Brilliant - Rated 
I couldn't finish this book quick enough, the only bad thing was I didn't have the 3rd book of the series to follow on to - which I have now ordered.
I will definitely be reading more of her books.
Mixed feelings about this book. - Rated 
I thoroughly enjoyed the first book of this series, City Girl, and would really like to say this book was excellent also. However, I found the plot(s) rather dragged out and some of the attention to detail quite tedious. It is written in a rather 'sickly sweet' style - for lack of a better narrative description. The actual story itself is interesting and the central characters are likeable and well-drawn, but as I've said, it was just a bit too long. A number of characters were introduced who didn't seem to have a purpose plot-wise and I got the impression the author used them for 'padding out'. However, perhaps this is an unjust criticism and more will become apparent in the final book in the series 'City Lives'. I've already bought this book and it has fewer pages, and when I've had a breather from the characters, I'll look forward to reading this one.
You'll laugh and cry - The new Maeve Binchy? - Rated 
I was attracted to this book by the title - I thought it would be something to do with women working in financial services in the City of London! (Read Suddenly Single by Sheila O'Flanaghan for a story like that). But I enjoyed it very much all the same and the style reminded me very much of Maeve Binchy. It made me laugh - the bit at the end with the small kids and the talcum powder is hysterical. It also made me cry when Devlin is torturing herself over the death of her baby. Read City Girl first would be my recommendation, I didn't and I think it would now be spoiled for me. Buy both at the same time because you'll want to read on.
Devlin, Caroline, And Maggie Are Back. - Rated
City Woman is the new best seller by Patricia Scanlan. It is the warm-hearted sequel of City Girl. Devlin, Caroline and Maggie are back. The main characters of City Girl are now grown up women and have to face the problems of their adulthood. Devlin Delaney is a flair, ambitious career woman who finds the strength to overcome her little daughter's death by throwing herself into hard work in her health and leisure complex "City Girl". She is supported by her friends Caroline and Maggie and by her business partner Luke Reilly, who secretly loves her. When she completely recovers from the shock and pain of her daughter's death, she is finally ready to marry Luke. Caroline Yeats is a frail, fearful woman at the beginning of the book. She has just discovered that Richard Yates, her husband, is gay. Her husband's boyfriend Charles is dying of cancer and her husband decides to follow him to America, where he hopes to receive better treatment. For the first time in her life she is forced to face the consequences of her weakness. She decides to take the bull by the horns and live her own life. She is determined to get a divorce and start a new life getting rid of her fears. She finds a job in Abu Dhabi where she becomes a successful professional and a real woman. Maggie Ryan is a housewife who tries to become a successful writer. She is married with Terry Ryan, but her marriage is no longer happy because her husband's infidelity and total lack of support have enraged and frustrated her. She wonders whether she should go on living with a husband who has never been faithful to her, or if she should find another way to be happy again. At the end of the book her husband understands his mistakes and he tries to win Maggie's love back. The main topics of City Woman are love, work and friendship. All the characters need love to complete their lives, although they have had sad love affairs. Devlin is in love with Luke and at the end they get married. After divorcing Caroline wishes she could find a new partner. At the beginning of the book Maggie is in love with her husband, but then she falls in love with Adam Dunne, a sensitive young writer she met in a library. She has an affair with him because he understands and encourages her. Her husband is by contrast too narrow-minded and chauvinistic to support her. However, at the end of the book Maggie and Terry get nearer to each other. Devlin, Caroline and Maggie want to be self-sufficient in order to find complete fulfillment in their lives. Devlin works hard but successfully in her health and leisure complex. Caroline finds three important jobs which free her from her fears. Maggie becomes a rich, famous writer. Devlin, Caroline and Maggie are long-time friends and the whole book is based on their friendship. This book is split into three parallel stories, each of which deals with one of the three women. The stories are linked by their friendship. In City Woman Patricia Scanlan uses a two part structure, part one and part two, to give more suspense to the whole book. Each part is divided into three stories, each dealing with one of the three main characters. The three stories begin and finish at the same point in time to emphasise the women's different behaviour. The book is written in a contemporary, easy-going style which attracts the reader into the world of the novel. Patricia Scanlan uses brief descriptions of Dublin and of other places to make her narration more realistic. In City Woman there are many links to the real world and to Patricia Scanlan's life. She actually lived for some time in Abu Dhabi and she really met Florence Ambrose, Féile Morris, Patricia and Eamomm Jawhari. One more reference to reality is the fact that in City Woman Maggie is writing a book whose title is City Woman. Patricia Scanlan's sparkling, absorbing sequel to City Girl is an engrossing story of contemporary women. It is a humorous, sentimental example of how friendship makes life easier to live. City Woman is a must read for everybody who thinks that friendship is among the most important things in life and for those who want to read a funny, well-written book.
