Book Description
Cooking Chinese food at home has truly never been easier--all you need is this book, a wok, and a quick trip to the supermarket
Simple Chinese Cooking offers Kylie Kwong's philosophy of marrying the freshest ingredients and the simplest techniques to create amazing flavor. Kylie grew up devouring the mouthwatering heartiness of her mother's traditional Cantonese cuisine. Armed with the fundamental techniques, she set out to give ancient tradition a modern twist and bring the joys of Chinese cooking to all. Now, people from all over the globe flock to her popular restaurant in Sydney, billy kwong. But in this book, she brings her delicious recipes to Chinese food lovers everywhere.
Simple Chinese Cooking demystifies the preparation of Chinese cuisine—with ingredients that are readily available in any grocery store, and recipes that are friendly and easy-to-follow. From soy sauce chicken and steamed fish fillets with ginger and spring onions, to prawn wonton soup, this book offers delicious everyday meals, as well as dishes that are perfect for entertaining. With succulent 4-color photographs throughout and step-by-step instructional pictures, Simple Chinese Cooking will guide anyone to create a delectable feast.
Customer Reviews:
Easy, accessible and delicious.......2007-10-01
This is my first Amazon purchase and my first Kylie Kwong book. I was very impressed with Kylie's recipes, instructions and photographs, everything about the book is inpiring and makes authentic-tasting Chinese cooking apear much more accessible to those of us who don't regularly visit China-town.
After stocking up on the basic sauces suggested by Kwong (all available at safeway and amazingly cheap), I found that all I needed was meat and fresh vegetables to make almost every recipe in the book. The recipes are also easy to adjust to suit taste, with a number of them inter-changable depending on what ingredients you have on hand.
After working in a country Chinese restaurant for 3 years and becoming thoroughly sick of the sight of commercial Honey Chicken, Kylie Kwong has revived my love for authentic (msg free!) chinese cooking.
An amazing cookbook!.......2007-09-28
I love this cookbook!! Honestly, the recipes are so good they could make anyone into a great Chinese cook. I've made about 6 recipes already and all of them have been spectacular. Thank you, Kylie!
Simply Wonderful.......2007-09-17
I was amazed how beautiful this book is, the pictures are breathtaking and the recipes are so easy. Kylie takes the mystery out of Chinese cooking and allows those of us not Chinese to enjoy those simple home cooked meals that she had while growing up.
In the index Kylie lists all those items she readily has on hand and the uses for each, and also will let you know what can be subsituted if you dont have that particular item on hand.
I would greatly recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn Chinese cooking, those looking for healthy meals or simply looking for a good written cookbook, this one is it.
User friendly and great recipies.......2007-07-07
I found this book to be very well written indeed. As a Chinese I am pretty fussy about Chinese food and I find myself very happy with Kylie's recipes and approach. The stress on fresh ingredients and fresh preparation is the cornerstone to great tasting Asian food, and Kylie imposes that discipline throughout the book. You might want to experiment with sauce proportions- some might want to tweak degree of saltiness and taste. Remember, Chinese food ingredients do not scale up or down linearly, so you need to experiment when scaling up or down a meal. For American readers, you will notice differences in naming cuts of meats and some ingredients- not a big deal, just look it up on the internet. On the whole, a great book and it will continually be a useful reference for me.
Excellent book!.......2007-06-30
First of all, thanks to my dear friend for the birthday present, and second of all, this book is really awesome and simple for non-Chinese people who want to be able to cook healthy, delicious, and fresh Chinese food. As soon as I read it (in the first day!), I went out and bought all the ingredients Kylie recommended. I couldn't find malt vinegar, but I guess I could use brown, black or red, but I'll keep searching. Anyhow, I love Kylie and I always watch her shows over and over. I am so glad that she's taken the best from her shows and incorporated into this lovely book. Now if only I could julienne, I would be happy as a clam!
Average customer rating:
- Mystery package from the far east
- Great book for those interested in chinese food with twist
- Fun cook book with family stories
- Fascinating to read, tasty to eat!
