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Oh! You Pretty Things by Shanna Mahin

Contemporary fiction

Oh! You Pretty Things

Debut

We love supporting debut authors. Congrats, Shanna Mahin, on your first book!

by Shanna Mahin

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Quick take

Takes you to an entirely different world, in this case Hollywood '“ think 'The Devil Wears Prada' with paparazzi.

Why I love it

When a character demands his assistant fetch him "two cups: triple shot of espresso in one and (in a separate cup) a venti nonfat milk foam. Milk foam, not milk" in the first 50 pages, I know I'm in for a wild romp of insanity-filled celebrity fun. Like previous "my boss is crazy" personal assistant stories, this one takes you to an entirely different world, in this case Hollywood '“ think The Devil Wears Prada with paparazzi.

Jess Dunne is third generation Hollywood, with a stage mother who dragged her to auditions as a child and dumped her at a bus stop when the audition didn’t go well. Jess is also "celebrity adjacent;" her best friend/roommate is a working actress in a town full of aspiring actors, even if she's only C-list at best.

When Jess gets passed over to work day shifts at her coffee shop job because she's "kind of...aging out of the barista scene," she takes a personal assistant gig for a high maintenance, Oscar-winning composer who's seriously agoraphobic. In typical ladder-climbing fashion, she's poached after a few months to work for a grade A, mega star whose bad behavior is so outrageous Jess is wistful for the charming quirks of her former composer boss. As her work life and her personal life spill over into each other, Jess's world gets more and more tricky to navigate.

As easy as it would be to dismiss Oh! You Pretty Things as a shallow TMZ wannabe, the novel explores friendship, family and fame with a cutting sense of humor and touching moments of honesty. It's a smart book that squeezes in wisdom about money and loyalty between outrageous adventures and brand name labels. I read Mahin's debut novel basically in one sitting, in my hot apartment in front of the air conditioner and wishing desperately that I were lying next to a pool with a umbrella-adorned cocktail in my hand. Perfect for a lazy summer day, Oh! You Pretty Things is a sharply funny page-turner about the perks and perils of flying too close to the sun.

Member ratings (34)

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Contemporary fiction
View all
The Last Love Note
What Does It Feel Like?
Anita de Monte Laughs Last
The Wedding People
Honey
The Leftover Woman
The Same Bright Stars
Bye, Baby
Definitely Better Now
Swan Song
The Days I Loved You Most
The Connellys of County Down
Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life
Jackpot Summer
Adelaide
I Might Be in Trouble
The Collected Regrets of Clover
Again and Again
Evil Eye
Black Cake
Maame
Romantic Comedy
Someone Else’s Shoes
Once There Were Wolves
We Are the Brennans
The Bad Muslim Discount
What Comes After
Olga Dies Dreaming
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
Monster in the Middle
Nine Perfect Strangers
The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany
The Girl with Stars in Her Eyes
Honey Girl
In Every Mirror She's Black
Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?
Sankofa
The Unsinkable Greta James
The Love of My Life
The Five-Star Weekend
A Home for the Holidays
The Wishing Game
Behold the Dreamers
The Mothers
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
Little Fires Everywhere
The Music Shop
Where’d You Go, Bernadette
The Reckless Oath We Made
When We Were Vikings
The Girl with the Louding Voice
A Good Neighborhood
Big Summer
All Adults Here
Happy & You Know It
Friends and Strangers
The Comeback
True Story
The Last Story of Mina Lee
Troubles in Paradise
White Ivy
This Close to Okay
The Chicken Sisters
The Prophets
In a Book Club Far Away
The Other Black Girl
Apples Never Fall
A Quiet Life
We Are the Light
The Most Likely Club
The Fortunes of Jaded Women
When We Were Bright and Beautiful
The Hotel Nantucket