Sunday, July 26, 2009

Hollywood Is Like High School With Money by Zoey Dean

Amazon.com: 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.

Hollywood Is Like High School With Money was a whole lot of fun for me. Young twenty-something moving to LA to work in the movie business. I mean how could that not be fun! From the beginning I found Taylor relatable, she doesn't show up at her job in designer duds and with the attitude, she actually has to be told how to play the part by a teenage girl so she doesn't accidentally lose her job due to her rival co-worker.

I loved how this book goes behind the scenes of an Creative Executive at a movie studio. From reading over scripts to a meeting with my favorite writer/director Wes Anderson, I ate up all the references to the movie business. I really wanted Taylor to succeed in the business! You could tell she had the passion and her heart was in the right place when she arrived her first day.

I love how the story comes full circle with something from the very beginning of the book (before Taylor starts to become jaded by the movie business) comes back in the end, it's just totally sweet and clever. That really made the book for me. Overall a really fun and funny book!

Hollywood Is Like High School With Money was released July 23rd.
Genre: Chick Lit
4/5 Stars
ARC provided by publisher

9 comments:

  1. Ooh...sounds good! Thanks for the suggestion.

    p.s. Have you read The Queen Geek Social Club? I just finished it, what a neat book!

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  2. You are one of my ultimate YA authorities, so I'm glad to see you liked this. I won a copy of it and look forward to reading it now.

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  3. Karen- I haven't read it but I have it! :D

    Bermudaonion- This one actually isn't a YA but the author mainly writes YA. It's one of two of her "adult" titles, although it could easily fit into the YA category as well!

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  4. This does sound like a good read (adding it my ever-growing wish list).

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  5. Yay! I got this one from the library this week, and all the review I've read are favorable. So excited to read it now!

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  6. I'm pretty sure Zoey Dean also wrote How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls, which I really enjoyed, so I'll definitely have to check this one out as well. :) Thanks!

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  7. Wonderful review! Completely thorough and definitely makes me want to pick it up. I wasn't too sure before. :)

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  8. Anonymous8:55 PM

    The meeting with Wes Anderson pretty much sold me. :P Thanks for the review!

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  9. Jessi- Yup same author!

    towerofbooks- Sadly the main character isn't in the meeting but we still get to hear a little bit about it!

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