Hollywoodul e ca un liceu de fiţe by Zoey Dean

Hollywoodul e ca un liceu de fiţe Reviews

• 
  Razvan Banciu

  At least you know what are you paying for: a lot of advertising, a little touch of humor, an under-average plot and some little facts involving political correctness.
  
  So two stars are more than enough.
• 
  Beth

  Zoey Dean writes primarily for a teen audience, so it's no surprise that this is an adult book with a lot of teen appeal. Although the protagonist Taylor (a second assistant at a successful movie production company) is 24, she is a young 24, and is more the yearbook editor type than cheerleader. An agent pegs her for a Midwestern newbie on her first day on the job, and explains to her one night in a bar, it's the popular, confident folks who get ahead in Tinsel Town, not the ones with actual talent. Taylor thus enlists the boss's teenage daughter Quinn in help being cool, making this as Cinderella story that is Devil Wears Prada meets Gossip Girls.
  
  There were some laugh out loud funny lines and clever snarky moments, and Taylor is a likeable girl next door sort of heroine, but when the author referred to an iPhone as a cell phone you can open and close before I hit the 50 page mark, she lost all credibility for me. I pushed through to page 100 or so, skimmed to see if the ending I predicted would unfold (it did).
  
  Supporting characters are walking caricatures (the gay bff, the mean girl first assistant, the cute boy next door) and the first assistant's French turns of phrases are translated for us even though they can be clearly understood in context, and yet allusions to clothing designers and popular movies are assumed to translate. Hollywood is like High School with Money is a cotton candy read - a bit saccharine and insubstantial, but deliciously satisfying if you are in the right mood for it.
• 
  Jessica

  I was so excited to read this book because I really enjoyed Zoey Dean’s How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls (adapted into TV show Privileged) and her A-List series. After seeing the adorable cover of this novel, I knew it would be right up my alley. I definitely wasn’t wrong.
  
  Hollywood Is Like High School With Money tells the story of Taylor Henning, a film school graduate from the East who moves to LA to hopefully make it big. She lands her dream job working as an assistant at a major Hollywood movie studio.
  
  Taylor gets to work on her first day and finds out that not only will she not be reading scripts or making movies, but that she is in charge of making her boss Iris’s smoothies. The life of a second assistant is definitely not glamorous and Taylor’s co-worker and rival Kylie doesn’t exactly help to make Taylor feel welcome.
  
  Taylor needs a plan. She enlists the help of Iris’s teenage daughter Quinn to teach her the ways of Hollywood and power. Taylor and Quinn make a deal that Quinn will help her out, but Taylor owes her one….with one catch. Taylor must do whatever Quinn wants, WHEN she wants it.
  
  After learning how to successfully deliver the death stare and how to “fake it ‘til you make it” Taylor turns her career and social life around. Everything is perfect….until Quinn ruins it all. It’s serious damage control time for Taylor, but sometimes all the apologies and sucking up in the world just isn’t enough.
  
  I couldn’t put this book down. I’m a sucker for a story about a regular old girl trying to make it big in the city.
  
  Taylor was definitely a likable character. She was easy to relate to, and towards the end, I really felt my heart break for her. You know a book is good when you physically cringe at what’s coming up next. Even though Taylor turned into a mean girl throughout the course of the book, you can’t help but like her because she tried so hard to succeed.
  
  I’m really hoping that Zoey Dean is planning to write another novel featuring the fabulous Taylor Henning.
• 
  Alice

  What did I learn from this book?
  
  1) If you want to be a success in Hollywood, it's essential to have a random deux ex machina shower you with huge garbage bags full of designer clothes that fit perfectly.
  
  2) However, if you work too hard and get too good at what you do, you'll become a conniving weasel who deserves to lose everything omg!!!1
  
  3) So the BEST thing is to sort of learn to dress a little bit better and still work hard but be really super NICE and then everything will be perfect!!!1
  
  I hate Zoey Dean and I don't know why I read this, except that I got it for 99 cents at Value Village the day before leaving on a long plane ride. It is a bad mishmash of a thousand other bad chicklit novels I should have learned by now not to read. Total trash, and about as believable as me moving to LA to become a supermodel and totally making it although I am 5 foot 3 and 33 years old.
• 
  Miss Nicole

  Amuzanta dar..nu e uimitoare
• 
  J

  A fun in the sun book, yes. Anything else...? No. This book was predictable, and I love predictability. This book... was not one like that. It was sickeningly predictable. The relationships that were "built" seemed fake. Why should I have cared about the main character and Luke. Sure he was hot and perfect, but I didn't feel like Taylor had any real interest in him or... well anyone. I felt like this was a giant book of show, not tell. I was told everything. and it didn't work.
  
