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Its been a while since Sex and the City was over and the second season of Desperate Housewives is not really filling the void that I had hoped it would, so in a rare impulsive buy, I picked up Candace Bushnell's "Lipstick Jungle". Did it disappoint? No, not if you were just trying to fill up a void left by Sex and the City. The style is very similar - it features three powerful women, faced with the very many challenges of urban everyday life. What I liked most was, instead of relationships, it focused more on how they struggle to multi task their careers with their family lives. And if you are a Sex and the City fan, chances are you will love this book.

Even if you were not a Sex and the City fan, this is definitely a page turner - you definitely want to know what happens, to Nico O'Neilly, the high power publishing executive who wants to be the CEO, Wendy Healy, the movie Mogul who struggles with a house husband who suddenly demands a divorce and custody of her children and Victory Ford, the fashion designer who started off as a one-shop seamstresses and goes onto conquer the glamorous world of couture.

Though I don't particularly like the slightly feminist undertones, it does address many issues which are increasingly relevant for today's women - can anyone have a perfect life , if you have a perfect career, a perfect man and a perfect daughter - why do you still yearn for more? When the woman becomes the sole breadwinner of the family and her husband is a stay at home dad - can the society, and even more importantly, the couple involved - ever accept it? In case of a divorce, why should the woman get custody in this case, when she was not the primary caregiver? Yet, will even the staunchest feminist ever agree to such a decision by the court?

This book is no monumental piece or even something that you remember for a long time, but Bushnell manages to deliver a spicy, scintillating story that will keep you entertained for several hours.

If you liked this book, you may also like "Everyone Worth Knowing" by Lauren Weisberger, "Goodnight Nobody : A Novel" by Jennifer Weiner, "The Starter Wife" by Gigi Levangie Grazer.