For Ashling Kennedy, the new job she lands at start-up Irish fashion
magazine Colleen is a dream come true. For Lisa Edwards, a
high-maintenance London editor expecting a promotion to New York, her
appointment as editor-in-chief of Colleen is a slap in the face, the
only consolation being her rumpled-but-handsome new boss, Jack Devine.
Furious at being passed up for a job at Manhattan magazine, Lisa vows
to make Colleen the envy of the fashion industry, even if it kills her.
She drives her Dublin staff to exhaustion, and Colleen becomes a
smashing success. But after a particularly lusty meeting with her
much-maligned long-distance London boyfriend, she wonders if the move
and the single-minded career obsession have been worth it. Meanwhile,
Ashling is betrayed by her boyfriend and her best friend Clodagh, whose
bourgeois domesticity she's long envied. Ashling realizes that she has
to let go of her cheerful "Miss Fix-It" demeanor and go after what she
wants. Lisa is chagrined and Ashling is shocked to learn that Jack may
actually fancy Ashling, but one "sushi for beginners" dinner has her
convinced. British bestseller Keyes's latest confection (after
Watermelon) makes such a painfully brittle start the reader nearly
despairs of the cardboard cutout characters, but slowly they begin to
breathe and morph into charmers. Keyes's considerable following on
these shores will declare this a delight.
Set in the glitzy world of a high-fashion magazine with a detour
through the madcap comedy club circuit, this book has its hand and
heart on the pulse of young Dublin singles and marrieds who aspire to
be successful, wealthy, and happy.