Clare Naylor

No political science degree could ever prepare Elizabeth Miller for her new job as a second assistant at The Agency, whose clients include everyone you’ve never met—but you know who they’re sleeping with. A former congressional intern in Washington, Lizzie made a bid for a life change that landed her a job a world away, where ethics and First Amendment debates take a backseat to pleading the Fifth for Ritalin-snorting boss Scott Wagner. He’s the hottest young agent in Hollywood, who show more devotes his days to playing online poker—that is, when he’s not closing a $30 million deal for one of his AAA-list clients. And while getting six-hundred-dollar highlights from Cameron’s colorist or organizing the strippers for George’s birthday party come close to causing heart failure for this East Coast girl, the real dangers lurk elsewhere.
But Lizzie is a survivor, and no Machiavellian assistant, lecherous producer, or power struggle at The Agency can douse her nascent dreams of climbing up the Hollywood ladder. But first she has to run down to the Coffee Bean to pick up that triple espresso, or Scott is going to throw something.... show less

Amy is your typical chicklit heroine - she works as an assistant for British Vogue, which is far less glamorous than it sounds considering much of her time is spent ironing. She lives with two overly obnoxious jealous ex-best-friends who keep up appearances just to snipe at her good fortune or misfortune whichever is handy.

Luckily for her, her friend Lucinda is quite lovely - always able to help out in a fashion crisis, witty and understanding. And even more luckily - through Lucinda, Amy show more gets to meet the gorgeous up-and-coming film star Orlando Rock. Orlando is a sweet, everyday guy underneath and Amy's goofing around with him like a normal guy steals his heart. But Amy (like most of us) has a desire to show off her newest conquest and become a darling of the paparazzi - the very thing that Orlando has tried desperately to avoid. So the big question is limelight or love?

This novel is typical chicklit - lighthearted and funny, full of designer names and the doings of the rich and the famous, so we can all live vicariously in a romance with [insert your favorite film star] who just wants an ordinary life and so falls for ordinary us. I loved the scene in Conran Shop when they come up with all sorts of silly fantasy worlds in which to use random items - who hasn't done that when they were young, infatuated and high on life? And who could forget that giddy feeling which is so beautifully evoked here? And who wouldn't want to relive it?

But the rest of the novel is nothing really special. I found the narrator's asides and comments to the audience on the characters distracting and a bit too smug. And after those first few memorable encounters, the relationship between Orlando and Amy isn't really developed. I felt like they got to 'I love you' without quite enough in between. But still, it was a charming story with a charming hero, and a heroine who acted like a completely believable moron. And got over it.

Cute, fun read, but not something that demands to be kept. show less

It wasn't entirely the book's fault I didn't finish it: I made it to page 254 before I left on a trip that I could not take this hardcover along. I was pushing myself to finish but, truth be told, after a book of different characters, I no longer felt compelled to find out what happened to the characters, whether the movie would be made, etc. I think I would rather move on to my next book than return to this one.

I am lucky in that the problems with structure that led to this book's downfall show more showed me flaws in my own debut novel, so I could look at it with a different eye. I felt the trouble with this book was actually the abundance of "Hollywood stories": there was such a strong concentration of the bizarre "look at this different culture" stories that led nowhere, little to no connection to later plot, that when I hit the 100-page mark - the classic goalpost to decide whether to continue - there was no establishment in the story (other than setting, of course) and very little in the character. I hadn't developed any interest or sympathy yet. If I hadn't been so interested in figuring out what was wrong with the structure and curious as to "does this book ever tell a story or does it just whine about how bad Hollywood is?" I would not have continued.

Why the higher star rating? It's only meant to be a silly little beach read, so how good does it have to be? While I missed the story in the beginning, these asides were amusing. The authors can write a sentence (surprisingly not always a requirement to be published nowadays) and put together some simple humour. Part of my problem, I will admit, is that I am a slow reader so 100 pages represents a fair time investment for me, so I want return fairly quickly; I know a lot of readers (including one I live with) who wouldn't mind a little more digression before the story. When I stopped reading, there were at least 3 plot lines going, I suspected I saw the course (as one usually does in chick lit) and it was cute. There are much better chick kits, I would not go out of my way for this one. However, if you find it in the hotel's "library" or the public library, it is an easy way to pass the time. show less

It wasn't entirely the book's fault I didn't finish it: I made it to page 254 before I left on a trip that I could not take this hardcover along. I was pushing myself to finish but, truth be told, after a book of different characters, I no longer felt compelled to find out what happened to the characters, whether the movie would be made, etc. I think I would rather move on to my next book than return to this one.

I am lucky in that the problems with structure that led to this book's downfall show more showed me flaws in my own debut novel, so I could look at it with a different eye. I felt the trouble with this book was actually the abundance of "Hollywood stories": there was such a strong concentration of the bizarre "look at this different culture" stories that led nowhere, little to no connection to later plot, that when I hit the 100-page mark - the classic goalpost to decide whether to continue - there was no establishment in the story (other than setting, of course) and very little in the character. I hadn't developed any interest or sympathy yet. If I hadn't been so interested in figuring out what was wrong with the structure and curious as to "does this book ever tell a story or does it just whine about how bad Hollywood is?" I would not have continued.

Why the higher star rating? It's only meant to be a silly little beach read, so how good does it have to be? While I missed the story in the beginning, these asides were amusing. The authors can write a sentence (surprisingly not always a requirement to be published nowadays) and put together some simple humour. Part of my problem, I will admit, is that I am a slow reader so 100 pages represents a fair time investment for me, so I want return fairly quickly; I know a lot of readers (including one I live with) who wouldn't mind a little more digression before the story. When I stopped reading, there were at least 3 plot lines going, I suspected I saw the course (as one usually does in chick lit) and it was cute. There are much better chick kits, I would not go out of my way for this one. However, if you find it in the hotel's "library" or the public library, it is an easy way to pass the time. show less