Fairy Tales Can Come True : How a Driven Woman Changed Her Destiny

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Summary: one sad person
Review: For some one who freely acknowledges that she comes from a privileged background with doting parents who called her Miss Remarkable (not that there's anything wrong with that) it's hard to find any inspiration in her success. The adversity she has overcome is of her own making and barely worth mentioning, compared to the hands that life deals to many people. When you think of the six billion people on the planet and their relative opportunities, here is a privileged person who rose to the occasion to enjoy her position as one of the best educated, best clothed, best housed and best fed people on the planet. Certainly any of us reading this review is at the top of the world heap in terms of our basic needs being met, and she's more privileged than lots of us. She was born on third base and thinks she hit a home run. I'd rather read about some one who has shown some real character in the face of real adversity.

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Summary: Another milestone for women lawyers.
Review: Harvard Law School celebrates its 50th year of admitting women with a three day program, featuring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Attorney General Janet Reno.

We begin our 30th year of practicing law today -- we have no idea where the time went. It really flew.

Our law school class had some 200 students, 11 of whom were women. Women now make up 50% or more of law school classes around the country.

We'd like to see more women criminal defense lawyers in private practice -- this field remains very much male-dominated.

To get a real inside glimpse of the hurdles women defense lawyers face -- and the degree of determination needed to suceed, we highly recommend defense lawyer-turned Court TV anchor Rikki Klieman's new book, Fairy Tales Can Come True: How a Driven Woman Changed Her Destiny.

We describe the book on CrimeLynx as "a riveting, brutally honest memoir by celebrated criminal trial attorney and Court TV Anchor Rikki Klieman, in which she details not only her triumphs as a pioneer in the male-dominated arena of criminal defense, but the price she paid for success -- and the toll it took on her personal life and physical health. The book becomes filled with spirit and joy, however, as Rikki describes falling in love in middle age and learning that she can have it all."

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Summary: I couldn't put it down!
Review: I picked up a copy of FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE by Court TV anchor Rikki Klieman -- and I couldn't put it down until I'd read the entire book from cover to cover! This is a brutally honest and moving "confessional" by a driven woman for whom career success was once the end-all-and-be-all of life. That is, until she met the love of her life: Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton who, despite being an overachiever himself, paradoxically brought a new perspective and balance to her hectic life and lifestyle.

What I loved about this book is that despite being a public person, Rikki takes you into the most private moments of her life -- getting sick before starting yet another grueling work week at her law firm, discovering her mother's dead body, her failed marriages -- and makes you her intimate. You are there on the scene, living each moment with her, and learning as she herself learns.

Forget the cliched "Superwoman" persona of most women's memoirs...Rikki Klieman tells it like it was and tells it like it is, with all of the grit and determination of someone willing to risk living her life out loud, for her sake as well as, thankfully, ours.

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Summary: This Los Angeles Times bestseller is a perfect summer read!
Review: I recently picked up a paperback copy of FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE: How a Driven Woman Changed Her Destiny, and I couldn't put it down until I'd finished the last page of the Epilogue! This driven woman's life reads like a novel, complete with suspense, intrigue, boldface names, steamy encounters, emotional meltdowns, and (which isn't giving anything away given the book's title) picking up the pieces all over again to create something even better. If you're a professional woman (or aspire to become one), in the legal profession in any capacity, or just enjoy getting inside the head and life of successful people, I think you'd enjoy this candid memoir. It's a perfect summer read!

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Summary: A riveting account of a fascinating woman's life!
Review: I was able to read the pre-publication galleys of this book because my wife and I are mentioned in it in passing a few times. Still, I think I can be objective in my assessment that FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE is a riveting account of the life of Rikki Klieman, who was named by TIME magazine as one of America's top five women trial lawyers and is currently the popular Court TV anchor married to "America's Top Cop," Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton. Not only did I learn more details about the trials and tribulations that created such an extraordinary woman, but I was also happy to gain an insider's view of the legal profession and that world through the other experts that Rikki references. For example, she shares the advice of fellow lawyer Jan Schlichtmann (of A CIVIL ACTION fame) on the Five Rules of Settlement:

1) Be honest with yourself. Do you really want to settle? If the answer is yes, go on to the next rule. If the answer is no, keep asking the question until the answer is yes -- otherwise, seek professional help.

2) Look for, exploit, or create opportunities to discuss settlement with the other side.

3) Be honest with the other side. Give rational, fact-based reasons for your position.

4) Give as much respect to the other side's rational, fact-based reasons for their positions as you would to your own;

5) Look for, acknowledge, and accept points of agreement until the dispute is resolved. If you feel that after applying these rules you are at an impasse, go back to rule 1.

As a former Bostonian (in the days I cooked at the East Coast Grill and Biba), I appreciated the insider's look at local politics and the behind-the-scenes maneuverings of historical events in which Rikki played a critical role (from the trial of Christian Scientist parents David and Ginger Twitchell, which I'd followed daily, to the return of fugitive Katherine Ann Power).

I can't recommend this book more highly to anyone interested in a compelling memoir rich with insights about what it takes to make it to the top in any field (from acting to law to TV) -- and the kind of honest introspection that can lead one to greater balance and satisfaction in life.

--Andrew Dornenburg, James Beard Award-winning co-author of BECOMING A CHEF, CULINARY ARTISTRY, DINING OUT, CHEF'S NIGHT OUT and THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF

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Summary: One of the best memoirs of a professional woman EVER.
Review: If you want to get a sense of "the price of the prize" -- the sacrifices that today's leading professional women have paid for success in their careers -- then don't miss Rikki Klieman's candid and revealing memoir FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE. This Court TV anchor was once named one of America's top five women lawyers by Time Magazine, and traveled a circuitous route (through a number of jobs, not to mention two failed marriages and several affairs) to finally achieve happiness in her career and "true love" as the wife of LAPD Chief William Bratton.

What I love about this book is that it is so refreshingly honest. The author is not modest about her assets, nor shy about leveraging them to get to where she wants to go. Her candor, which other reviewers here appear to have found boastful, is refreshing to those of us who have also experienced the trials and tribulations of being a talented woman in a man's world. And her lessons are instructive to anyone who is ambitious and curious how one successful woman managed to maneuver her way to the top of not only the legal profession, but any male-dominated arena.

Rating:
Summary: one sad person
Review: Rikki Klieman is not much of a writer and less of a person. There is nothing here of interest or value.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth your time or attention
Review: This is one of the worst books I've ever read. The writing is extremely juvenile and Ms. Klieman is not remotely as interesting as she seems to think she is. She doesn't know the first thing about empowering women. It appears she lives in a fairy tale world of her own imagination, but imagining something doesn't make it real.