The City Girl Have Grown Up - Rated
City Woman is the 4th book that Patricia Scanlan wrote. It is an effective, warm-hearted sequel to her previous book City Girl. The two books deal with the description of the lives of three Dublin women. Their names are Devlin Delaney, Caroline Yeats and Maggie Ryan. While in City Girl Devlin, Caroline and Maggie are three frightened, stressed teenagers, in City Woman they have grown up and courageously fight against their problems. In City Woman Devlin succeeds in recovering from her unlucky relationship with Colin Cantrell-King and, most of all, from her daughter's tragical death. She finds her strength in the management of her successful health and leisure complex City Girl and in her best friends Caroline and Maggie. Now there is another important male figure in Devlin's life: it is one of her business partners, Luke Reilly, whose interest for her is more than professional. At the beginning she is not yet ready to start a love-story with him, but when she understands that she could lose him forever, she surrenders to her love for him. They start a new happy life together and she soon asks him to marry her. Their marriage closes the book. Caroline changes a lot too in this book. She takes full responsibility for her life and decides to divorce her gay husband Richard Yates to be free again. She even accepts a 6 month job as the office administrator of the most important building company in Abu Dhabi. This choice is unusual for an apparently weak and frustrated woman, but Caroline knows that this is the only way to win her panic crises and to start a new happy life. Maggie has changed too. She is now a successful novelist. Her book City Woman is a best-seller and she is writing a new novel entitled A Time to Decide. She no longer bears her husband's lack of support and she starts a love affair with a sweet, gentle, 10 year-younger writer whose name is Adam Dunne. She decides to put her own needs before those of other people. She separates from her husband Terry for a while and this is very useful for their relationship because Terry understands that he cannot live without her and finally learns to respect her feelings. There are three main topics in City Woman. The 1st is the importance of friendship in everybody's life. The three female characters would not have overcome their troubles without their mutual help. When one of them is sad or in trouble, the other two are always on her side and offer their support. The 2nd topic is love. Devlin, Caroline and Maggie think that love is very important in women's life and always follow their hearts. Each of them goes through a painful love experience. At first Devlin does not trust men because of her awful experience with Colin. She hardly accepts her love for Luke Reilly, until she finally surrenders. In him she finds the mixture of tender security and passion she always needed. Caroline divorces her gay husband and she hopes to find a new lover sooner or later, because her femininity needs to be appreciated. Maggie too has many problems in her marriage with Terry, but they seem to solve them with reciprocal sincerity. The 3rd topic is the importance of work in women's lives. Devlin directs the City Girl, Caroline works as an office assistant and Maggie as a writer. They show how career and family are compatible in women's lives. Patricia Scanlan wrote this book in a very colloquial, easy-going style. There are many contemporary expressions which are useful to create a common background to the characters and the reader. Her idea to divide the book into three stories of the three main characters, each of which is again divided into part one and part two, creates more suspense and makes the plot innovative. City Woman is a very successful sequel to City Girl. As the three female characters have grown up, so Patricia Scanlan too is more adult and her writing style is more effective in this book than in the previous one. She succeeded in mixing the three characters' stories, their complicated, troubled lives with a contemporary background. The stories are settled in Ireland and in the Arabian Emirates. The author analyses and compares these two apparently different worlds to underline the fact that there are not so many differences between them. She thinks that happiness does not depend on where one lives, but on the way one behaves and relates with other people. City Woman is a well-written book by a modern, intelligent woman who succeeded in reaching the reader's heart with three gripping women stories. The reader participates in their problems, suffers with them and feels happy for their successes. City Woman is a must read for every woman who wants to find an example of women who are successful in their careers as well as in their emotional lives. This is also an excellent reading for any man who wants to understand women and for anyone who wants to read a humorous, well-written love story.
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