CLARE NAYLOR

In "The Second Assistant," readers fell in love with smart, witty East Coast girl Elizabeth Miller. Now that Lizzie has been promoted, can she still keep her pumps firmly on the gro

Yesterday, Liv Elliot had it all: a great flat in London's Notting Hill, an actual career (okay, as an accountant), and a coveted fiancé. Every girl's dream, right? But then Tim declared that the wedding was off—leaving Liv shell-shocked. Luckily, she's got her best friend's fab Australian beach house in which to recuperate. The restorative powers of the Sydney sun, sand, and sea soon have Liv feeling wonderfully anti-accountant. Then she runs into old flame Ben Parker. It's been years since they fooled around during a summer fling, but Liv never forgot that genetically blessed face. Raring to help her land beautiful Ben, Liv's friends teach her the Rules of Dog Handling: Treat a man like a dog and he'll be eating out of your hand. But surely this can't actually work? Liv is about to find out that it can—but she's hardly prepared for the results.

Elizabeth is the "second assistant" at a talent agency in Hollywood, where her immediate supervisor (the "first assistant") is a woman named Lara. Their boss is the volatile and druggy Scott. The extremely undemanding nature of the job gives Elizabeth plenty of time to fall in love--and to follow her own personal dream: to make the definitive film of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. The authors, Clare Naylor and Mimi Hare, are Hollywood folks themselves: both are well-known film producers.

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 light-hearted 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