  And it basically showed what I wanted to do in my future, and how hard it would be to do it. GREEEEEEAT.
• 
  Liviania

  My confession: I've read the A-list series. It was summer, the local library didn't have much in stock, I was bored. What I got was pretty much what I expected - fun enough to read but not really memorable or well-written. (Except for the book where the main character and the girl who once had a lesbian crush on her get high on mescaline and wander around Mexico. It was so weird.) Unlike that series, HOLLYWOOD IS LIKE HIGH SCHOOL WITH MONEY is for adults. Like it, I knew the trajectory of the story when I started.
  
  Zoey Dean does a good job with the classic nice girl must become like mean girls to survive, becomes too mean, gets slapped down, becomes nice again and her life falls into place. (Reading the novel, I started thinking while Taylor made a terrible decision, "I want someone to write this story where the protagonist remains true to his or her ideals. It will push the moral conflict, but the protagonist never crosses the line." If anyone has read this book, please tell me. If anyone is trying to get it published now, you know who to put on the ARC list.)
  
  I was worried that the book was going to be awful after I finished the chapter, due to a simile on page 10:
  
  She reminded me of Sienna Miller in the film Factory Girl, playing Edie Sedgwick, except that her hair was long and wavy and dark gold, with butter-colored highlights that framed her face.
  
  
  
  Why not just compare her to Edie Sedgwick? I felt like the simile was trying to be hip, but then why reference a several years old movie that was never popular?
  
  But things quickly improved. Taylor Hennings is quite charming, with her weekly notes to the director who inspired her to work in the movie industry and begging a teenager to teach her how to act cool. I really fell in love with the way she dropped clothing brands after teen queen Quinn gave her a wardrobe of last year's clothing. She describes the events of a night out and then gives a little squeal at the end of the chapter, "And did I mention I was wearing Zac Posen?" She's cleary overwhelmed but reveling in the pricey clothing, and what normal girl wouldn't?
  
  When she does step over the moral line, it feels fake. She knows it's wrong and says it, before being instantly convinced to do it. Like her roommate says, she's like a cute little dog. Her mean girl persona never feels as real as the awkward, friendly Taylor. It really is relieving to see the real deal return at the end.
  
  HOLLYWOOD IS LIKE HIGH SCHOOL WITH MONEY isn't groundbreaking, but I didn't expect it to be. It's a fun summer read, with a far more likeable protagonist than the A-list series. Zoey Dean is also the author of TALENT and PRIVILEGED, now a show on the CW.
• 
  SeaBae

  I wanted to like this book. I really, really did. I liked "How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls" aka "Privileged." And I've been a Hollywood assistant.
  
  But the heroine, Taylor, is seriously stupid. And one thing I can't stand in books are heroines too stupid to live. She has zero common sense. She believes her co-worker when she tells Taylor to spill company secrets to people outside the company - c'mon. That's just idiotic, no matter the industry. She stays out late drinking and oversleeps when she is supposed to run an important errand for boss, then gets lucky when she blames someone else and the blame works out - I'm supposed to root for someone who can't manage to set an alarm clock properly? Taylor is so useless, she takes advice from a 16 year old, then is SHOCKED, SHOCKED I say, when the 16 year old acts like a teenager and tells her mother, Taylor's boss, about their deal. And Taylor sets out to steal her co-worker's boyfriend, then expects the relationship to work out - again, the girl has been living under a rock, both spiritually and mentally.
  
  I get that Hollywood is a dog eat dog place and the best Hollywood novels take advantage of the temptation to lie, cheat and steal to get ahead. But Taylor is so dumb, yet so willing to take the immoral road, you can't wait for her comeuppance. And it's a serious letdown when, as the cliche plot would have it, Taylor gets everything back she lost with a bigger, shinier bow on it.
  
