Product Description

When you hit the lobby of the Hollywood's premier talent management company, The Agency, with its polished marble floor and a light so brilliant flooding through the vast windows that you reach for your Gucci sunglasses (before you remember they are last season's, and put them back swiftly), you realise that you are, arguably, in the most important place in Hollywood. And if you take a job there as second assistant, your life will never be the same again. So it is for Elizabeth, newly employed by Hollywood manager extraordinaire, Scott Wagner, and his side-kick, Lara, the woman who hates everyone and everything in Hollywood . . .

Elizabeth's first task is to separate the beige thumb tacks from the coloured ones on the notice board. And when Lara takes her out for her drink that night and gives her the first rule, Never to Date anyone in the Business, she thinks it'll be a doddle. Until the most gorgeous man rescues her after a fall, and she finds herself in a beautiful Malibu beach house . . .

Hilarious, sassy and utterly unputdownable, this is life in the Hollywood fast lane - with the top down.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34125 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 356 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
If The Second Assistant: Tales from the Bottom of the Hollywood Ladder has one thing to teach us, it's that working for the rich and glamorous is a living hell. This simple truth has already been revealed by such books as The Nanny Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada, but for those who feel that the message bears repeating, Clare Naylor and Mimi Hare's The Second Assistant offers yet another enjoyable, easy-to-read lesson.

The heroine of this gossipy tale is Elizabeth Miller, a young, former campaign worker for a US congressman who finds herself between employment opportunities. Unable to obtain any more socially responsible work, Lizzie is lured into the job of second assistant to an executive at a glitzy Hollywood agency. Once there, she's hit with all the "pick up my dry cleaning", "walk my dog", "hire strippers for my party" torment that the higher-ups can dish out. At first Elizabeth is isolated, out-of-place and underdressed in her new world, but she makes friends, builds her wardrobe and eventually grows to care for her menial job, her Ritalin-snorting boss and the entertainment industry in general. Finally, she reaches the conclusion that thousands of other Californians have before her: what she really wants to do is produce. At times, Lizzie seems far too naïve to survive long in the shark-infested waters that the authors describe, but there can be only one kind of ending to such a lighthearted book, so we know she will somehow muddle through. Hare (who was once a Hollywood executive herself) and Naylor throw in a dreamy guy and a few plot twists that most readers could see coming from space, stir, and serve. Of course, a little frivolity is not a bad thing, and The Second Assistant is certainly an entertaining addition the new underling subgenre of modern fiction. --Leah Weathersby, Amazon.com

About the Author

Clare Naylor was an editorial assistant in a London publishing house, and is the author of several novels including LOVE: A USER'S GUIDE and CATCHING ALICE (Hodder Headline). This is her first joint novel with Mimi Hare, who was Director of Development on JERRY MAGUIRE and AS GOOD AS IT GETS at a Los Angeles production company. They are also co-authors of THE ACCIDENTAL HUSBAND, a film set to star Uma Thurman in Summer 2004.

Customer Reviews

Not just for girls!
I was given this book. One look at the cover, and I wasn't hopeful. I read the first few pages one morning when I woke early. I didn't get up until 3.30pm, the book finished, my day shot to pieces. I thought this was going to be strictly for girls . But no. KELLS loved it.

I was particularly taken by the main character, Elizabeth (or at least I wish I was). Apart from falling hopelessly in love with her, I really felt as if i was being let into the secret world of how a modern, cool girl, lives, thinks, and sees. What a treat! I would love to meet her.

There's no political correctness coming from Naylor and Hare, which not only is a relief, but one of the main reasons the book is laugh out loud. Crazy Hollywood parties, people etc. are dealt with brilliantly, and all through the eyes of our wonderfully straight, easy going heroine. The authors also sail wonderfully close to the wind as to portraying real Hollywood stars.

Congratulations on a wicked book, and please write another one. I couldn't recommend it highly enough.

Breath of fresh air to the chick lit genre
After losing her political job in Washington Lizzie heads to Los Angeles to work for a huge talent agency as a second assistant. Soon she is rubbing shoulders with a bizzarre and eccentric bunch of famous, rich, and powerful hollywood types (often only given first names therefore alluding the real people making the book even more delicious!)

Lizzie is trying to survive in the tough hollywood world while trying to find the meaning of life, and of course some romance. But can she be satisfied working in such a shallow industry where only good looks, fame and fortune matter where everyone from the other secretaries to the coffee barista is willing to do anything to get their big break?

While the plot of a single girl in a dead end job looking for love sounds like many other books this one still manages to be fresh. Lizzie was far more intelligent and less ditzy than most chick lit heroines and she always feels and reacts in a realistic way so that you can't help but relate to her.

I would definitely recommend this book for chick lit fans who think the genre is getting a bit boring, repeditive and silly. The authors are said to have worked in hollywood and the novels really makes you feel like you would know what to expect if you went there too!

A highly entertaining read
I was initially a bit weary of this book as it looked very similar to 'The Devil Wears Prada' which was truly awful. So it was to my surprise that I really enjoyed it. The main character Elizabeth Miller appears at first naïve - but to give her credit, Hollywood is a whole new setting and really a world of its own. The characters are dynamic and possess many quirky habits like her boss Scott Wagner who is a Ritalin snorting, hard drinking yet rich agent to the stars. The characters are also plentiful and diverse and very entertaining. Her job starts out innocently enough, which includes fetching coffee and juggling phones for the much sought after Scott Wagner. Soon she is luring hysterical actresses out of their trailers and fetching Scott's drug stash from behind men's urinals.

This is one book that I wish I still haven't read because I really want to read it again for the first time and laugh out really loud throughout. What wins this book for me is that so much happens in it and Lizzie is a likeable character who you want to see do well but know she's got to work for it. She learns from her mistakes but like any other human can easily make them again. It doesn't come that easy! I'd highly recommend this book for a not too taxing but very enjoyable read. I also hope that the authors are thinking of bringing out a sequel to it.