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Book Reviews of Trading Up

Trading Up
Trading Up
Author: Candace Bushnell
ISBN-13: 9780786888719
ISBN-10: 0786888717
Publication Date: 7/2003
Pages: 512
Reading Level: Young Adult
Rating:
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 7

4.1 stars, based on 7 ratings
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

75 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Trading Up on
Helpful Score: 5
Got super excited to read this since I love Sex in the City, but was very dissapointed. Couldn't muddle through more than the first few chapters. Devestatingly boring.
reviewed Trading Up on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
I did not love this book. I was expecting a fun romp similar to SATC. Istead I found a narcissistic character who was only interested in herself. If Ms. Bushnell had given the main character one likable charachteristic, it would have been a much easier read and a more enjoyable trip!
reviewed Trading Up on + 18 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Great read! Candace Bushnell is known for her Sex in the City stories, and she doesn't let you down in this book!
reviewed Trading Up on + 16 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This is a book in the writing style of "Sex and the City"- a very New York girl and her life as a wife and ultimately, a star.
reviewed Trading Up on + 94 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Candace Bushnell is the author of Four Blondes, one of my favorite books, and Sex and the City (for which the show was based). This is a fun book if you're a fan of any of her other work, and just if you're curious about the lifestyles of the rich and sometimes famous.
reviewed Trading Up on
Helpful Score: 2
This was an OK book. The character was self-absorbed and it was hard for me to like her enough to care.
samanark avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 39 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Trading Up is about Shopping and Sex. If you liked the Sex and the City girls, you'll like Janey Wilcox, the heroine of this latest book by Bushnell.
reviewed Trading Up on + 106 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This grabbed and kept my attention, but I also found myself annoyed at the lifestyle and personal attitudes of the "Hampton" crowd. It was good distraction fiction in the sense that I needed entertainment when I was ill, and this did the job. I just felt like I'd rather have been doing something else, after it was over.
reviewed Trading Up on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This was an insightful glance into the chaotic, dramatic lives of America's wealthy.
reviewed Trading Up on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Easy enjoyable reading from the author of sex and the city.
reviewed Trading Up on
Helpful Score: 1
Great story like all of Candace's books; however, this was weird because the main character was a person you just despise for the way they are, so that is a new one for me.
reviewed Trading Up on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is a can't put it down and leaves you wanting more.
reviewed Trading Up on + 7 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is my first of Bushnell's but I can't wait to read more.
reviewed Trading Up on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Fun and easy read about a life so far from my own.
reviewed Trading Up on + 59 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Could not finish. Characters weren't very likeable.
reviewed Trading Up on + 69 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
By the author of Sex and the City. A Victoria's Secret Model trying to rise to the top of the New York Social scene. Interesting book.
hjlamay avatar reviewed Trading Up on
Helpful Score: 1
If only the rest of the book was as good as the last two chapters....
This book was a huge disappointment. The plot drug on and on and there really was no flow. The author introduced too many characters in a mediocre way. I much prefer fewer characters that are truly developed.
reviewed Trading Up on + 13 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Ms. Bushnell is great writer. I really liked the way the story was laid out. Well written characters. Great entertaining read.
JennL avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 70 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Despite the shallowness of the main character it becomes hard to despise her as the plot progresses and her insecurities emerge.
reviewed Trading Up on + 69 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book is a guilty pleasure! Loved it!
shooky avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 138 more book reviews
very entertaining and funny
reviewed Trading Up on + 6 more book reviews
This is the author that wrote Sex In The City.
Although this story isn't as good as SITC, it is still an amusing listen.
elmo-noodles avatar reviewed Trading Up on
inane and cliche. omg, i'm, like...sooo rich and beautiful adn i'm such a victim!
reviewed Trading Up on + 10 more book reviews
A fun vacation read indeed!
reviewed Trading Up on
This book definitely kept me turning the page. It was a fun book to read.
reviewed Trading Up on + 24 more book reviews
Interesting story. Kind of slow in spots. A bit unrealistic. Nevertheless, enjoyable.
reviewed Trading Up on + 4 more book reviews
By the bestselling author of SEX AND THE CITY and 4 BLONDES. Enjoy Janey's latest battle up the social ladder!
kellyteach avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 17 more book reviews
Who doesn't love anything written by the author of Sex and the City?
00JOANNE00 avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 65 more book reviews
The author of Sex and the City offers up another sexy, scandalous tale of one-upmanship in the Hamptons.
reviewed Trading Up on + 18 more book reviews
If you enjoyed Sex in the City you will like this book too. It was written by the same author.
reviewed Trading Up on + 10 more book reviews
good summer read.
catpur avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 21 more book reviews
great, fun read.
reviewed Trading Up on + 2 more book reviews
Great Book!! It is a scintillating read about life in the upper echelon. The story of Janey Wilcox's struggle through life in High class society.
reviewed Trading Up on + 13 more book reviews
Candace Bushnell has done it again! I was hooked on Candace's work ever since my favorite show Sex and the City. This is about a woman's search for love, happiness, respect and more...
reviewed Trading Up on + 179 more book reviews
Janey Wilcox is an M.A.W. (that's Model/Actress/Whatever to the uninitiated). The problem with Janey, the protagonist of Candace Bushnell's first novel, Trading Up, is not the M or the A part. It's the W. Here is a rare alphabetical anomaly: In Janey's case, W stands for "prostitute." Oh, Janey never crosses the line into actual hookerdom, but she does sleep with extremely wealthy men in the hopes they'll improve her status, her financial situation, or her lifestyle. When we first met Janey in Bushnell's novella collection 4 Blondes, she was up to her usual tricks (so to speak)--scamming a guy for a Hamptons vacation rental. At the opening of Trading Up, her fortunes have improved. She's now the star of a Victoria's Secret ad campaign, and as such she's found access to undreamed-of echelons of New York society. She makes friends with Mimi Kilroy, a senator's daughter "at the very top of the social heap in New York." She gets invited to all the best parties. And she finally finds a wealthy man who will actually marry her: Seldon Rose, a powerful entertainment industry executive. Of course, Janey's social ambitions are not stoppered by her marriage to Seldon, and the clash between her expectations (more parties!) and his (normal life) send Janey into a tailspin that leads to heartbreak.
reviewed Trading Up on + 84 more book reviews
Love and life in New York City!
reviewed Trading Up on
Funny and sad novel
flatlan avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 25 more book reviews
This book is by the same author as Sex in the City and it is just as juicy and gossipy! Very fun read!!
lisanottoli avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 4 more book reviews
I love this book. Ms. Bushnell knows how to keep a person wanting more...
reviewed Trading Up on + 33 more book reviews
Janey Wilcox is an M.A.W. (that's Model/Actress/Whatever to the uninitiated). The problem with Janey, the protagonist of Candace Bushnell's first novel, Trading Up, is not the M or the A part. It's the W. Here is a rare alphabetical anomaly: In Janey's case, W stands for "prostitute." Oh, Janey never crosses the line into actual hookerdom, but she does sleep with extremely wealthy men in the hopes they'll improve her status, her financial situation, or her lifestyle. When we first met Janey in Bushnell's novella collection 4 Blondes, she was up to her usual tricks (so to speak)--scamming a guy for a Hamptons vacation rental. At the opening of Trading Up, her fortunes have improved. She's now the star of a Victoria's Secret ad campaign, and as such she's found access to undreamed-of echelons of New York society. She makes friends with Mimi Kilroy, a senator's daughter "at the very top of the social heap in New York." She gets invited to all the best parties.

