Amazon.com: Secrets of the Model Dorm (9780743298261): Amanda Kerlin, Phil Oh: Books
Secrets of the Model Dorm and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Secrets of the Model Dorm
 
 
Start reading Secrets of the Model Dorm on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Secrets of the Model Dorm [Hardcover]

Amanda Kerlin (Author), Phil Oh (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover --  
Paperback $14.00  

Book Description

January 2, 2007
Eighteen-year-old Heather Johnston gets the opportunity of her life when she is signed by a premier New York modeling agency. She leaves her small Virginia hometown behind for dreams of Vogue spreads and a luxurious loft overlooking Central Park. Arriving in Manhattan, she is instead given the key to a cramped one-bedroom downtown apartment furnished with bunk beds and IKEA floor samples. Her roommates are exotically beautiful girls boasting a considerable array of vices, including alcohol, cocaine, backstabbing, and fabulously expensive haute couture. Despite their humble quarters, they form an unlikely family. By day they shuttle between castings and shoots, and at night they come to life in the VIP rooms of New York's hottest clubs. While this world is fast-paced and fun, Heather soon questions whether modeling is the fairy tale she imagined it to be. When she gets a part-time job at a prestigious gallery and discovers a passion for art, Heather realizes she might be ready to say good-bye to her dreams of wealth and celebrity and follow a different path.

Fun, campy, and ultimately full of heart, Secrets of the Model Dorm takes readers behind the scenes of the world's most glamorous industry -- exposing all of its dirty little secrets and what it really takes to make it -- or break it -- as a model.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Everything that could be expected in a novel about aspiring models is present: casual sex, drug usage, club hopping, backstabbing, and though Kerlin, an ex-model, and Oh, a DJ and music consultant, are familiar with the lifestyle, they manage to make it a chore to read about. Heather Johnston, newly arrived to Manhattan from the modeling minor league in Miami, is determined to prove to herself and her doubting family that she can succeed as a model. The agency that represents her provides her with the use of a downtown apartment, which she shares with a handful of other aspiring models, including Svetlana, a calculating Russian possessed of a dubious grasp of English. While out one night, Heather meets a dashing French nightclub owner, Robert du Croix, who shows unusual interest in Heather as a person, not merely a body. Svetlana, though, is obsessed with Robert as well. Something akin to drama ensues, but even the frisson of titillation that should accompany a book about desperate models is lost to flat prose and crude stabs at character development. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Anyone attracted to the glamour of modeling will do a double take upon reading former model Kerlin and Oh's fictional expose of New York's fashion world. Heather Johnston leaves Miami for New York City when she is accepted by the Agency, one of the hottest modeling firms in town. But she experiences a rude awakening when she finds herself housed in a dorm with several other models and forced to sleep in bunks that are too short for the tall girls and to contend with a messy place only one bothers to clean. Her roommates are a colorful bunch, however, including Svetlana, who is crazy for both men and cocaine; Laura, who is being driven crazy by the Agency's shoddy treatment; and Kylie, a friendly Australian who downs more Metamucil than food. Heather soon learns that being a young hopeful has its advantages when a handsome French nightclub owner begins to pursue her. Readers will be engrossed by this inside look at the lives of ingenue models. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Atria (January 2, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0743298268
  • ISBN-13: 978-0743298261
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,183,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars That's entertainment, January 3, 2007
By 
otterpop (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Secrets of the Model Dorm (Hardcover)
Love it. In fact, I think I owe my sanity to this book - it's the perfect antidote to a week of wholesome holiday family fun. It's hardly going to win a Pulitzer, but if you're tired of the usual toothless chick-lit favorites ("Oh no! I'm unmarried and saddled with a wacky family/zany group of close friends! Will I ever meet that mystery man?") then you'll enjoy the glamour and the wicked humor. For a New Yorker and a loyal (secret) viewer of America's Next Top Model and Project Runway, Kerlin's book was a complete guilty pleasure.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of time, April 30, 2007
This review is from: Secrets of the Model Dorm (Hardcover)
I finished this book only because I paid $30 for it. I read a lot, and considering that, this is one of the worst books I've ever read. At times it was painful - I was constantly cringing and looking away with my eyes closed.

The reasons for this are:

1. Cliche. This book is one big cliche - the most unoriginal metaphors and similies I have ever come across. Awful.

2. Language - I suppose it's supposed to be written as the author speaks or thinks, but it doesn't work - it screams unoriginality. Chick lit does not have to be this banal. One of the worst examples is this: Heather is casually dating a French man named Robert - when they finally kiss it is described in this way: "I swore I felt an electric charge pass between us. I pulled in a quick breath and let him hold me close, as we even - yes, I'm sure you're wondering - Frenched a little bit. It was, well, wonderful." Revolting. How was this book published?

3. Predictable. Stereotypical.

4. Bad editing - the main character would be wearing one brand of shoes to an event, and on the next page she would be wearing a different kind.

Despite all this, it's like a car accident (I had to add in a cliche to fit the book) - it's awful but you don't want to look away.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Guilty Pleasure, January 17, 2007
This review is from: Secrets of the Model Dorm (Hardcover)
I thoroughly enjoyed this read. As an "America's Next Top Model" addict, this fed my habit. This won't require deep thought, but it is a good rainy day book.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
model dorm, comp cards
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Tom Ford, Fashion Week, Shiva Bar, Clijsters Gallery, Robert du Croix, Marc Jacobs, Double Seven, The Icelandic, New Year, Vena Cava, Ralph Lauren, Monsieur du Croix, Pink Elephant, South African, United Bamboo, David Wilkins, Brighton Beach, Willem Clijsters, West Chelsea, Vogue Italia, Brooklyn Bridge, Page Six, Bryant Park, Paul Smith
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:










i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...