Mariska Hargitay Books

This show is by far the best of the Law and Orders. The characters are appealing and the actors who play them are really good. The chemistry between them is truly riveting. I often watch only to see the charectersl relationships develop and put away the bad guys. Five Stars all the way!

This series continues to addict this viewer with realistic developments and intriguing plots. The growth of the main characters continues each season and I consistently watch to follow the issues they each stubble upon. One of the few series with any quality. Reality TV requires no brain function whatsoever!!!! When will they all stop?????SUV I

packaged nice and safely!I love Redbook and better yet, I love Mariska Hargitay. This was great. Thanks

Chick lit fans: I think you will enjoy this fun, entertaining book! The comic moments had me laughing out loud, and the love scenes felt very real and passionate as well. I could empathize with the main character's feelings of uncertain self-esteem, and the author did a fantastic job of making you both like and root for Lydia. I also felt that Liam had the right amount of complexity to his character.

Mariska Hargitay did an excellent job reading this book! She read this book as convincingly as a seasoned audiobook narrator, and each of the characters had a unique, specific voice (which some audiobook narrators cannot completely pull off). The Irish brogue that she used with Liam and the Russian accents she used with some of the other characters also seemed authentic to my ears.

I would classify this book as a "beach read": enjoyable, yet a bit lightweight, which is exactly what I was looking for. If you are a fan of Janet Evanovich's fiction (especially her non-Stephanie Plum books), as I am, then you will probably enjoy this book. (I absolutely love Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books, too, but I just wanted to warn you that THE DOMINANT BLONDE is more like Janet's non-series fiction than her series books.)

I read four of this author's books in a row and for the most part I liked them all and probably would recommend them to other readers of chick-lit. Her stories are engaging and the writing intelligent. So why only three stars? Hard to explain. The first 3/4 of her books are wonderful but the endings tend to leave me wanting to strangle someone. Usually the friends and family of the main character. With people like that in your life, who needs enemies?! On the one hand that's great because that means I became emotionally involved in the story while I was reading it, but on the other hand it leaves me a bit frustrated once the story is finished that the less obvious "bad guys" don't quite get what I feel is their just rewards in the end.

In this particular book, I had a very distinct reaction to the first half vs. the second half. At first I felt like I was watching one of those late night guilty pleasure black and white movies that I sometimes enjoy. But towards the end I felt just a little bit like I was watching a Rocky & Bullwinkle vs. Boris & Natasha cartoon which I wasn't as thrilled about. The male lead I found to be interesting and I liked him despite any flaws. The female lead I found to be a tad naive for her age and in one instance down right dim-witted. My interpretation of the title led me to believe I'd see the female lead grow a bit more backbone than she actually ended up doing. Yes, she does adjust her living circumstances somewhat for the better but I felt she also needed to adjust her working circumstances to get out from under what was really holding her back in life.

Bottom line. Read it. It's a fun romp. Whether you get it from the library for a day's entertainment or whether you buy if for your keeper collection is going to be up to the taste of the individual.

The title and front cover kind of decieves the reader into thinking it's a different kind of book then what it actually is. I don't really see how the title tied in with the plot of the book. I wouldn't really call this a complete chick-lit book, although chick-lit has expanded into different areas other than a Bridget Jones type of story lately. "The Dominant Blonde" is more of a thriller/mystery type of novel. It kind of reminded me of some of Nora Roberts thriller type of books that I've read. The story is okay but I had a really hard time getting into the book. It took me about three weeks to finish which is really unusual because I usually read a book in less than a week. I even considered putting it away and starting a new book but I decided to push through and finish it. There just wasn't anything special about the story, I'm already kind of forgetting the storyline and it hasn't been that long since I read the book. The storyline is predictable, I knew what was going to happen before it happened. The characters aren't that memorable either and I didn't find myself rooting for any of them at all. It was just a disappointing book.

This book is a bit of a disappointment. The Dominant Blonde starts off strong, and Kwitney has an undoutedly strong voice, which is why it's a little disappointing to see her do so little with it.

The plot is realtively fresh and original and, though Lydia is a bit of a ditsy blonde you can see Kwitney trying to give her some depth. That's just the problem. As with all the other characterizations in this book you can see Kwitney laboring to get her ideas across. This is no less true with the hero, Liam, whose Irish roots feel as poorly executed as they are contrived. Ultimately, the characters in this book come off as somewhat cliched stereotypes masquerading as originals.

The pace of the book is problematic as well, by the middle of the book I saw where things were going and I just wished the plot would get there already so it could be over. The middle bit does have some enjoyable- albeit somewhat unrealistic- bits. The ending is flat and a bit of a nonevent.

Overall I'd say this was good for a light, quick read, but only if you've exhausted other avenues first.

I really enjoyed the book during the begining and middle sections but was left dissapointed with the ending. The story is ver built up and then just when you think it is all going to be worth it you are left with nothing. My advice: read up to the last few chapters and the create your own ending.