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Skinnydipping
Four-time New York Times bestselling author and talk show host Bethenny Frankel makes her fiction debut with the novel Skinnydipping: “A totally fun, dishy read. This is the kind of book that is perfect to pack in your beach bag” (Hollywood Reporter).
Beloved by countless fans for being devilishly dishy, outrageously funny, and always giving it to us straight, four-time New York Times bestselling author Bethenny Frankel now makes her fiction debut with the story of Faith Brightstone. Faith is an aspiring actress just out of college who moves to LA determined to have it all: a job on the most popular TV show, a beach house in Malibu, and a gorgeous producer boyfriend. But when reality hits, she finds herself with a gig as a glorified servant, a role that has more to do with T&A than acting, and a dead-end relationship. Finally, Faith decides she’s had enough of La La Land and moves back to New York with just a suitcase and her dog, Muffin.
Five years later, Faith has finally found her groove as an entrepreneur and manages to land a spot on a new reality TV show hosted by her idol—the legendary businesswoman and domestic goddess, Sybil Hunter. Diving into the bizarre world of reality TV, Faith’s loud mouth and tell-it-like-it-is style immediately get her in trouble with her fellow contestants, and she learns about betrayal.
As the show comes to a dramatic close, Faith discovers that the man of her dreams may have just walked into her life. Will she choose fame or love? Or can she have it all?
Beloved by countless fans for being devilishly dishy, outrageously funny, and always giving it to us straight, four-time New York Times bestselling author Bethenny Frankel now makes her fiction debut with the story of Faith Brightstone. Faith is an aspiring actress just out of college who moves to LA determined to have it all: a job on the most popular TV show, a beach house in Malibu, and a gorgeous producer boyfriend. But when reality hits, she finds herself with a gig as a glorified servant, a role that has more to do with T&A than acting, and a dead-end relationship. Finally, Faith decides she’s had enough of La La Land and moves back to New York with just a suitcase and her dog, Muffin.
Five years later, Faith has finally found her groove as an entrepreneur and manages to land a spot on a new reality TV show hosted by her idol—the legendary businesswoman and domestic goddess, Sybil Hunter. Diving into the bizarre world of reality TV, Faith’s loud mouth and tell-it-like-it-is style immediately get her in trouble with her fellow contestants, and she learns about betrayal.
As the show comes to a dramatic close, Faith discovers that the man of her dreams may have just walked into her life. Will she choose fame or love? Or can she have it all?
350 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2012
52 people are currently reading
1627 people want to read
About the author
Bethenny Frankel
20 books248 followersBethenny Frankel has a knack for making healthy food taste delicious. That knack, which started out as a hobby and was enhanced with formal training, has elevated her to national prominence as a celebrated natural food chef, the creator of the phenomenal new Skinnygirl Margarita, and The New York Times best selling author of Naturally Thin.
Frankel, who calls herself a "health foodie” and attended the National Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts, focuses on sharing with others her knowledge and passion for healthy living. In addition to her monthly column in Health Magazine, she is regularly featured in national publications from The New York Times to the weekly entertainment magazines. She’s also a sought-after guest on national news and entertainment television, where she brings her expertise and irresistibly candid and funny take not only to food segments but to any conversation about living healthy and living well.
Frankel’s wit, wisdom and humor came to national attention when she was named first runner-up on NBC’s “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.” Network executives saw a personality they couldn’t ignore and put her center stage weekly on Bravo’s hit series “The Real Housewives of New York,” now in its third season. Though technically not a “wife,” she has emerged as the star of the series, with a huge network of fans, a job as national spokesperson for Pepperidge Farm's Baked Naturals® and Deli Flats(trademark), and her own spin-off series now in production.
Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting debuted this year on The New York Times Best Sellers list and stayed for an astonishing for 18 consecutive weeks. Frankel’s second book, The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life will be released January 5, 2010, just in time to support “new year, new me” resolutions with delicious, practical, effective recipes and lifestyle tweaks. Skinnygirl Dish showcases Frankel’s renowned “fix-ology” . . . her ability to take calorie-rich foods and revamp them to create healthier versions without compromising flavor.
Her skill as a fixologist applies to cocktails too . . . she has just this fall launched The Skinnygirl Margarita, a bottled, pre-mixed beverage made with clear tequila, lime juice and only a splash of citrus liqueur, which drastically reduces the calories of the traditional cocktail. All natural and lightly sweetened with agave nectar, it has only 100 calories in a full 4 oz. serving.
As the go-to blogger for all things reality and lifestyle, Frankel wields her pen like a sword, ensuring that readers will get the unvarnished truth along with common sense, expertise and a healthy – always healthy – dose of humor. She is on a mission to democratize healthy living, making information available to everyone she can reach through her appearances, books, columns and blogs.
Frankel lives in Manhattan with her dog Cookie. She will be marrying her other love, Jason Hoppy, this spring and they will welcome their first child in early summer.
From her website
Frankel, who calls herself a "health foodie” and attended the National Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts, focuses on sharing with others her knowledge and passion for healthy living. In addition to her monthly column in Health Magazine, she is regularly featured in national publications from The New York Times to the weekly entertainment magazines. She’s also a sought-after guest on national news and entertainment television, where she brings her expertise and irresistibly candid and funny take not only to food segments but to any conversation about living healthy and living well.
Frankel’s wit, wisdom and humor came to national attention when she was named first runner-up on NBC’s “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.” Network executives saw a personality they couldn’t ignore and put her center stage weekly on Bravo’s hit series “The Real Housewives of New York,” now in its third season. Though technically not a “wife,” she has emerged as the star of the series, with a huge network of fans, a job as national spokesperson for Pepperidge Farm's Baked Naturals® and Deli Flats(trademark), and her own spin-off series now in production.
Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting debuted this year on The New York Times Best Sellers list and stayed for an astonishing for 18 consecutive weeks. Frankel’s second book, The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life will be released January 5, 2010, just in time to support “new year, new me” resolutions with delicious, practical, effective recipes and lifestyle tweaks. Skinnygirl Dish showcases Frankel’s renowned “fix-ology” . . . her ability to take calorie-rich foods and revamp them to create healthier versions without compromising flavor.
Her skill as a fixologist applies to cocktails too . . . she has just this fall launched The Skinnygirl Margarita, a bottled, pre-mixed beverage made with clear tequila, lime juice and only a splash of citrus liqueur, which drastically reduces the calories of the traditional cocktail. All natural and lightly sweetened with agave nectar, it has only 100 calories in a full 4 oz. serving.
As the go-to blogger for all things reality and lifestyle, Frankel wields her pen like a sword, ensuring that readers will get the unvarnished truth along with common sense, expertise and a healthy – always healthy – dose of humor. She is on a mission to democratize healthy living, making information available to everyone she can reach through her appearances, books, columns and blogs.
Frankel lives in Manhattan with her dog Cookie. She will be marrying her other love, Jason Hoppy, this spring and they will welcome their first child in early summer.
From her website
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 285 reviews
June 9, 2012
Let me start this review by outing myself: I am a Bethenney Frankel fan. I think it is very likely she is absolutely wackadoo crazy and I definitely wouldn’t want her as a flat-mate but she is ridiculously entertaining to watch on television. She personifies the paradox of stardom in that at the same time she is both ordinary and extraordinary: funny, rich, successful but that the same time just like us. I like that she’s determined and ambitious and that’s she’s been successful as a woman in arenas that are traditionally dominated by men – television and liquor. However, I have read her previous three books and, while I did enjoy them and have made many of the recipes from The Skinnygirl Dish (I recommend the white bean and spinach soup and the chocolate cake with peanut butter glaze – both delicious and, when combined, provide a perfectly balanced guilt-free dinner and dessert), the typesetting and editing were awful. So, while I tried to approach this book from a place of yes (see what I did there?), my expectations were not very high.
And I was right to be nervous - this book is really terrible. For starters, I think that Skinnydipping needs to assert itself as a novel in the title is in recognition of the fact that not much of this book is fiction. It’s very clearly a fictionalised representation of Bethenney’s own life. Here’s the plot: wannabe actress Faith Brightstone (what a name!) moves to LA after graduation for NYU (like Bethenney did). She moves in with her emotionally distant father (like Bethenney did) and works as an assistant for the wife of an incredibly successful movie director Josh Kameron (really?), helping look after their two daughters (Bethenney worked for Cathy Hilton and helped look after Paris and Nicki). Faith finds a dog and names it Muffin (Bethenney’s dog is called Cookie), appeared in a soft porn film (like Bethenney did) and then decides that she’s not cut out to be an actress, so she moved back to New York (like Bethenney did). You get the picture. For the rest of the plot, please see Bethenney’s life.
I really have no problem with fictionalising true events. Every author draws on some inspiration from their own life for their work. F. Scott Fitzgerald immortalised versions of Zelda in three of his novels. Helen Garner scandalously did the same thing as Bethenney in her book The First Stone. But the difference is (apart from the fact the Fitzgerald and Frankel will never feature in the literary canon alongside each other!) is that those books were entertaining. The fictional worlds, though based at least partially on reality, were real of themselves and the stories that were dramatised had things to say that were worth saying. All Skinnydipping says is that Bethenney either thinks her audience is too dumb to recognise the story as hers if she changes one little detail or thinks that her life is so entertaining that it should be the subject of both non-fiction and fiction. Bethenney, I heart you and will watch your weekly TV show for as long as it is on the air but really, it isn’t.
The other things I hated about the book were the characters, style and structure. For starters, I had to google ‘swamp crotch’ in the first three pages. That is a bad sign (fyi – it’s gross). The LA Bethenney – sorry, the LA Faith – is just an awful person. She’s selfish, self-involved, narcissistic, inconsiderate, caustic and has a fairly severe eating disorder. Then she moves to New York and all of a sudden the eating disorder disappears and is not mentioned again. What? One-dimensional friends vanish and then new ones appear without explanation. There’s a huge rush to cram the full amount of Bethenney’s life into the last 50 pages (She gets pregnant! She comes second in a reality competition show! She gets engaged! She gets a liquor company to sell her Skinnygirl Margaritas, sorry I mean Pink Lemonade Mojitos! She gets a talk show!), resulting in the pacing of the book becoming very uneven. All of these are major flaws that point to the biggest problem for me with this book. I just cannot understand why, with the amount of revenue that her books generate, Bethenney’s publisher cannot hire a decent editor!
I read this book with a fairly good idea of what kind of book it was going to be, so I have no-one to blame but myself. If you’re like me and you can’t control your morbid curiosity, then at least borrow it from the library. If you can, get a hardcover copy so if you feel the need to hurl it at the wall, you won’t cause any lasting damage to the book. I can’t vouch for the wall though.
Skinnydipping: A Novel gets two stars.
And I was right to be nervous - this book is really terrible. For starters, I think that Skinnydipping needs to assert itself as a novel in the title is in recognition of the fact that not much of this book is fiction. It’s very clearly a fictionalised representation of Bethenney’s own life. Here’s the plot: wannabe actress Faith Brightstone (what a name!) moves to LA after graduation for NYU (like Bethenney did). She moves in with her emotionally distant father (like Bethenney did) and works as an assistant for the wife of an incredibly successful movie director Josh Kameron (really?), helping look after their two daughters (Bethenney worked for Cathy Hilton and helped look after Paris and Nicki). Faith finds a dog and names it Muffin (Bethenney’s dog is called Cookie), appeared in a soft porn film (like Bethenney did) and then decides that she’s not cut out to be an actress, so she moved back to New York (like Bethenney did). You get the picture. For the rest of the plot, please see Bethenney’s life.