  There are no redeemable features to Taylor or this book. An easy one to skip. For a much, MUCH better book about being a Hollywood assistant (albeit one to a movie star), read "A Total Waste of Makeup" by Kim Gruenenfelder. Another book that is so much better at detailing getting ahead in Hollywood, this time as a fashion designer, is "Fashionably Late" by Beth Kendrick.
  
• 
  Bridget

  Taylor has a passionate love affair for movies. Finally, her dream has become a reality. She has moved from Connecticut to California and is ready to take on the world. Or so she thought. Taylor is a nice person and Hollywood chews up nice people and spits them out. It's not long before Taylor makes the mistake of listening to devil spawn Kylie and almost gets herself fired. This is when Taylor decides to take the reigns and ride off with dignity. She isn't going to let snotty Kylie break her. She's determined to come out on top. In order to do this, she needs the help of her bosses sixteen year old diva, Quinn, to transform her from down to earth push over to don't mess with me, I'm awesome. Will School of Queen be enough to make Taylor the person that she wants to be?
  
  This was such a fun summer read. The plot is great and I fell in love with Taylor. She's so nice, how could you not? And I couldn't help but narrow my eyes every time I read Kylie's name. If you've ever had to stand up to someone who didn't give you the respect you deserve, then you should read this book.
  
  
• 
  Erica Leigh

  You know the story. It's been done. A wildly predictable plot with two-dimensional characters. Think of it as 'The Devil Wears Prada' x 'Mean Girls' - high school + Hollywood movie scene.
  
  Girl gets job. Girl resorts to lying to get promotion/get back at "mean girl" in office (with the help of a high school girl. Really?). Girl gets everything she wants: boy, job, clothes, friends. Girl gets everything taken away from her (boy, job, friends) after she is "found out". Everything suddenly rights itself again and she lives happily ever after. The end.
  
  I find it hard to believe that her friends, boss, and love interest could be so forgiving after what she did.
  
  What I did like? Zooey Dean's writing. It's quick, conversational, and occasionally clever. The pop culture references could get annoying though. I doubt a (supposedly) humble girl from the midwest would know so many designer brands and keep up with celebrity gossip (except, some of the celebrity references seemed outdated/irrelevant. Orlando Bloom? Olsen twins? What?).
  
  Ehh. I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't feel like reading anything that requires too much thinking/investment in the characters.
  
• 
  Colleen

  I have to say that I originally thought this book would be another knock-off of The Devil Wears Prada- I was delighted to find that in fact Taylor's boss was a wonderful employer, not a psycho. Of course, her assistant is a psycho, but I can much more readily understand accepting that dynamic of hostility than I can working for someone insane.
  
  The book was funny and the scenarios rang true for assistants. Taylor was not the most sympathetic of characters, but I was invested in her story and thought it unfolded well. Though this book did rely on some fairly improbable coincidences, and I certainly think the roommate was way quirkier than necessary, overall the book rose above others in the genre because of quality writing and an interesting premise. Definitely a good summer read.
• 
  Octavia

  it really reminded me of ugly betty, and i loved it. i thought it was a good quick read.
• 
  Kayleigh

  Really enjoyed this quick read! Definitely predictable but got into the plot and the main character was interesting enough. Good beach read :)
• 
  Andreea Pop

  Yay, I love happy endings!!!
• 
  Lidia Silvia

  4⭐
  Mi-a plăcut. A fost o lectură ușoară, ușor de digerat, exact ce avem nevoie la momentul respectiv.
  Mi-a plăcut povestea de dragoste creată cam din a doua jumătate a cărții.
  Mi-a plăcut mult tonusul optimist al povești, cu personaje creionate și structurate frumos. Fiecare are locul și rolul său în poveste.
  Sa aveți mult spor la citit!
• 
  Lauren

  To be honest I have a soft spot for Zoey Dean's books. I mean the A List series? Not at all complex and intricate reads, but lots of fun! And Privileged, her first adult debut? The same way! So, why I haven't read Hollywood is Like High School with Money sooner? I have no clue, but regardless I recently did and really enjoyed it- I actually think it may be her best book yet!
  
