With the current flood of Chick Lit books filling the bookstores
today, THE BOTOX DIARIES has found a way of riding in on the wave
and yet setting itself apart from the pack. Instead of dealing with
the sometimes cliché obstacles of being a 20-something woman
living in the city, searching for love and a career, we have two
40-something women searching for meaning in their lives while
battling the issue of age.


Fans of Chick Lit novels can see what happens ten years later, when
the character has become more established in her career and now has
a husband, a child, or is divorced. Jessica Taylor, the central
character in THE BOTOX DIARIES, has had all three. Jessica has been
divorced for more than ten years from an extremely exotic French
man who has recently resurfaced in her life. She is also the
adoptive mother of a wonderfully precocious daughter, Jen, who is
working as a matchmaker for her single mother. Through it all she
has the eccentric and carefree best friend, Lucy Balder. Lucy has
the perfect husband, the perfect children, the perfect career and
the perfect lover.


Jessica and Lucy are polar opposites, and that may be why they work
so well as friends. While Jessica is a Target-shopping, Dove
soap-using PTA mom, Lucy is the jet-setting TV producer with a
standing appointment at her dermatologist for frequent Botox
injections. Together they commiserate about the issues of aging,
being a good parent, and finding time for passion in their lives.
Lucy seems to have found passion, but not with her perfect husband.
Instead she is cavorting with a hunky and charismatic television
game show host, Hunter Green. Jessica is appalled by her friend's
actions and is sympathetic towards the trusting and loving
husband.


What THE BOTOX DIARIES shows is that even as women age, their
problems of how to handle love, life, relationships and careers
remains constant. These women are the SUV-driving, blond-bobbed,
wrinkle-free Manhattan women who most females tend to hate.
However, Janice Kaplan and Lynn Schnurnberger have created very
likable and very real characters, and readers will actually find
themselves sympathizing with the life struggles of these
women.


This is a great novel by two women who prove that there is such a
thing as real friendship. It is also a great summer book that
allows the reader a glimpse into the lives of Manhattan's upper
crust with frequent mentioning of Crème de la Mer, Gucci, Dom
Perignon, and of course, Botox treatments. As the title of this
novel would suggest, THE BOTOX DIARIES is wrinkle-free and
thoroughly enjoyable.