When Amber Green (!) becomes an assistant to stylist
extraordinaire Mona Armstrong for the approaching and highly-publicized award
season she can’t believe her luck. The stars, the glitz, the glamour, what more
can a girl working at a trendy boutique in London want? A lot, as it turns out.
Before she even has time to breathe, Amber is caught in the middle of her boss’
crazy antics—not to mention putting up with the excessive demands of the
Beautiful and not so Beautiful People—and it’s up to her to save the day. Or
can she?
If you think Rosie Nixon’s THE STYLIST (2016, Mira) is a knockoff of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA by Lauren Weisberger
you may have a thing here. Both books have the same vibes (the fashion world, a
demanding boss, multitask challenges…) and both books deliver. THE STYLIST even more so since the characters are less one-dimensional, including self-absorbed
Mona who contrary to PRADA’s Miranda is just a little pest with a heart deeply
buried somewhere. This Amber Green person is one tough cookie, though, as she goes
from one pre-award ceremony to the next dressing up A-listers while her celebrity
boss is again MIA. Her first person account of the hectic journey is filled
with funny tidbits, impossible situations, and ultimately tender moments as
cupid dares to show himself in the form of an assistant director who’s filming
it all for the purpose of a pilot reality TV show. Good stuff.
I admit, I went ahead and read this novel because of
my soon-to-be involvement with its sequel via NetGalley. Indeed, a review of
AMBER GREEN TAKES MANHATTAN is hitting this blog very soon and I just couldn’t
do so without getting to know its well-received prequel. Being the escapist
fiction guru that I am, however, I had a pretty good hunch that THE STYLIST was going to be exactly my cup
of tea. I was right on the money. The author clearly succeeds in making her own
a variation on the same theme and I applaud her for that. I look forward to
reading her follow-up and post my thoughts on it. Hope you’ll be along for the
ride.
You can still get this title wherever digital or conventional books are sold (mostly in the UK).
Until next post—Martin
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