Rating:  Summary: GOOD BUT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Review: A great novel to start with, great charachters very syncronised and well mingled, and this is a real upputdownable, the twists are too much to ask for and are numerous, and yes one character that holds the story togather is Leslie, the heroine of the story, but this novel has one flaw, that is a untimed parllel story of the reporter who is just used for compiling more pages and give it a big look, and one more problem the end with the heroine is unexpected and the story takes a turn from there and what everyone thought about the happy ending with the heroine vanishes,,but still if you have not read sindney yet, go for this,,and if you have already, you can never afford to miss this.
Rating:  Summary: "The Best Laid Plans" Falls through Review: A woman who is beautiful, highly intelligent, extremely ambitious, and initially vulnerable. A man who betrays her. Some scandal, some vengeance, and a lot of politics. That sums up the novel that had a lot of potential, but somewhere along the line, Sidney Sheldon gets the plot of the novel scrambled worse than eggs at the Waffle House. Sheldon usually follows his established template to write his novels: successful and beautiful woman gets hurt, then finds a man who loves her. It didn't happen this way in "The Best Laid Plans". This may have been expected by his fans (especially myself) because it is what he does so well. Sheldon may well have been trying to create a plot twist, but instead he leaves the reader with mouth agape and wondering: what the heck?? The ending leaves a bad taste in the mouth, with an unresolved seething at the President who seems to have gotten away with it all, and confusion at the lack of character development with many of the characters. Unlike "Windmill of the Gods" with its surprise twists in plots and character, or "Memories of Midnight", "The Best Laid Plans" is a perfectly marinated hen that hasn't quite had enough time to roast.
Rating:  Summary: Extremely Enjoyable Reading Review: As with all of his novels, Sidney Sheldon's "The Best Laid Plans" intrigues from the start and compels the reader to continue reading until the very last page is turned. His use of true-to-life dialogue delivered by larger-than-life characters and unhampered by dense paragraphs of meaningless description moves the story along at a fast enough pace to make this the perfect escape for that day at the beach or airplane trip.
The plot is triggered by the actions of a triumvirate of interestng characters: Leslie Stewart, attractive, ambitious and overly intelligent, has been left at the altar by gubernatorial candidate Oliver Russell. Oliver, with his good looks and voracious sexual appetite is wooed away from Leslie by Kentucky-Fried Chicken look-a-like, Senator Todd Davis who orchestrates the marriage of Oliver to his daughter and simultaneously begins his campaign to make Oliver the next president of the United States. When the jilted-bride calls on Senator Davis for a favor, he, believng he will be well rid of her, has no problem providing her with her requested introduction to a wealthy owner of a newspaper in Arizona. But Leslie has other plans -- she is intent on destroying the reputation of Oliver Russell and she is going to use the newspaper as the instrument of his destruction and her revenge.
Along with this mesmerizing trio, the secondary cast gives the story legs--as we applaud Leslie's single-mindedness and her growing acquisitions, we are entertained by the reporters and editors that unwittingly help her set her masterplot into place. We are privy to the spectaculor rise of television journalist, Dana Evans, who acts as an interesting foil for Leslie---Dana, so committed to making a difference for all the right reasons, and Leslie, so committed to making a difference merely to salve her wounded ego.
Bottom Line: The easy-to-follow plot, fast-paced dialogue and changes of venue from Kentucky to Washington to Bosnia pair well with aerobic activity achieved while listening to the novel on unabridged audio. Sheldon easily keeps his triumvirate in the spotlight while he adds and subtracts players that power pack the plot with reality and fuel the reader/listener to go the extra mile simply to listen to what is going to happen next. Recommended to all fans of Sheldon and to anyone who is in the market for a fast satisfying read with the revenge undertones of "The Other Side of Midnight."
Rating:  Summary: I'm fooled. Review: I like Sidney Sheldon's books very much. So I didn't hesitate when I saw it in book store. I bought this book in 97 while I was in SF for sightseeing. I didn't read it until now I got time to read it through. It begins with Lesile Stewart and end up with Dana Evans. The plain story started netting and put it all together in the end. Quick and simple. A little regret for Lesile Stewart, I thought there was account for her future or something. The story reminds me the scandle of president Clinton. I wondered it was implying it. Maybe it's just a coincidence. ^^ The scandle is keeping in mind when I read it. However the end was really surprised me, I am fooled, I admit. The skill of Sidney Sheldon seemed a little bit regress. It's regrettable. It seems the inspiration is dried up. There are few good authors here have same problem. Anyway, I look forward to see good pieces again from Sidney soon.
