Rating: 
Summary: Mr. Adler still has it!!
Review: Move over, Oliver and Barbara Rose. Here comes Grace Sorentino! Since Warren Adler is one of my favorite authors, I couldn't wait to read his latest. And what a great book it is! Extremely funny, a little off kilter (in a good way) and sometimes brilliant, this book should be on everyone's list!
Rating: 
Summary: Sad and pathetic
Review: This book is a waste of time. For a book that is supposed to "gives hope to despairing single females on the verge of 40." I found it insulting and empty. Our "heroine" loses her job and decides to do as other women have done, go catch a wealthy man. This is hope? Am I supposed to feel empowered that at the age of 40 the only way to better myself is to somehow attach myself to a lonesome widower by telling one lie after anther? In addition she is browbeat by her teenage daughter. Her solution to dealing with a child who is wildly out of control is to take sleeping pills and masturbate. Save yourself, leave it on the shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Sad and pathetic
Review: This book is a waste of time. For a book that is supposed to "gives hope to despairing single females on the verge of 40." I found it insulting and empty. Our "heroine" loses her job and decides to do as other women have done, go catch a wealthy man. This is hope? Am I supposed to feel empowered that at the age of 40 the only way to better myself is to somehow attach myself to a lonesome widower by telling one lie after anther? In addition she is browbeat by her teenage daughter. Her solution to dealing with a child who is wildly out of control is to take sleeping pills and masturbate. Save yourself, leave it on the shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Florida, here I come!
Review: This book makes me want to go to Florida! I've been having a lot of problems meeting men in my home town, and it seems like Grace and her daughter have no trouble in the men department (well, after a few glitches!). It would also be nice to be some place warmer! Anyway, I really enjoyed this book. Grace is such a cool person! She really takes her life into her own hands and makes everything better for her and her daughter. I wish my mom were more like that. I want to be someone who is happy in her job all of the time. Life is too short to be unhappy, and you can see that moral with Sam and how he handles his life after his wife dies! I just wish that Grace was more understanding of her daughter's boyfriend. He wasn't that bad in the beginning, they just met the wrong way. And I don't think that she would have stayed with him anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Digging for More than Gold
Review: Versace, de la Renta, Givenchy. The great designers are the gods of a better life in the world of Grace Sorentino and her daughter Jackie. But as a divorced beautician with an out-of-control teenage child, how do you get there?By marrying up, the manager of Saks Fifth Avenue's Miami store says to Grace as she fires her at the request of a high-paying customer with unreasonable expectations. Ring around the finger. Snare a wealthy widower, preferably a Jewish one. Desperately, Grace follows her advice. Against all the odds, she hooks Sam Goodwin, a very wealthy transplanted businessman from Brooklyn, at the funeral of his socialite wife. Posing as a friend of the deceased, Grace offers to collect her clothing and donate it to charities. Along with the clothes, she collects Sam's interest, which spirals into love. Also desperately, Jackie has fallen for Darryl, a skinhead who is filling her with greed, bigotry, and disrespect for her mother. Believing she is entitled to the trappings of wealth, she will do anything for money: theft, prostitution, and blackmail. Grace is just about to land Sam when disaster strikes. Does Grace have the strength to see herself through the ultimate catastrophe and conquer wealth, power, and love? The reader cheers on Grace as she struggles with her self-respect and integrity throughout the book. Is she any better than a gold digger? Can she instill in Jackie compassion and decency? She keeps asking herself these questions, and tries to answer yes. Grace confronts the obstacles to her goals in a surprising climax, in which the reader feels her release her pent-up frustration with her life and try to untangle herself from her web of intrigue and deceit. One may wish she would lose her passivity earlier in the book, but it adds to the power of the ending.
Rating:
Summary: Digging for More than Gold
Review: Versace, de la Renta, Givenchy. The great designers are the gods of a better life in the world of Grace Sorentino and her daughter Jackie. But as a divorced beautician with an out-of-control teenage child, how do you get there? By marrying up, the manager of Saks Fifth Avenue's Miami store says to Grace as she fires her at the request of a high-paying customer with unreasonable expectations. Ring around the finger. Snare a wealthy widower, preferably a Jewish one. Desperately, Grace follows her advice. Against all the odds, she hooks Sam Goodwin, a very wealthy transplanted businessman from Brooklyn, at the funeral of his socialite wife. Posing as a friend of the deceased, Grace offers to collect her clothing and donate it to charities. Along with the clothes, she collects Sam's interest, which spirals into love. Also desperately, Jackie has fallen for Darryl, a skinhead who is filling her with greed, bigotry, and disrespect for her mother. Believing she is entitled to the trappings of wealth, she will do anything for money: theft, prostitution, and blackmail. Grace is just about to land Sam when disaster strikes. Does Grace have the strength to see herself through the ultimate catastrophe and conquer wealth, power, and love? The reader cheers on Grace as she struggles with her self-respect and integrity throughout the book. Is she any better than a gold digger? Can she instill in Jackie compassion and decency? She keeps asking herself these questions, and tries to answer yes. Grace confronts the obstacles to her goals in a surprising climax, in which the reader feels her release her pent-up frustration with her life and try to untangle herself from her web of intrigue and deceit. One may wish she would lose her passivity earlier in the book, but it adds to the power of the ending.
Rating:
Summary: What a wacky concept!
Review: What a wacky concept. A luckless lady goes hunting for a rich husband by attending funerals of wealthy men who have just lost their wives. I was appalled at first, but the way Mr. Adler worked it out for Grace Sorentino was pretty logical and I began to admire her tactics. Hell, why not? Mourning Glory is a kind of primer for women looking to latch on to a poor unsuspecting rich guy at his most vulnerable moment. By the middle of the book, I began to believe in the idea and followed Grace through her various machinations hoping she would land the guy. I wish I had the guts to do what she did. I recommend this novel highly.
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