I really have no problem with fictionalising true events. Every author draws on some inspiration from their own life for their work. F. Scott Fitzgerald immortalised versions of Zelda in three of his novels. Helen Garner scandalously did the same thing as Bethenney in her book The First Stone. But the difference is (apart from the fact the Fitzgerald and Frankel will never feature in the literary canon alongside each other!) is that those books were entertaining. The fictional worlds, though based at least partially on reality, were real of themselves and the stories that were dramatised had things to say that were worth saying. All Skinnydipping says is that Bethenney either thinks her audience is too dumb to recognise the story as hers if she changes one little detail or thinks that her life is so entertaining that it should be the subject of both non-fiction and fiction. Bethenney, I heart you and will watch your weekly TV show for as long as it is on the air but really, it isn’t.
The other things I hated about the book were the characters, style and structure. For starters, I had to google ‘swamp crotch’ in the first three pages. That is a bad sign (fyi – it’s gross). The LA Bethenney – sorry, the LA Faith – is just an awful person. She’s selfish, self-involved, narcissistic, inconsiderate, caustic and has a fairly severe eating disorder. Then she moves to New York and all of a sudden the eating disorder disappears and is not mentioned again. What? One-dimensional friends vanish and then new ones appear without explanation. There’s a huge rush to cram the full amount of Bethenney’s life into the last 50 pages (She gets pregnant! She comes second in a reality competition show! She gets engaged! She gets a liquor company to sell her Skinnygirl Margaritas, sorry I mean Pink Lemonade Mojitos! She gets a talk show!), resulting in the pacing of the book becoming very uneven. All of these are major flaws that point to the biggest problem for me with this book. I just cannot understand why, with the amount of revenue that her books generate, Bethenney’s publisher cannot hire a decent editor!
I read this book with a fairly good idea of what kind of book it was going to be, so I have no-one to blame but myself. If you’re like me and you can’t control your morbid curiosity, then at least borrow it from the library. If you can, get a hardcover copy so if you feel the need to hurl it at the wall, you won’t cause any lasting damage to the book. I can’t vouch for the wall though.
Skinnydipping: A Novel gets two stars.
May 4, 2012
A Skinny Line Between Fiction and Reality
Reading this book felt like being immersed in a Bethenny Frankel marathon of her reality television world, including the Martha Stewart Apprentice, The Real Housewives of New York and Bravo's spinoffs, Bethenny Getting Married? and Bethenny Everafter. If you find the quick wit and at times foul mouth of this self-made star entertaining, you--like me--won't be able to put down this book.
Bethenny as a writer, along with her writing partner Eve Adamson, use her personal experiences during her rise to fame to create an alter ego named Faith Brightstone. The story about a young New Yorker moving to L.A. to try to make it as an actress, only to return to New York to find fame in reality television is a thinly veiled fun romp into her past. She has license to pick and choose facts and fiction and mix them into a cocktail named the "pink lemonade mojito" rather than the Skinnygirl margarita. It's a refreshing summer beach read, and the juicy stuff is not left out.
She serves up a tasty platter of what can only be called just desserts by creating highly unlikeable characters based on Martha Stewart and Jill Zarin, and she even adds a zesty little barb aimed at Kelly Bensimon (with a "I'm up here, you're down there" type comment). Her creativity in rewriting the past, including making up new challenges for the television contest named "Domestic Goddess," and her knack for witty/truly funny dialog prove once again why this woman is a star.
I had to deduct a review star, however, due to a critical fiction-writing error at the beginning of Part II, when she lapses into a classic tell rather than show technique, and what I felt was an anti-climactic and cliché conclusion of having the whole thing culminate in the life-lesson of "there are no certainties in life."
But that conclusion was NOT what I took away from this reading experience. Reading this book for me was just plain FUN--as fun as it's been watching Bethenny on TV.
Good for you Skinnygirl, and thanks for the laughs.
Reading this book felt like being immersed in a Bethenny Frankel marathon of her reality television world, including the Martha Stewart Apprentice, The Real Housewives of New York and Bravo's spinoffs, Bethenny Getting Married? and Bethenny Everafter. If you find the quick wit and at times foul mouth of this self-made star entertaining, you--like me--won't be able to put down this book.
Bethenny as a writer, along with her writing partner Eve Adamson, use her personal experiences during her rise to fame to create an alter ego named Faith Brightstone. The story about a young New Yorker moving to L.A. to try to make it as an actress, only to return to New York to find fame in reality television is a thinly veiled fun romp into her past. She has license to pick and choose facts and fiction and mix them into a cocktail named the "pink lemonade mojito" rather than the Skinnygirl margarita. It's a refreshing summer beach read, and the juicy stuff is not left out.
She serves up a tasty platter of what can only be called just desserts by creating highly unlikeable characters based on Martha Stewart and Jill Zarin, and she even adds a zesty little barb aimed at Kelly Bensimon (with a "I'm up here, you're down there" type comment). Her creativity in rewriting the past, including making up new challenges for the television contest named "Domestic Goddess," and her knack for witty/truly funny dialog prove once again why this woman is a star.
I had to deduct a review star, however, due to a critical fiction-writing error at the beginning of Part II, when she lapses into a classic tell rather than show technique, and what I felt was an anti-climactic and cliché conclusion of having the whole thing culminate in the life-lesson of "there are no certainties in life."
