Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time!
Review: I have liked some of Barbara Taylor Bradford's books so I was amazed at just how poorly this book was written. Because it was a costly hardcover book, and because I could not believe there wouldn't ultimately be some redeeming value, I forced myself to finish reading this book. However, there is nothing good to say about this book, so I will say no more.
Rating:
Summary: Do people actually talk like this?
Review: I picked up this book today from the library because the description sounded perfect for a lazy summer's day read. The only problem was that I was put off by the writing immediately when the word "fey" or some variation of it was used three times in the first part to describe Carly and Katie. The dialogue, however, was what forced me to stop reading. Do people actually say, "I hope that's going to be in the affirmative?" or "Oh, very nice indeed." I am twenty-five, close to Katie's age, and i never speak like that. Plus, as an English teacher, I constantly tell my students to use dialogue effectively to reveal important thoughts, feelings, or relationships. Not to tell an entire story.
Rating: 
Summary: An OK Read
Review: I read The Triumph of Katie Byrne by Barbara Taylor Bradford. In this book, the protagonist, Katie Byrne shares a simple life in the country. She and her two best friends, Carly and Denise, have a dream to become famous actresses in New York. Everyday they would rehearse in a barn, and one day Katie leaves the barn early only to realize that she has forgotten her book bag. When she returns to the barn, neither Carly nor Denise is there so she becomes worried and searches for them. It turns out Denise has been murdered and Carly is in a coma. There is little evidence to point out a clear suspect. Later on Katie moves to London where she befriends a wealthy woman who gives her tickets to a play. After the play Xenia tells Katie that she wants Katie to play a lead role when she brings the play to Broadway. Katie goes back to the United States to confront her old ghosts and re unite with an ex-lover. Carly wakes up from the coma and tells Katie who attacked her and Denise. It was a boy named Hank who had a sexual obsession with Denise. The mystery was solved and after Katie's great performance on Broadway, her true love Chris asks him to marry her.
I thought this novel had a very good plot and I enjoyed reading it. Katie's fear kept her away from her family, her home, her love, and her acting. When she finally overcame her fear and confronted everything, things went well for her, so the title was very appropriate. This novel totally fooled me at the end because I had no idea it could have been a classmate that killed Denise. I am glad that the ending was not predictable.
Rating:
Summary: An OK Read
Review: I read The Triumph of Katie Byrne by Barbara Taylor Bradford. In this book, the protagonist, Katie Byrne shares a simple life in the country. She and her two best friends, Carly and Denise, have a dream to become famous actresses in New York. Everyday they would rehearse in a barn, and one day Katie leaves the barn early only to realize that she has forgotten her book bag. When she returns to the barn, neither Carly nor Denise is there so she becomes worried and searches for them. It turns out Denise has been murdered and Carly is in a coma. There is little evidence to point out a clear suspect. Later on Katie moves to London where she befriends a wealthy woman who gives her tickets to a play. After the play Xenia tells Katie that she wants Katie to play a lead role when she brings the play to Broadway. Katie goes back to the United States to confront her old ghosts and re unite with an ex-lover. Carly wakes up from the coma and tells Katie who attacked her and Denise. It was a boy named Hank who had a sexual obsession with Denise. The mystery was solved and after Katie's great performance on Broadway, her true love Chris asks him to marry her.
I thought this novel had a very good plot and I enjoyed reading it. Katie's fear kept her away from her family, her home, her love, and her acting. When she finally overcame her fear and confronted everything, things went well for her, so the title was very appropriate. This novel totally fooled me at the end because I had no idea it could have been a classmate that killed Denise. I am glad that the ending was not predictable.
Rating:
Summary: Silly, silly, silly!
Review: I was so disappointed with this book that I immediately got on Amazon.com to see if I was alone in feeling this way. Obviously not. Not only is the solution to the "mystery" of who attacked the girls absolutely ridiculous, the characters in this book do not behave anywhere near "true-to-life". I think it is a sloppy book, with way too many unnecessary characters and subplots. This is the first book I've read by this author, and I don't think I'll be reading another.
Rating:
Summary: The Failure of B. T. Bradford
Review: I wish you could give a book zero stars on your rating system. This novel fails in all aspects. The first requirement for any good piece of fiction is a main character with whom you can identify, a main character whom you truly care about. Katie Byrne is all surface. Sure, she witnesses a horrific crime scene in the first section of the novel, and she mourns the death of one friend and the coma-state of another. Then she goes to England, perfects her acting skills, gets a break in a Broadway play, meets Chris, he leaves, the coma friend recovers and names the perpetrator of the crime, Chris returns and proposes marriage, happy ever after. There is no more emotion or tension or interest in this novel than the straightforward sentences I've written. In fact, my sentences are better. I don't bore you with long descriptions of the physical attributes of a slew of English characters who have no integral part in the novel. I do not run on forever with a travel log of York, England and a biography of the Bronte family. And I certainly don't solve this "mystery" by having the crime committed by a character who is never mentioned in the entire novel until he is conveniently needed at the end. It would have been a better ending, and at least a LITTLE twist, if Chris had been the murderer. Don't waste your time on this one. It is obvious that Ms. Bradford devoted little of her time in developing empathetic characters, a substantial plot, or an interesting read. How this one got by the editor's ax is a mystery to me!
Rating:
Summary: a reader from wantagh,ny
Review: i'm on page 175, and i just keep wondering when the story wll get going. if this is as good as it's going to get, i'm going to have to start rethinking my choice of authors. so far this year, i have barely made it through a nora roberts book and now this one may never end. are all my favorite authors on retreat or are publishers doing with books what they do with movies and saving the good ones for the summer. i don't even care how this ends, but as far as i'm concerned it's over for me. i think i'll go buy a magazine.
Rating:
Summary: The Absolute Bore
Review: If you have read "A woman of substance" do not, on any account read this. You will be totally disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: The Absolute Bore
Review: If you have read "A woman of substance" do not, on any account read this. You will be totally disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: The Triumph of Katie Byrne
Review: It was suppose to be a mystery but it wandered through England on a totally unconnected line. The conclusion was very weak on the murder, the murderer ( was not connected to the story) and who was the man the victim had been with before the rape. Too many loose ends and a very boring middle. I've have always been a great fan - wish I had my money back on this one.
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