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ruby_kitsune's review
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A fun read that delved into the struggles of working in fashion and in tech. If you love "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Princess Diaries" I feel like this will be the book for you. There were some things that irked me about this book, if you really struggle with naive protagonists and/or secondhand embarrassment this is probably not for you, but despite that I did have a lot of fun with this. The audiobook was well done, and I definitely want to read more from Kyla Zhao.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual harassment, and Sexism
Moderate: Body shaming, Racism, and Fatphobia
Minor: Infertility
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
I thought this was an enjoyable enough coming-of-age story about Zoe, who leaves Manhattan, New York to take a new job in Silicon Valley, California to work for a tech start up FitPick (where the public votes on your outfits, sounds like my personal nightmare!). She was in Manhattan for four years, feeling stuck in her job, living in a shoebox apartment with roommates, and not getting any closer to becoming the fashion writer she had aspired to be when she was a doe-eyed newbie to NYC.
I enjoyed her arc and the tying together of fashion and the Silicon Valley startup world. It felt authentic enough (I'm from Silicon Valley and btw, there's no specific "town" called Silicon Valley, it's just an area, mostly referring to the South Bay in my opinion lol), and I appreciated that Zoe had a bit of a romantic subplot too! Mostly, I was pulled in by the commentary on body positivity and diversity, especially when it comes to the fashion world. The erasure of fat models in fashion is wild, and I'd generally just like to see diversity of all kinds of bodies in fashion, and represented across media everywhere.
Overall, sometimes the writing felt a bit too forced (I thought multiple times, "do people really speak like this?" and I'm surrounded by engineers sooooo I feel like I'd know?) or too perfect if that makes sense. However, I'd still read another book by the author, especially since I think she is local to the bay area.
cw: misogyny, sexual harassment, fatphobia, diet culture/what I call a religion of thinness lol, sexism
I thought this was an enjoyable enough coming-of-age story about Zoe, who leaves Manhattan, New York to take a new job in Silicon Valley, California to work for a tech start up FitPick (where the public votes on your outfits, sounds like my personal nightmare!). She was in Manhattan for four years, feeling stuck in her job, living in a shoebox apartment with roommates, and not getting any closer to becoming the fashion writer she had aspired to be when she was a doe-eyed newbie to NYC.
I enjoyed her arc and the tying together of fashion and the Silicon Valley startup world. It felt authentic enough (I'm from Silicon Valley and btw, there's no specific "town" called Silicon Valley, it's just an area, mostly referring to the South Bay in my opinion lol), and I appreciated that Zoe had a bit of a romantic subplot too! Mostly, I was pulled in by the commentary on body positivity and diversity, especially when it comes to the fashion world. The erasure of fat models in fashion is wild, and I'd generally just like to see diversity of all kinds of bodies in fashion, and represented across media everywhere.
Overall, sometimes the writing felt a bit too forced (I thought multiple times, "do people really speak like this?" and I'm surrounded by engineers sooooo I feel like I'd know?) or too perfect if that makes sense. However, I'd still read another book by the author, especially since I think she is local to the bay area.
cw: misogyny, sexual harassment, fatphobia, diet culture/what I call a religion of thinness lol, sexism
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Fatphobia, Sexism, and Sexual harassment
ejmealer's review against another edition
funny
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
What started out as a great slice-of-life novel on an aspect of society most people don't think twice about, ended flat and rushed. There are gaps in the story timeline that were great opportunities to further develop secondary characters and their relationship to the main, or to bring more vibrancy to the settings, but they were left empty. I am hopeful it is more due to sections being removed for the ARC than it being the finished product.
Pros: Great cast of diversity, with well-done humorous moments; brought the behind-the-scenes of fashion into the spotlight and also showed how art and science can merge into a beautiful product; so, so lovely to have the romance as a minor plot point and not the main focus; nods to real-life people such as Courtney Quinn of the Color Me Courtney/Magic brands; the way some of the food scenes were described created intrigue and a desire to try the foods or find a location similar to the novel; a moment that could go very badly for the main does not happen and it was nice to have a harassments acknowledgement without the actual scene. Overall an excellent break between heavier reads or in life moments that are just hard.
Cons: The aforementioned plot jumps really snap the reader out of the flow of story and force a reorientation to the timeline; some of the moments for character development or reconciliation don't happen; a depressive spiral comes across trivialized and invalidated; there was enough lead-up to the harassment scene [which again, does not happen!] it was a bit stressful and for other humans might be too much without warning.
Pros: Great cast of diversity, with well-done humorous moments; brought the behind-the-scenes of fashion into the spotlight and also showed how art and science can merge into a beautiful product; so, so lovely to have the romance as a minor plot point and not the main focus; nods to real-life people such as Courtney Quinn of the Color Me Courtney/Magic brands; the way some of the food scenes were described created intrigue and a desire to try the foods or find a location similar to the novel; a moment that could go very badly for the main does not happen and it was nice to have a harassments acknowledgement without the actual scene. Overall an excellent break between heavier reads or in life moments that are just hard.
Cons: The aforementioned plot jumps really snap the reader out of the flow of story and force a reorientation to the timeline; some of the moments for character development or reconciliation don't happen; a depressive spiral comes across trivialized and invalidated; there was enough lead-up to the harassment scene [which again, does not happen!] it was a bit stressful and for other humans might be too much without warning.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual harassment and Misogyny
Manipulation, depression
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