  Hollywood is Like High School with Money begins the story of story of Taylor Henning, a young woman trying to name a name for herself within the world of movie studios. She's got the job lined up and she's got the drive and ambition, which makes her all set to go, in her opinion. However, that's not all she'll need, as after her first few weeks of playing nice, she ends up almost getting fired because of Kylie, one of her coworkers. Knowing she needs to steep it up and play the game, Taylor recruits Quinn, her bosses teenage daughter, to teach her the rules of Hollywood, and it works! She begins to give Kylie a run for a money. However, there's one problem she begins to fall for Kylie's boyfriend under some odd circumstances, and because of it, everything starts to unravel once again. Will Taylor be able to pick up the pieces before it's too late? Or will Hollywood turn it's back on her? Only time and more pages can tell in this read perfect for reading by the beach or pool!
  
  Taylor is a character I had mix feelings about, because while I found her easy to root for, I didn't always love her decisions, especially when it came to Kylie's boyfriend. At the start of the book, Taylor is in most cases lost in the world of Hollywood. She's ambitious and she lacks the fakeness involved with Hollywood, but as the novel continues this begins to swift, as she looses her nice girl persona and begins to become the complete opposite. However, all in all, she did learn a lot of life lessons because of it, and it played an important part in her character development, so I can't really be all that disappointed. The character I liked the most, though, was Kylie boyfriend, Luke. He was so sweet and adorable, and I constantly rooted for him and Taylor.
  
  The plot in this was lots of fun! I enjoyed the inside scoop of what occurs in the world of movie studios and agencies. Better yet, it was always fun to see what advice Quinn gave Taylor, because it constantly caused lots of drama that in effect had me flipping the pages even faster!
  
  While Dean's writing wasn't anything magnificent, it did severe it's purpose well in the way it created scandalous and fun characters and storylines. I especially loved the ending, even though it was a little too cookie-cutter clean in some ways.
  
  Hollywood is Like High School with Money is the perfect beach read. I can only Zoey Dean will have another book that's just as fun out soon!
  
  Grade: B+
• 
  Steph | bookedinsaigon

  Coming from an author known for her scandalous and dramatic descriptions of Hollywood life, HOLLYWOOD IS LIKE HIGH SCHOOL WITH MONEY is surprisingly fun and not over-the-top. It is the ideal book for beach or weekend reading, great because the book does all the thinking for you so that you only have to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.
  
  Taylor is a great protagonist to follow around, and yet her gradual transition from nice girl to mean girl is so well done that you’re gasping in shock at her transformation before you know it. Everything that Taylor does and everything that happens to her seems completely probable, even for us outsiders with no real access to life in Hollywood. The main cast of characters has their own set of problems, making them believable and three-dimensional.
  
  Likewise, the plot is perfectly orchestrated, a tight ship run by an observant captain. I can hardly help trying to stay one step of the author and the protagonist, but I am happy to say that, with this book, I didn’t feel the need suspect their next moves. The plot was not predictable (although not unpredictable—there’s a subtle difference), which led to my true enjoyment of this book.
  
  Unfortunately, there were a few characters whose motivations were vague and undeveloped. It is unclear as to why Quinn, the seemingly put-together and shrewdly bitchy teen who gives Taylor’s lots of great advice via text messages (advice that even we readers can use in our socializing), agreed to this plan in the first place, and what motivated her actions. Luke, Taylor’s eventual love interest, is irritatingly perfect: he never does anything wrong, and loves quickly and with his whole heart. As a result, his character disappointed me with its lack of realism. In trying hard to sustain the plausibility of this story, I’m afraid some of the finer points of characterization were lost, a loss that is magnified by this book’s precarious position in between genuinely fun reading and guilty-pleasure trash.
  
  Faults aside, I honestly enjoyed HOLLYWOOD IS FOR HIGH SCHOOL WITH MONEY. This is a great book to pick up if you’re a smart, fun-loving reader for whom bestselling series like Gossip Girl and The A-List are just a teeny bit too unbelievable. It’s perfect for teens who want a story of a hard-earned and well deserved happily ever after.
• 
  Gaby

  Synopsis:
  
  Taylor Henning started her dream job at a major Hollywood studio. For as long as she can remember, Taylor has loved movies. The reclusive director Michael Deming and his seminal work Journal Girl have been a particular inspiration for Taylor. Although she's never received a response, Taylor sends Deming updates on her Hollywood experience.
  
