Really charming vacation read. ( )

A funny and dark look into New York real estate. Belle is a strong female author that crosses the gender barrier. I would classify this book as chick-lit with an edge. ( )

fashionista works day jobs after leaving her husband/real estate

1.03 ( )

One of my favorite books of all time. I loved it so much, I actually own a signed first edition. Jennifer Belle is a brilliant, brilliant writer and I only wish she would write more books (although I heard she's busy having babies these days). I would read them just as fast as she could write them.

If you like Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris, you will love Jennifer Belle. She excels at dark humor and creating oddball characters, like Dale, the lesbian boss in this book.

Chick lit is one of my favorite genres, but my problem with a lot of it is that it can be formulaic and shallow and too "cute". And not very funny. "High Maintenance" is funny and smart, and Jennifer Belle has a unique, strong voice. ( )

The good side; the author has a lot of potential, it was outright funny (in some areas), and the plot was very interesting. The bad side; all the characters were too shallow for you to fall in love/loathe with, some areas of the plot were left too under developed, and it goes about 3 chapters too long at the end.
I plan on giving her another try with "Going Down". Hopefully it won't be a let down. ( )