[koland]

Falling Out Of Fashion, by Karen Yampolsk

Book Description
In the bestselling tradition of The Devil Wears Prada, Karen Yampolsky's hilarious and disarmingly candid debut goes deep inside the glossy, glamorous, and completely ruthless world of magazine publishing, where bitchiness and betrayal are always in vogue, and this month's hotshots are just one dud issue away from a pink slip and a one-line career obit on Page Six...

As a teenager at a prestigious prep school, Jill White studied her roommate's magazines, filled with airbrushed-beyond-recognition photos of whisper-thin blondes who hadn't finished a meal since third grade. She dreamed of one day starting a magazine of her own that would feature women of all sizes and colors ... smart, witty, real women with aspirations beyond tinier thighs and shinier hair.

Flash forward several years and a couple of giant leaps up the career ladder, and Jill has it all. Jill magazine is a huge hit, and her fabulous life comes complete with free designer clothes, an abundance of celeb friends, a shamelessly huge salary, and a framed Time magazine cover in her office featuring her beaming face over the legend, "Jill White, Media Wunderkind." Now that mega-successful Nestrom Media has taken over Jill's parent company, its future should be assured. Jill shares the fifteenth floor of the Nestrom building with illustrious Fashionista magazine, and the Nestrom suits are panting with admiration for both Jill and Jill.

But the ashes from the postcoital cigarette have barely hit the floor before Jill's new bosses start barking about getting ad revenue up and toning down articles like "His penis is not a toy ... or is it?" in favor of fluff pieces with the reality star du jour. What smelled like team spirit devolves into a bitter game of manipulation and backstabbing. With Ellen Cutter, the blond, bland, Bergdorfed CEO of Nestrom Media, and Liz Alexander, Jill's publisher (and Ellen's conniving sidekick) suddenly aligned against Jill, plus a paranoid new managing editor with an addiction to spying, the situation is as grim as the magazine's decidedly unfabulous new offices. Reluctant to jump ship, and equally reluctant to watch as her baby morphs into yet another cheesy rag, Jill fights back, even as Ellen and Liz plot her next move for her. With her name, her creation, and her future all on the line, Jill realizes mean girls don't get left behind in high school ... they grow up and work in publishing.