  Taylor soon finds that life as a second assistant involves small tasks and not the selection and producing of "great films," at least to start. But more than the type of work, it's her co-workers that make Taylor miserable. It's like high school all over with the popular girls and their mean tricks. Taylor's too much of a nice girl to acclimatize. Outwitted one too many times by first assistant Kylie and with her job at risk, Taylor asks Quinn, her boss's popular teenage daughter, for tactical advice. It's not about being mean. It's about being confident. Not taking anyone's @#%$...Fake it till you make it...Speak up in class. When you're quiet, you're invisible...Make 1 cool friend...Lunch is a battleground...Enlist a faithful assistant. Taking Quinn's advice, Taylor wins victories against Kylie.
  
  As Taylor starts to come into her own, a creative executive position opens up. Competing against Kylie and the other assistants for the promotion, Taylor proves willing to use darker methods to advance.
  
  Review:
  
  Hollywood is Like High School With Money is the first Zoey Dean novel that I've read. Though the plot seems straightforward and predictable, Zoey Dean sets up the conflicts wonderfully. It may be that I'm inured to violence and too sensitive to female bullying, but when I got to where Kylie was setting the first trap for Taylor, I found the tension unbearable. I had to pause, put the book down, and come back to it. After that break from the book, I couldn't put it down. When Taylor seemed naive and too trusting, Dean gave her enough wit to make her likable. As Taylor grew accustomed to manipulation and was veering to the dark side, I still cared about her.
  
  Overall, Hollywood is Like High School With Money is a light, satisfying read. I highly recommend it as a fun escape.
  
  Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (July 23, 2009), 288 pages.
  
  Courtesy of Hatchette Books Group.
• 
  Katherine Marple

  Taylor Henning is a mid-twenties girl who comes from Nowhere Town to find herself pursuing an inspiring job as an assistant to one of the most high-powered women in the movie making industry- in Hollywood. Everyone appears to be very nice to her, and somewhat TOO helpful- which she quickly finds out is the truth. She nearly gets fired a few times, after following "really nice tips" from fellow workers. Intent on keeping her dream job (she actually READS the scripts that are pushed through the slush pile and finds a gem!) she enlists the help of her boss's 16 year old, spoiled high school daughter. "Fake it til you make it" is her #1 rule- and this works well, for a little while.
  
  This story is a typical "Do anything to get what I want, but end up having to pay for the mistakes I made by forfeiting all that I've worked hard for at the end" kind of book. It's similar to The Devil Wears Prada (Weisberger's one hit, in my opinion) except Taylor's boss, Iris, is much much more understanding and kind hearted than "Prada" boss (Miranda? It's been a while since I've read it).
  
  Taylor's story lacks a bit of depth. It's a very light read, which might have been Dean's intent, but I feel it would have been a four-star book if it carried a little more weight to it. I love Weisberger's "Prada" because it taught some great life lessons in there too. "Prada" motivates me every time I read it because I know how it is to work really hard and seem to get "nothing" for it, waiting for that lucky break that doesn't come- ever. I apologize for continuously bringing up "Prada", but "Hollywood" is so similar in its storyline, that I feel I must compare it- almost like Dean has asked me to compare the two.
  
  I started reading Zoey Dean's books after finding the A-List series in a bargain bin at a book store recently. She is pretty good at letting the story flow, but I think has trouble making anything appear "deep." She is a great young-Adult novelist because of this, but I think needs to have a bit more patience with her characters in order to become the adult novelist that she's seeking to be.
  
  Dean is a very great storyteller. She tends to skim a bit, but she tells the story in enough humor and insight to keep me reading til the end.
• 
  Diana Dang

  Taylor Henning's dream is finally coming true! A film enthusiast who recently graduated, she is eager to start her new job as a second assistant at a popular movie studio. But when she realizes that her catty co-worker, Kylie, is sabotaging her, she must bring her down. So she begs her boss's better-than-thou daughter, Quinn, to help her win against Kylie so she can get the creative executor promotion instead.
  
