Rating: 
Summary: Top of the ladder in chick lit
Review: I enjoyed this book a whole lot more than The Nanny Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada. While the three books are, indeed similar in scope and content, The Second Assistant takes the genre of chick lit to a whole new level.
Our heroine, Elizabeth Miller, is a talented, educated young woman who switches from politics to the movie industry- moving from Washington, D.C. to L.A.
A fish out of water, Elizabeth's character was instantly likeable to me- she was funny, fresh, and a lot of fun. While the tasks she did for her cocaine-snorting boss were quite menial, Elizabeth laughs at herself. Elizabeth never complains about the work she has to do, never treats it with contempt or a whiny attitude- always with a touch of sarcasm. From attending the hot Hollywood parties that anybody would kill to be invited to, to the movie moguls who ceaselessly stalk her, Elizabeth treats her subject with grace and humor that is unparallelled in any other book in the wide-ranging chick lit genre.
Rating:
Summary: my train rides won't be the same till their next book!
Review: I loved this book for many reasons. It had great story lines combining love interests and career ups and downs. Although Elizabeth Millers life couldn't be further from my own I still felt I could relate to her frankly 'too country for hollywood' ways. Excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: Good Summer Read
Review: I read this book in 1 day. Wonderful story of Hollywood from the point of view of an assistant. COuldn't put it down...highly recommend it as a light summer read.
Rating:
Summary: Fast and fun
Review: I read this book in record time. I had so much fun with it i felt like i had been a hollywood assistant!
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Summary: Not just for girls!
Review: I was given this book. One look at the cover, and I wasn't hopeful. I read the first few pages one morning when I woke early. I didn't get up until 3.30pm, the book finished, my day shot to pieces. I thought this was going to be strictly for girls . But no. KELLS loved it.I was particularly taken by the main character, Elizabeth (or at least I wish I was). Apart from falling hopelessly in love with her, I really felt as if i was being let into the secret world of how a modern, cool girl, lives, thinks, and sees. What a treat! I would love to meet her. There's no political correctness coming from Naylor and Hare, which not only is a relief, but one of the main reasons the book is laugh out loud. Crazy Hollywood parties, people etc. are dealt with brilliantly, and all through the eyes of our wonderfully straight, easy going heroine. The authors also sail wonderfully close to the wind as to portraying real Hollywood stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Gets Your Attention then STOPS
Review: I would have given this book more stars had the ending not been so unfullfilling. It's like you read this entire book, and experience this great build up to NOTHING....
Besides that dissappointment I found this book to be funny. I am a huge fan of the Chick Lit genre and this fit in perfectly with my tastes.
Lizzie is working in Hollywood as an assistant to an assistant, the bottom of the ladder. Though her status in Hollywood is low she is by no means stupid - having formally been working in politics in Washington DC, but nonetheless in order to be employed in the extreamly competive world of Hollywood she is an assistant assistant, tackling such challegeing tasks as sorting push pins by color, and walking dogs.
What Lizzie really wants is to become a screenwriter. Having been fetching lattes daily at the Starbucks across from the office she becomes aquainted with the cute man behind the counter, and they soon begin writing together in their spare time, promising that if one of them got someone to look at their screenplay they would not leave the other hanging... of course...
I don't want to spoil the fun in case you decide to pick this up. It's cute and a nice easy read. I just wish the ending didn't just flop.
Rating: 
Summary: another chick - lit tale
Review: Nothing special, but definitely a good read. Elizabeth Miller left working in politics in Washington D.C. to work at "The Agency" - one of the hottest talent agencies in Hollywood. Everything Elizabeth thought Hollywood would be was inaccurate -just like most facades in Hollywood are. She thought her job would be glamorous in a different sense than it turned out to be. She thought she would be working for high-end people, doing important tasks for them. But, as a second assistant, Liz finds that a lot of Hollywood is about how you look and who you talk to (and who not to talk to), and how you can bail your boss and his friends out of trouble.
Elizabeth is a likeable character, realistic to some degree. The romance in this novel is a bit to the extreme, but maybe it's because I have read too many "girlie" books ...
The good part about the novel is that it gets better as you move along, so it is a pretty quick read. Also, the book shows some VERY accurate examples of bosses - MUCH, MUCH better than The Devil Wears Prada & Diaries. Devil wears Prada was a cheap attempt to make someone look bad. This novel is about someone's success and ability to sustain and work in the environments we so often must deal with in real life, no matter how harsh they are.
