Scruples Two

By Judith Krantz

Scruples, Judith Krantz's  electrifying, world wide bestseller appeared fifteen  years ago and made book publishing history. Now  that unforgettable story, a story that marks an era,  a story that millions of readers wish had never  ended . . . continues. Only a single night's sleep  seperates the lives of the characters in  Scruples from this mesmerizing sequel.  Billy Ikehorn is a contemporary woman living on a  grand scale. A self-made beauty and the exquisite  owner of a fabled Beverley Hills boutique called  Scruples and married to the Oscar-winning producer  Vito Orsini. To those who only know her from  afar, she seems to lead a dream existence, wrapped in  all the power of glamout, riches, and success.  Then a stranger arrives in Billy's life--Gigi  Orsini, Vito's sixteen-year-old daughter by an early  marriage. Independent, deeply interesting,  street-smart, and enchantingly humorous, Gigi captures  Billy's heart and sets in motion a train of utterly  unexpected events. Life with Gigi hold both joy and  pain for Spider Elliot and Valentine O'Neill,  Billy's partners in Scruples. The many new freinds  Gigi makes during the next five years will grow  important to Billy in ways she could never have  forseen. Scruples Two moves swiflty  and unexpectadly, filled with breathtaking change,  from California to New York to Paris, following  two of the most fascinating and touching females in  modern fiction, Billy Ikehorn and Gigi Orsini.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307803542

Judith Krantz

Judith Krantz is the author of Scruples, Princess Daisy, Mistral's Daughter, I'll Take Manhattan, Till We Meet Again, Dazzle, Scruples Two, Lovers, Spring Collection, and The Jewels of Tessa Kent

Reviews for Scruples Two

[library_breeder · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I forget how much we have changed as a society in what is considered acceptable and what isn't.

This book takes place from the mid-70's to the early 80's when certain things were considered normal and other things have yet to even happen
.
An example: Women who are pregnant drink alcohol. Yup. In this book and the previous one in this duet, two of the characters are pregnant (at different times). One (in the previous book) is going to have her kid in the next 24 hours (although she thinks it will be two weeks away). She thinks that alcohol that is made from fruit or is fruit flavored can't hurt the baby, because fruit is good for people, RIGHT? Although she is kind of ditzy in the book, she isn't stupid. Anyhow she talks the guy she is with into getting booze to drink because they are stressing out over being nominated for the Academy Awards (She's in it for best supporting actress and the awards are the next day). Anyhow, her guy gets like 10 different types of fruit flavored liquors including Framboise. She likes that it has practically no flavor but it smells nice. She and her guy get totally bombed. In that book there is nothing wrong with that. There is no internal monolog saying "maybe I shouldn't". Nope, they get bombed and there are no repercussions. It happens again in this book at the beginning when the main heroine finds out she is unplanned and unexpectedly pregnant by her new husband. She finds out because her Oscar dress was too tight. Her husband is up for best Picture (he was the producer). She is pissed and goes home and has a couple of brandies. Then the next day (in the beginning of this book) she had multiple glasses of champagne. Although she loses the baby early on, there is never any talk that it could have been from drinking

That and the casual infidelity as well as the general tone of the early 80's with its mass capitalism.

I did find it funny how towards the end of the book two of the main characters think that they could go into the catalog business to sell their big idea of vintage lingerie. However, they don’t' think it would be a good idea because what catalog only sells lingerie? Victoria's Secret hadn't been started yet. Also, in case you are too young to remember, Victoria's Secret was strictly a catalog store with more clothes, shoes and accessories than lingerie when it first came out in the early 90's. Actually, they didn't even have lingerie then (I don't think). It was a straight clothing catalog.

Another thing that made this book dated was the complete lack of technology that is abundant today. No computers, no cell phones, no phones that weren't actually attached to the wall (so no cordless phones). The plot depended a lot on that fact. People weren't as accessible; news wasn't so fast to get around.

Anyhow, I love this book, I read it for the first time in 1998 when I was stuck in my own version of quarantine at an in-law’s home in Jordan. No tv, nothing to do but read her books. She had a large library with all the Judith Krantz, Sydney Sheldon, Harold Robbins, and other books. It was there that I read my first "erotica".

[erindona · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first read this book around age 15, and it has impacted my life more than a piece of commercial fiction should: so much that I studied abroad in Paris to be like Billy Ikehorn! This book is a delicious read, rife with beautiful people and amazing locations. Krantz does a wonderful job of creating believable, delightful characters, and her command of setting and plot is no less. Though a lot of people may dismiss this book (and her others, which are also wonderful) as "sex and shopping," "commerical fiction," or "an embossed cover read," Judith Krantz is a very good writer. So many commercial books are poorly written, so the plot (which may be good) drowns underneath pedantic language. Not so with Scruples Two! Krantz is a Wellesly grad, which may have something to do with that. I've given this to some of my friends and we all love it, even having been English majors who read some pretty heavy lit. Buy this book, it's sure to delight!