Emma Swanson is an "People magazine" type of reporter, standing at the press lines and hoping to make it in the Hollywood publication market with a feature article. When she lands a terrific scoop about "bought" women in Hollywood - they don't take money for their companionship, but laptops, jewelry, rent, etc. - she's sure to make it. All she has to do is infiltrate the land of those bought women and find out what really goes on there. Her plans go awry when she meets Jessica, the most "bought" of them all, and Danny, a sweetly optimistic Whole Foods employee with whom she forms an almost instant friendship.
I wanted to like this book - Anna David is a talented author, and there's nothing wrong her prose - but the plot didn't seem cohesive. I was drawn into the first few chapters, relating to Emma's desire to break out of the press line and into "real writing," her parents' belief that writing isn't a real job and her insecurities as a not-perfect woman in a world of plastic perfection. By about the middle of the book, however, the coincidences and plot jumps pick up. Emma is wooed from the magazine that is buying her piece with a promise of being the editor-in-chief of a brand-new LA magazine. After her first feature, she'll be editor-in-chief? Emma barely questions this, and seems surprised (then not surprised) when she realizes the slick start-up guy wants a little more than an editor.
Jessica's character seems mildly schizophrenic: sweet and caring, evil and plotting. It's hard to summarize her without giving away key plot points; I'll just say that her background doesn't quite fit with her character, and David doesn't make the connection between who she was and who she is.
Characters appear and disappear, sometimes sticking around for lengthy portions before going away to await the final few chapters (where we basically re-meet every person in the book). I found the end somewhat satisfying, in that it tied everything up, but also unsatisfying, in that the bow was just a little too neat.
I thought I would be irritated with all of the celebrity name-dropping, but it was actually fun to read about people you see on the red carpet and how they act "off-carpet." Emma's desperation and her sarcasm add a lot of substance to the dialogue.
As a character, Emma is likable, if a bit naive. She doesn't want the life her mother has - taking care of her family, art classes and gardening - but she isn't sure what she *does* want, besides independence. Her experiences with the world of bought women helps her - and us - to see that, in many ways, we're all "bought" to some degree, by our jobs, our lives, our experiences. When she tells Jessica "we're a lot alike," she means it, but they're alike in different ways: one cares, one wants.
