REVIEW: PARTY GIRL by RACHEL HOLLIS

Genre: Women's Fic/Chick Lit
Publisher: Chic Publishing
Publication Date: 2/14/14
Format: eARC 
Source: Author
Rating: 4 stars

Landon Brinkley is making her dreams come true. After years of poring over glossy photos of celebrity parties in People and US Weekly, she’s landed her Holy Grail: an internship with the fabulous Selah Smith, event planner to the Hollywood elite.

Moving from small town Texas to Los Angeles, Landon finds herself in a world in which spending a million dollars on an event – even for kids’ birthdays – is de rigueur. The thrill of working on A-list parties and celeb weddings is enough to get her through the 75-hour workweeks, the nightmare of a multi-day film festival, and abuse at the hands of a mercurial boss. LA is full of opportunity for fame, fortune and even love. But confronted with the seamy realities of the business, she is forced to make a choice: do whatever it takes to get ahead, or stay true to herself.

A roman a clef in the vein of The Devil Wears Prada, PARTY GIRL draws on the author’s real life experience for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the celebrity-obsessed world of event planning. From the party habits of America’s favorite underage singer to the worst Bridezilla of all (the kind that graces the cover of your favorite magazine), PARTY GIRL reveals the ugly side of Hollywood’s prettiest parties.

First Impression... Cute cover. This does have a very strong The Devil Wears Prada vibe, and I'm curious to see if I can guess where the author uses real-life experiences.

The Story... Party Girl is heavily based on the authors own experiences as a newcomer to Los Angeles and jumping right into the world of event planning. Her first job is as an intern for the well-reputed (and secretly evil) Selah Smith. If you've read/seen TDWP or similar tales, then you can probably guess how this will go. This job is ruthless, and with the exception of a few, no one makes this easy for Landon. But through sheer force of will, she slowly begins to succeed. As she works her way up, Landon begins to see the ugly side to the business. She must eventually decide whether the chance of a lifetime is worth the heartache and ethical choices she is forced to make.

The Characters...  As someone who could probably never, ever do that, I'm curious to see how Landon fares. She was a very likeable character, saccharine sweet at heart, but with a spine of steel. Landon is focused on her goals, and even a handsome, charming guy (or two) won't sway her. I admired that

Party Girl also contains a great cast of secondary characters. Landon's roommate Max and coworker Miko were two favorites. I love seeing you and successful women coming together instead of trying to tear one another down. The boss/villain, Selah, was appropriately awful. And the guys, there were two men in Party Girl I really liked, Taylor and Brody. Both were handsome, nice, and seemed to genuinely care about Landon, so of course I was thinking LOVE TRIANGLE. And though I do not hate love triangles, I was happy to see that was not the case.

The Writing... Party Girl is Hollis's first novel, and I was happy to quickly realize that I would, in fact, like it. The story, and characters, was very charming. You can just feel the heart Hollis put into Party Girl, and I'm guessing she had a great time writing it. The story had good focus, as well. And obviously, I spent a huge amount of time guessing which celebrities may have inspired the clients and events in the story.

In the End... Party Girl was a lot of fun, and a very quick read. Landon was such a winsome character, and I couldn't help but to be drawn in by her infectious enthusiasm for the journey ahead. The story made me smile, swoon a little, seethe in anger, and the ending was just really, really great.


Favorite Quote:

  "It couldn't be the usual date, because you're different." He says softly.
  His tone only makes me more confused. I search desperately for something to keep myself from embarrassing myself further, and settle on rubbing my hands together in front of the heating vent. I'm watching my hands rub back and forth nervously when Brody grabs one, bringing my fingers to his lips, and kisses them sweetly.
  "Landon," he says my name like a caress "it had to be something different, because everything feels different with you."
  I'm stunned by what he says and when I smile stupidly over at him in shock he leans over quickly and kisses the grin off my face.

Purchase Links

Amazon 

 

 

About the author

Rachel Hollis founded the LA-based event planning firm Chic Events at only 21. Six years later Inc. Magazine named her one of the Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30. She went on to turn Chic into the extremely popular lifestyle website The Chic where readers log in daily for the tips and tricks she acquired after years of planning fancy parties for celebrities!

She has designed and produced fabulous events for many of Hollywood's elite including Bradley Cooper, Al Gore, Rashida Jones, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ivanka Trump, Jamie King, Sara Rue and Cuba Gooding Jr… just a name a few.

Rachel grew up in a big loud Okie family. Daddy was a Pentecostal minister and Mama was the church pianist… and PS, she knows the words to all the old-timey hymns in case you want to break into three-part harmony later.

She moved to Los Angeles to go to college and promptly met a boy named David who was as handsome as he was funny. First she made that boy her best friend, and then she made him my husband. 10 years later they have three equally handsome/hilarious little boys named Jackson, Sawyer, and Ford. They live in LA where they spend their time doing super cool/sexy things like going to soccer practice and hitting up any restaurant where kids eat free with the purchase of an adult entrée.

Website  |  Twitter  |  GoodReads