Happy mid-week! I've no idea where the days are going. As promised, here I am for my second post of the week. I'm taking part in United Authors of Chick Lit, and today Emma from
The Pollyanna Plan will be hitting New York. Her guide is the character Kim from Meredith Schorr's
Blogger Girl.
Over to Kim and off to NYC!
I am delighted to
share the details of the exciting day I spent with Emma Beckett from The Pollyanna Plan. We were introduced
by two authors and became such fast friends that I invited Emma to visit with
me in New York City and I flew to London to spend time with her. I was totally
stoked for my trip across the pond, home of my favorite characters in chick lit,
like Becky Bloomwood, Bridget Jones, and Serenity Holland. The mini holiday in
London did not disappoint but I will let Emma tell you all about it while I
recap her visit to The Big Apple.
Emma met me at my office in the New York Life Building
instead of breakfast at Serendipity as originally planned, since Rob was
preparing for a crazy trial and I had to supervise a copy job of epic
proportions first thing in the morning. I felt guilty that my uninspiring job
got in the way of delicious frozen hot chocolate but Emma had a great attitude;
she was actually excited about spending time in a law firm. I introduced her to
Rob who, of course, made a point to give me shit about my blog in front of
Emma. I forgave him when he gave me the rest of the day off.
Once I escaped from prison, er, work, I treated Emma to
lunch at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, where we indulged in the best
burger, fries, and shake combination ever. We had time before meeting my best
friend Bridget for drinks and so I took Emma on a walking tour of Gramercy
Park, the Flatiron District and Union Square. I thought Emma would be impressed
by the cool shape of the Flatiron Building but she said there is a Flatiron
Building in London too. Who knew? I even dragged her to the Strand Bookstore
and showed her books where authors included my name in the acknowledgment
section.
If Emma was bored senseless, she kept it to herself, but I knew she
was happy when we finally met Bridget at Banc Café for happy hour. I told Emma
it was at Banc Café where I had my first non-work-related conversation with
Nicholas. We had a moment of silence for swoon-worthy Nicholas and then Emma
told us about her love interest, Will. Over our second round of w
atermelon martinis, I complained to Emma that Hannah Marshak,
my high school nemesis, had the nerve to ask me to review her debut chick lit novel
on
Pastel is the New Black and
Bridget shared some of Hannah’s evil
machinations from back in the day. When Emma suggested that maybe Hannah had matured,
Bridget asked Emma if she was on crack, but Emma explained that she was simply
trying to look on the bright side of things.
After two cocktails, I was buzzing
big time (being under 5”0’ doesn’t bode well for drinking on an empty stomach)
and the three of us went for dinner at Primehouse across from my office. The restaurant
brought back bad memories because it was during Rob’s birthday lunch there that
he announced hiring condescending Daneen, who not only wants to jump Nicholas’
bones but also makes my life miserable at work on a daily basis. Emma promised
we would make new memories and we did.
At the end of the night, Emma gave us a big hug and said we reminded
her of her best friend from home, Alice. When Nicholas made an appearance after finally getting out of work, Emma even
offered to stay at Bridget’s apartment so I could have sex with him. While I
thought it was an awfully sweet and tempting offer, I declined. Spending the
evening as a wanton sex goddess with a very bad man between my thighs would, of
course, be wonderful, but hanging out with my new British BFF was even better.
A little excerpt from the wonderful Blogger Girl (definitely on my TBR list!):
Nicholas
patted the seat next to him. “Sit with us.”
Daneen
looked at me like I was a rescued stray cat she wished would get lost again.
“Yes, join us if you’d like. Although, it will probably be super boring for
you. We’re working.” She pointed towards the pile of papers like I wouldn’t
have noticed them otherwise.
“A
little break won’t kill us,” Nicholas said winking at me.
I smiled
at him and took a bite of my sandwich. When no one said anything, I took
another bite and decided to feign interest in what they were working on just to
break the awkward silence. “So…”
“So, how
long have you been a legal secretary?” Daneen interrupted.
“Almost
three years,” I answered. I was too taken aback that Daneen had actually
initiated a conversation with me to go into more details.
“Have
you taken the LSAT yet?” Daneen asked.
Surprised
by the randomness of the question, I stuttered, “Huh? Um, no.”
“You are going to law school, right?” She
probed.
“Why do
you ask?” Nicholas questioned.
Daneen
looked at Nicholas like he had an eyeball in the middle of his forehead. “I
just can’t imagine anyone graduating college and working as a legal secretary
unless she hoped to get good recommendations from attorneys for law school.ˮ Turning
her attention to me, she said, “You went to college, right?”
I shredded my napkin wishing it was her face. “Yes.”
Daneen
nodded. “Where’d you go?”
“Syracuse,”
I said.
Momentarily
looking at me with envy, Daneen said, “I wished my parents would have let me go
to a party school!”
“Syracuse
had a great communications program and it might seem shocking to you, but I’ve
never had any desire to go to law school,” I said assuredly.
“It’s not
shocking to me,” Nicholas said, squeezing my knee under the table. “And
Syracuse did a great job. Kimmie is a super communicator. You should check out
her blog.”
Daneen
looked at me with renewed interest. “What kind of blog?”
“It’s a
chick lit blog where I post about chick lit novels. I write reviews, interview
authors. That sort of thing.”
With a
furrowed brow, Daneen said, “I thought chick lit was declared dead ages ago. I
read Bridget Jones’s Diary in college
but don’t know anyone who reads it now. Except my sixteen year old niece. She
has that Shopaholic series, but I assume she’ll grow out of it soon.”
“No one
writes chick lit like Sophie Kinsella,” I said.
Daneen
looked at me blankly. “Well, that’s great, Kimmie! Your blog sounds cute.”
I tried
not to lose my lunch over her use of his nickname for me, especially since it
might have been the first time she had ever directed me by name.
What happens
when your high school nemesis becomes the shining star in a universe you pretty
much saved? Book blogger Kimberly Long is about to find out. A chick lit
enthusiast since the first time she read Bridget Jones’s Diary, Kim, with her
blog, "Pastel is the New Black," has worked tirelessly by night to
keep the genre alive, and help squash the claim that "chick lit is
dead" once and for all. Not bad for a woman who by day ekes out a meager
living as a pretty, and pretty-much-nameless, legal secretary in a Manhattan
law firm. While Kim's day job holds no passion for her, the handsome (and
shaving challenged) associate down the hall is another story. Yet another story
is that Hannah Marshak, one of her most hated high school classmates, has now
popped onto the chick lit scene with a hot new book that's turning heads--and
pages--across the land. It's also popped into Kim's inbox--for review. With
their ten-year high school reunion drawing near, Kim's coming close to
combustion over the hype about Hannah’s book. And as everyone around her seems
to be moving on and up, she begins to question whether being a “blogger
girl”makes the grade in her off-line life.
I'll see everyone next week!
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