Clare Naylor & Mimi Hare The First Assistant

The First Assistant

Clare Naylor & Mimi Hare

Plume, May 2007, $14.00

ISBN: 0452288363

A the Agency, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Miller feels euphoric over her promotion from Second Assistant to First Assistant at The Agency although she does not have to work. Her fianc is wealthy movie superstar Luke Lloyd, who would gladly let Lizzie spend his money. However, she feels she must make it on her own even though that means at times living below the poverty line.

Currently Luke is on location in the Czech Republic filming a movie with his ex-girlfriend Emanuelle Saix as his costar. Amber Bingham Fox, the person who replaced Lizzie as Second Assistant when she was promoted, is a nasty SOB who plans to do anything to replace the FIRST ASSISTANT ASAP. Finally, Scott Wagner, her boss at the Agency, sends Lizzie to Thailand for three months to work with star teen Emerald Everhart, who has allowed fame to get into her head and turned her into a party hardy child. Worse for her, Luke's housekeeper found her sleeping with a man. Work for Lizzie as THE FIRST ASSISTANT gets just as crazy as when she was THE SECOND ASSISTANT; only this time her personal life has fizzled out while the adventures keep on coming.

This is a fun look "behind the Hollywood curtain" at those who hope to one day walk on a red rug instead of rolling it out for others. Lizzie is at her frazzled best struggling with work and the collapse of her personal life. Although there is little that has not been used before in books including THE SECOND ASSISTANT, fans will enjoy this amusing chick lit continues to go Hollywood (and Thailand).

Harriet Klausner