JANE SEYMOUR'S GUIDE TO ROMANTIC LIVING

by Jane Seymour ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 1986

The first tip-off that this is no run-of-the-mill actress's advice book filled with sweaty self-improvement schemes is the cover, which depicts a bejeweled Seymour gazing enigmatically into the camera as a swan floats by in the background. And if the cover evokes a time when stars were expected to lead glamorous, unreal lives, just wait until you get to what's inside. The book begins: ""One day standing in the shower, newly pregnant with my second baby and just finished with my latest film, I wondered, Now what?"" The nearly 200 pages that follow are a desultory mix of advice, reminiscence, and philosophy. We read about how Seymour adds romantic touches to her modern home in Los Angeles and her 15th-century estate in England, the time her husband surprised her with a ring at the bottom of her glass of Perrier, the time she surprised him by ""kidnapping"" him from his office for a holiday in Mexico--and so on. The highlights here are her ideas for raising a romantic child. Apparently, her definition of a ""romantic"" child is one that is happy, well-loved and full of wonder. Instead of pouring her energy into raising high-achieving, highly pressured super-babies, Seymour puts considerable planning into events intended to foster a child's individuality and imagination. Some of Seymour's well-meaning counsel sounds slightly impractical, given that her own hassles consist of dealing with nannies and traveling to remote film locations. The tone of her advice falls somewhere between the old, earnestly goofy self-help hints from the stars that used to be printed in Photoplay and the chic silliness of Diana Vreeland's pronouncements.

Pub Date: Oct. 20, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION