BOOK REVIEW- The Second Assistant by Clare Naylor and Mimi Hare

Many young women dream of moving to Hollywood, working for a top movie mogul, and mixing with famous actors and high-flyers in the film world day-in, day-out.  But Elizabeth Miller, aka: The Second Assistant, isn't one of them.  A down-on-her-luck political campaigner, she meets a Hollywood big-wig at a Washington party and, thinking she has nothing to lose, flies to L.A and lands a new job-  approximately 2650 miles out of her comfort zone...

After her first task, sorting drawing pins into piles (throwing away the coloured ones, of course!) it becomes clear that the Stephen Spielberg biography Elizabeth read on the plane isn't going to be adequate preparation for this crazy new world.  However, after a lot of ups and downs, she slowly starts to realise she likes the town, even making a new friend or two and finding a man she likes (can she make him her boyfriend? Read it to find out!) and she even becomes inured to the craziness of Hollywood...

"There are things that I know are not normal but since I became involved with Hollywood, I now cease to bat an eyelid at. They are:  Men who wear mascara in between eyelash dyes, the sign in the bathroom of my office that says 'smoking and vomiting prohibited'... women who take fertility drugs even though they don't have a boyfriend..."

You get the picture.  The authors have both lived and worked in Hollywood themselves, and so this is another Devil Wears Prada "snitch-lit" -type novel.  I think this one is a bit of a broader farce than DWP, or The Nanny Diaries for that matter- but then truth is stranger than fiction and we are talking about Hollywood, so who can be sure??!

I have to admit I was a little disappointed with some aspects of the story.  Elizabeth goes through so much at the start of the book, finding it hard to adjust and dealing with all the bitchiness and competitiveness of the film world, that I thought she'd have a typical 'rags to riches' Hollywood ending (this is one of those rare cases where the authors could have made that seem realistic!)- but she doesn't.  It's not a terrible tragic ending or anything, but I was left wanting more.  I can only assume that was to whet readers' appetites for the sequel which  I hope will tie up all the loose ends.  But even though I love this type of book, I can't help wondering... how many more of them do we need?

Still, this is an easy-to-read  insight into another (fascinating) world, with an intelligent protagonist,  and it's all the more enjoyable if, like me, you choose to assume that a lot of it is based on real events!

Rating: 3 out of 5

Like this? Try You'll Never Nanny in this town Again by Suzanne Hansen, The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger.

*DID YOU KNOW?*  Uma Thurman was set to film Mimi Hare and Clare Naylor's script, The Accidental Husband in 2004, but it never happened.  (Fodder for their next book, perhaps?!)

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