggling with the pressures of friends and family. With its colorful and well-developed characters, it's an easy story to get drawn into. The only criticism I could make is that the novel doesn't offer a great deal more than other good titles with similar subject matter, but what it does offer is so involving that it's hard to complain.
Reviewed by: Lynn Crow

Click Here to see more reviews about: Diva

Click here for more information about Diva

Read More...

Fabulosity: What It Is and How to Get It Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I love hip-hop music and I love shopping, but as a woman gets older, she learns that it's just not cute to have "Bootylicious" on her butt or the name brand in 15 different spots on her shirt. This is why I like Baby Phat clothes, it's hip-hop, it's sporty, but it's classy. I have more Baby Phat jeans than necessary and a few shirts too! So when I heard about her book, I just knew I'd love it. But here's the problem...I feel the same way about Kimora Lee Simmons as I do about India Arie. When I went to see India Arie at the Taste of Chicago, she kept prancing around stage singing "I'm #1." In awards shows, India said things like "I always think I'm going to win..." As much as I'm a fan of her music, I'd never buy it because her ego is out of control. Reading this book made me feel the same way about Kimora. She kept on pointing out how she could do unprofessional things (wear stilettos to work, show up late, yell, talk over people, have modeling shows with people who are not wearing your clothes and front like it's Baby Phat) but coaxing her readers into doing the exact opposite. Every time she said something contradictory, she'd say "But I can do that, because I'm the boss" or "But look at me now!" After awhile, I was rolling my eyes and looking at my stove trying to figure out how to mail her a bucketload of humble pie. I respect women who are confident, but being vain is a complete turn-off. Halfway through the book, I gave up. Maybe it ended on a down-to-earth note, but I couldn't handle it anymore.
She didn't cover how she met Russel Simmons and how they helped each other in business; only stated that she likes to beat him economically. She didn't talk about how she went about picking her staff, only talked about how young they were. She didn't talk about how she chose her clothes, only dogged the clothes that Russell and Run chose. Her idea of showing feelings was talking about how she beat somebody up for knocking her Chanel purse out of her hands or not speaking to her when she was with her husband. It was really juvenile to me--I was waiting for her to tell me something deep. I felt like she was barking orders at me through the book and finally said "Forget it." I will continue to buy her clothes because I love them, but as for this book, nah, I just can't do it.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Fabulosity: What It Is and How to Get It

This book offers celebrity interest with behind the scenes from fashion shows in Milan to P. Diddy's yacht. It has been reviewed in women's magazines eg "Elle", "Marie Claire", and "Easy Living". It will appeal to Urban as well as mainstream readers. Barbie are creating a Kimora Lee Simmons doll. A lifestyle guide from one of pop culture's most inspirational, stylish, and refreshingly unconventional female power players. At thirty, beauty icon Kimora Lee Simmons is the mistress of her own empire of lifestyle brands, half of one of America's wealthiest couples, mother to two young daughters, and a glamorous staple of the social circuit. Now, in this uplifting and inspiring book, Simmons spills her secrets of how women can use their smarts to build a rich and satisfying life full of success, fun, and, yes, a bit of blinding bling, the "Fabulosity" that every woman deserves.Simmons explains how to balance feminine, stop-them-in-their-tracks glamour with sign-on-the-dotted-line business power; how to get past barriers that exist because of gender, race, or age; how to find a marriageable man who'll support your biggest dreams (while keeping other women at bay); and how to have the most fun of your life while doing it! She gives hundreds of insider tips on fashion, beauty, home decorating, and socializing and explains how she succeeded in business with little formal experience, building a $70 million business out of a T-shirt. Packed with anecdotes and first-person experiences from the catwalks of Paris to P. Diddy's parties, "Fabulosity" takes readers behind the scenes of this diva's diverse, action-packed life and offers insights on how any woman can channel her own "high-profile personality" and creative power, no matter what her own goals may be.

Click here for more information about Fabulosity: What It Is and How to Get It

Read More...