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Kylie Kwong: Recipes and Stories
Kylie Kwong
Manufacturer: Penguin Global
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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| Regional & International
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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Chinese
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ASIN: 0670911186 |
Book Description
Presenting her recipes for fresh, approachable Chinese food that have seduced Sydney diners in recent years, Kylie Kwong reaches back into her family history to tell a fascinating story of the immigrant experience in Australia. In this celebration of cultural and culinary inspirations, recipes are intertwined with affectionate portraits of memorable meals-from cooking fried rice for her grandmother's boisterous mahjong sessions to the everyday ritual of shopping in Chinatown. The richness and diversity of Kylie's cooking, and the culture that breathes life into it, are reflected in photos from her family album and her travels, as well as of the dishes that mean so much to her. For Kylie, food is both a way of life in the present and a link with the past and her Chinese Australian family heritage. In this captivating book, Kylie shares the recipes she holds dear to her heart, and the memories they evoke. This is a very personal, intimate journey in the lively company of a fascinating family and the food that binds them together.
Customer Reviews:
Mystery package from the far east .......2007-03-21
Kylie love for her family and her cooking shows on every page and her simple but mastery recipies makes you want to cook chinese as often as you could. Enjoy !
Great book for those interested in chinese food with twist.......2007-02-11
The recipes are great. Lots of variety and easy to follow, even for a beginner like me...
Just have peanut oil and ginger available, it's in almost all her recipes, and your good to go.
Enjoy!
Fun cook book with family stories.......2007-01-14
Kylie is inventive and fun. Her stories made me read her book cover to cover!
Fascinating to read, tasty to eat!.......2006-03-11
I love this cookbook. I started watching Kylie's show on Discovery and have gotten both her cookbooks. I am currently working my way through the recipes and have yet to find one my family doesn't like. Plus, I love to just sit down and read her stories, she writes so vividly you feel like you are right there with her. I especially like the listing in the back of the products she uses, and the brands she recommends. It made it much easier to go my local Asian store and find exactly what I needed. The only problem is having to translate cooking temperatures from celcius to farenheit and she uses grams instead of ounces/pounds in the measurements. BUT, it is worth the few minutes hassle of converting to what I need, so I don't really mind it too much.
Book Description
"We can't help loving sleuth Kylie Kendall. . . . We'll follow her wherever her brunette ambitions take her."-
Girlfriends
Kylie may still be a private eye in training, and she may still be reeling by the secret her business partner finally revealed to her. But nothing can compare to her family's interference, even from far-away Australia. When her mother asks Kylie to check in on "distant" relative Doug "Dingo" O'Rourke, who has landed a TV gig in Los Angeles, Kylie realizes she has no choice but to do so. Dingo, though, wants nothing to do with an interfering private investigator, despite the fact that something dreadful is worrying him.
Book Description
Senior year is cooling down, student scandals are heating up, and in sexy South Beach, one teen's wicked dirty trouble is another teen's good clean fun. Until the last killer party becomes exactly that -- a party that kills.
Everyone wants to be just like them: Vanity, the gorgeous celebutante; Dante, the hip-hop dreamer; Max, the second-generation Hollywood bad boy; Christina, the just-out-of-the-closet Latina; and Pippa, the British hottie. They're the fabulous five of the Miami Academy for Performing Arts, and they've got everything and more. But for the unluckiest one of all, that includes a violent death at seventeen...on the night before graduation.
Hot romance, dangerous games, platinum dreams, and deadly choices. For some people, it's an impossible life. For Miami's most infamous clique, it's just another day at the beach...and for one of them, it's going to be the last.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful Disaster .......2006-12-28
I loved this book so much! It is a real amazing book. I couldn't stop reading this book. I got so excited or nervous in certain parts of the book. I loved the book from start to finish. I was so surprised when i got to the end of the book. I hope that i could get to read the whole entire series so i could really get something to start with! I recommend this book to everyone because you could really learn a lesson from it!
BEST OF THE SERIES!!.......2006-11-23
This was the absolute best book of the series Fast Girls, Hot boys series! I cried, i screamed and i had to put the book down only once to jump around because i was so nervous/excited that i didnt know what to do with myself!! I read the book for 2 hours from start to finish. I just finished it about 5 minutes ago, and i am desperately searching around for the 4th book. I just cant wait for it to come out!
I love kylie Adams!! And i recommend this series to anyone!
