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A review by bookishheather
Veronika Layne Gets the Scoop by Julia Park Tracey
3.0
Chick lit isn't really my thing. Heck, fiction isn't even really my thing. The sex and romance-focused bits may have made me roll my eyes, but there's a lot to like about Veronika Layne Gets the Scoop!
Veronika is a young professional who regularly compares her moral compass compass to how she's paying the bills. She's a more tattooed version of me, making breakfasts with Field Roast vegan sausage and biking her way around town. Veronika finds herself assigned to the senior citizen and pet beat for a syndicate of "community" papers, but she's sitting on a big story. A story that will not please one of her employer's advertisers.
The main story doesn't go exactly where you think it will, which keeps it engaging. Along Veronika's journey readers get a peek into a journalist's life, corporate media issues, SF bay area history, tribal issues, and more. In the last several pages, I felt anxious along with Veronika as she tried to piece together some crucial information, with formerly cooperative sources suddenly shutting her out. At a certain point I was convinced she was going to quit her job and start a new independent paper—empty bank account be damned. (She doesn't.)
Sprinkled between the more interesting themes listed above, there were also some sex scenes and romance stuff. Because how could chick lit be categorized as such without these? But at least this chick lit was far smarter and well-written than Bridget Jones's Diary or other passages I've read and then retched so hard I couldn't continue reading.
I would totally ride bikes with Veronika Layne.
Veronika is a young professional who regularly compares her moral compass compass to how she's paying the bills. She's a more tattooed version of me, making breakfasts with Field Roast vegan sausage and biking her way around town. Veronika finds herself assigned to the senior citizen and pet beat for a syndicate of "community" papers, but she's sitting on a big story. A story that will not please one of her employer's advertisers.
The main story doesn't go exactly where you think it will, which keeps it engaging. Along Veronika's journey readers get a peek into a journalist's life, corporate media issues, SF bay area history, tribal issues, and more. In the last several pages, I felt anxious along with Veronika as she tried to piece together some crucial information, with formerly cooperative sources suddenly shutting her out. At a certain point I was convinced she was going to quit her job and start a new independent paper—empty bank account be damned. (She doesn't.)
Sprinkled between the more interesting themes listed above, there were also some sex scenes and romance stuff. Because how could chick lit be categorized as such without these? But at least this chick lit was far smarter and well-written than Bridget Jones's Diary or other passages I've read and then retched so hard I couldn't continue reading.
I would totally ride bikes with Veronika Layne.