Rating: 
Summary: Zzzzzzzero stars. Even more boring than an Oprah book.
Review: I'm a big Jacqueline Susann fan, so I was excited when I first heard about this book. I got the audio edition and listened to it while I drove to work each day. I tell you, it's a wonder I didn't careen off the road in a deep sleep while listening to it! Although it doesn't suffer from the twisted, gnarly phrasing of modern "litahdeddy" fiction, it, however, lacks the ballsy punches of its prequel.
First it jerks around with the timeline, hacking twenty years off the characters' ages, and then it delivers a story with the impact of a 1962 Frigidaire commercial cowering under the scrutiny of a rigid TV censor!
I mean, what was it afraid of? It had all the background it needed--the original VD!--to deliver a truly dishy and still insightful story. And, yet, the author chose not to do that. Huh?!
The book brought me to tears, because it BORED me to tears.
Rating: 
Summary: close but no doll
Review: I absolutely ADORED the origional Valley of the Dolls! It was trashiness at its best. I, sadly, cannot say the same for this long awaited sequal. Some reviewers have griped that there was too much liberty taken with with the timeline, and although it might be true, in all fairness, the auther explains this before the book is even started. My complaints focus on the writing and liberties taken with the characters. I find it vary hard to believe that a 20 year old, Anne--who in the origional was able to land a job and an apartment in a single day--could end up years later guiliable enought to think Neely has changed and that they could actually be friends agian. It's sad to see Anne fall for the same tricks over and over--it doesn't do her justice. The way Neely is represented is easy to understand, but again, very sad. Her character has evidently not changed a bit from the sixties, and although she adds the excitment to the book, it's just the same ol' same ol'. And LYON!!! Give me a break. I don't want to spoil this for those who have not yet read the novel, but there is no way in HELL he could have possibly ended up with who he does. The most confusing part of this read, though, is the ending. After all that work, Anne finds happiness in someone exactly as womanizing as Lyon? I don't think so.
In short, this novel is a page turner and definatly hard to put down, but I wished I would have just let the characters of Valley of the Dolls rest in peace with Jackie.
Rating: 
Summary: I really liked it!
Review: Considering the slamming other reviewers have been giving this book I am almost ashamed to admit that I think I like Shadow of the Dolls better than Valley of the Dolls. Yes the timeline is off, but that is explained away before Chapter 1 even starts. This a modern "what if" and the characters are put in current times and situations. I thought Neely and Anne's characters in this book were a perfect extension of themselves in the orginal. I could definately see Anne relaxing in the Hamptons and reinventing herself and her career in a Martha Stewart-ish way. Neely was the same money grubbing social climber as she was in the original; Lyon the same womanizer. To me all the parts fit. My only complaint is that it wasn't longer and that the characters of Anne and Neely's children weren't fleshed out more, but who knows that could lend itself to a third book, couldn't it?
Rating:
Summary: Something Rotten? This "novel!"
Review: When we read the original VALLEY OF THE DOLLS(sometimes even sneak reading it), we knew we were reading trash. But it was enjoyable trash, with a storyline that just didn't quit. Supposidly Susann spent months writing the outline for this sequel. Did author Lawrence read it? Don't think so. The writing itself isn't bad, sometimes even admirable, but the story is just so bad it isn't even funny. And, the entire book covers 14 years continuously....yet it is just a few pages over 300 and lots of space and large type there. Think the "novelist" knew it was a loser and wanted to get back to her own, more resonable, writings so she dashed this out...saving anything good for her own books. Save your money on this one. It purports to be a sequel to VALLEY, but, in reality, it's not.....just bad is all. For a much better read, try LONELY JUNCTIONS by R C Lemos. Now THAT'S a story that doesn't quit!
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: If Rae Lawerence had held true to just one aspect of the original novel by Susanne, this may have worked.
The timeline is way off, Anne arrived in New York at the age of twenty in 1945. Lawerence picks this book up in 1987 and Anne is still in her thirties. Hmmmmmm. I wish it really did work that way. Her daughter Jennifer was born in 1963, and was only twelve in 1988. So Lawerence took extreme liberties with the timeline. Then, to make matters worse, she did not keep the characters basic personalities intact. The characters are mere 'shadows' (pun intended) of the richly developed individuals that Susanne brought to life in VOD. The newer characters, such as Anne's daughter, Neely's son's, and Gretchen, were never developed at all, very shallow and boring. Lawerence should have stayed true to at least one of these themes, the timeline OR the characters, to keep the story of Valley of the Dolls alive, but she did neither. What we are left with is a poorly plotted and mediocre story that only has names in common with the original.