Book Description
Australian-Chinese chef Kylie Kwong shares recipes for the dishes she most loves to cook-whether for a simple supper of Hokkien noodles, a family celebration in her own home or a glamorous cocktail party. She branches out from her Chinese culinary heritage to explore the cuisines of Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa. With the emphasis on intensity of flavour and using the finest produce, she creates mouth-watering dishes with inspired combinations of Western ingredients and Eastern techniques. From a fresh take on Chinese-restaurant classics to treasured family favourites, this is food to be shared and enjoyed.
In the book accompanying her ABC TV series, Australian-Chinese chef Kylie Kwong shares the recipes for the dishes she most loves to cook-whether for a simple supper of Hokkien noodles, a family celebration in her own home, or a glamorous cocktail party. Following the success of her first book, Kylie Kwong: Recipes and Stories, Kylie branches out from her Chinese culinary heritage to explore the cuisines of Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa. With the emphasis on intensity of flavour and using the finest produce, she creates mouth-watering dishes with inspired combinations of Western ingredients and Eastern techniques. With a fresh take on Chinese restaurant classics to treasured family favourites, this is food to be shared and enjoyed.
Customer Reviews:
Not What I Expected.......2007-09-30
I was hoping for a book more based on Kylie's TV show. The ingredients in this books were too exotic. I want to be able to find most of the ingredients in our local supermarket. I ended up returning the book because I couldn't find one recipe I would even try.
I Love This Cookbook.......2007-08-12
I love Kylie Kwong and this cookbook is one of my favorites. Her global Asian approach to food preparation has taken my cooking to a whole new level. I have introduced products that were unfamiliar to me like Chinese Red and Black Vinegars, Palm Sugar, Kecap Manis and Chinese Cooking Wine, to my existing recipes which has taken my dishes to a whole new level. I love the direction my food has taken!!!! This is a great book.
Kylie Wong.......2007-07-08
This book is a complement to her weekly show on Discovery Channel. I have done many of her recipes and I am very please with both the program and her book. The program and her book both has an exotic quality to it. And both are well done. I recommended both hightly.
Not for the average cook or foodie.......2007-01-19
I was first introduced to Kylie Kwong through her cooking show on the Discover Home channel. On her show, she's always cooking these warm, savory soup dishes with lots of veggies, fish and seafood. Her cooking seems very simple, but this cookbook is anything but.
The recipes it contains are complex and filled with exotic ingredients that i doubt I could even find at my local Whole Foods. There wasn't even a simple seafood soup recipe listed. I flipped through the entire book, and made my final decision after flipping to the one of the last recipes in the book, octopus something-or-other. I'm out.
Kylie Kwong seems very nice, and she has a great cooking show, but this book is a complete departure from the food we see her prepare on TV.
Lovely cookbook as well as TV Show.........2005-11-24
I started watching Kylie's show on Discovery home channel, and I love her recipes, and besides, she's so cute. I can't wait to try the Steamboat recipe, as well as many other dishes in the book. It's wildly creative, and has great color photos as well as recipes and stories. As a matter of fact, I think I'll go buy her other cookbook as well. Kylie, you've got a lot of new fans in America. I love this book.
Average customer rating:
- Courtesy of Teens Read Too
- Teens living on the wild side
- I Liked It...
- interesting look at the in-crowd
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Bling Addiction: Fast Girls, Hot Boys Series (Fast Girls, Hot Boys)
Kylie Adams
Manufacturer: MTV
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Binding: Paperback
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Beautiful Disaster: Fast Girls, Hot Boys Series (Fast Girls, Hot Boys)
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Cruel Summer: Fast Girls, Hot Boys Series (Fast Girls, Hot Boys)
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Everything She Wants (The 310)
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The 310: Life as a Poser (The 310)
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Lost Summer
ASIN: 1416520414 |
Book Description
After a hot summer of partying in sexy South Beach, the fabulous five of the Miami Academy for Creative and Performing Arts are back in school but no less scandalous!
You met them in Cruel Summer: Vanity, the gorgeous celebutante; Dante, the hip-hop dreamer; Max, the second-generation Hollywood bad boy; Christina, the anime-obsessed Latina; and Pippa, the British hottie. Now, with a sex tape looming overhead and a very adult career happening in secret, you're about to get to know them better than ever.
