Finished Ten Girls to Watch by Charity Shumway. I received a copy from the publisher on Edelweiss.
Dawn West is currently just scraping by as a writer. She works (under a pen name) as a lawn care expert, even though she doesn’t really know much about it. (Turns out there are books for everything!) Then she gets an awesome temp assignment: find out what happened to all the winners of Charm Magazine’s 10 Girls to Watch. Some have gone on to achieve high levels of fame (including an Oprah-like talk show host and media mogul) but most are relatively anonymous—doing great things but not necessarily household names.
Meanwhile, she also meets a columnist at the magazine, a very cute guy who does their “Secret Agent Romance” column…
This is a ridiculously fun book. It has great things to say about women throughout the ages and what it’s like to be just starting out in the world, granted, but it’s also a complete joy to read.
This is actually one of my favorite books to read, the ones that are so true but that are still lighthearted and just…well, fun.
I completely overidentified with Dawn, although our situations aren’t that similar. Yes, we are both trying to prove ourselves but I at least have the luxury of a full-time job. I can’t even imagine how scary it would be to have a temp job, knowing that you only have a definite paycheck for a few months.
The time she spends talking to the past winners were my favorite parts of the book. There’s a great deal of wisdom in those sections. But the other really fun parts, obviously, are the ones between Dawn and Elliot (Mr. Secret Agent Romance). Love stories make me happy.
This is a light, sweet summer read that is almost guaranteed to make you happy.
Recommended.
