Synopsis: Lucy Jo Ellis, from a small town in
Minnesota, moved to New York with the dream of becoming a famous designer, but
so far, working in a dress shop cutting out patterns, she hasn’t gotten very
far. Wyatt Hayes is a Harvard-educated anthropologist from money, very old
money, who just dumped his socialite girlfriend. Suddenly inspired while
waiting for a taxi, he bets his friend that he can turn a girl, any girl, into
a bona fide New York socialite, no matter how corn-fed she is. Lucy needs a
job, so she agrees to the experiment. In a whirlwind of personal trainers,
designer gowns, spa retreats, and elocution lessons, Lucy is transformed, and
now she must decide which of the Lucys is really her, and if Wyatt is simply a
scientist or if there is more to his story.
My
thoughts: the
main reason why I picked this book – besides the fact that it cost me a dollar
to buy – was the huge resemblance to My Fair Lady, the Audrey
Hepburn’s musical/romance/comedy movie in Technicolor, since it’s no mystery
that I’m a Hepburn fan. I proved myself to be absolutely right.
This
book is about a socialite anthropologist to pick a random girl and turn her
into the next “it” girl of le crème de la crème of Manhattan. Does it ring a
bell? Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgings, phonetic academic, perhaps? Anyway,
Wyatt – that’s the name of the anthropologist – makes a bet with his friend
Trip Peters that Lucy Jo – that’s the random girl – would be perfectly ready
for the grand-huge-master-super-dupper-important ball three months away and
that she would fool every blue-blood in the room.
So
the games begin. As I said, this reminds every bit of My Fair Lady’s plot, except its period of time – one was around the
eighteenth/nineteenth century and the other was twenty-first century – and the
fact that the story brought other characters into view, such as Cornelia
Rockman – Lucy Jo’s nemesis - , Eloise Carlton – Lucy’s best friend and a
designer as she wanted to become one day – and others that don’t come to mind
now. Those other angles were what kept me from saying this was a complete copy –
although it is, most of it anyway – of the movie.
Wyatt
is a stupid little macho when the story is beginning. But after a while, when
he realizes that he actually cares for the girl’s feelings, he starts to respect
her and support her with what she has always wanted in her life: to be someone
in the fashion industry. But it’s saddening to think that only by this path
that a man can finally respect a woman’s wishes and decisions – but let us not be
so gloomy. I cannot say I didn’t have my share of laughter – it is a chick-lit
novel after all – but this is not enough to make into my top 10 favorite books
of all times.
Rate:
