The Stylist – Rosie Nixon

 

Title: The Stylist by Rosie Nixon

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Rating:  5 Stars

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley.*

Summary: Goodreads – The Stylist

When fashion boutique worker Amber Green is mistakenly offered a job as assistant to infamous, jet-setting ‘stylist to the stars’ Mona Armstrong, she hits the ground running, helping to style some of Hollywood’s hottest (and craziest) starlets. As awards season spins into action Mona is in hot demand and Amber’s life turned upside down. Suddenly she catching the attention of two very different suitors, TV producer Rob and Hollywood bad boy rising star Liam. How will Amber keep her head? And what the hell will everyone wear? The Stylist is a fast-paced, fun-packed rummage through the ultimate dressing up box.

Review: 

The Stylist was Britain’s answer to everything I loved about Devil Wears Prada, I found myself able to fully relate with the main protagonist Amber Green (yes like the traffic lights) as she tried to navigate herself around the life of being a stylist to the stars.

Amber Green was an extremely like-able character, she lacked confidence in herself and her work until she realized despite her lack of fashion knowledge she could really ace the job of the stylist! Amber is our narrator for the story, therefore allowing us to experience the story on a personal level, furthermore Rosie Nixon includes little moments in italics which are Amber’s thought processes therefore allowing for another element of the story as we fully experience Amber’s thoughts and feelings towards a person or reactions to a certain event.

I love that the Author Rosie Nixon is the editor for Hello Magazine and she also personally has  experience with other magazines such as Glamour Magazine. This made me feel like I was reading more than a work of fiction, it’s lovely to read a fictional book by someone with insider experience in the fashion industry via a fashion magazine. Rosie also still does her own journalistic articles some of which are the best dressed lists for award ceremonies, the coveted events featured so highly within this book. I actually recently read one of her articles titled ‘The frocks, the shocks… We report on the blood, sweat and superstylists behind the red carpet’s glamour gowns’  [article can be found here] which can be said to play alongside the book itself which is focused on Amber becoming an assistant to a world known fashion stylist.

I found The Stylist a 5 star read based on a number of factors, firstly the form and language of the book was easy to follow and the language was easy to digest making the book continuously flow. I managed to get into the story rather quickly which is a major plus as you find yourself fully immersed in Amber’s life. Additionally to this the content of the book was very enticing to me, as I was really interested as to how Rosie would interpret the British Fashion Industry mixed in with the American Industry. In terms of this I found that she integrated real life fashion moments really well; therefore allowing the story to touch us as the reader on a more personal level. One example of this is with mention of popular Celebrities such as Anne Hathaway and George Clooney. Despite being a work of fiction I felt like the novel truly gave me an insight into the fashion industry which seemed a cut throat world behind all the glitz and glamour.

Another aspect I thoroughly enjoyed was how Rosie introduced little ideas already associated with the fashion industry in reality such as Klara, whose occupation is a model who ate very little which is how the media  in reality perceives models. Amber’s character showed signs of worry for Klara as well as relief when she realized she was beginning to eat/drink more. Furthermore Rosie allows her characters to be flawed in some way or other, Mona is flawed as she lets Amber and numerous clients down on a number of occasions within the novel due to her problems, she seems to over drink, use drugs and have a spending problem.  This is another reason which adds up to the 5 star rating because this allows us to relate with the characters again on a more personal level, they begin to seem more real and complex.

As a whole The Stylist features more than the fashion content, it features stories of romance and friendship along the way, through complex characters and it’s story lines its easy to give a 5 star rating and fall in love with it. I loved how The Stylist focused majority on the fashion element of the story and Amber’s new stylist assistant occupation rather than altering to feature more romance. There was just enough romantic tension between Rob and Amber to make me want to read faster to find out what would happen and if anything would happen between the pair, as well as my hope to find out what Amber would go on to do after the award season had finished.

Truly a wonderful chick lit/women’s fiction novel, one of those books that would be perfect for a summer beach trip!

For more information regarding The Stylist – Rosie Dixon please visit the goodreads page dedicated to the book by clicking here;  Goodreads – The Stylist