But as out-of-control parties rage and dangerous connections form, the cool kids who thought they'd be friends forever are about to face the cold hard fact that they won't...because one of them will be dead by graduation day.
Customer Reviews:
Courtesy of Teens Read Too.......2007-05-31
In Cruel Summer: Fast Girls, Hot Boys Series (Fast Girls, Hot Boys), the first novel of the new teen series, FAST GIRLS, HOT BOYS, we were introduced to five friends, all living in South Beach, Miami.
There's Max, the son of a Hollywood movie star who gets anything and anyone he wants; Dante, the hot hip-hop artist who would do anything possible to get into the business; Pippa, the moocher, who is anything but rich; Christina, the anime artist who is unable to "find herself" due to a political mother who is anti-gay; and Vanity, the daughter of a very successful music executive who can't seem to find the right guy, one who isn't going out with her just because of the connections she has with her father.
Now, in BLING ADDICTION, we are one step closer to the end and one step closer to finding out which one of the five did not make it to graduation. It's hotter than ever in South Beach and more secrets and lies are unfurling.
Vanity's ex-boyfriend is making it hard for her to forget about him, what with a tape that could ruin her life and image. Max is trying to be the opposite of his father, but the more he pushes, the closer he gets to becoming more like him. Dante is still trying to get Vanity to hook him up and to hopefully make it big as an artist. Pippa is getting an offer that someone in her position just can't seem to refuse, and Christina is just as confused as ever, making her even lonelier. With things kept so deep down inside of them, what could possible go wrong?
Kylie Adams makes sure that all those crazy parties and everything wild that goes on in South Beach is featured in BLING ADDICTION. Even though these characters seem so far out there, everyone is definitely able to relate to them, in more ways then one.
Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen
Teens living on the wild side.......2006-08-23
Bling Addiction is the second title in the MTV Books series "Fast Girls, Hot Boys." This also is the second MTV Books title by author Kylie Adams. Kylie is the author of the first book in the series "Cruel Summer." "Cruel Summer" was an exciting book about a group of South Beach teens. Kylie brings back the same group of teens from Cruel Summer in this book. The gang of five from the Miami Academy for Creative and Performing Arts are back for more drama and partying following their whirlwind summer. As with the previous book, there is a promised death--one of the fab five will be dead before graduation. If you like television shows like "The OC" or "Laguna Beach" you will enjoy this latest novel in the
Fast Girls, Hot Boys series.
I Liked It..........2006-08-10
I just didn't like the plot line of the sex tape because we had already heard about it, and if she had made the story line a little different than the paris hilton one, then it would be more interesting but i pretty much predicted what the outcome of that would be. It seems like all they do is drink and party and have sex. Her writing is fresh, and she's a good writer but i think she should take this book in a different direction.
interesting look at the in-crowd.......2006-08-02
At the graduation of the class of 2006 of the Miami Academy of Creative & Performing Arts, Bijou Ross, the valedictorian, sadly denotes that one of their students failed to make it. She thinks that the Fab five as she thought of this fast crowd are now the frightened four as one has failed to attend the graduation because they vanished and are assumed dead.
Wealthy Vanity St. John is already making a name for herself until her former boyfriend Jayson James offers an erotic video of her that he took without her permission. Impoverished Dante Medina dreams of making it big in the hip-hop world and with Vanity, but the former remains an aspiration and the latter too hot and cold to deal with. Max Biaggi, Jr. does not want to follow in the footsteps of his famous Hollywood dad; instead he enjoys the hustle of the underground whether it is gambling, sex, or both. English expatriate Pippa Keith pays for her champagne tastes by dancing at the Cheetah, but some affluent patron offers her a lot more if she dances exclusively for him. Finally Christina Perez hides her dark secret from everyone, which adds to her feeling like the invisible woman even with her four friends or her parents, one of whom is an ambitious politician.
This is an interesting look at five seniors considered by many of their peers as the in-crowd, but each has issues that impact how they perceive the world. Thus the young adult audience receives a strong teen character study to include self-destructive behavior. Though having five stars leads to some subplots unresolved (hence sequel), readers of coming of age tales will appreciate the BLING ADDICTION of these fats girls and hot boys struggling with what turns out to be a CRUEL SUMMER.
