Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Book Review and Giveaway: J'adore New York

**Giveaway is now closed**

It's never easy to be the new girl in town, and this difficulty is escalated in the competitive and fast paced world of corporate law, as Catherine Lambert finds out on her first day in New York, after transferring from a more laid back law environment in Paris. She barely has a chance to drink a cup of coffee before being sent off to a small town to do research. Then she comes back to a series of bosses who have various expectations of her and aren't always nice about what they want. On top of that, she also has to deal with a creepy client, backstabbing assistants and her disapproving mother. Soon, she finds romance with a wealthy man who is able to wine and dine her, but when he takes a step too far, Catherine has to figure out what she truly wants for herself.

Melissa A:

Law may be reason, free from passion, but for Catherine Lambert, it is never free from fashion!

I really enjoyed reading "J'adore New York" by Isabelle Laflèche. It had a feel similar to "The Devil Wears Prada" with the fast paced life, the difficult bosses and all the fashion name dropping. It also had a fun and complex romantic element. It was well written in that it was compelling and I didn't want to put it down. I love how Catherine tried her hardest to be the best lawyer possible and also felt she had to second guess herself at times. Her assistant and gay best friend, Rikash, was a lot of fun too. He reminded me of a past coworker who used to be my fashion consultant, as well. And speaking of fashion, Ms. Lafleche described clothes so perfectly that I felt like I was the one shopping for them. She allowed me to be vicariously well-dressed, as a result.

While I realize that a book about law is going to feature shop talk, so to speak, I also felt that this shop talk was only geared toward other corporate lawyers. I felt lost during the times Catherine and the other lawyers were using lawyer terms. It didn't cause me to lose interest in the story though, and I appreciated Catherine's attempts to explain the terminology to someone with no experience in the field of corporate law. The other issue I had was with the story wrapping up a little too neatly, in an almost unbelievable "fashion." However, I wanted only good things to happen for Catherine after reading about all the torture she had to go through to get to that point.

"J'adore New York" is as fast paced as Catherine's career and readers are taken along on the ride with her. It's easy to get lost into her world, to sympathize with her various plights and to cheer for her when something good does come her way. I was glad I had the opportunity to read this novel and get lost in Catherine's world, even when mine is just as busy sometimes.

Melissa P:

When I first had the chance to interview Isabelle Lafleche last year, I was already dying to read "J’adore New York." The name alone was enough to hook me. It’s no secret to those that know me that I love both New York and Paris, my two favorite places on earth. Top it off with fashion and crazy bosses and this book is a page turner! I loved every word, I couldn’t get through it fast enough. Literally. I just started a new job at a very large financial firm, and just couldn’t seem to find extra time in the day to devour this amazing book as quickly as I would have liked. I also was able to sympathize (and commiserate) with the main character, Catherine, about the long hours and extremely high (and unreasonable in her case) expectations. Not that my job is anywhere near as crazy as Catherine’s, but I could literally feel her stress as I read. It’s hard to navigate a new place alone, especially when you don’t know who you can trust, if anyone.

Although the book is close to 400 pages, it absolutely flies by. For me it went too fast and I really hope that we will see Catherine again in the future. I appreciated her willingness to appease the most awful, backstabbing colleagues so she can be up for partner someday and also avoid getting her head ripped off. She may not have wanted to, but I respected her for sucking it up and paying her dues, but I also wanted her to put some of the many antagonists in their place! I felt as torn as she seemed to be. All of the characters were really well developed and I felt the drama, panic, and excitement that Catherine must have been feeling, having just moved to a new country with a fast paced new job.

For any of you that loved “The Devil Wears Prada”, this book is definitely for you. Go out and get it immediately, you will not be sorry. Great job to Isabelle for giving us a stylish, funny, and adventurous read.

Thanks to Crystal Patriarche from BookSparks PR for the review copy and for sharing a copy with a lucky reader from the US or Canada, right here!

How to win "J'adore New York":
Tell us who you think is the worst fictional boss (can be from books, television or movies). Please include your e-mail address or another way to easily contact you if you should win.

US/Canada only. Giveaway ends October 10th at midnight EST.

28 comments:

Cassandra @ Book & Movie Dimension a Blog said...

Miranda from The Devil Wears Prada movie. She was always so overbearing and demanded all kinds of things to bee given to her quickly.
Thanks for the non-spoiler review for J' adore New York, Melissa A and Melissa P.

E-mail: hernandezcassandra50 (at
) yahoo (dot) com

Gwendolyn B. said...