But that conclusion was NOT what I took away from this reading experience. Reading this book for me was just plain FUN--as fun as it's been watching Bethenny on TV.
Good for you Skinnygirl, and thanks for the laughs.
April 27, 2016
How stupid. If you're going to fictionalize your life, at least be creative about it. But everything was so thinly veiled, so blandly referential that I was speed-reading my way to the end just to move on to something else. If this were satire, or a Saturday Night Live skit, it might be forgivable. But as it stands, Part One is like a poorly done Jackie Collins rip-off and Part Two amounts to little more than reading a transcript of a reality show.
It's packed to the gills with one scene after another where almost nothing happens; this story could have easily been told in a book half this length. Instead of streamlining her story, Bethenny (and her ghost/co-writer) blather on endlessly about the challenges on theMartha Stewart Sybil Hunter show, how many guys Faith can cocktease, dieting, baking, and BLAH BLAH KILL ME. It's not even well written, which I find shocking considering how well-spoken Bethenny seems to be. Just one example: when Faith's reality show debuts, she gets a bunch of texts from her friends who are watching in New York and LA. Except the show wouldn't be airing in LA yet because it's in a different time zone. Stupid mistakes like that irk me, and since there isn't much else here to challenge my mind, they took over.
Insufferable at times and never more than mildly entertaining.... so disappointing.
It's packed to the gills with one scene after another where almost nothing happens; this story could have easily been told in a book half this length. Instead of streamlining her story, Bethenny (and her ghost/co-writer) blather on endlessly about the challenges on the
Insufferable at times and never more than mildly entertaining.... so disappointing.
May 25, 2012
Couldn't finish this book. Rubbish is the word that comes to mind.
May 25, 2012
I almost put this book down when I started it but than I read the goodreads reviews and had to figure out why everyone rated it so high. I am still not sure. It was entertaining and if you like Bethany Frankel than read it otherwise skip it!
May 1, 2012
I want to start by saying I usually only read Christian fiction books but I saw what this book was about and could not wait to read it. The personality of the author, Bethenny Frankel, is found on every page of this story. The book follows the fictional character Faith Brightstone as she navigates through different careers till she finds her perfect fit.
I loved how the character reacted to obstacles in her way. Her phone call with a creditor is one a lot of people will connect with. That is one of the best things about this book, how relatable the main character is! As you follow Faith and her encounters with different people, you can’t help but wonder if these interesting characters are based on real people the author knew!
I really enjoyed the main character being a strong woman with dreams and the gumption to follow through with them. I liked how the character grew as the story progressed. You find her more assure of herself and more open to the people and circumstances she encounters.
I do have a few negatives. The strong language of the character, especially at the beginning of the book, was distracting. I do not think it needed to be there as the story was strong enough to stand on its own without it. I also felt like the story lost its way in the middle but it did quickly come back to an interesting story line. Personally I did not like the sexual content but that is just a personal opinion not something that made the book unworthy of reading. I gave this book 4/5 stars because although the character was interesting and the story flowed well I think it could have had some parts edited out and still been a great book.
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of this book I enjoyed reading. I gave an honest review based on my opinion of what I read.
I loved how the character reacted to obstacles in her way. Her phone call with a creditor is one a lot of people will connect with. That is one of the best things about this book, how relatable the main character is! As you follow Faith and her encounters with different people, you can’t help but wonder if these interesting characters are based on real people the author knew!
I really enjoyed the main character being a strong woman with dreams and the gumption to follow through with them. I liked how the character grew as the story progressed. You find her more assure of herself and more open to the people and circumstances she encounters.
I do have a few negatives. The strong language of the character, especially at the beginning of the book, was distracting. I do not think it needed to be there as the story was strong enough to stand on its own without it. I also felt like the story lost its way in the middle but it did quickly come back to an interesting story line. Personally I did not like the sexual content but that is just a personal opinion not something that made the book unworthy of reading. I gave this book 4/5 stars because although the character was interesting and the story flowed well I think it could have had some parts edited out and still been a great book.
I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of this book I enjoyed reading. I gave an honest review based on my opinion of what I read.
August 14, 2012
Disclaimer - I'm a big fan of Bethenny. I respect the hell out of her, I think she's a phenomenal business woman, I think she pioneered using reality TV for business exposure, and I love her personality (which a lot of people don't - I think she's crass and hysterical). I also happen to love most of her products as well.
So - is writing her strongest attribute? Probably not. But this is a fun, quick read, guilty pleasure book. Not the most well written thing on the shelves, and not for everyone, but if you like Bethenny, you'll like it. The main character, Faith, is, basically, Bethenny. If you know her story you'll know that it's pretty autobiographical in the outline, as far as the details go, I'm curious what's real and what's fiction. Regardless, it's fun. Faith moves to LA to make it as an actress, has a few boyfriends, has a few adventures, returns to NYC and gets cast on an Apprentice-like show. She meets friends and foes, and the style of talking - well - it's Bethenny.
I'd probably give this 3.5 stars if I could because the ending, frankly, was kind of ridiculous (she sort of combines her Apprentice experience with her Housewives experience). Like I said - it's not going to win any prizes, but for a fun summer beach book - I loved it. If I weren't a fan of Bethenny, am not sure I'd feel the same way, but I am, so I did.
So - is writing her strongest attribute? Probably not. But this is a fun, quick read, guilty pleasure book. Not the most well written thing on the shelves, and not for everyone, but if you like Bethenny, you'll like it. The main character, Faith, is, basically, Bethenny. If you know her story you'll know that it's pretty autobiographical in the outline, as far as the details go, I'm curious what's real and what's fiction. Regardless, it's fun. Faith moves to LA to make it as an actress, has a few boyfriends, has a few adventures, returns to NYC and gets cast on an Apprentice-like show. She meets friends and foes, and the style of talking - well - it's Bethenny.
