I selected this book while aimlessly wandering the bookstore as an easy, Spring Break read. I was drawn to it because I loved the TV series and I was interested in the book that inspired such a wonderful show.

It's definitely an easy read, but I absolutely loved it. It follows the lives of three of New York's most successful, working women which is a refreshing change from all the other stories that follow the love lives of young twenty-somethings with no strings attached to complicated their lives. The women in this book are balancing careers and families, yet always have time for their friends. I loved reading about women who did not have to forfeit career success to raise their families.

Interestingly enough, my favorite character was Victory Ford; the only one of the three main women who was not married with children. This probably made her more relatable to me. And I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that her love interest in the book was brought to the life in the show by Andrew McCarthy of Pretty in Pink fame (*swoon*).

While I don't believe I will ever be in similar career positions as these women, the book gave me valuable insight into potential problems that may arise later in life while juggling the demands of work and home.

I have to say though, one thing that was completely distracting was Candace Bushnell's choice of character names. The rich billionaire's name is "Lyne", a hotshot president of a movie production company names her daughter "Magda" (also the name of Miranda's nanny in Sex and the City), etc. I'm glad the writers for the TV series had the good sense to change these names because they were really strange choices and not at all fitting for the characters. Other than that, Bushnell's a genius.

Favorite Quotes:
"She imagined that most people would have been shocked at the amount of time she spent in tears, because her public persona was that she was cool and fun and fiercely optimistic, always believing that everything was going to turn out fine and that a new, exciting opportunity was just around the corner." (Victory Ford)

"So this was why they called it heartbreak, the detached part thought. Funny how cliched emotional descriptions were so apt on the few occasions when you were actually experiencing them. Her heart was literally breaking. Everything her heart had believed in, counted on, and trusted, was being wrenched from her. Years of what she thought were irrefutable emotional truths were being snapped like spindly wooden twigs. She would never be able to go back to believing what she had before." (Wendy Healy)

"How can a reasonable, healthy person really be in love with someone who isn't in love with them?" (Shane Healy)

"Success in life could be boiled down to two things: having the courage to hold passionate beliefs and being able to make commitments." (Nico O'Neilly)

"But something happened to you when you'd had lots of relationships, meaning lots of breakups as well. At first, it hurt terribly, and you thought you'd never be able to get over it. But then you learned to be circumspect. You were only hurt because the guy had taken away your dream of the relationship. You understood that hurt feelings were really only about ego, about the self-absorbed idea that every man you were with should love you, that the universe owed you that." (Victory Ford)