Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Book Review: Savvy Girl by Lynn Messina

Between my junior and senior years of high school I attended a journalism camp and won a position as a teen columnist for the Dayton Daily News. Every month during my senior year I was given an assignment and a deadline. Things went great at first, but towards the end of the school year, the pressures of school got to me, and I missed a deadline. Uh oh, and bye, bye job!

In Savvy Girl, Chrissy has won an internship at her favorite magazine – Savvy – and a chance to become their teen columnist for a year. All she has to do is turn her first column in on time (well, and beat out the other interns). But instead of working on her column, Chrissy gets caught up in the glamorous life of going to parties and hanging out with beauty editor and former model Jessica. Will she buckle down and set her priorities straight before it’s too late?

Savvy Girl is a quick read and gives an fascinating inside look at the magazine world (Author Lynn Messina used to work at In Style among other publications) and the life of a lowly intern (yep, a lot of time spent stuffing envelopes). The wisdom it imparts on the way the working world works is perfect for newbies and teens (but maybe not that relevant to older readers).

As a character study though, it didn’t quite work for me. Chrissy is an eager overachiever who finds herself in over her head in the Savvy world, but I didn’t feel like I really got inside her head. Supporting characters like a best friend whose parents are divorcing, a hot intern at another magazine, and a potential love interest for her best friend are even more elusive.

Savvy Girl is out now in paperback.

3 comments:

Lana said...

Sounds like fun, especially now when so much pop culture is so focused on fashion. I might pick it up as an after-school read for those brain-fried days :-)

Ladytink_534 said...

I read her book Fashionistas but I didn't really love it. Savvy Girl sounds really similar to the plot too.

Amy said...

I've enjoyed Lynn Messina's books in the past, I'll check it out thanks for the review.