Rating: 
Summary: Did she even read the first book
Review: Okay, I had some MAJOR problems with this book. It's over 20 years since the first book ended and Anne, Neely, and Lyon haven't aged a bit? They've regressed in age? Jennifer is now 7? And that's just the start of it. She may have been using a manuscript that Susann put together for a sequel but this falls WELL below the mark. It was a wholly unsatisfying read with an ending that made me go....WHAT? Some scenes were just not set up well enough and other scenes just fell flat on their face. Yes, it was nice to revisit these characters but when they aren't in the hands of a gifted storyteller like Susann then it's not worth the visit.
Rating:
Summary: Close, but no cigar.
Review: While I appreciate that Rae Lawrence sought to warm the hearts of a public who missed Susann's original characters, this book (like "Scarlet", the "sequel" to "Gone With the Wind") is proof that some things are indeed best left alone. The characters in this work seem very flat, lacking the emotion, depth and vibrancy that made "Valley of the Dolls" such an enjoyable work.
Anne, Neely, Lyon are all relegated to plots that are the fodder for typical romance novels that aspire to be good beach reading: adultery, Hollywood, death, a genre well done by someone like Jackie Collins. However, in Lawrence's text they seem only to be placed in these situations. The reader is given very little insight into any character's motivation or emotional reaction.
And then there is the unfortunate "second generation" sub-plot.
If you feel this is something you must read, please check it out of your local library. Your money will definitely be better spent elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed bag of nuts
Review: I bought and re-read Valley of the Dolls right before I bought the sequel so I could continue smoothly into the storyline of the characters. I must say, it was strange to have them jump into the modern world from 30 years earlier. But it was not just that...some of the characters did not ring true to their former selves in the previous VOD. Anne, for instance, becomes nasty at times and vindictive - I could NEVER see her saying some of the comments that the sequel has her saying. And I do not think Susann would have had Lyon's character playout the way he does. However, living in south Florida and reading this in the summer by the water, it was a fast, non-serious read and nice to find out what ended up happening to the characters. If you want the creative, smart, fun, "before-its-time" storyline of Valley of the Dolls, then look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: SHADOW OF SUSANN
Review: "Valley Of The Dolls" was an international sensation, penned by the Queen of Sensational Trash who wrote the book after tearing apart another novel by a different author, pasting the the entire story of index cards and teaching herself how to write something that would sell. I remember sneaking the paperback from my grandmother's nightstand and running down to the beach to read and revel while she was out shopping. Valley works just as well today as it did the day it was published. Shadow, sadly, doesn't. We follow our same characters out of the valley, but they never seem to evolve with time. A leopard, it is said, cannot change its spots, but it sure can learn a new way to go after its prey. This just was not written that way. Based on notes Jackie left behind upon her death, Lawrence sets out to complete the story of what happened to our girls. Neely O'Hara, entertainer and spoiled brat, is back looking for the respect she feels her due. Poor Anne Welles, once the high fashion model, is now a single mother and really poor, with no visible means of support until she launches a whole new career for herself. The men are there, acting just as horribly as they did almost three decades ago. And those beautiful "dolls" may have new prescription names, but the song remains the same. There is simply nothing new, just more of the old. I was and am a fan of Jackie's very special genre she slashed out of conventional literature for herself. I greatly anticipated this sequel to take me back to that special time when one could still be shocked and to see what happened to all of the characters who made up the number one best selling phenomena. I was disappointed, I did enjoy the snappy dialogue which was so close to Susann's writing as well as visiting "old friends" but it is only a must read if you read the first one and want to know how it all turned out. I can't help but wonder what changes may have occurred for the characters had the Queen not have gone on to a bigger assignment.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Sequel!
Review: I have read many mixed reviews about this book and people should lighten up. It's a very fun read. I must admit that I just read Valley Of the Dolls a few months ago and loved it. So this book came out just in time for me. It is hands down the best sequel I've ever read. For the uber Valley enthusiasts, no it's not as good as the orginal but it isn't supposed to be. I couldn't put it down. It was great revisiting Anne, Neely, Lyon and the rest and to see where their lives have gone. If you don't take it too seriously and have fun with it, this book is great. Let's remember that the original, albeit a great book, will not go down in history as a great work of literature. It was meant to be a fun, bitchy poolside kind of novel and the sequel is just the same.
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