Woman On Top by Deborah Schwartz (4 stars)

About Woman on Top

Publisher: Laudan Press (May 30, 2013)
Genres: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction
Tour Dates: November 2013
Available in: Print & ebook, 346 pages

A Woman’s Struggle To Find Herself After Losing Everything She Believed Was Important.

We hear a great deal in the media about women who become victims of wealthy and powerful men. Like a breath of fresh air, the heroine in Deborah Schwartz’s inspiring book, Woman on Top, does escape becoming yet another casualty… literally…all the way to the top of a mountain!

New York, NY, September 4, 2013 - One has to wonder has anything changed since Nora slammed the door over a hundred years ago in Ibsen’s iconic play A Doll’s House? Deborah Schwartz made sure that they did in her timely novel, Woman on Top (Laudan Press).  Like a breath of fresh air, the heroine in Deborah Schwartz’s inspiring book, Woman on Top shows the way things have changed…all the way to the top of a mountain!

Book Description

Falling prey to Len, a very wealthy Wall Street banker who is hell-bent on acquiring her as his next deal, Kate struggles after the death of her husband to keep control amidst the detours of a tempestuous New York romance. As witness to a world of power and greed that life in New York offers to a vulnerable woman, can Kate ultimately rescue herself from the lure that is Len’s world?

Throughout this compelling story, which is inspired by actual events from the author’s own life, Schwartz cleverly weaves self-empowering thoughts into her heroine’s exploits, making it less the ‘damsel in distress’ and more the infinitely successful ‘woman on top!’ In this amazing look at a woman’s journey to finding herself, readers will both laugh and cry as they relate to Kate and her decisions, emotions and experiences.

While following her quest for a reaffirmation of life and love, including a surprising adventure, Kate’s story touches on the unexpected pleasures and decisions we face throughout our lives. Readers who have dreamed of, or survived, a “Len” in their lives, will recognize themselves in Kate as she searches to find what matters most in her new life. What does a 35 year-old woman who seems to have it all do when the rug is pulled out from under her? Kate’s struggle to find inner strength on her journey down a slippery slope with a Wall Street man leaves readers wondering and rooting for her to land as the ‘woman on top.’

Review

After the loss of the love of her life, Kate struggles. Not only does she have to be both a mother and father to her two young children, she also has to figure out how to provide for them. Eventually, she decides to look for love again. Enter Len. He's a very rich and powerful man who answers her personal ad.

Unfortunately, Len is very controlling. He will tell Kate he loves her in one breath, and then criticize her in the other. Yet, there's something about him that she can't resist. Can she find love again?

I can't imagine putting my life together after such a loss as Kate experiences. Her husband, Jake, suffers greatly. The scenes where she remembers his cancer and the horrific effects broke my heart, but I could not understand why she stuck it out with Len. For most of the book, I wanted to shake her and beg her to see him for what he really was. My hatred of Len grew with each page. What elevated this book from a 3.5 to a 4 were two things: my affection for Kate and the heartfelt moments of her life with her first husband.

Sometimes a successful book is the one that makes you angry, because you care enough about the characters to care what happens to them. A passionate response is a credit to the author. Just don't go into this read expecting a lot of feel good moments, although there are some. Instead, be prepared to alternate between a tissue and anger.

Rating: 4 stars

 About the Author

Born and raised in New York, Deborah Schwartz graduated from Tufts University and then obtained her Masters in History at Columbia University where she wrote a thesis on “Feminism in Eighteenth Century England.” She received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law. Today, Deborah’s passion is writing and she incorporated her achievement of having reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2011 into her debut novel. A New Yorker to the core, Deborah is most grateful to be the mother of her two grown children. 

For more information, please visit: www.deborahschwartz.net.

Deborah on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Deborah-Schwartz-Author/1376332242578553
Deborah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/schwartzd18
Deborah on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7166782.Deborah_Schwartz

Buy Woman On Top
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Thanks to Virtual Author Book Tours for including me on this blog tour. For more information, please visit the Woman On Top blog tour page. 

 

Note: I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. A positive review was not guaranteed or requested; the opinions expressed are my own.