CHASING HARRY WINSTON
Lauren Weisberger
Simon & Schuster
Fiction
ISBN: 9780743290111

• Read an Excerpt

Ah, summer. Give me the hot sun, some form of water nearby (lucky me, I'm a mile from the ocean), my trusty sand chair and a stack of good beach books. Nothing says summer or beach book to me like a good chick-lit novel --- and thanks to Lauren Weisberger, author of THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, one is here. CHASING HARRY WINSTON is one of those warm weather reads good enough to take you out of yourself for a while and into the fabulous lives of pretty, young, up-and-coming Manhattanites.

Meet Emmy, Leigh and Adriana, three fast friends from college now approaching their 30th (gasp!) birthdays and living what to most eyes would be downright awesome lives, but to them are just not satisfying. Leigh is practically engaged to the “perfect man” --- a sports anchor on a pseudo-ESPN who lives in a way modern loft featured in a style magazine and who likes to cuddle. The guy is perfect! But is he perfect for her? She has her doubts but easily puts them on the back burner so she can continue climbing the ladder in the editorial world. In the middle of the novel she skips several rungs and finds herself representing a very well-known author whose next long-awaited book has been dropped in her lap. Apparently, editing a book requires lots of time spent on a gorgeous Hamptons estate. Unfortunately, her inexperience leaves her unable to truly edit the ultra-sexy Jesse Chapman’s latest, and poorly written, novel.

Emmy was dating (for years) who she thought was the perfect man for her but who dumps her in the book’s first pages for a younger woman. In fact, he was a personal trainer whose services she paid for as a birthday present. Too soon, it becomes obvious that for Emmy the perfect man is going to be whoever she envisions having children with, because that's what it’s all about. The day before her 30th birthday, during her annual OB/GYN exam, she even asks her doctor if she should start thinking about harvesting eggs. Luckily, the big breakup compels her to finally accept a promotion at the restaurant she works at (one of those celebrity chef chain types), and she quickly becomes a glamorous jetsetter traveling the world, checking up on other franchises, researching possible locations and scouting out new food trends on an unbelievably generous expense account.

All this traveling requires that she foist her pet parrot (technically the pet of another ex-boyfriend) onto friend #3, latino socialite Adriana. This is the friend with no job but a trust fund/expense account who lives in her parents’ penthouse since they only visit once or twice a year when they aren't in London, Dubai or Rio. She is indescribably beautiful and gets everything she wants because of it --- and most of what she wants is one-night-stand sex. Adriana takes on the challenge of the parrot, Otis, whose favorite phrase is “Fattie!”

Over a night of cocktails in a very hip bar, the girls make a pact to drastically change their lives over the course of the next year. Adriana vows to have a meaningful relationship with just one man. Emma must use her new world-traveler status to begin sleeping with random men with no thought of babies. And as for Leigh, no one can think of anything for her to put on the line, so she gets a pass to sit back and watch.

As the book progresses, the reader observes each character struggle between her pact to drastically change her life and yet be true to her own self. Yes, there is random, hot sex. There are beautiful men and clothes, lessons learned and loves lost. When finished, you'll heave a big sigh, rub your finger over the three embossed diamond rings on the cover and remember where you really are. Which is on the beach (hopefully), enjoying the summer and loving the fact that you’re a girl.

    --- Reviewed by Jamie Layton

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