Silicon Valley gets the Devil Wears Prada treatment in this entertaining and relatable glimpse into the elusive world of tech startups, industry wide elitism and male dominated work culture our protagonist, Zoe finds herself faced with. 

I found this a fun and engaging read with a protagonist, whose path to rediscovering herself (and redefining her identity outside of her career) was soo compelling. I loved how strongly Zoe champions diversity (especially as a fashion loving, plus sized reader myself.) And felt her ability to challenge traditional (euro-centric) beauty standards— by fighting for what she believes in, made her such a strong and endearing character that many readers are gonna adore. 

It actually wasn’t until I finished that I found out that author, Kyla Zhao, has a background in fashion herself (previously writing for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar in Singapore) and now works for a tech company in Silicon Valley— which definitely makes Zoe’s own experiences even more thought provoking. 

Sexism and workplace harassment are two of the main focuses of narrative but I did enjoy the slow-burn romance we see develop between Zoe and love interest Damien. Though I do warn if your only here for the romance then you might be a little disappointed as it does take a back seat to the Zoe’s juggling of her workload, her friends back in New York and  burgeoning friendship with consultant turned stylist Bernadette. If you’re new to romance however, then this is definitely a great starting place. 

The supporting cast weren’t as in depth as I would’ve liked but their interactions were still incredibly engaging and entertaining. Lillian’s portrayal was especially interesting and I did enjoy getting to know her a little better. 

Overall, a fairly quick and fun read that would be perfect for a readalong or Bookclub (especially as the UK edition  contains questions at the back to help get discussions started.) 

Also, a huge thank you to Headline for the PB copy. 

A fun read that delved into the struggles of working in fashion and in tech. If you love "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Princess Diaries" I feel like this will be the book for you. There were some things that irked me about this book, if you really struggle with naive protagonists and/or secondhand embarrassment this is probably not for you, but despite that I did have a lot of fun with this. The audiobook was well done, and I definitely want to read more from Kyla Zhao.  

 disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial 

I thought this was an enjoyable enough coming-of-age story about Zoe, who leaves Manhattan, New York to take a new job in Silicon Valley, California to work for a tech start up FitPick (where the public votes on your outfits, sounds like my personal nightmare!). She was in Manhattan for four years, feeling stuck in her job, living in a shoebox apartment with roommates, and not getting any closer to becoming the fashion writer she had aspired to be when she was a doe-eyed newbie to NYC. 

I enjoyed her arc and the tying together of fashion and the Silicon Valley startup world. It felt authentic enough (I'm from Silicon Valley and btw, there's no specific "town" called Silicon Valley, it's just an area, mostly referring to the South Bay in my opinion lol), and I appreciated that Zoe had a bit of a romantic subplot too! Mostly, I was pulled in by the commentary on body positivity and diversity, especially when it comes to the fashion world. The erasure of fat models in fashion is wild, and I'd generally just like to see diversity of all kinds of bodies in fashion, and represented across media everywhere. 

Overall, sometimes the writing felt a bit too forced (I thought multiple times, "do people really speak like this?" and I'm surrounded by engineers sooooo I feel like I'd know?) or too perfect if that makes sense. However, I'd still read another book by the author, especially since I think she is local to the bay area. 

cw: misogyny, sexual harassment, fatphobia, diet culture/what I call a religion of thinness lol, sexism