Blogger Girl Meets The Pollyanna Plan in NYC

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 watermelon 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.

Available on Amazon.com; Amazon UK; B&N; and Apple iTunes.

Thanks for the tour, Meredith and Kim! You can check out where in London Emma took Kim on Meredith's blog. 

I'll see everyone next week!