Sparkgurl is 'Worth Knowing'.

After Lauren Weisberger shot to fame with her first novel ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, you can’t help but wonder if she might just be the one hit wonder type. So yes, I admit it, I was a little wary when I saw her new book ‘Everyone Worth Knowing’ in stores. Curiosity got the better of me, and so here I am.

In ‘Everyone Worth Knowing’, Bette Robinson quits her hellish, but stable and respectable Manhattan banking job without a game plan. After moping around for weeks feeling sorry for her newly unemployed self, her eccentric uncle Will decides it’s time to light a fire under Bette and get her back to work. He suggests she go to work for his friend Kelly, who just happens to be the head of Manhattan’s hottest public relations firm…and coincidently owes Will a favour. Her new job has Bette out all night, every day of the week at the hottest parties and night clubs, where she rubs elbows with Manhattan’s celebrities and lands a famous boyfriend…which in turn, lands her in the gossip columns.

Bette goes from being the ‘new girl’ at Kelly’s PR to the next ‘it girl’ in a matter of weeks and she suddenly finds herself on the fast track to personal and professional train wreck. Reminiscent of that other Weisberger novel.

‘Everyone Worth Knowing’ is a good second attempt from Weisberger and is an entertaining read. It does tend to follow a ‘the Devil Wears Prada’ pattern; good girl lands glamorous job, girl chooses to be true to the job at the risk of her own morals and values, girl has to choose between glamorous job and being true to herself.

This book looses points with me for enforcing the stereotypical representations of public relations as an industry. I happen to know first hand that it isn’t all glitz, glamour and manipulation.

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‘Everyone Worth Knowing’ is written by Lauren Weisberger. For more information on the author or her books, check out her website.


I can’t believe another Monday has come and gone. This past weekend, my boyfriend and I had an absolute blast at my good friend’s engagement party. They’re a gorgeous couple inside and out and I wish them all the best! Next up, I’ll be reviewing ‘Family Baggage’ by Monica McInerney.



Cheers for chick-lit and good champagne!

Sparkgurl goes to rehab.

In a world where rehab has become the next big trend, I thought it would be appropriate to jump on the band wagon. So the Sparkgurl Review is going to rehab! But not in the way you think. So let’s get to it.

In 'Rachel’s Holiday' by Marian Keyes, Rachel Walsh finds herself in all kinds of trouble when she wakes up in the hospital after one wild night in New York City. She’s less than impressed to discover her big sister and brother-in-law have arrived to escort her back to her family in Ireland, where her dad has spent the family savings to save her. Mammy and Dad Walsh waste no time in getting Rachel carted off to the Cloisters Rehab Centre, worried that Rachel’s drug problem will be the end of her. Rachel doesn’t think she has a problem. Doesn’t everyone steal alcohol and cocaine from their boyfriend’s friends? And take an entire bottle of a variety of painkillers when they have a headache?

Keyes builds yet another great group of characters, in Rachel’s fellow ‘inmates’ and her friends and family. And if you’re scratching your head thinking ‘Gee, that family seems awfully familiar’…it’s probably because they are familiar. ‘Rachel’s Holiday’ is yet another one of Keyes’s books that features the Walsh family (in ‘Watermelon’, we met Rachel’s sister, Claire). It’s a great read and probably one of my favourites by Keyes. But a word of warning, if you’re easily offended by drug references, you might want to skip this book.

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‘Rachel’s Holiday’ is written by Marian Keyes. For more information on this book, or any other book by Keyes, visit her website.

Well, TGIF! For someone who spends most of her days curled up on the couch reading a book, I’m not quite sure why I’m so happy that another Friday is upon us. It must be the psychological thing that comes with the promise of another week behind us. Next up, I’ll be reviewing Lauren Weisberger's, of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ fame, ‘Everyone Worth Knowing’.

Cheers for chick lit and Fridays!

Sweet and juicy.

The novel ‘Watermelon’ by Marian Keyes is, like all good chick lit, a great rainy day escape. The book has an unusual premise; marrying two of the most traumatic and life changing moments in a woman’s life; the birth of her first child and the end of her marriage.

Keyes gets stuck in straight away, opening with main character Claire Walsh, resting after giving birth to her daughter, only to get a visit by her narky husband who’s come to tell her he’s moved out of their London flat. And to Claire’s horror, he has taken up with a frumpy house wife, instead of the young, glamorous model-esque type one would hope their husband would leave them for. If your husband’s going to leave you, the least he could do is leave you for someone prettier, younger and skinnier, right?

Claire packs herself and three-day-old baby up to fly home to Ireland, where she tackles adapting to single motherhood with the help of her eccentric family. Keyes is an expert at developing great secondary characters, and Claire’s weird and wacky family really adds depth to this story.

I did find there were a few TMI moments for someone who has not yet given birth, and would say it might be enough to turn you off the whole reproduction thing if you spend too much time thinking about it (like I did!)…but all in all ‘Watermelon’ is a great guilty pleasure book.


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'Watermelon' is written by Marian Keyes. For more information on this book, visit her website.


I took a brief break from reading yesterday to enjoy some ANZAC Day traditions. My boyfriend and I caught the footy game on TV, and then took a trip to UWA's sunken gardens. It was way cool to see all the ANZACs out and about in their uniforms. I can't begin to imagine what it would take to make the decisions they did and go out their to protect their country like that. I don't think I'd have it in me.

Well, that's it for now. Next up, Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes. Yeah, I was on a Keyes kick folks. Her books are addictive, they should come with a surgeon general's warning.

Cheers for chick-lit!

Welcome.

Hello and welcome to the Sparkgurl Review. I'm in the process of getting up and running here.

Look for the first installment of the Sparkgurl Review, where I'll be reviewing the book 'Watermelon' by Marian Keyes.

Cheers.