The Liar, The Bitch and the Wardrobe
Lucy Butler, armed with her new BFA in photography, moves to L.A. for an internship with world-renowned photographer Stefano Lepres. She finds an apartment with her best friend and a requisite gay roommate, discovers designer clothes, and befriends the most famous actress in the world, Isabella Blackstone. She also develops a coke habit, alienates her normal-person best friend, hangs out with a socialite who doesn’t really care about her, and makes out with a rock star who also doesn’t care. Don’t worry, she learns who her true friends are. And she kicks the drugs pretty handily. In this pointless coming-of-age story, where the supposedly innocent heroine gets her final revenge with a petty and opportunistic act, it appears that Lucy learned her lessons well, after all. Her consistently stupid decisions will be stressful to any reader with common sense, and the Narnia allusion in the title doesn’t play out. But if you want a book where an alleged frump name-drops Marc Jacobs and Jimmy Choo, you’re in luck. Be forewarned: she throws a Hermes scarf into the sea at the end. --Susan Maguire