  Things are turning out brilliantly in Taylor's favour as she follows the one-lined lessons she received from Quinn through her iPhone. But what happens when the small white lies get a little too big?
  
  First time reading a Zoey Dean novel, I was expecting something on the Gossip Girl level. A lot of drama, sex, and swearing; which I do not favour so much. But surprisingly, it was much better than I predicted.
  
  Written in a voice of an eager and desperate young woman, this is a great summer read for teens and adults in the female demography. Taylor is not exactly a new character you see around the block, but is interesting enough to keep you wondering about what will happen next in her life. I thought how she asked her boss's teen kid for help was a little pathetic but amusing at the same time. It was a little sad to see a grown woman trying to take lessons on how to be "mean".
  
  The plotline was not unpredictable and I was satisfied on how Taylor learnt her lesson. The ending, however, felt like it could have been better. But at the same time, I saw that it somehow fit together. I particularly liked Dean's writing style. You can really see what the surroundings are like in Taylor's eyes. Overall, I enjoyed my first Zoey Dean's novel and might actually venture into her YA series. Since her teen series, Privileged, became a weekly TV series, I think Hollywood is Like High School with Money can be a potential chick flick movie.
  
  Recommended to movie buffs (there are lots of real celebrities referencing) and those who would like to read a "teen drama for the older audience."
• 
  Ronke

  I picked up this book in a shop called Chapters in Toronto which is basically the Canadian version of Borders. There seems to be a bit of a mystery over who Zoey Dean is, according to Wikipedia, Ms Dean is actually the pseudonym of Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld. Dean’s most famous work is How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls which has been turned into the TV series Privileged. Hollywood is Like High School With Money is the tale of Taylor Henning, a 24 year old graduate who lands her dream job as an assistant at Metronome studio. Bright eyed and bushy tailed she sets out to prove herself in the world of films however she faces a barrage of backstabbing and undermining from her co-worker, Kylie. Afraid of being left on the sidelines, Taylor employs the assistance of the sassy Quinn Whitaker, the daughter of her high powered boss, Iris. Pretty soon Quinn has Taylor up to speed on ruthless tactics that are needed to get ahead in the movie business and Taylor finds herself exercising her inner mean girl antics. When a position as a creative executive comes up it looks like Kylie is a dead cert on bagging it but Taylor has other ideas and is determined to land the coveted role. She decides to raise the stakes in order to make her dreams come true.
  
  I was hoping this would be a clever and fun read with well developed characters and I got exactly what I wished. Hollywood is Like High School With Money really gives you an insight into how the movie industry is run and I certainly learnt a lot about how ideas are pitched and the whole production process. It also shows how a person can lose their soul in the efforts to make it in a very fickle industry. I liked the main protagonist very much and found it easy to emphasise with her even when she was being down right manipulative. Her indifference to a sweet and friendly intern who saves her bacon during a rough patch really shows how far Taylor has gone to the dark side. My only griping was the ending which I found to be a bit too obvious and simplistic. Saying that this book is one of the best I have ever read.
• 
  Carolin

  Taylor kommt nach L.A. um ihren Traum zu verwirklichen, wie wahrscheinlich schon Tausende vor ihr. Doch sie will nicht vor der Kamera stehen, sondern gute Filme produzieren. Sie ergattert einen Job in einem angesagten Studio und sieht sich mit den zähnefletschenden Konkurrenten in Hollywood konfrontiert, gegen die sie scheinbar nicht ankommt. Daher geht sie bei einer 16-jährigen Diva in die Schule und lässt sich bei einer skrupellosen Tat nach der anderen helfen...
  
  Und genau das hat sie in meinen Augen SOWAS von unsympathisch gemacht. Wie kann man denn so tief sinken, sich von einem Teenager Tipps geben zu lassen, wie man am besten der Kollegin auf Arbeit, mit der man um eine bessere Stelle konkurriert, einen persönlichen Schlag verpassen kann?! Nein, da fand ich Kylie (besagte Kollegin) tausendmal besser geeignet für die Stelle (zumal Taylor ja auch erst seit kurzer Zeit in dem Studio angestellt ist) und konnte nicht verstehen, warum am Ende doch alles gut wird für Taylor...wenn ich L.A. wäre, ich hätte sie aus der Stadt gejagt; wenn ich ihre Chefin wäre, ich hätte sie verklagt; wenn ich ihre Mitbewohnerin wäre, ich hätte sie vor die Tür gesetzt; wenn ich ihr Date wäre, ich hätte mich nie wieder bei ihr gemeldet und wenn ich Cabbage wäre, ich hätte einern Riesenhaufen in ihr Bett gemacht.
  
