The Fabulous Girl's Guide to Grace Under Pressure : Extreme Etiquette for the Stickiest, Trickiest, Most Outrageous Situations ofYour Life

Rating:
Summary: Crass, shallow, and anything but elegant
Review: How about calling it "The Call-Girl's guide to f*** etiquette?" As a fabulous girl, I was appalled. Bought it, read it, returned it. Is that a faux-pas?? Apologies to social dilettantes Kim Izzo and Ceri Marsh.

Rating:
Summary: yuk
Review: The advice was ho hum, but the disturbing undercurrent about the book was the basic definition of a "fabulous girl"--the world these authors describe is a world in which the FG is one who may have sex with anyone, anywhere, any time, etc. Example, on sex in public: "sometimes she just can't help herself." On having VD: "You realize that it could have been one of five men who gave it to you and that means you may have given it to any and all of the others. Ugh." Ugh indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Not too different....
Review: The concept of the Fabulous Girl (FG) first came up in Kim Izzo and Ceri Marsh's first book, "The Fabulous Girl's Guide to Decorum." But they belly-flop in their second book, "The Fabulous Girl's Guide To Grace Under Pressure," primarily because it comes across as a retread of the first book.

What do you do if you have a crush on a coworker -- and you already have a guy? How do you deal with a scandal? Being caught in flagrante by your boss? (Hint: Say it will never happen again!) And what about blind date etiquette? Izzo and Marsh cover these problems and many more, covering friends, sex, dating, work and longtime relationships.

For a modern woman, the field of etiquette can be a tricky one. How can you be courteous at your work and everyday life, without losing the necessary toughness? Izzo and Marsh have a fair number of tips for where the lines should be drawn. Good tips, bad tips, and really ugly tips ("He proposes, but you're not ready").

The biggest problem with "Guide to Grace" is that it treads very little new turf. Like its predecessor, it's mostly about manners. Not serious pressure. And when reading tips on relationships and workplace problems, there's a certain feeling of deja vu. It's like Izzo and Marsh had to write another book, but couldn't quite think of enough original material, so they retread old ground.

What's more, it doesn't really handle situations that are "under pressure." Okay, you have a friend who is a wolf in sheep's clothing. How is that "pressure"? It's a mildly sticky situation, but certainly not anything to get too worked up about. There are a handful of situations that are genuinely tense -- such as advice on stalker ex-boyfriends -- but there's a lot more on how to avoid embarrassment. Not sticky, not tricky, not outrageous -- just moderately embarrassing.

Kim Izzo and Ceri Marsh boldly go where they've already gone in "The Fabulous Girl's Guide to Grace Under Pressure." While it has some fairly interesting tips -- but nothing too "pressured" -- this book ends up feeling stale and thin as a month-old Saltine.

Rating:
Summary: Not your traditional etiquette book
Review: This book is kind of cute, but it was definitely not what I expected. To be honest after attempting to read the book several times I gave up without finishing it. The advice the book does give on etiquette is just plain common sense. There isn't anything "sticky, tricky, or outrageous" about the situations described in this book.
If you're looking for a book of how to handle modern day etiquette I would definitely read "Things You Need to be Told" by the Etiquette Grrls.