Harriet Klausner
Average customer rating:
- Decent Beach Read for the Teen/ Young Adult Set
- Nice Beach Read
- Cinematic and Exciting
- not what i expected
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Cruel Summer: Fast Girls, Hot Boys Series (Fast Girls, Hot Boys)
Kylie Adams
Manufacturer: MTV
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Love & Romance
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Plan B
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The Pursuit of Happiness
ASIN: 1416520325 |
Book Description
One gorgeous celebutante. One hip-hop dreamer. One second-generation Hollywood badboy. One anime-obsessed Latina. One British hottie....
They're five friends living the highlife in sexy South Beach, Miami. And one of them won't make it to graduation alive.
Life is fast and furious for these A-listers and their friends: the hottest bars, the hippest clubs, the coolest, most exclusive parties.
But not everybody loves this fabulous five from the Miami Academy for Creative and Performing Arts...and if they think they're untouchable, they're about to find out that they're wrong.
Dead wrong.
Download Description
One gorgeous celebutante. One hip-hop dreamer. One second-generation Hollywood badboy. One anime-obsessed Latina. One British hottie.... They're five friends living the highlife in sexy South Beach, Miami. And one of them won't make it to graduation alive. Life is fast and furious for these A-listers and their friends: the hottest bars, the hippest clubs, the coolest, most exclusive parties. But not everybody loves this fabulous five from the Miami Academy for Creative and Performing Arts...and if they think they're untouchable, they're about to find out that they're wrong. Dead wrong.
Customer Reviews:
Decent Beach Read for the Teen/ Young Adult Set.......2006-07-04
This book is part of the Fast Girls, Hot Boys series put out by MTV Books. It follows five friends who live in South Beach Miami with storylines that play into current pop culture and trends. The book starts off with some murder mystery and is enough to keep the reader lightly entertained while on the beach or a short car trip.
Nice Beach Read.......2006-06-11
These are the characters of Cruel summer, appropriately dubbed the Fabulous Five:
Vanity is the daughter of a highly successful music executive. She's a model who questions her role as a celebutante. Having a distant father who can give her material things but is emotionally absent doesn't help her figure it out.
Dante is the aspiring hip hop artist whose father passed away while serving in the military. He has been accepted on scholarship to MACPA, a performing arts school that the other characters in the book attend. He has feelings for Vanity but does not want to act on them because her father can give him his big break.
Max is the son of a movie star. In a typical movie star kid way, he is a spoiled rich kid that never hears the word no. He's used to getting everything he wants and would like to be a comedian but knows he wouldn't be taken seriously. Will he betray one of the Fabulous Five in his quest for more money and fame?
Pippa is a British import living with her single American mom. She's beautiful and grew up in a privileged household courtesy of her father. He loses the fortune in such a disgraceful manner that Pippa and her mom have to sell all of their materials and flee London like thieves in the night. Living in Miami on her mother's laughable budget is not Pippa's style. She's determined to make money even if she may get hurt doing it.
Christina rounds out the Fabulous Five. She's the daughter of a Latin Republican mother running for office. Christina is in the closet and not only has to deal with the issues of living a secret life but also living with a mom who's considering anti-gay issues as a political platform. Christina may also be in love with one of the girls in the Fabulous Five.
This book is good if you need something to slip in your beach bag. The only reason I gave it a 4 instead of 5 is because the jacket summary and first chapter kept referencing one of the character's dying before the book's end. This death was not a focal point of the book, but maybe it will be resolved in the sequel due August '06. Nevertheless, this is a very quick read. You'll have various pop references and if you read UsWeekly, Star, or any other gossip/fashion mag, this book is for you.
Cinematic and Exciting.......2006-05-11
If you are looking for a book to take to the beach as the summer weather settles in look no further than Cruel Summer by Kylie Adams. This book is a title in the MTV Books series Fast Girls, Hot Boys.
Cruel Summer is a cinematic novel set in scenic South Beach, Miami. The book is about five friends who all have big dreams. They are all A-listers and have access Unfortunately, one of them isn't going to live until high school graduation. The lives of Bijou, Pippa, Vanity, Dante, Max and Christina is glamourous.
