Review: One Fifth Avenue

Step inside the doors of One Fifth Avenue, a grand, historic apartment building in Manhattan that houses some of the city's most prominent women...a rising socialite, a semi-retired gossip columnist, a television actress, and an Internet executive turned blogger.

And don't forget the men...an art buff who serves as a concierge of sorts to the upper class, a beyond-his-prime script writer taken with his young assistant, a novelist on the verge of his big breakthrough, and an entrepreneur poised to hold the city in the palm of his hands.

In her latest novel, Candace Bushnell peers into the lives of New York high society and reveals what's hiding behind the doors of this venerable establishment.

All of the characters experience the drama that comes with money and fame...and a place in one of the most exclusive residences in the city.

I have to admit...after Sex in the City, I didn't make it through Four Blondes, Trading Up, or Lipstick Jungle. I had thought them too thin, but it could have been my mindset at the time.

But, that said, I loved One Fifth Avenue. It felt like a guilty pleasure, and I absorbed every mention of the city and its particular quirks and social structure.

It's an insider's glimpse into the most elite element of NYC, and yet, unlike some others before it, it didn't have a forced or over-the-top feel to it, like it was trying too hard. It was fresh and real and scandalous and delicious.