I'd probably give this 3.5 stars if I could because the ending, frankly, was kind of ridiculous (she sort of combines her Apprentice experience with her Housewives experience). Like I said - it's not going to win any prizes, but for a fun summer beach book - I loved it. If I weren't a fan of Bethenny, am not sure I'd feel the same way, but I am, so I did.
April 27, 2012
Considering it's basically a fictional version of Bethenny's life, I liked the book. However, the contest section was extremely long, which is understandable since that's what most of the book is about, but on the other hand, did we really need to know what type of dessert she decided to put on the menu? The one big flaw of the book (for me), and the reason I didn't give it a higher rating was because of how obsessive the character is about her weight. As someone in recovery of an eating disorder, this was not the best thing to read, and in fact, took a lot of willpower for me to continue reading. Fortunately, she eventually eases off the, "Wow, I just won't eat for a week!" binge later in the book which made for a much better read.
If you're looking for something as witty as Bethenny Frankel, with details about her life mixed into a pot of fiction, this would be a good book to read. I particularly loved the ending, and the very last sentence gave me goosebumps.
If you're looking for something as witty as Bethenny Frankel, with details about her life mixed into a pot of fiction, this would be a good book to read. I particularly loved the ending, and the very last sentence gave me goosebumps.
July 30, 2012
Initially Faith made my eyes roll and she was a bit pathetic, but there was something about her that made me sympathetic and I totally rooted for her in the end. My perfect kind of book: light, a little drama, love story, and happy ending!
May 7, 2012
Pre-ordered it today and hope it is here no later than next Wednesday! After Watergate, I could use something fun. Am interested to see how she does as a fiction writer.
May 24, 2017
The book needed more work. Not enough depth in characters or relationships between characters. At times it was hard to keep track of who all the characters were, too many. I still dont understand the correlation between Part 1 and Part 2. Im a Bethenny Frankel fan and this book was just a basic story of her life with name changes. Had high hopes for this book because of Frankel's sense of humor but it didnt have hardly any of that here. Disappointed!
September 9, 2018
I loved this "fictional" book. I couldn't put it down. It is a fictional version of the life of Bethenny Frankel, a reality star, who made millions selling her Skinny Girl Margarita. This book concentrates on her time on "Sybil Burton's" show "Domestic Goddess", which is really Martha Stewart's "The Apprentice". I watched that series, but didn't remember Bethenny until she became a "Real Housewife of New York City". It's a fun book.
February 6, 2025
This story about an ambitious young woman making too many bad choices made me want to quit reading until the last quarter of her “game.” The ending was good, showing character growth, but so much of the drunken, sad sex scenes were hard to read. I finally skimmed much of the reality show snarky scenarios. The end of story love that was based on a one-night dance & short conversation seemed contrived. I’ll skip authors other books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2017
I checked the publication date several times as the story seemed to be set over 15 years ago complete with answering machines and one of the first ever reality shows. The main character goes through several scrappy transformations but it is all very silly. The main character also has a bottled alcoholic drink much like the author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2018
Faith graduated from college in New York and moved to LA to fulfill her dream of becoming a famous actress. Some of the things she does while there she isn't proud of but she does feel it will get her noticed. She eventually winds up in a reality show and things really get crazy then. I don't want to give away the end but I couldn't put this book down.
September 4, 2017
I actually really enjoyed this book. It was pretty predictable and you could tell it was based on Bethenny's life, but I love Bethenny! If you want an easy, mindless, fun read, this is a great choice!
October 11, 2024
This book is basically just Bethenny’s life, semi fictionalized. The KKB insert character on the reality show was very funny to me. The ending of the book felt a little rushed but I was glad it didn’t end in a cliffhanger
Read
December 23, 2017I give this 0.25 stars
June 4, 2018
Quirky and fun.
August 19, 2018
An amusing read, clearly parallels Frankel's life. Not hard hitting but certainly entertaining
September 27, 2020
Yes! I love fiction novels based roughly off reality. It makes the story easy to relate to and for you to wonder if it happened in real life (with a little twist added or not). A great weekend read!
June 9, 2023
I'm not a fan of reality TV but enjoyed this all the same. I'm very competitive so it's not too surprising. Pretty light stuff. Perfect for summer beach time reading...
March 16, 2024
A very thinly veiled fictionalization of Bethenny's life.
I even read it with her voice in my head.
I even read it with her voice in my head.
Read
March 16, 2017*****
June 2, 2016
Bethenny Frankel is a standout woman, and I heavily admire and look up to her. So when I saw that she published a fiction novel I immediately jumped on it. My only regret is that I didn't read it sooner because I love Bethenny. As for the story, it's about wannabe actress and food lover Faith Brightstone. She moves out to LA after college to pursue her on-screen dreams, but after months of rejections and living the lifestyle of the rich and famous she heads back to New York. After struggling to make her bakery a well-known and respected business, Faith finally gets her big break. She is asked to participate on a new reality show called "Domestic Goddess." (Think top chef but all things housewife.) While dodging curveball after curveball, Faith must find a way to rise to the top of the pack so she can make a name for herself and save her failing business, but is it really what she wants when it's all said and done?