Cruel Summer is a cool teen/college age read that seems as if it's snatched out of the headlines of In Touch magazine. It's a vivid read that teens will enjoy. It's one of the best fiction books in the MTV Books series.
Teen Editor Bellaonline
not what i expected.......2006-05-05
good book...it was a little crazy at first, but if you are looking for a good summer read, i suggest you get this book to read it. It will amuse you throughout the whole book.
I enjoyed it
Book Description
Praise for The Wombat Strategy:
"We can't help loving sleuth Kylie Kendall . . . [she] is such a charmer, we'll follow her wherever her brunette ambitions take her."-Girlfriends
"The first of what I hope will be lots and lots of mysteries featuring the oh-so-cute Aussie dyke, Kylie Kendall."-She
"Saucy, witty, and blessed with a healthy dose of Aussie tenacity, Kendall is everything a girl could want in a lead character."-LesbiaNation.com
Kylie Kendall is hired for a routine security detail to prevent an academic rival from disrupting Dr. Oscar Braithwaite's keynote address at UCLA's Global Marsupial Symposium. Sounds easy enough to be downright dull, but then Dr. Braithwaite is murdered, and his sister, the sexually voracious and irresistibly attractive Dr. Penelope Braithwaite, hires Kylie to investigate his death. Can Kylie keep from mixing business with oh-so-much pleasure? Can she remain true to her barely requited love for her ice-queen business partner, Arianna Creeling? Oh yes, and can she figure out who killed Oscar? All of these questions and more are answered in this latest installment of Claire McNab's Kylie Kendall mystery series.
Transplanted Australian Claire McNab is the author of two other Kylie Kendall mysteries, The Wombat Strategy and The Kookaburra Gambit. She has also written 18 best-selling mystery novels, 14 featuring the popular Detective Inspector Carol Ashton and four featuring undercover agent Denise Cleever. She has served as the president of Sisters in Crime and is a member of both the Mystery Writers of America and the Science Fiction Writers of America. She lives in Los Angeles.
Customer Reviews:
"Enjoy!".......2006-04-22
Claire McNab once again treats the reader to a microcosm of Los Angeles through the eyes of intrepid P.I. trainee Kylie Kendall, who's still feeling her way 'round SoCal, bumping into unexpected situations, characters and traffic jams with a style all her own.
Placing much of the action at UCLA, "The Quokka Question" illuminates the chalkboard jungle politics of higher academia, with professors and their staff doing their intellectual best to outwit and outmaneuver each other. Whether its chalk outlining a lesson on the board, or chalk outlining a victim's body on the ground, it all makes for great intrigue and a rapid-fire read.
The office crew of Kendall & Creeling is back with just as much individual quirky humor as ever. (Sitcom writers take note: This is an office with marvelously-drawn individuals who would be a delight to visit every week!) There's more of freeze-dried Fran (per McNab, "the pocketsize warrior queen,") the receptionist hotline starring the ever-toothy Melodie, as well as all the others, too numerous to name. And of course, the snooty cat so convinced of her own star power that she pulls off the moniker of "Julia Roberts" with a poise that just might make the original Ms. Roberts a bit envious. Continuing to befuddle and bewitch Kylie is the enigmatic, beautiful Ariana who can concurrently tie Kylie's tongue and tug at her heartstrings without so much as lifting one gorgeous finger.
Between skewering university life, call-in sex radio shows and equity waiver theatrical wannabes, this latest in the Kylie Kendall series is sheer delight from cover to cover. As the waiter/actor in any upscale L.A. eatery would say upon delivering an artfully-arranged platter of lunch, "Enjoy!
an excellent quick read.......2006-02-17
The story with the superb sub-inter office story kept me wanting to read more and more. When I was done the only thing on my mind was when is the next Kylie Kendall mystery due out.......I hope soon.
Another bonzer book for McNab!.......2006-01-18
Claire McNab has written another brilliant, and brilliantly funny, Kylie Kendall mystery. They're getting better and better! The plot is good, the characters well delineated, the situations delightful, and, in short, this is her best yet!
Particularly good is all the office byplay. There is a wealth of character and detail here, and it is delicious.
