Book Reviews

Book Giveaway – CityStyle: A Field Guide to Global Fashion Capitals

by Kirsten on November 8, 2010

I recently provided a review for a great book that I know all of you will love. Today, I am excited to offer five of you the chance to win your very own copy for free!

CityStyle – A Field Guide to Global Fashion Capitals provides an insiders look to eight of the world’s most fashionable and chic cities. For women who live and breathe fashion and travel, this guide is a must-have for your library. Get the low-down on the great cities of New York, Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo, Stockholm, Sydney, and LA, all in one handy little book.

Check out my full review here, and enter to win one of the five copies!

Here is how to win:

Mandatory Entry (You MUST do this first to qualify):

Leave a comment telling us why YOU want to win! What intrigues you about this book?!

Extra Entries (please leave SEPARATE comments for each entry, otherwise they’ll be counted as one):

1. Follow @travfashionista and @museyon on Twitter and tweet “I want a free copy of CityStyle: A Field Guide to Global Fashion Capitals! @museyon @travfashionista http://bit.ly/9IPhFu PLEASE RT!!”
2. Subscribe to Traveling Fashionista Emails (must confirm subscription for this entry to count).
3. Follow the site via RSS, Bloglovin’ or Google Friend Connect (look on the right side of this page).
4. Become a fan (or “like”) Traveling Fashionista on Facebook.
5. Tweet AGAIN about the giveaway (up to 5x/day):

“I want a free copy of CityStyle: A Field Guide to Global Fashion Capitals! @museyon @travfashionista http://bit.ly/9IPhFu PLEASE RT!!”

6. Use any social bookmarking site (Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, etc) to share this giveaway (one entry per site).
7. Write a blog post (with a link back to this post or TravelingFashionista.com) about this giveaway.

This giveaway will be up until Wednesday, November 17, 2010! Good luck!

Love, K.

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LUXE City Travel Guides – A Must-Have Read for Your Next Destination

by Kirsten on November 2, 2010

Never one to shy away from researching my next travel destination, I look forward to learning all about the hottest places to visit, where to shop, where to stay, what to eat, etc. LUXE City Guides provides a very unique, witty, and fun read in every single one of their travel destination guides. Completely entertaining, I found myself laughing out loud numerous times.

Small and compact, these babies pack a punch.

Take a quick read from LUXE City Guides’ website, you’ll see why I adore them:

Hello, gorgeous…

For seven years LUXE City Guides has quietly changed the face of travel guides, starting from scratch we re-thought the whole concept of why and how we all travel, of what we need when we get there and most importantly, what we don’t. LUXE is now famous for its super-svelte format, and its take no prisoners attitude, avoiding all the padding, photos, graphics and blah of other guides and getting straight to the meat. The result – ultra-smart travel companions stacked with priceless information for the discerning, value-conscious and busy traveller.

In the notoriously fickle worlds of fashion, food and entertainment other guides are hopelessly out of date even by the time they reach the bookstore shelf. LUXE City Guides are not only updated each year, but come with monthly online updates. So by the time you get to your destination, all you need do is relax, because if it’s not in LUXE, you’re not missing anything. Hyper-opinionated, irreverent, bright and fun to read, whether you have a few hours or a few days, LUXE really is all you need. Oh, and you’ll never hear us refer to our readers as tourists. With LUXE you’re a visitor. It’s a big difference.

LUXE City Guides. Fasten your seatbelt.

With 31 cities in their range covering Asia, America and Europe, each guide is updated yearly with new editions, so you know you are getting the latest and greatest juicy tidbits of info!

To add a cherry on top, they now also offer mobile guides. Yes – they really are a force to be reckoned with.

Want to avoid the touristy celeb-spotting sites and dine where the city’s stylish residents really hang out in Los Angeles? Want perfect cocktails in funky speakeasies in New York? Or perhaps you want to be personally guided through Barcelona’s famous Gaudi architecture by an expert? LUXE City Guides Mobile has got it covered.