I have mixed emotions about this book. Part of me loved it, but the other part of me knows a large reason that I loved the story is simply because it's written by Bethenny. For starters, I think the idea of the story is great. Getting a look at the reality show life (even in fiction) is interesting for me. And if you know anything about Bethenny, you know she was part of the Real Housewives of New York, and she got her own spin off after leaving the show. And, from watching her shows, you learn a lot about her personal life. Many elements of the story were pulled from Bethenny's real life, and that experience makes the story believable. I also love Bethenny's humor, and it comes out in full force in Skinnydipping.
However, I do have some issues with the story, and I can't ignore it no matter how much I love the author. (Where would my credibility be if I did that?!) The story is written in two parts: part one being Faith's LA life and part two being her New York life, particularly being on the show. There is a five year gap between those parts, and the only references to LA during part two have to do with certain people making re-appearances in Faith's life and the mention of a little indie film Faith made just before moving back to the Big Apple. I just don't see a point in, what I like to call, the "LA story" taking up half of the book. My main interest was in the reality show at the end. I feel like the LA story could have been covered briefly in three or four chapters then have the New York story take up the majority of the book. I also thought the writing could have been better, but I don't want to harp on that because Bethenny is mainly an entrepreneur and businesswoman, so I'll give her break.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. I thought it was light, fun, and easy. It's a great beachy summer read. I read it in four days if that tells you anything. The chapters add to that; most of them were between six and ten pages, which I think is the perfect length for a chapter. And, like I've said a million times, I love Bethenny, so reading her first fiction novel was a highlight in itself for me. But I can't say the book is a 10 out of 10. After taking fiction writing classes this past school year I've become much more aware of the elements of story writing, and I just don't think the set up and execution were the story's strong points. However, if you know Bethenny and are a fan of her and what she does, I think you'd really enjoy the book. You really see her personality throughout the story, and to me, I saw Skinnydipping as a small way for Bethenny to get her story out there. But if you don't know her from Adam's apple, then this book might not be your favorite.
I have mixed emotions about this book. Part of me loved it, but the other part of me knows a large reason that I loved the story is simply because it's written by Bethenny. For starters, I think the idea of the story is great. Getting a look at the reality show life (even in fiction) is interesting for me. And if you know anything about Bethenny, you know she was part of the Real Housewives of New York, and she got her own spin off after leaving the show. And, from watching her shows, you learn a lot about her personal life. Many elements of the story were pulled from Bethenny's real life, and that experience makes the story believable. I also love Bethenny's humor, and it comes out in full force in Skinnydipping.
However, I do have some issues with the story, and I can't ignore it no matter how much I love the author. (Where would my credibility be if I did that?!) The story is written in two parts: part one being Faith's LA life and part two being her New York life, particularly being on the show. There is a five year gap between those parts, and the only references to LA during part two have to do with certain people making re-appearances in Faith's life and the mention of a little indie film Faith made just before moving back to the Big Apple. I just don't see a point in, what I like to call, the "LA story" taking up half of the book. My main interest was in the reality show at the end. I feel like the LA story could have been covered briefly in three or four chapters then have the New York story take up the majority of the book. I also thought the writing could have been better, but I don't want to harp on that because Bethenny is mainly an entrepreneur and businesswoman, so I'll give her break.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. I thought it was light, fun, and easy. It's a great beachy summer read. I read it in four days if that tells you anything. The chapters add to that; most of them were between six and ten pages, which I think is the perfect length for a chapter. And, like I've said a million times, I love Bethenny, so reading her first fiction novel was a highlight in itself for me. But I can't say the book is a 10 out of 10. After taking fiction writing classes this past school year I've become much more aware of the elements of story writing, and I just don't think the set up and execution were the story's strong points. However, if you know Bethenny and are a fan of her and what she does, I think you'd really enjoy the book. You really see her personality throughout the story, and to me, I saw Skinnydipping as a small way for Bethenny to get her story out there. But if you don't know her from Adam's apple, then this book might not be your favorite.
December 17, 2012
Skinnydipping takes readers on a journey following Faith Brightstone as she picks up her life in New York City and moves to L.A., pursuing a life of fame and fortune in show business. After watching a video of Bethenny Frankel talk about her first work of fiction, this novel, I want to say that I feel pretty confident that this story is based on certain parts of her life. Faith moves out to L.A. and moves in with her father, who she really has no valuable relationship with and immediately immerses herself in the Hollywood party scene. I knew that I was going to enjoy this book when we first see Faith on a plane picking up her life and moving, with only one carry on, and she meets an actual Hollywood producer. I knew that we were in for it and that Faith’s journey to fame was sure to be worth it.
Faith, honestly, was not my favorite character just because at times I read her as cynical, sarcastic, and a little too cocky. I can deal with the cynical and sarcastic part, but not so much the cocky side of Faith. In Part II of this book I began to like Faith more because by that point she was more accustomed to life in L.A. and she had mellowed out a little bit. In the beginning of the book she was living a rather risqué lifestyle, and a lot of drugs and alcohol were involved. It was important to me to see Faith’s character grow and I think when she landed her job with the reality show, she really began to blossom into a more fully developed character. I was praying in the first half of this book that Faith wouldn’t stay around the club scene and be drinking, partying, etc. throughout the entire novel. Faith was so determined to be noticed by the right people that she would stop at nothing to get to the top, and I know that is how a lot of Hollywood really works, but I just wanted to like Faith from the start so badly.
I felt that this book was a very concise interpretation of real life in L.A./show business/Hollywood. I think that this is one of the aspects of the reading that I enjoyed most. I really liked being immersed in the Hollywood scene with Faith and seeing how manipulative and conniving people really are because after all I am just a small town girl who has never even been to California, not to mention Hollywood! I know that Bethenny probably has firsthand experience in this world and I believe that makes her first fiction novel all the more readable and relatable because readers know that it is coming from one very reliable source.
