Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell

Synopsis :

Nico O'Neilly seems to have everything -  a stellar career, a well-respected husband, and a teenage daughter whom she adores - but is suddenly finding that the romance has gone out of her marriage, and she is tempted to find refuge in the arms of a younger man.  But will this derail her secret ambition to become the first female CEO of Splatch-Verner?

Wendy Healy is the president of Parador Pictures. Wendy's hard work has propelled her to the top of the cut throat movie business.  But her nonstop career has made her too busy to notice that her marriage to her metrosexual househusband is about to unravel.

Victory Ford has created a fantasy career as one of New York City's top designers, but when she begins dating a cosmetics billionaire, she not only questions what it's like to find love but what it's really like to succeed in big business.

When I read Lipstick Jungle years ago, I liked it.  When I read it again recently, I changed my mind.  It wasn't as how I remember it.  It somehow felt very shallow and the ladies in the book annoyed me to high heaven. 

If roles are switched and Nico who is very much the female version of a successful corporate man is now named Nicholas (for example), I would have disliked him very much for cheating on his spouse. How does the author then expect readers to like Nico for doing the same?  Just because she's a female?

Wendy on the other hand, is being divorced by her 'never been in love' with her house husband who is seeking custody of the children.  Am I expected to root for Wendy and sympathize with her situation just because she's female where as if roles are switched, I would be expected to sympathize with the spouse?

You can say I am equally confused by Victory.  What is she seeking? Love? Money? or both love and money? Well, she seems to find it in her billionaire so what else is she complaining about?

I find the writing surprisingly very chaotic and timeline rather confusing which seems to have escape my attention the first time I read it. Maybe it's not too bad a book except that I am more critical now in my opinion.   Let me know if you think the way I do about Lipstick Jungle.