Really good read - highly entertaining with a little more depth than I expected. Only slight negative is the sex scenes - graphic to the point of awkward and cold... although maybe that was the point. ( )

Tells the story of a group of rich socialites who inhabit One Fifth Avenue, a very exclusive apartment building in New York. Covers the course of a year in the lives of all these neighbors who love and hate each other, through death and marriage, heartbreak and betrayal.

This is my first Bushnell book, so I’m still trying to figure out her writing style and on a scale how much I like her writing. I wanted to read Sex and the City first which would have set a better tone of what to expect, but I imagine this isn’t too far off. I tried to keep an open mind when reading.

Reader beware: explicit sexual content and description. If you’ve read your share of trashy romance novels this isn’t going to be much more than that.

A bit too busy with characters I ended up not attaching to very well. It could just be that I listened to this as an audio book and couldn't keep track of each of the characters, or that it took so long in the short time I had each day to listen, but I just didn't follow it like I should. Still, very much about NYC's rich and not so well mannered! :) ( )

This one is a toughie. I haven’t decided whether I liked this one or not.... yet. I’m leaning towards the not liking direction though.

The story revolves around the lives of the residents of a luxury building on Fifth Avenue. A place that just by living in it or being seen entering or exiting from it - meant wealth and power. Each resident of One Fifth is interconnected somehow and it was neat to see how one of their actions would cause an effect in one of their neighbors’ lives. I also liked that architecture was the center-piece of the story. I will say, that there were a lot of characters (each written in the first person) introduced all at once, which was confusing at first, but once I got passed that and actually started focusing on who was who and what was what it became easier to read and the pages began turning. The writing was very hip and fresh and I loved her comments on 20-somethings, bloggers and the Internet.

But in the end, it just didn’t strike a note with me. I don’t know if it was that I just didn’t connect with any of the characters or that we have no similarities in common, but I found that none of the characters were likeable. There was one character that I did like but she was the one that we barely read about (figures). I got the impression that this book was expressly written to become a movie or tv series.

All in all, if you like reading stories about New York City life, sex, lies and money, (Drama, Drama, Drama), then this is something that I’d recommend you read. ( )

This was a highly satisfying book from Candace Bushnell. Her characters offer an often not-so-flattering picture of New York society, which gives them an honesty that's often not found in books of this genre. The simultaneous plot lines about the inhabitants of a chic 5th Avenue building are more than just amusing - they tell an interesting story that stays with you after the book ends. ( )