Saturday, Jul 11, 2009

Book Review: Hollywood Is Like High School With Money by Zoey Dean

Author:       Zoey Dean

Publisher:    Grand Central/Hachette

ISBN:          978-0-446-69719-4

Website:      HERE

Type:         Fiction:ChickLit/YA

Pages:        288 Trade Paperback

Release:      July 23, 2009

Purchase:    $10.28 @ Amazon.com (HERE)

The Story

“Twenty-four-year old Taylor Henning has just landed her dream job as an assistant at a major movie studio. But when her catty coworkers trick her into almost getting fired, she realizes that the old saying “Hollywood is like school with money” just may be true. The thing is, Taylor wasn’t exactly a social butterfly in high school-how is she supposed to do any better the second time around?

That’s when she meets her boss’s popular sixteen-year-old daughter Quinn, and has an epiphany: maybe this teenager can teach her how to use her queen bee tactics to succeed in the Hollywood popularity contest. Quinn comes up with a plan to teach Taylor one lesson a week-everything from “Fake it ’til you make it” to “It’s *never* your fault”–and soon Taylor finds herself winning the war against rival assistant Kylie. Until, that is, she’s directed to steal Kylie’s boyfriend, and something happens that’s not in the game plan: Taylor falls for the guy. Now she must do the impossible– harness her inner mean girl while staying true to herself.”

(Excerpt is from www.hachette.com)

The Review  

Apparently, Zoey Dean is quite a popular writer.  She is the author of Privileged the popular A-List series, which I have not had the pleasure of reading.  Despite this author’s popularity, I was unable to find a picture of the author to include in my post… I think this is only the second time that I’ve run into that dilemma.  So, to the popular, yet elusive Zoey Dean… writer of YA ChickLit… here’s my review…

Now, I’m not going to go completely crazy, gushing about how fantastic this book is.  But, and this is a BIG BUT, I really did enjoy reading it.  I zipped through it in a couple of hours and immersed myself in this tale of popularity and heartache in Hollywood. (*what else?*)  I found this Young Adult book a fun read… but, I don’t think it’s quite appropriate for teenagers.  Rather, I’d see this as a good novel for college-age gals and up. 

Nothing stunning or brain-twisting here, folks.  The plot was predictable and the heroine makes the typical love mistakes.  But, I need a fun escape in my summer reading schedule.  Too many heavy books make Sheri a very cranky girl!

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:” 

Admittedly, I’m a bit older than the “target audience” for this book.  Despite that, I had my girly afternoon lost in a story of mean co-workers, slimy guys, funky roommates, and token gay boyfriends.  It was.. simply.. fun.  This book gets my rating, genre: Fiction:ChickLit/YA, a 7 OUT OF 10.  If you are spending the day at the pool… or if you’ve just read too many heavy books… grab this read and get gossipy for a couple of hours! 

My heartfelt thanks to Miriam and Hachette for this fun read. 

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