I know this may sound crazy, but I think I would have enjoyed this story better in the summer instead of when it is 40 degrees outside. I suggest this book as a perfect summer read. It is fast, fun, and definitely flirty. Faith is a character that you will either really like or will spend your time yelling at; I did a little of both. I hope that Bethenny plans on writing other works of fiction because I really enjoyed her writing style, even if it was snarky at times. This was a very fast and enjoyable read!
***A huge thank you to the publishers at Touchstone for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review***
Faith, honestly, was not my favorite character just because at times I read her as cynical, sarcastic, and a little too cocky. I can deal with the cynical and sarcastic part, but not so much the cocky side of Faith. In Part II of this book I began to like Faith more because by that point she was more accustomed to life in L.A. and she had mellowed out a little bit. In the beginning of the book she was living a rather risqué lifestyle, and a lot of drugs and alcohol were involved. It was important to me to see Faith’s character grow and I think when she landed her job with the reality show, she really began to blossom into a more fully developed character. I was praying in the first half of this book that Faith wouldn’t stay around the club scene and be drinking, partying, etc. throughout the entire novel. Faith was so determined to be noticed by the right people that she would stop at nothing to get to the top, and I know that is how a lot of Hollywood really works, but I just wanted to like Faith from the start so badly.
I felt that this book was a very concise interpretation of real life in L.A./show business/Hollywood. I think that this is one of the aspects of the reading that I enjoyed most. I really liked being immersed in the Hollywood scene with Faith and seeing how manipulative and conniving people really are because after all I am just a small town girl who has never even been to California, not to mention Hollywood! I know that Bethenny probably has firsthand experience in this world and I believe that makes her first fiction novel all the more readable and relatable because readers know that it is coming from one very reliable source.
I know this may sound crazy, but I think I would have enjoyed this story better in the summer instead of when it is 40 degrees outside. I suggest this book as a perfect summer read. It is fast, fun, and definitely flirty. Faith is a character that you will either really like or will spend your time yelling at; I did a little of both. I hope that Bethenny plans on writing other works of fiction because I really enjoyed her writing style, even if it was snarky at times. This was a very fast and enjoyable read!
***A huge thank you to the publishers at Touchstone for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review***
September 25, 2012
I'd like to start by saying that I love Bethenny Frankel. I watched her in The Real Housewives, in Bethenny Ever After, and read her "A Place of Yes" memoir-type book. So when I saw she had written a novel, I was anxious to see what her fiction writing would turn out to be.
I loved Skinnydipping! It was funny; it was irreverent, and occasionally inappropriate. That's what I love about Bethenny. I also liked how the story was written in an almost memoir like style. A few times I even forgot this wasn't a true story, although Faith, the main character, did seem to have a journey similar to the one Bethenny herself had. But I didn't find that it detracted from the story. The infamous "they" always say to write what you know, and it seems Frankel took that advice and came up with a really great first novel.
I would love to see more novels from Frankel because I think she has a spark and that she could really be a contender in the chick lit genre. For me, Frankel is like the perfect combination of Jennifer Weiner (Writer of many chic lit novels and short stories) and Jenny Lawson (Writer of The Bloggess blog and recent memoir) who are both great story tellers in their own right. I could see her fitting into this genre and excelling. I don't believe that chick lit is dead or dying.
This is really just a story of discovering who you are. I think it's a popular theme in this genre, and it's one that will continue to flourish. Figuring out who we are is something that we can all relate to. No matter the age or stage in life, as human beings, we're all struggling to figure out how we fit into our world and what we should be doing. Skinnydipping tells the journey of Faith to find out the answers to those same questions and ends with her achieving that peace that comes with being in the right place, doing the right thing, at the right moment. Even if this feeling rarely lasts forever, it gives us all hope that we'll experience our own moments of rightness when all is well in our world and everything feels like it is exactly as it should be.
http://jenireadabook.blogspot.com/201...
I loved Skinnydipping! It was funny; it was irreverent, and occasionally inappropriate. That's what I love about Bethenny. I also liked how the story was written in an almost memoir like style. A few times I even forgot this wasn't a true story, although Faith, the main character, did seem to have a journey similar to the one Bethenny herself had. But I didn't find that it detracted from the story. The infamous "they" always say to write what you know, and it seems Frankel took that advice and came up with a really great first novel.
I would love to see more novels from Frankel because I think she has a spark and that she could really be a contender in the chick lit genre. For me, Frankel is like the perfect combination of Jennifer Weiner (Writer of many chic lit novels and short stories) and Jenny Lawson (Writer of The Bloggess blog and recent memoir) who are both great story tellers in their own right. I could see her fitting into this genre and excelling. I don't believe that chick lit is dead or dying.
This is really just a story of discovering who you are. I think it's a popular theme in this genre, and it's one that will continue to flourish. Figuring out who we are is something that we can all relate to. No matter the age or stage in life, as human beings, we're all struggling to figure out how we fit into our world and what we should be doing. Skinnydipping tells the journey of Faith to find out the answers to those same questions and ends with her achieving that peace that comes with being in the right place, doing the right thing, at the right moment. Even if this feeling rarely lasts forever, it gives us all hope that we'll experience our own moments of rightness when all is well in our world and everything feels like it is exactly as it should be.
http://jenireadabook.blogspot.com/201...
December 26, 2012
2.5 stars
I won a free copy of “Skinny Dipping”, by Bethenny Frankel, as a first-reads giveaway.