With 20 destinations to choose from, they are available for a multitude of handsets including the iPhone, BlackBerry, Sony Ericsson, Nokia and HTC. Additionally, each comes with a year of free updates sent directly to your mobile. A self-updating guide? I know – how easy and simple can they make it?

One of my other favorite offerings are their travel box sets. Totally customizable, you can choose the color of the box, and which of the 31 titles you want to include in it! I have to admit that I love the look of the box set so much, I would love to just put it on my shelf to admire.

With four different colors and sizes to choose from, these boxes are a perfect gift for the jet-setter in your life. Or, you can treat yourself – like I want to do!

Check out www.luxecityguides.com for more information, as well as get a closer look at all their amazing offerings!

Love, K.

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Book Review – City Style: A Field Guide to Global Fashion Capitals

by Kirsten on October 27, 2010

It’s the perfect time of year to curl up with a good book, so it’s my pleasure to introduce you to a great read that is not only fun, but vastly informative for my fellow fashionistas!

CityStyle – A Field Guide to Global Fashion Capitals provides an insiders look to eight of the world’s most fashionable and chic cities. For women who live and breathe fashion and travel, this guide is a must-have for your library. Get the low-down on the great cities of New York, Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo, Stockholm, Sydney, and LA, all in one handy little book.

Never again will you feel lost in finding the hottest locations to shop; whether it be amazing boutiques, vintage finds, or high-end department stores. This book provides the best of the best in fashion research. In addition, there are great interviews with top designers, bloggers, photographers, and other industry experts that all answer the burning question: what makes each city uniquely stylish?

Immediately I was drawn in by the street style photos, giving an insider’s glimpse to each city’s own unique, contemporary styles. In the eight chapters curated by local fashion experts, you can immerse yourself in the most amazing fashion meccas of the world. The layout of the book is awesome – complete with color photos of shops, hip neighborhoods, hot hangouts, and required reading for each city.

Don’t miss the bonus behind-the-scenes info on Copenhagen, Antwerp, Brooklyn and Melbourne!

I do wish that the book covered a few more cities, perhaps those that are not always obvious – but definitely carry their own in the fashion world. San Francisco, Vancouver, Chicago, and more. The list could go and on! Let’s keep our fingers crossed for another version highlighting the lesser known, but equally fabulous, fashion-centric cities!

Pick up a copy of City Style: A Field Guide to Global Fashion Capitals here!

If you pick up a copy in the next four days, you can take 20% off at Borders.com with coupon code “BKP5677C”!!

Love, K.

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Book Review: Based on Availability by Alix Strauss

by Kirsten on September 30, 2010

I had the pleasure of being sent a copy of Alix Strauss’ latest book, Based on Availability, for review. An intricately woven story of the lives of eight women that pass through the famous doors of the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan, I devoured the book in just a few short nights.

Strauss has the ability to capture the lives of these women in a way that makes you feel like you are a friend to each of them. Whether it’s learning how to deal with loneliness, the excitement of a first date, frustrations of a mother-daughter relationship, the perils of drug addiction, dealing with OCD, or the long-lasting periods of grief after the loss of a loved one, each story interconnects beautifully.

Like Struass, I have long had a love-affair with hotels. The art of hospitality is something that so often is dismissed, an afterthought only when we have had superb or perhaps horrible service. We never think of the lives and stories that go into each hotel stay, from the management to the housecleaning – a hotel never goes to sleep.

The Manhattan Four Seasons is an iconic hotel that many only dream of staying at. This book gives you the chance to peak into the lives of those that not only work there, but also the guests that may only stay one night, or those that have come year after year since childhood. Exciting and deep, Strauss captivates her audience throughout every page.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a new author, new fiction novel, or escape from reality. A perfect book for a plane ride, vacation read, or perhaps as an introduction to the world of hospitality – you won’t be disappointed.

Pick up “Based on Availability” by Alix Strauss here from Borders.com!

Love, K.