By Claire Dederer
In many ways Janie and her various friends are bad news indeed but they are still a lot of fun. I just love the insights into the power (and power hungry) world of New York. All of the back stabbing and the treachery; great trash! It seems very real to me and I really think Bushnell understands that universe perfectly, both from the male and female points of view.
by Anne (of Chicago, IL)
reviewed Trading Up on + 4 more book reviews
Fun read
reviewed Trading Up on + 10 more book reviews
Fluffy novel following up Bushnell's 4 Blondes on the saga of blonde model and man-eater Janey Wilcox.
reviewed Trading Up on + 9 more book reviews
Juicy read!
reviewed Trading Up on + 43 more book reviews
An enjoyable read...
reviewed Trading Up on + 40 more book reviews
Not what I expected (in a positive way) Took a fairly predictable plot and added much more background to it. This is the first book I have read by this author. Enjoyable.
reviewed Trading Up on + 21 more book reviews
As Janey lets some newfound fame go to her head, we see her seemingly glamorous world come apart...and take a laughter-filled journey with her as she picks up the pieces.
reviewed Trading Up on + 10 more book reviews
Candace is at it again. For die-havr SATC-philes, this is your kind of read!
reviewed Trading Up on + 4 more book reviews
I started this book, but just couldn't get into it.
reviewed Trading Up on + 25 more book reviews
Like Sex in the City... Same author.
reviewed Trading Up on
great beach read
reviewed Trading Up on + 232 more book reviews
bushnell, creater of sex & the city strikes again!