  Alles in allem wäre ja aber ein Unsympath als Hauptperson auch als literarisches Statement zu sehen und ich verstehe auch, dass die Autorin mit dem Buch wohl die Oberflächlichkeit kritisieren will, die im Filmbusiness vermutlich zu Hause ist, wären da nicht die platten Dialoge, die nicht sehr aussagekräftige Handlung und die blassen, aber mit Klischees überladenen, sich absolut irrational verhaltenden Charaktere. Die Idee ist nicht schlecht, aber die Umsetzung hat mir nicht gefallen.
• 
  Jory

  From the clever title and the attention grabbing cover I jumped on the chance to review this book.
  It was the first two chapters, however, that almost made me give up because they seemed to be taken directly from The Devil Wears Prada - a protagonist that is fresh out of college gets a job as a second assistant to a hot shot Hollywood producer, has to answer to the perfect and catty, super-model cloned first assistant who is out to sabotage her efforts to get ahead in the biz, a complete makeover (body and attitude), and well, you know the rest.
  
  The meet-cute for the protagonist and her love interest is charming but maybe a little cliche. And instead of the Stanley Tucci stylist providing her with the clothes and ‘tude lessons, it’s the bosses teenage daughter. Then we’ve got the gay boyfriend and the quirky best friend, and the typically cheesy happy ending. Do I smell a formula a’brewin?
  
  Dean seems to borrow a lot from some of the other chick-lit giants like Meg Cabot and Lauren Weisberger. However, I have not read anything else by her and am maybe not a fair judge. It is entirely possible that they borrow from her.
  
  The thing is, the protagonist is very likeable and very relatable. The “good & bad” lists in which the heroine charts her days were made very good use of and brought the character to life. And Dean clearly has a very good grasp on the innerworkings of the film industry (this coming from someone who just graduated from film school.) So despite all of its shortcomings, I still enjoyed this book. It is obviously intended for teens and pre-teens, so if you haven’t read or seen The Devil Wears Prada, or you’re willing to overlook its blatant unoriginality, it’s a great book to pick up and breeze through in a couple of days.
• 
  Wendy Hines

  Taylor Henning's favorite movie all-time is Journal Girl. Every since she saw it, she's been writing to the director. Sometimes it's only a few lines on a postcard, sometimes its a letter, but she mails them. He just never responds. Because of his movie, she wants to make movies, and goes to film school and does well. When she lands a job as a 2nd assistant she is over the moon. She finally has her foot in the door and like a fairy tale she believes that everything she ever wanted is going to happen. Wrong.
  
  The other assistants are ruthless. You need to wear the right clothes, know the latest Hollywood gossip, etc etc. Taylor was basically a geek in high school, and nice to everyone, so she has no clue how to do this to climb the corporate ladder. But she enlists the help of her boss's sixteen year old daughter to help her in exchange for a favor. Now Taylor has got the mean girl going on, and destruction may lie on her path, but she's going places. But when Kylie, an assistant always competing with Taylor, turns the tables on her, Taylor needs to decide who she really is, and if this is what she wants for her life.
  
  This was very hard to put down! The writing flowed seamlessly and the characters were full of personality, vitality, and attitude. Even though there is a lesson to be learned between the pages, HOLLYWOOD IS A LIKE LIKE HIGH SCHOOL WITH MONEY is a fun, fresh, and engaging read for teens and adults.
• 
  The Quintanilla

  I was immediately drawn to this book based upon it's title. After reading the summary on the back on the book, I was certain that I would give Hollywood is like highschool with money, a read.
  
  Not going to be a spoiler for those of you who haven't already read this. However I must confess, the title cover delivered.
  