McNab has come into her own. Always a fine writer, her books are improving steadily.
Of course, a major question is "What is the Quokka Question?"
Read the book and you MAY find out!
Book Description
New Jersey new money meets Texas landed gentry when Julia Spinelli falls head over heels for Roman Sonntag. Their whirlwind courtship has their families in an uproar. And while Julia and Roman's wedding party has the couple's best interests at heart, they sure have a funny way of showing it. But as the big day gets closer and closer, Julia is sure that love will win out-for her and her bridesmaids.
In Book Two of The Bridesmaid Chronicles, Kiki Sonntag, an out-of-work actress and former Miss Texas, takes it upon herself to save her brother's wedding from bad taste. But she can't save herself from a nasty tabloid scandal. Until it blows over, she's hiding out in Manhattan's hippest new hotel-and enjoying some perks from its playboy owner.
Customer Reviews:
Dissapointing and disconnected.......2007-06-03
I really liked the tone and attitude of the Bridesmaid Chronicles. But this book just doesn't fit, and Kiki is anything but a heroine. I couldn't identify with her at all, and in fact was constantly waiting for the moment when somebody would teach her a real lesson about her interferring ways. But no one ever does, even "Fab" (whose name bothered me immensly) ends up chuckling and going "Oh, Kiki..." instead of telling her to stick her nose elsewhere.
The other books in this series are fantastic, and you don't need to read this one completly to understand those, so I suggest reading a plot summary and skipping it. Unless you want to laugh at an unsympathetic character.
The shallow end of the gene pool ..........2007-03-10
I really enjoyed the series. They are light, quirky romances that are fun to read. This particular book however was not on par with the rest of the series. What really killed this book for me was the lack of romance. The rest of the books in this series are told from the perspective of both the heroine and the hero. You get to see how the attraction between the two characters develops into deeper feelings. They go through a little angst before they get together in the end, but you're rooting for them to work out their issues and stay together. The heroes and heroines all have personal/relationship issues that they work through in order to achieve their happy ending and you see them grow because of it. Not so with First Kiss.
The story is told entirely from Kiki's point of view. This, I think, was a big mistake. Not only did we get no sense of deeper feeling from Kiki, who was shallow to the point of causing me more than mild annoyance, but we get absolutely nothing from Fab. Sure, we heard about how hot Fab was, what a good bed buddy he was, and that he knew how to listen to a girl, but what else is there? We don't see anything real developing between them and the one, very short, moment of conflict between them is when Kiki tells Fab that he can't give her any kind of relationship. Then a scant few hours later Fab's declaring his love for her in front of others? And what deep thoughts does Kiki have upon overhearing this? What outfit she'll wear when they double date with the celebrity couple that Fab has declared his feeling to! It was kind of a let down for me to see that Kiki didn't really grow at all as a person during this book. Not that I expected her to do an about face, but if she'd become a bit less self-centered or just given some sense of having matured a little, I would have been happier. I enjoyed Danni, Tiffany Lynn, and Kirby way more than the lead characters, but I really just wanted to brain Suzi-Suzi.
It was ok.......2006-04-13
I really kept waiting for Kiki to do an about face on her shallowness but she didn't. Otherwise, I did read through this book quickly just to see what would happen. I was disappointed with the lack of interaction between Kiki and the other bridesmaids.
I have read the 1st 3 of this series so far and the first ("First Date") has been the best. I really felt like I got to know those characters. "First Dance" would get my vote for the 2nd best.
I would have read this book regardless of the reviews just because I wanted to read the whole series. It was a fine book. A quick beach read. Nothing you have to think much about. I wouldn't skip over it but I wouldn't expect it to be fantastic.
Doesn't belong with the series.......2005-10-11
I really did not like this book, although I enjoyed the others in the series. Kiki is shallow and self centered, as is Fab. I never learned to love the heroine or hero in this book. By the end, I really did not care if they ended up together or not.
Light Hearted Romance.......2005-09-11
I love romance, esp. those continued within a series. The Bridesmaid Chronicles is a cute, sometimes funny chronicle of 4 ladies who find true love at last. An enjoyable easy read. The only problem I had was that there didn't seem to be enough depth to the characters, but that can happen in any series.
Fun read!
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