Hmmm, this is going back a while, but I think Mr. Scrooge was a particularly nasty boss! But so was Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl! I think this book sounds like a lot of fun and I would love to read it. Thanks for the chance to win a copy!

geebee.reads AT gamil DOT com

Amber @ A Little Pink in the Cornfields said...

Hmmm... I will have to go with Miranda from Devil Wears Prada - she was just evil!

amber_johnson2004 at yahoo dot com

Kim W. said...

Miranda from Devil Wears Prada for sure!

Email: kewalker1972@gmail.com

ADR527 said...

Ari Gold from Entourage was evil.

adr52775 at aol dot com

Krystal Lynn said...

I'm going with Mr. Burns on this one. Yes the one from the Simpsons. He's just mean in general. And he looks weird. Not an ideal work environment! ha ha

miss_kris_11 (at)yahoo (dot)com

Michelle from Sew Shellz said...

Miranda from Devil Wears Prada. Funny thing is, I have this boss. Thankfully we do not work in the same office. I'm serious..she actually snaps her fingers at the office admin and tells her to get her a Diet Coke.

Nina said...

How about Lynette's former boss Nina in Desperate Housewives, who used to make Lynette go out with her to bars so she could meet men?! LOL.
nina565(at) aol (dot) com

leonel said...

how about the pimp from "Oliver!" he was bad. Or anyone from "9 to 5"

Melissa A - this book screams my name :) I will win it :)

leonelescota AT gmail dot com

Literary Chanteuse said...

I'm going to say Daniel Cleaver from Bridget Jones Diary. He was such a player! I'm such a follower. lol! I would J'adore this book!!!! Thanks!

Margaret
singitm@hotmail.com

Linda Kish said...

Patty Hewes on Damages is pretty wicked as far as I am concerned. Love the show but wouldn't want to work for her.

lkish77123 at gmail dot com

Sheena said...

I'm going with Sigourney Weaver's Katherine from the movie Working Girl. What a horrible boss!

wapneski@yahoo.com

BRN2SHOP9 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BRN2SHOP9 said...

Miranda from Devil Wears Prada

brn2shop9 at gmail dot com

faithspage said...

Victor Newman, Young and the Restless
kyfaithw at aol dot com

Anonymous said...

I'm going to go against the popular consensus and say Michael Scott from The Office. He's not mean, or awful, just extremely, extremely incompetent.

Email: emond (dot) c (at) gmail (dot) com

Books Etc. said...

I'm going to have to go with the majority and say Miranda from "The Devil Wears Prada".
Thanks ladies!
books.etc.blogger AT gmail DOT com

Charlotte said...

Devil Wears Prada is pretty nasty, but I think the scrooge definately is worse.

c.semenchuk@comcast.net

Jessica said...

Mrs. X from The Nanny Diaries was pretty bad. She's the first one to come to my mind. I love the book (and movie)!

tiggerroo628@aol.com

Anonymous said...

Patty Hewes from Damages. Definitely. She did, after all, have her employees fiance murdered. That's pretty bad :)

jabaleyjennifer(at)yahoo(dot)com

Jilleen said...

Hmmm - What a great question. I think the most evil is Patty Hughes from Damages. I can think of a lot of "funny" bosses too.

Hope I win - this sounds great!

Jill at
Seasidebooknook {at} yahoo {dot} com

Tiffany Drew said...

I have to agree with Miranda from The Devil Wears Prada. I haven't read the book, but I did see the movie. She was one nasty boss!

jaidahsmommy(at)comcast(dot)net

Amy said...

Dr. Julia Harris, played by Jennifer Aniston, from Horrible Bosses


amyrbromberg (at) gmail (dot) com

Lucie Simone said...

So many "great" terrible bosses in books, movies & TV to choose from! I'm going to go with Patty Hewes from Damages. She was ruthless and murderous!

I'd love to win this book!

Lalucie at sbcglobal dot net

StereoQueenBee said...

Terrible bosses? Hmmm, I can't think of any at the moment aside from Serena's boss on Gossip Girl at the moment... He is just a complete jerk!

Queenofcrunk@gmail.com

Allison said...

Yea, I agree Miranda from Devil Wears Prada. Treating her assistants like servants and not human beings is evil!

abrown546@gmailDOTcom

Allison said...

Yea, I agree Miranda from Devil Wears Prada. Treating her assistants like servants and not human beings is evil!

abrown546@gmailDOTcom

Nancye said...

Now this answer will age me for sure, but what about the boss from the 80's movie "9 to 5" with Dolly Parton, etc.? Now he was a real jerk, but they sure got him back!

nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net