Rating:  Summary: Gee willikers; GET OVER IT! Review: I'm very seldom not entertained by Sidney Sheldon, and this book was no exception. I however did not LIKE either Leslie nor Oliver, but kept reading to determine what would happen to them. So... It was hard to put down, but a gentle, nice book, it's NOT! Talk about the "weakest link"... whew!
Rating:  Summary: The real page-turner for non-native speakers of English !! Review: It's a wonderful reading for people who do not speak English in everyday life. This was my first Sheldon book and I had much more fun with this "Best Laid Plans" than with any other book I had ever read. It's written in plain English, no dictionaries are needed, and a catching story all along the line, so I didn't get bored at all. I would recommend it anyone who wants to feel "Wow, I've got better at English !!"
Rating:  Summary: A MUST READ, WITH A TWIST OF LIME Review: Sheldon exploits the much used line of "Hell has no fury as a woman scorned." The story begins with the meeting of bold and beautiful Leslie Steward, public relations and advertising executive at the Lexington, Kentucky, firm of Bailey & Tomkins and promising young attorney and gubernatorial candidate, Oliver Russell. Leslie is introduced to run his public relations campaign. Their relationship blossoms into wedding plans as his governor race comes to a depressing close. Oliver's mentor and would-be father in law, Senator Todd Davis, offers him a career deal of a life time he just can't refuse: to marry his daughter and he will make him president. Oliver accepts and Leslie who finds herself virtually, left at the altar, vows to pay him back in spades. The story follows the happy couples' rise to power as the State of Kentucky's first couple and in short order succession to the White House. Along with the once scorned Leslie who trots off to Arizona, where she eventually becomes the wife of a wealthy businessman, Henry Chambers. Their marriage is short lived as Henry dies just two years later leaving Leslie free to expand his media holding and to pursue her obsessive need to even the score with her egotistical ex-lover, Oliver. Although Leslie develops an almost insurmountable smear campaign against the newly elected, over active libido driven president. A campaign that figuratively turns around to bite her, leaving Leslie with more than egg on her pretty face. Oliver becomes the champion of the people, pursuing his foreign affairs agenda, to make peace in the Middle East. Sheldon truly uses his talent for writing and exploiting current affairs to bring his fans a fictional twist of John Steinbeck's coined quotation, "The Best Laid Plans."
Rating:  Summary: The best laid plans Review: Sidney Sheldon as Sidney Sheldon. Like any of his novels this too was interesting and finished in one day. Readin Sheldon's novels I found it is just like when you eat peanuts. Once you start you can't stop. Anyways... HE needs help and SHE does her best to help him. then He falls in love with her and SHE falls for him too. then HE asks her to marry him - SHE gives him a happy "YES". - then Out of the blue...SHE hears that HE married someone else - for the sake of POWER - but man, is he wrong??? - The rest = REVENGE
Rating:  Summary: Exciting story... weak characters... Review: So how does an ad exec come up with the idea for owning a communications empire to bring down an ex-lover who left her at the alter - who - just so happens - becomes the President of he United States? Does she marry the newspaper owner - just for his $$ and his paper? or does she actually love him? Is she so blind in getting revenge at the end that she violates her one golden rule and makes a gigantic fool of herself? The ending was a shocker - a totally unexpected twist.. but then not really. I would have like to have seen the characters developed a little more and the gut reactions written a little more clearly - lots of plots and twists to keep track of - and what WAS the purpose of all star foreign correspondent turn Washington beat reporter - but then you hardly ever hear from here again.. except towards the end - a lot of writing for a little bit of gain... I've read Sidney Sheldon books before and will again... and have found all of his books easy to read - they kind of flow - I read this one in less than a day... just a light read for when you have nothing better to do... put it at the bottom of your stack of books by your bed... eventaully you'll get to it.
Rating:  Summary: Big Surprise Review: The Best Laid Plans stands out to me as the best of the Sheldon books I have read so far - he has had many intriging plot ideas in other books, but this one really threw me for a loop and had me quite surprised at what was really going on. He did a good job of fooling me! I won't say too much, don't want to ruin the story for you, but here is a short synopsis of the story - Oliver Russell proposed to Leslie Stewart and backed out of it at the last minute, suddenly marrying someone else. Leslie wants revenge, and Oliver's new father in law wants him to be President of the United States. He gets there with his help. He needs to be careful, he has descreet personal life on the side...hopefully no one will find out. Leslie plots revenge - and ends up buying the Washington Tribune newspaper, where the headlines can say whatever she wants. Things really get interesting when a teen girl dies in a suite of a hotel, and no one is sure who she was with. Sheldon has a knack of keeping you reading - try him out with this book.
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