Revenge Wears Prada

Revenge Wears Prada
by Lauren Weisberger
Release date: June 4, '13
From Goodreads:

The sequel you’ve been waiting for: the follow-up to the sensational #1 bestseller The Devil Wears Prada.
Almost a decade has passed since Andy Sachs quit the job “a million girls would die for” working for Miranda Priestly at Runway magazine—a dream that turned out to be a nightmare. Andy and Emily, her former nemesis and co-assistant, have since joined forces to start a highend bridal magazine. The Plunge has quickly become required reading for the young and stylish. Now they get to call all the shots: Andy writes and travels to her heart’s content; Emily plans parties and secures advertising like a seasoned pro. Even better, Andy has met the love of her life. Max Harrison, scion of a storied media family, is confident, successful, and drop-dead gorgeous. Their wedding will be splashed across all the society pages as their friends and family gather to toast the glowing couple. Andy Sachs is on top of the world. But karma’s a bitch. The morning of her wedding, Andy can’t shake the past. And when she discovers a secret letter with crushing implications, her wedding-day jitters turn to cold dread. Andy realizes that nothing—not her husband, nor her beloved career—is as it seems. She never suspected that her efforts to build a bright new life would lead her back to the darkness she barely escaped ten years ago—and directly into the path of the devil herself.

A word about the cover: Unlike the hardcover, the paperback keeps with the shoe theme of all of Weisberger's books. If not for the trident heel or the fact that this a Devil Wears Prada sequel, I'd probably glance over.

My thoughts:

Okay, so let me be clear: I haven't read the Devil Wears Prada. I've read Weisberger's other books, but not Devil. I've watched the film uncountable times but yes, I realise that there were things in the film that were different from the book, so I'm not going to draw comparisons between Revenge and Devil.

Let's treat Revenge as a standalone. where I know the back stories of the characters. Happens, right?

By itself, I thought Revenge was entertaining. I'm not exactly a fan of Weisberger's but Revenge had my attention throughout. Oh, of course, it starts off with Andy being crazy, making a mountain out of a molehill, that really makes no sense at all, but maybe, just maybe, that could have been a foreshadowing of things to come.

So it's been 10 years since Andy left the 'Runway' and instead of writing for The New Yorker or something, she runs a super-successful luxury wedding magazine, along with - surprise!surprise! - Emily, Miranda Priestly's former first assistant and you know, just the girl who couldn't stand Andy earlier. Yes, 10 years do change a lot of things. Which also means that there's a new guy (husband, actually), Max, who is as close to perfect as men can be. Except, of course, for the things Andy find right before her wedding that send her taking a ride across loonville through the first half of the book. I'm thinking Andy may just be a little too paranoid than necessary and hence the pointless jumping-to-conclusions take up the early part of the book. I mean, she had a pretty good domestic and professional life otherwise.

Until, of course, Miranda comes into the picture. Well, she isn't physically present much of the time that she was in Devil, but she's here alright. In Andy's nightmares and hey, the magazine world. There are actually more moments of perfect domesticity than Miranda-tornadoes. It was pacey. At least till the last 30% of the book when almost everything takes a whole hey-i-didn't-think-that-would-happen turn.

So all of Goodreads has been exploding with how Weisberger completely dashes the 'American Dream' in this book. I'm not sure that's a valid criticism. So, yes, the end picture isn't pretty, but hey, life isn't always rosy, is it? There's hope and that's important. Revenge, too, has hope. If you plan on going into this book with a critical eye, you won't be doing yourself any favours. Read it like you would treat a summer fling. It's fun. Revenges always are.

Have you read either Devil or Revenge?