i loved this book of sex, fashion, hamptons, hollywood - a fab read.
reviewed Trading Up on + 9 more book reviews
If you like "Sex in the City" you'll love this book
reviewed Trading Up on + 34 more book reviews
A fun, easy, summer read - a great book to read when you don't want to concentrate too much. Perfect for vacation.
aprildsygrl avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 58 more book reviews
easy read, cute book.
reviewed Trading Up on + 6 more book reviews
I enjoyed this book because it gave me a view of society I am unfamiliar with and I would recommend it to people who like a little romance as well as satire about the rich. I feel LiKE Bushnell is giving us a humorous, tongue in cheek view of high society and its many pitfalls.
reviewed Trading Up on + 20 more book reviews
This was my first book by Candance. It keep me up reading until I could read any more. Great book!
reviewed Trading Up on + 6 more book reviews
Entertaining read for some light-hearted fun...
reviewed Trading Up on + 2 more book reviews
I got through the first four chapters and had to stop. Horrible story, horrible characters and horrible writing. I rarely don't finish a book, but this was just bad.
reviewed Trading Up on + 62 more book reviews
funny. great chick lit.
reviewed Trading Up on + 27 more book reviews
In the Sex and the City style, just a little bit more crude and more thougfull. Still gripping stories, could not put down 'til I finished it.
reviewed Trading Up on + 6 more book reviews
Hilarious!
reviewed Trading Up on + 29 more book reviews
Another good book from the author of S&TC commenting on high society life. Funny and quick read!
catnip38 avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 156 more book reviews
Janey Wilcox, a woman whose reach often exceeds her grasp, will do anything to have it all. As she battles her way up the New York social ladder, we follow Janey's adventures into a new life of glamour and society.
reviewed Trading Up on
this is written by the Writer of Sex and the City.
reviewed Trading Up on + 336 more book reviews
by the author of sex and the city
reviewed Trading Up on + 3 more book reviews
It was good, but I expected it to be better. I'm not sure I even finished reading it.
reviewed Trading Up on + 42 more book reviews
An interesting novel by the bestselling author of Sex and the City
reviewed Trading Up on + 14 more book reviews
A great sequal
reviewed Trading Up on + 3 more book reviews
A great read although not Bushnell's best - hard to get into a times but a good chick lit read
reviewed Trading Up on + 22 more book reviews
It's a cross between sex and the city and the devil wears prada.
TI's funny and it's a girls book.
reviewed Trading Up on + 32 more book reviews
More from the author of "Sex and the City."
reviewed Trading Up on + 17 more book reviews
Awesome!
harmony85 avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 982 more book reviews
"As Janey lets some newfound fame go to her head, we see her seemingly glamorous world come apart...and take a laughter-filled journey with her as she picks up the pieces"-Los Angeles Confidence magazine
dbelle avatar reviewed Trading Up on + 39 more book reviews
very strange read
reviewed Trading Up on + 3389 more book reviews
From Publishers Weekly
"It was the beginning of the summer of the year 2000, and in New York City, where the streets seemed to sparkle with the gold dust filtered down from a billion trades in a boomtown economy, it was business as usual." In other words, it is business as usual for bestselling author Bushnell (Sex and the City; 4 Blondes), who expands here on the career of shallow, predatory Janey Wilcox. In 4 Blondes, Wilcox was a mildly famous one-time model who bedded men based on their ability to provide her with a great house in the Hamptons for the summer. Now she has become a Victoria's Secret model, a bona fide success in her own right. As the latest summer in the Hamptons kicks off, Wilcox becomes the new best friend of the socialite Mimi Kilroy, who is eager to introduce beautiful Janey to the very rich Selden Rose, the new head of the HBO-like MovieTime. Unlike Janey's many previous hookups, Selden is the marrying kind. What ensues is a grim if well-observed account of a match made in hell. Here's the problem. There is a black hole in the center of the book in the form of Janey Wilcox, a character so dull and humorless that she makes this whole elaborate enterprise one long, boring slog. Granted, Bushnell sets out to chronicle the workings of "one of those people for whom the superficial comfortingly masks an inner void," but Wilcox is not evil enough to be interesting, not talented enough to be Mr. Ripley. Wilcox proceeds from model/prostitute to "Model/Prostitute" on the cover of the Post. But who will care? Bushnell has committed the real crime here: failure to entertain.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.