Customer Reviews
Tasmina- please change the formula and check simple facts - By: Mrs. R. M. Goldsmith, 21 Oct 2008 
This is the same formula as Goldiggers- four impossibly beautiful related women(sisters here, cousinsin Goldiggers) with a wicked father/uncle. OK-that's fine for escapist trashy bedtime reading. But simple slips are irritating, especially to a Londoner. She places Gordon Ramsayin Covent Garden, Wilton'sin Mayfair (It'sin St James) & says Dorset is 200 miles from London. If I'm nitpicking, so what? it isn't a great work of literature but such stupid errors stand out where the literary content is almost zero. The unravellings & denouements are signposted from the start. Perhaps I'd better revert to quality reading, even for bedtime.
80s style bonkbuster for the noughties - By: MAB, 19 Sep 2008 
The Balcon sisters are beautiful, successful young women who have each carved their own nichein life. Serena is the spoilt actress, Camilla is the barrister & would-be MP, Venetia is a designer & Cate is a magazine editor. They share a penchant for complicated lives, blonde hair & a tyrant of a father called Oswald. But Oswald is dead & one of them possibly killed him...
This is pretty much how the novel opens, it then zips back a year & tells the story of what lead up to Oswald's death or murder. The story is peppered with plenty of romance & sex & intrigue with lots of outrageous twist & turns along he way.
The problem is I am torn between enjoying this novel & yet thinking at the same time that it could have been so much better.
Firstlyin my opinion there are too many sisters, they could have easily lost one (probably Camilla who seems pretty redundant, apart from a revelation about a dark secret).
Secondly there were characters who I could have read more about, Maria Dante for instance the bitchy opera star, rather than have to read more goings on with the rather dull sisters (Serena & Cate kept me reading, Venetia bored me & Camilla may as well not have beenin the book at all). Likewise Oswald Balcon himself.
Thirdly, all the dark secrets should have been hinted at much more throughout the novel, I wanted to be able to try & figure out the mystery & the secrets along the way with more history & maybe chapters setin the past, the lives of Oswald & the sisters' mother Margaret was far more intriguing than anything the sisters got up to!
Which brings me onto the forth point, the ending or rather the climax of the novel. It all just happened so fast & seemed added on as an incidental. Why wasn't this all interspersed throughout the novel to draw the readerin more & more?
Having said all that it was an enjoyable enough read & even though I would probably rather curl up with & escape into a Shirley Conran or a Judith Gould I wouldn't turn my nose up at reading another Tasmina Perry.
Great escapist read, light and fun - By: M. Kitamura, 27 Aug 2008 
I agree with most of the comments here, it's not going to win any literary prizes but if it's a tonic you're after like I was after a few heavy books, this is perfect.
nicely done - By: S. J. Bashford, 25 Dec 2007 
I bought this book at the airport on my way on holiday. I am a huge Susan Lewis & Louise Bagshawe fan & can i definately say that it did not disappoint considering the high standards of the afore mentioned writers. Very enjoyable, with likable characters (except of course for daddy & perhaps Serena to begin with) & it keeps you guessing right up till the end. I shall certainly be taking a look at the next Tasmina Perry novel.
Sexy, Scandalous and Superb!! - By: KMS, 26 Oct 2007 Excellently written. Tasmina Perry tells us how it is through the lives of four glamourous sisters who can never impress their father. When their father is found dead, the finger of suspicion points to one of the sisters, but did they really kill their own father?
Get stuckin with this excellent book of secrets, lies, affairs, scandal & glamour. Tasmina Perry's explosive debut novel is not to be missed!
Follow Serena, Camilla, Venetia & Cate through their successful lives, find out about their boyfriends, lovers & husbands & what secrets they keep from the girls.
I absolutely loves this book & I cannot wait to read Tasmina's second novel. A must read book that reminds me a little of Desperate Housewives & Sex & The City!
