Fans of The Devil Wears Prada will adore this volume of fashionista lit.
Unfortunately saddled with a name reminiscent of a traffic light, Amber Green longs to work in the fashion industry, but when stylist-to-the-stars Mona Armstrong sweeps into her life, she gets far more than she bargained for.
Working as a window dresser in a high-end London shop, Amber is just starting her career, and she depends on ultrathin, ultraexperienced Kiki, aka The Stick, for guidance. So when Amber accidentally leaves mismatched shoes on the mannequins, which surprisingly delights Mona Armstrong, The Stick is rightfully outraged that newbie Amber lands the job helping Mona style Jennifer Astley (an elegant A-list movie star) and Beau Belle (the latest “screen siren”) for the Golden Globes. Once in LA, however, Amber is in way over her head, as Mona descends into pill-popping, alcohol-swigging neglect of her clients. Drawing upon her wealth of experience in the fashion magazine industry, including a decade as editor-in-chief for Hello! magazine, Nixon has crafted a debut novel prime for filming. From gorgeous designer dresses for glamorous-yet-high-maintenance celebrity clients to the sheer toil of making those celebrities shine, not to mention the seamy underside of tabloid gossip, Nixon handily rigs the stage with possible obstacles in Amber’s path to success. Within moments of her first visit, hippie-Barbie Beau Belle has bamboozled naïve Amber into lying to Beau’s fiance and babysitting her micropig, Pinky. From there, Amber realizes she must use her own wits to survive and keep Mona’s business afloat. Meanwhile, Amber’s own interests have been piqued by not only Rob, a handsome filmmaker working on a reality TV show about Mona, but also Liam, a dashing actor. If anyone can handle the chaos of awards season, it’s Amber. And a lot of free pink champagne will help, too.
Fans of The Devil Wears Prada will adore this volume of fashionista lit.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-285644-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
