Chick lit Review: The Knockoff by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza

Title: The Knockoff

Author: Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza
Publisher: Random House Canada
Publication date: May 19, 2015 

Genre(s): Fiction (Chick lit)

Source: Publisher

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 352

Add to Goodreads | Chapters | Amazon CA | B&N

When Imogen returns to work at Glossy after six months away, she can barely recognize her own magazine. Eve, fresh out of Harvard Business School, has fired “the gray hairs,” put the managing editor in a supply closet, stopped using the landlines, and hired a bevy of manicured and questionably attired underlings who text and tweet their way through meetings. Imogen, darling of the fashion world, may have Alexander Wang and Diane von Furstenberg on speed dial, but she can’t tell Facebook from Foursquare and once got her iPhone stuck in Japanese for two days. Under Eve’s reign, Glossy is rapidly becoming a digital sweatshop—hackathons rage all night, girls who sleep get fired, and “fun” means mandatory, company-wide coordinated dances to Beyoncé. Wildly out of her depth, Imogen faces a choice—pack up her Smythson notebooks and quit, or channel her inner geek and take on Eve to save both the magazine and her career. A glittering, uproarious, sharply drawn story filled with thinly veiled fashion personalities, The Knockoff is an insider’s look at the ever-changing world of fashion and a fabulous romp for our Internet-addicted age.

The Knockoff sounded like the perfect contemporary read. I needed something fun and interesting without any romance getting in the way of the plot. This story is about all the working women out there who had to take a break and came back finding everything different and the working life train just about to leave with your ticket no where to be found. I am twenty four years old, I am by no means old. However I do understand that disadvantageous side women have to deal with once they come back in the workforce. That is how I was able to sympathize with the main protagonist, Imogen, even though she's so kick butt and awesome. 

Imogen, as soon as she comes back to the magazine that she is edited in chief of, has to deal with Eve, her previous assistant, wanting to take over Glossy and turning it into an app. I mean are you serious? even I wouldn't want print magazines to only become e-magazines... now teenagers will seriously NEVER be able to get their eyes out of their phone screens *shudders*. I really liked The Knockoff because it was basically a battle of power, wit, and brains when it came to the power struggle between Imogen and Eve. However Eve fights dirty, and I hated her so much for this. She got so much on my nerves and I am SO glad that Imogen was able to stand up to her every time, in her own classy way. Eve can be described as one word: unhinged. 

I had such a fun ride with The Knock off, I didn't know what to expect of a chick lit without romance, but Sykes and Piazza both delivered. I can't wait to read more books by either authors and I hope they collaborate on another chick lit in the future. This was a 330 tall hardcover sized book with typical small text, but I did not grow bored at all while reading it. The fashion world has always interested me (as an outsider), and I loved seeing the backstage happening of running a fashion magazine. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a lighthearted fun read.