Rating: 
Summary: Funny and Fast, but There's More
Review: "Ladies with Options" breezes by with laughs on every page. Every character is an individual, and most are much like someone you've known, but the humor is never at their expense. Many of the laughs are in the way Sophia, the narrator, tells the story -- she's smart (a lot smarter than she lets on, in fact) and a little amazed at the unlikely success of the Larksdale Ladies Investment Club, for which she is the attorney. In some ways she's just along for the ride, but because her mother is a member of the club, she has more than just an attorney's view of the goings-on. She sees a group of rather conventional women growing into their new roles as stock market winners, and she sees how old ways of thinking begin to bend and break under the pressure of new ways of conducting their lives. The humor is not condescending, however. It is as if these ordinary people have had extraordinary abilities waiting to be released by new circumstances. The new circumstances are not an unmixed blessing, though, and marriages, friendships, and careers have to be adjusted. We see how even changes for the better can have unexpected consequences -- sometimes hilarious, but sometimes not entirely pleasant. Although you're never far from a quip or falling-down funny turn of events, you're also seeing real people cope with their own self-discovery. "Ladies with Options" is a funny book that reads in a whirlwind of good humor, but you'll also remember it for its lessons about the fast-changing world we all live in.
Rating: 
Summary: Cute and Enjoyable
Review: A quick read. A feel good book. A great book to read on vacation. I love the parts about one of the ladies opening a hair salon. If you have ever been in the "hair" business, you will find this part of the book really entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: A Perfect Summer Read!
Review: After reading a string of "deep" books, Ladies With Options was a breath of fresh air! It was just a fun, entertaining book--one that compliments sunshine, hammocks, and iced tea! I have often daydreamed of having a million (or so) dollars and what I could do with it. This diverse group of ladies have lived those daydreams. If your bookclub wants to find a "purpose" in this book, this would be it: Women, band together. Keep your ideals and values. Follow your heart and mind. Do great things!
Rating:
Summary: Caution: Laughter here!
Review: By nature and training,I am polite, and always raised my hand in school and do not talk above a whisper in the library, opera, or in church. On the plane reading "Ladies", my laughter uncorked, drowning out the crying child in the second row. People turned. I managed to limit myself to perioding chortling. People noticed. Some perhaps considered a misplaced peanut would require the Heimlich maneuver and they were dutifully trying to remember their last date of certification. Others knew it was not alimentary but literary. The woman next to me noted the title "Ladies W/ Optns" in her PDA. The man across the aisle, dodging the patroling flight attendant, leaned over, squinting to see the page in the bad plane lighting, and withdrew at page end, muffling his guffaw with a paper napkin. Just other "eavesreader" drawn to the wit of Cynthia Hartwick. (I left "Ladies" open on the seat when I went to the restroom. Discrete sharing seemed polite). Cynthia Hartwick has a knack for hitting on the sublime humor in lives of "our sort" of real people. She takes average moments in fairly normal (but quirky) lives and, with the skill of a diamond cutter, makes them sparkle by adding just the right angle. The book is hilarious and moving, novel yet strangely nostalgic, and leaves readers satisfied yet hungering for more. (Reminds me of that dessert my aunt makes!) I hope Ms Hartwick obliges her fans. I love to laugh!
Rating:
Summary: Minnesota Nice and Church Basement Ladies
Review: Funny, smart, Scandinavian (the lutefisk scene is hysterical) and witty, Ladies With Options takes a close look at middle-aged traditional housewives and illustrates just how under-rated, under-valued and under-appreciated they were. These women, much to their own surprise, are smart, business savvy (in their own unique way), caring, risk-taking and brave. Ladies With Options is a delightful David and Goliath tale of church basement ladies (food is ever-present) meet Wall Street bigshots with a hometown ending that is typical Minnesota.
Rating:
Summary: It will leave you smiling
Review: I cannot believe that one reviewer gave it one star. This is fiction and very well written. If you want realistic stock advise read the NYSE! I am from Minneapolis and reading this book was like watching a movie through the authors eyes. Cute story about women, family, friends, generations and life more than investments! It is a feel good read that I recommend to all. Bravo.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and Engaging
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. Many of the female characters were quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) tough, smart, big-hearted women. It is a fast paced and easy read, with many laugh out loud moments. This is a great book to take to the beach, or sit on the patio and wile away an afternoon. While many characters were one dimensional and predictable, this is somehow comforting in a beach read. You don't have to stay up nights trying to figure out what might come next.
Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Visit
Review: I finished this *sweet* novel recently - it is the kind of book to read when one is just too tired to give much thought to complex plots or characters, but when you want more than a magazine. It moves along at a fast pace and is alternately touching and funny.The members of the MMW (Mostly Methodist Women) club of Minnesota, the majority of them approaching retirement age (except for two) decide that they need to make some money. So they form an investment club and, after seeking professional advice, decide that they can figure out where to invest their money themselves. Their market research methods are really amusing and the book gently proceeds to a happy conclusion. The group of women we *meet* and get to know quite well is delightful. They manage to find themselves in several dicey situations but you just know that they will prevail and, in some cases, get even. Not great literature, but sometimes a book like this is just what is needed. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with these ladies.
Rating:
Summary: Ladies are delightful
Review: I just finished "Ladies with Options" by Cynthia Hartwick. This is the story of a group of delightfully eccentric women who change much more than their finances when they begin an investment club. As their interests change from small town club meetings to global finances, their comic adventures and misadventures are described by the narrator with a mixture of concern, consternation, and always, humor. The pace is fast, the mood hilarious, and you can't put the book down. Take this with you on vacation, and you won't care about delayed flights.
Rating: 
Summary: Way Too Far-Fetched
Review: I realized that this book is fiction, however, even tales that aren't true have to have a grain of believability, and this book just didn't have it. Nobody is in that many right places at the right time, with such an abundance of well-informed, clever, useful "friends." The characters were so unrealistic and the book so ridiculous that I could barely finish it. Not to mention there were some serious problems with the author's timeline (Who, exactly, in 1987 drank Starbuck's coffee?). I suggest saving your time, and money, and letting this book pass you by.
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