Rating:
Summary: Not the bottom of the ladder, but not the top
Review: Oh joy, another book about overburdened Hollywood ants, toiling under the whips of overprivileged stars. Clare Naylor and Mimi Hare attack well-worn turf in the chic-lit "The Second Assistant," which starts on wobbly ground, but gains its footing about two-thirds of the way in.
Elizabeth Miller is a second assistant -- meaning she's the assistant of the assistant -- at a large talent agency in Hollywood. Surrounding her are narcissistic stars, hamhanded producers, and Machievellian fellow assistants. After some run-ins with moderately attractive men in "the industry" who turn out to be sluts or pervs, she becomes a lot more cynical.
Doing her work while struggling with vegetables, her drug-addled boss, and her insane shrink isn't easy. At the same time, Lizzie is trying to help an aspiring screenwriter pal get his screenplay onto the silver screen. At the Sundance Festival, both romance and screenplay success seem to be within her grasp, until twin disasters hit...
The first third of "The Second Assistant" smacks of "Devil Wore Prada" -- gripes about the insane lives of downtrodden assistants. Not to mention the classification of L.A.'s entire population as surgically enhanced, air-headed pond scum. Fortunately the plot actually takes over after awhile, glossing over the flaws. It lacks the bite and fire of Robin Lynn Williams's "The Assistants," but it's a fun light read.
Hare and Naylor do have a pretty good writing style, even if they do name-drop half the celebrities under the sun. They throw in plenty of Machiavellian plot twists and schemes, while wrapping L.A. in a glow of make-believe -- especially during the difficult Halloween party, the film festival, and Elizabeth rushing to rescue her naked, robbed boss from a cheapo motel. And they have a pretty good sense of humor, such as the scene where Lizzie goes to a shrink, only to have the shrink professionally consult the voices in her head.
Lizzie is a pretty nice character, starting out ridiculously naive but rapidly growing a thick skin to protect herself from all the backstabbing. Supporting characters like gloomy, cynical Lara and snort-anything-that-was-once-a-pill Scott are good supports for her, as well as bohemian-geek screenwriter Jason and slutty star Jake. Only love interest Luke (must there ALWAYS be a sensitive soulmate in these books?) is too flat -- he seems tailored to deflate Lizzie's cynicism.
"The Second Assistant" is not the bottom of the literary ladder, and not the top. It sits solidly in the middle, a flawed but enjoyable guilty pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: Fun book with seriously accurate "advice" for hollywood-be's
Review: OK, it's another girl-in-awful-job book, like the exquisitely written Nanny Diaries and appalling piece of hackwork, Devil Wears Prada.
On the writing score, this is good to excellent-- the prose is not sharp and incisive but neither is it leaden and pointless. It's serviceable, and the dialogue is often very good indeed. Also it gets better as it goes along, so by the middle of the book you might find yourself not wanting to put it down.
Lizzie is a likeable character-- not a whiner like the heroine of Prada nor an altruist like Nanny in Nanny Diaries; she's a young woman making a career shift from politics to entertainment almost on a whim. What saves her from being insufferable is that she really is open-minded and trying to make the best of it, and although she has some understandable second thoughts, she ends up realizing that this is a good world for her abilities and interests after all.
But don't just read this for the "chick-flick" appeal-- this is a MUST READ for anyone who wants to make it in Hollywood. I worked recently on a high-powered TV show-- not an "Agency"-- but I can say with certainty that the authors are 100% accurate in their depiction of the commercial entertainment world. It's treacherous but also naive; deceptive and gullible-- all at the same time. And there ARE opportunities to be had.
Loved the description of "falling upward," the tendency, unique to Hollywood, to reward those who are fired with positions higher up. The description of the trip to Sundance was hilarious and fascinating. In the end, Hollywood seems like a sunny place-- you can get burned but you can also just get a nice glow; you have to be careful how you expose yourself.
I found this inspiring and entertaining. And I'll be going through it with my highlighter for tips.
Rating:
Summary: such a fun read!
Review: this book was awesome! it was a lot of fun to read and definitely very entertaining. if you liked devil wears prada or nanny diaries, this is along the same lines and you'll get a kick out of getting a peek "behind the scenes" in hollywood. definitely recommended.
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