REVIEW: The Pink Ghetto by Liz Ireland

Title: The Pink Ghetto
Author: Liz Ireland
Publisher: Strapless
Publication Date: May, 2006
Paperback: 345 pages
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Chick Lit
Rating: 10/10

Description: Rebecca Abbot's life has just gone from vintage feather boas to boring office casual. Thanks to Sylvie Arnaud's heart attack, she's out of a job. But it's Sylvie's French, vaguely famous name on Rebecca's creatively embellished resume that lands her an associate editor position at romance heavyweight Candlelight Books. Editing is a far cry from scouting out exotic groceries, which is pretty much all Rebecca did for Sylvie, but Candlelight is offering an actual salary to go with her position's actual workload, and the rent is way overdue on the railroad flat she shares with her friend Wendy and her mooching ex, wanna-be writer Fleishman.

Working for Candlelight is nothing like the plots of their syrupy novels, though. In fact, it's a lot like being stuck in an estrogen-heavy Fellini film. Between protecting her back from rival editor Cassie's repeated stabs, attempting a relationship with a sexy literary agent, wondering about Fleishman's new secret "project," and discovering her first truly talented author, Rebecca's learning that the business of romance is hardly a nine-to-five thing - and that editing out all her mistakes will never lead her to "happily ever after..."

My Thoughts: The Pink Ghetto was a fast and fun read. Rebecca is working and living in New York City with two college friends when she unexpectedly finds herself out of a job. In a near panic, she revamps her resume and submits it to numerous prospective employers. Rebecca is offered a position at Candlelight Books in an associate editor’s position but doesn’t have the first idea how to edit romance novels. With some uncertainty and a lot of luck, Rebecca finds her niche in the publishing world in spite of her ex and hostile co-worker.

I really liked Rebecca. She brings a realistic lack of confidence in herself as someone who grew up on the outside looking in and had to reinvent herself. In spite of that, she takes on a career she has no experience in and gives it 100% to make it her own. I kept expecting Rebecca to fall flat on her face and watch her career, self-respect and integrity go up in flames, but she manages to keep her head afloat, finds a wonderful man and learns some valuable lessons along the way.

I’m so happy I found this book and chose to read it now. I enjoyed the inside look into book publishing and some of the quirky characters Rebecca interacts with were interesting. I found myself unable to put the book down, capturing every free moment to read.