The Accidental Socialite by Stephanie Wahlstrom (New Adult, 7/10E)

April 2014, Piatkus, 240 pages, Paperback, Review copy

Themes: living in a foreign country, cultural misunderstanding, socialising, drunken nights, not putting much effort into work, making true friends, meeting total idiots, jet-setting lifestyle, feeling overwhelmed, fois gras incident, meeting royalty,

 

Content: Frequent & strong mature adult content, lots of embarrassing moments, tissue needed

Summary from Little, Brown

Paige Crawford is the Accidental Socialite. Escaping small town Canada to make it in London, she's thrust into the limelight after an unfortunate incident involving a famous footballer, a nightclub and some really great shoes. 

Being instantly elevated to tabloid celebrity status isn't exactly a picnic, particularly when trying to juggle her new job in fashion, a catalogue of dating disasters and a nagging feeling that maybe London won't be as easy to conquer as she'd thought . . .

Nayuleska's thoughts

I was attracted to this book because I wanted to know how Paige became an accidental socialite. She is a girl who is nearly the complete opposite of me. She always got drunk when she went out which pretty much is why she becomes famous. I nearly stopped reading because the language was rather graphic, but there was something that kept me reading so far that by the time I next thought about stopping I was close to the end. Paige doesn't really learn her lesson, even at the end, and makes huge mistakes over and over. I think she was trying to live in a fantasy world, which got tough when reality hit. When she isn't travelling Paige lives in awful accommodation with questionable occupants, until the end when she has more than a little luck in the housing department. I was intrigued how she managed to keep her job, and seriously expected her to get sacked after each escapade.

Thankfully Paige does make a few true friends. I loved Lucinda, who helps Paige out every now and then, and has an amazing home and good dress sense. I equally loved Paige's mother, who stars at the end. Both she and Lucinder give Paige excellent advice, which she is finally ready to pay attention to. Paige's future is as uncertain as ever, but with more than a little experience in living abroad she can start figuring out what she wants to do with her life. I hope she makes something of it, and doesn't slide back down to the lows which got her too much publicity in this book. 

Find out more on Stephanie's website.

Suggested read

For another travelling protagonist finding her way in the world is The Out Of Office Girl by Nicola Doherty (Fiction, 9/10E)