I think it’s funny how Bethenny dedicates this book to our imagination when this story is solely based on events in her own life. If you read "A Place of Yes" then you know how this story goes and where it ends up. I think if Bethenny were going to write fiction she could have been a lot more creative and actually used her imagination.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Faith Brightstone (Bethenny Frankel) travels to L.A. after graduating college in hopes of finding her soul mate and achieving a career as a successful actress. After a string of dead-end jobs and encounters with plenty of unsavory men she flees back to New York City where five years later she decides to pursue her real passion – baking – and starts her own vegan baking company called Have Faith Muffins (Bethenny Bakes). She feels her brand really start to take off when she’s offered a spot on a new reality show called "Domestic Goddess" (Martha Stewart Apprentice), featuring her idol Sybil Hunter (Martha Stewart). She must compete with other contestants for fabulous prizes including $100,000 and her own TV show. But all is far from smooth sailing in Bethenny’s…I mean Faith’s life when she finds herself at odds with more than just her fellow contestants. Meanwhile, the elusive soul mate may be closer then she thinks and with strange ties to the dreaded Sybil Hunter.
I can’t recommend this book because for the first 150 pages I was bored with the repetitive partying, sex, alcohol/drug use, and starvation binge. I would’ve stopped reading if I didn’t feel obligated to write this review. However, things did start to get interesting when Faith got onto the "Domestic Goddess" show and you could see she really started coming into her own.
This could be considered a story about finding yourself but if you want the real story and some solid life lessons along with it then you really want to read "A Place of Yes". It was much better written and way more tastefully done.
I won a free copy of “Skinny Dipping”, by Bethenny Frankel, as a first-reads giveaway.
I think it’s funny how Bethenny dedicates this book to our imagination when this story is solely based on events in her own life. If you read "A Place of Yes" then you know how this story goes and where it ends up. I think if Bethenny were going to write fiction she could have been a lot more creative and actually used her imagination.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Faith Brightstone (Bethenny Frankel) travels to L.A. after graduating college in hopes of finding her soul mate and achieving a career as a successful actress. After a string of dead-end jobs and encounters with plenty of unsavory men she flees back to New York City where five years later she decides to pursue her real passion – baking – and starts her own vegan baking company called Have Faith Muffins (Bethenny Bakes). She feels her brand really start to take off when she’s offered a spot on a new reality show called "Domestic Goddess" (Martha Stewart Apprentice), featuring her idol Sybil Hunter (Martha Stewart). She must compete with other contestants for fabulous prizes including $100,000 and her own TV show. But all is far from smooth sailing in Bethenny’s…I mean Faith’s life when she finds herself at odds with more than just her fellow contestants. Meanwhile, the elusive soul mate may be closer then she thinks and with strange ties to the dreaded Sybil Hunter.
I can’t recommend this book because for the first 150 pages I was bored with the repetitive partying, sex, alcohol/drug use, and starvation binge. I would’ve stopped reading if I didn’t feel obligated to write this review. However, things did start to get interesting when Faith got onto the "Domestic Goddess" show and you could see she really started coming into her own.
This could be considered a story about finding yourself but if you want the real story and some solid life lessons along with it then you really want to read "A Place of Yes". It was much better written and way more tastefully done.
November 16, 2012
“skinnydipping” by Bethenny Frankel, published by Touchstone Books.
Category – Fiction/Romance/Comedy
I have been often asked to recommend a good “beach read”, well this is November and unless you are in Cancun, the Caribbean, or in the Keys a good “beach read” would not make much sense – of course, unless you brought out the lounge chair, the heat lamp, and made up a batch of pink lemonade mojitos, and started to read “skinnydipping”. Faith Brightstone has just graduated from NYU and has her heart set on going to Los Angeles to be a movie star. It doesn’t take long for Faith to make the Hollywood scene as she encounters a culture of late night partying, alcohol, drugs, and beefcakes. Reality hits hard as Faith can only find a job as a Production Assistant, another name for an all around “gofer”. Things don’t get better for Faith as when she finally gets an acting position only to find out she is in a low budget soft core porn film. Faith gives up on her dream and heads back to New York. Five years later Faith is on the verge of a breakthrough when she founds a muffin baking business. Her talents are noted by Sybil Hunter who is the book’s Martha Stewart. Sybil who controls a video empire is sponsoring a contest that will give the winner not only a cash prize but a show on her network. Faith joins several other contestants in the competition that has some working together and a lot of backstabbing. The final competition is between Faith and a person she thought was her friend. This book is for those of you who just want a good read, not too many big words, action and surprises throughout, love, lost love, and redemptive love, in essence a great “beach read” for November.
Category – Fiction/Romance/Comedy
I have been often asked to recommend a good “beach read”, well this is November and unless you are in Cancun, the Caribbean, or in the Keys a good “beach read” would not make much sense – of course, unless you brought out the lounge chair, the heat lamp, and made up a batch of pink lemonade mojitos, and started to read “skinnydipping”. Faith Brightstone has just graduated from NYU and has her heart set on going to Los Angeles to be a movie star. It doesn’t take long for Faith to make the Hollywood scene as she encounters a culture of late night partying, alcohol, drugs, and beefcakes. Reality hits hard as Faith can only find a job as a Production Assistant, another name for an all around “gofer”. Things don’t get better for Faith as when she finally gets an acting position only to find out she is in a low budget soft core porn film. Faith gives up on her dream and heads back to New York. Five years later Faith is on the verge of a breakthrough when she founds a muffin baking business. Her talents are noted by Sybil Hunter who is the book’s Martha Stewart. Sybil who controls a video empire is sponsoring a contest that will give the winner not only a cash prize but a show on her network. Faith joins several other contestants in the competition that has some working together and a lot of backstabbing. The final competition is between Faith and a person she thought was her friend. This book is for those of you who just want a good read, not too many big words, action and surprises throughout, love, lost love, and redemptive love, in essence a great “beach read” for November.
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