Blind Submission

This first novel from Debra Ginsberg has an intriguing premise. Angel Robinson joins a literary agency as assistant to the legendary Lucy Fiamma, a soul sister to The Devil Wears Prada's Miranda Priestley. As she learns to deal with Lucy's outrageous demands and her own crumbling personal life, Angel discovers she has a flair for spotting and refining talent. And then an anonymous manuscript appears and everything changes.

I liked it at first. The characters are distinctive enough, the plot moves along and the milieu is fascinating. I was just going to read the first chapter, and some time later realized that I was half way through the book. Oh well. Guess I'll have to finish it.

Only I didn't. Soon after that, I tripped over an Obligatory Sex Scene, which bores me to death, so I lost interest, and took a peek at the end to see whodunnit. Resolution achieved.

But this chick lit subgenre is getting old for me. The Nanny Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, two or three Hollywood versions, clone each other too much. Energetic young thing takes a demanding job from an over-the-top boss, loses or nearly loses everything, then pulls it together and triumphs in the end, or gets fired, parting ways from Devil Boss Lady (usually), who continues wreaking her satanic will on hapless subordinates, but at least not on Our Heroine. Meh.

I'm done with this genre.