  This book teaches a lesson or shall I say lessons.
  Just like the given summary, this book is about a young woman who lands herself a dream job in the film/entertainment industry in Hollywood. Of course we all know the stereotype for Hollywood women (men as well, but the story mainly involves females)and the luxurious lifestyle of Hollywood. Taylor (the protagonist) goes through the trials and tribulations of living a life regarding Hollywood. Through it all, Taylor must battle with not only with those out-to-get-her, but also battle with herself. It's about the importance of being yourself, staying true to yourself, and not feed into your surroundings (given that they are negative surroundings).
  
  Dean delivers a great lesson, whilst writing an entertaining story.
  I crushed on a male character as if he was a real person. I got totally into the book and pretty much lost myself and felt everything Taylor felt. Now when an author can make a book feel like reality to a person, you know their work is brilliant. And let me tell you, this is a BRILLIANT piece of work.
• 
  Monie

  Fresh from Connecticut, Taylor Henning lands a dream job at a major movie studio. Okay, so she’s not a Creative Executive whose job it is to read and recommend screenplays for the studios to produce. No… she’s just an assistant to the assistant of the powerful Iris Whitaker, President of Production.
  
  When first assistant Kylie Arthur sabotages Taylor at the first opportunity she almost gets fired. That’s when Taylor realizes that Hollywood is just like high school. If you’re not in, no one wants to be your friend.
  
  In order for Taylor to survive in this environment she enlists the help of Iris’ sixteen year old daughter Quinn. Irritated to no end Quinn nevertheless takes on the challenge and begins texting Taylor “rules” to get ahead in the cut throat world of the movie business and amazingly enough her tips are working! That is until Quinn’s next rule is to steal Kylie’s boyfriend. Torn between doing the right thing and securing her real dream job Taylor has some tough decisions to make.
  
  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this book!! It was so much fun. Yes it did remind me a lot of The Devil Wears Prada but Taylor became a cherished character and I very much wanted her to succeed. I even loved the snarky Quinn. She was a spoiled brat but she had a good heart and I was rooting for her too. This is a fun breezy read that I recommend to all chick lit lovers.
  
• 
  Angela Williams

  This book was really just OK in my opinion. It’s funny because I read young-adult books all the time and I found this to be way more immature and over the top than the teen books that I read. I found it to be unbelievably predictable and the characters were so badly stereotyped it’s not even funny. (the gay best friend, the annoying roommate, the bitchy coworker…). It was alright for a quick read, but definitely not something I’d read again, and definitely not an author I’d try again either.
  
  Also, I found that the relationships that Taylor made in this book to be extremely superficial. It seemed to me like she didn’t really care about anyone but herself and getting further in her career, no matter what was at stake. Hollywood probably really IS like that, but still. It didn’t work well with the story.
• 
  Kourtney

  I could not stop making comparisons of this book to
  The Devil Wears Prada and
  The Second Assistant A Tale from the Bottom of the Hollywood Ladder. Complete sense of deja vu the whole way through. This story has been told before, and was VERY predictable the whole way through. If you disregard the other 2 books this was ripped off from then it is a decent story. But I would stick with the two listed above first before trying out this one...
• 
  T.M. Carper

  Very similar on the surface to "Devil Wears Prada" except the boss isn't as evil--it's the co-workers that are cut-throat. Set in Hollywood's flimmaking industry, "Hollywood..." is the story of a college grad who dreams of working with her idol--a dream that seems impossible. She grows and changes over time, drifting away from her original purpose as she tries to fit the mold.
  
  
  
  Then it all falls apart and it's up to her to either pick up the pieces or let her dreams go.
  
  
  
  A quick read in first person. The ending is bland. Overall, not a bad afternoon read or a beach/plane book. Borrow, don't buy.
• 
  Pamela Hubbard

  I think I have read this book before, but it obviously didn't make much of an impact on me because I could not remember! It had a very similar storyline to "How to teach filthy rich girls", and although I enjoy a good, quick, Hollywood story every now and then, I enjoyed the "A-list" series much more. The story was formulaic, predictable and the main character didn't grow all that much.
  Taylor gets a job for a studio in LA and moves from Cleveland with big dreams of finding the perfect script and making "the" movie. Sadly, she gets sucked into the world of Hollywood drama, backstabbing and cattyness and compromises many values to get what she wants.