Hollywood Is Like High School with Money

by Zoey Dean

Book Overview

Twenty-four-year old Taylor Henning has just landed her dream job as an assistant at a major movie studio. But when her catty coworkers trick her into almost getting fired, she realizes that the old saying "Hollywood is like school with money" just may be true. The thing is, Taylor wasn't exactly a social butterfly in high school-how is she supposed to do any better the second time around?

That's when she meets her boss's popular sixteen-year-old...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446697192
• ISBN13: 9780446697194
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Cute And Hilerous

My Thoughts: I read the book description of this book and thought I would like it. I like to read about the Hollywood scene and it seemed like a fun book I'd enjoy. And boy was I right! We meet Taylor who comes from a small town to Hollywood. She just wants to make movies and succeed. She wants to enjoy what she is doing. She has had a penpal for years now, but he has never written her back! She keeps sending him postcards along the journey to Hollywood. She than realizes that Hollywood is just like High School, the snobby people sit with the snobby people, you have to be cool to fit in, etc. She turns to her boss's daughter for help. The daughter steps in and starts giving her lessons on how to make it work. One of the lessons is steal the mean girl's boyfriend. And she does. But things don't work out smoothly and Taylor learns a lot of lessons along the way. I would haved liked to see more of Kylie's boyfriend but he was in the book just "enough." I liked all the lessons, I liked all the characters (except Kylie of course). I especially liked her "pen pal" and the way that situation worked out. If you want to know more, go read the book! I highly recommend it! Overall: Loved this book! It was so good. And entertaining. And right up my alley! Loved It!

a must read

This book was so much fun to read. Right from the start you'll get hooked. I found it hard to put down. The main character (Taylor) is relatable and you understand her dilemmas and feel for her as she goes through many different situations all to try to fulfill her dreams of making it in the world of the movie making business. This is a great end of the summer read. This book is written with good visuals. As I sat on my deck reading it, I could visualize everything that was going on with Taylor in L.A.

A quick fun read

Fresh from Connecticut, Taylor Henning lands a dream job at a major movie studio. Okay, so she's not a Creative Executive whose job it is to read and recommend screenplays for the studios to produce. No... she's just an assistant to the assistant of the powerful Iris Whitaker, President of Production. When first assistant Kylie Arthur sabotages Taylor at the first opportunity she almost gets fired. That's when Taylor realizes that Hollywood is just like high school. If you're not in, no one wants to be your friend. In order for Taylor to survive in this environment she enlists the help of Iris' sixteen year old daughter Quinn. Irritated to no end Quinn nevertheless takes on the challenge and begins texting Taylor "rules" to get ahead in the cut throat world of the movie business and amazingly enough her tips are working! That is until Quinn's next rule is to steal Kylie's boyfriend. Torn between doing the right thing and securing her real dream job Taylor has some tough decisions to make. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this book!! It was so much fun. Yes it did remind me a lot of The Devil Wears Prada but Taylor became a cherished character and I very much wanted her to succeed. I even loved the snarky Quinn. She was a spoiled brat but she had a good heart and I was rooting for her too. This is a fun breezy read that I recommend to all chick lit lovers.

A quick fun read

Taylor Henning is about to fulfill her dreams of making it in the movie business. Inspired by his movie Journal Girl to pursue film, she's been writing to the reclusive director of the movie for 7 years about her life and receiving nothing back in return but that doesn't stop her. She's landed the job as second assistant to a creative exec at a studio, and is determined to succeed. What she doesn't realize is the atmosphere is permeated with cattiness and assistants willing to set others up for termination. Taylor's never been popular, but she's never been unpopular either. She was categorically the "nice girl" in school, getting along with everyone. After being set up to be fired after only her first week, Taylor realizes she needs help to play the game. So she enlists Iris' daughter Quinn, the head of the popular girls in her elite school, to help make her over. Quinn agrees with the stipulation that she may call on a favor anytime. Quinn's lessons involve faking it 'til you make it, never accepting blame, and stealing first assistant Kylie's (she of the firing attempts) boyfriend Luke. What she doesn't anticipate is falling for Luke. When a really good script falls into Taylor's lap, she sees an opportunity for promotion all of the assistants are vying for, and leaps in without thinking it all through. What she doesn't realize is for as much as she loathes Kylie's mean girl attitude, Taylor's slipped into her shoes pretty easily. This was a really cute novel. Quick, easy, fun to read. Again, even during the periods of Taylor becoming more Hollywood and cocky, you really root for Taylor to succeed as Taylor. The story arc with Taylor and Michael, the director of Journal Girl, is interesting, as is the storyline with the first-time screenwriter who is so eager to get notes for her script and make something good. The story dragged me in more than expected too. I really wondered if Taylor had burned all her bridges, work, love, and friendship wise and was pleasantly surprised at the ending, even though I should have anticipated it. I really enjoy Zoey Dean, and I loved the show Privileged which was based on her novel How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls. I look forward to much more from her!

A Great Beach Read

I don't know about you but I would hate to have to go through high school again. All the cliques and having to worry about trying to see if you could become popular makes me shudder to even think about it. That's why I could never even think of applying for a job like Taylor. It's sad to say that I probably wouldn't last very long. What I really liked about Taylor is that even though she works in Hollywood, and has the untimely job of being a second assistant, she's not ditzy. She's really quite smart and knows about the actual movie industry even though she's not too knowledgeable about the hierarchy about moving up. I really liked learning about scripts and background knowledge myself. It makes the movie industry become more real when you know this stuff and not just like some magical wonderland. Taylor is also realistic and relatable. This book does not having annoying slang thrown around by characters and there's not really that much name or label dropping. It's funny seeing her battle wits with Kylie with each trying to outdo and slam down the other. Although Quinn appears to be of help to Taylor, it's also a testament to the lack of parenting that goes on in the industry. I'm really not a fan of how teens can do all these things, ruin people's lives and then get completely away with it. The only qualm is that this is a storyline that has been done numerous times. Almost every chick flick that takes place in a magazine setting has done this plot. Therefore you know exactly what's going to happen. However the story is so engaging and the plot is witty and funny that it really doesn't matter and you get sucked up into the the lives of the characters. If you are looking for a great book to bring to the beach this is it. It's a fun read that totally helps you to escape from the normal routines of daily life and brings you to the glamorous world of the rich, famous, and beautiful. I wish this book was part of a series because I would love to learn more about Taylor's life and the world of Hollywood cliques. HIGHLY recommended.