Chore Whore: One Celebrity Personal Assistant's Escape from Spoiled Hollywood Stars

by Heather H. Howard

After twenty years of working thanklessly for a dozen high-powered Hollywood hotshots, Corki Brown has had enough. She's sick to death of handling elaborate extortion deals, washing groupies' dirty underwear, and having to whip up intimate dinners on no notice for spoiled stars, each with his or her own bizarre dietary demands. And now her ten-year-old son is starting to exhibit some disturbing signs of Tinseltown weirdness. It's time to get out, but escape won't be easy. . . .

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Humor

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 4 out of 5]

When people have so much money that they move in circles where employees have to pick up the panties discarded on the floor by some one night stand or other, they tend to lose touch with reality. Money really can buy you almost everything you desire, including a gun range and armory in the basement accessed through a secret bedroom door for ... which Hollywood star? There are clues, but you have to guess. The louche lifestyles, endless one night stands, paranoia that requires a steel fortress room to hide in, people to pick up your handbag and carry it across the room (shades of the late Queen Mother here). These people have entourages called 'my people' and this book is by one of them.

It's obvious that money can't buy you happiness or sanity, although it can buy you lots of people who will tell you how wonderful you are or give you endless therapy just in case you don't believe them. However laughable and contemptible this seems, I have to say if someone hands me over a fortune (large or small, let's not be too picky about this) I will take it and I will try to be the exception and, as the Lottery winners say, 'not change'.

And if I do, and I end up with a celebrity personal assistant like the author, then I will thoroughly deserve to end up being exposed and mocked, as in this rather enjoyable and entertaining book.

The book is officially fiction, but the author really was a celebrity personal assistant and it was quite fun trying to guess who the stars were. Some are even identified by name. If you can identify them all, you have been reading the National Enquirer and watching showbiz programmes far too much!

Recommended for that hour when getting a pedi and manicure or a short plane flight to absolutely nowhere very important.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this three and a half stars I think if I could...I went with four though because it definitely doesn't deserve three in my opinion.
The author is extremely likable which I admire because had I been through a quarter of what this poor woman has subjected herself to I'd be the biggest bitch this world ever saw.
Howard drops some names while concealing others and another thing I liked was while she did throw in some neat celeb stories, the book was mainly about her job and not just about what she saw here and what this celeb did there.
The job in itself is definitely interesting and I'm surprised no one did what Howard has done long before. This is a very, very fast read and while it took me about two days, with a normal amount of reading time I'd have been done in an afternoon.
The ending was probably the best part for me- it reminded me of some of the mystery books I used to read- that sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what was going to happen and why.
I'd recommend for anyone who is actually interested in seeing what a Hollywood assistant's job is really about. If you're looking to learn dirt about celebs this isn;t the book for you.

[Aisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chore Whore by Heather H. Howard, is a story of Cornelia "Corki" Brown, and her experiences as a celebrity personal assistant. Howard herself, was a celeb personal assistant.

The first half of the book was very dry, leaving the reader unsure of where the plot is going. It is mostly fluff.

The second half, the story sort of picked up but found Corki to be annoying for not standing up for herself until the very end. And she was so judgmental of Lucy's relationship but failed to realize her own naivety when it came to her own love life. She was married for 3 days, got pregnant, and her husband disappeared (possibly died). Plus, her relationship with her son was unrealistic. Blaise was continually acting out, and Corki always pushed it aside, like it was no big deal.

I felt like there wasn't any character development, plot, and nothing that funny to make it memorable. It was an alright read and was glad it wasn't even 300 pages long. I guess if you find the Hollywood celebs and lifestyle appealing, you would enjoy this.

For me however, this book fell short.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ended up being a pleasant surprise. I tend to find chick lit rather predictable and vapid. There is plenty of well written chick lit out there but you have to dig through a lot of other stuff to find it. The endings are usually the same (girl tries to find guy, drama/hilarity ensue, girl gets guy) and the journey getting there is rarely that original. Most of what I saw from the outside of this book screamed “Chick Lit” and after having read it I will say that still holds true. However, it is not a typical woman in her twenties or thirties trying to find Mr. Right. It’s about a widowed woman raising her ten-year-old son and working as a personal assistant to the stars.

I enjoyed going along on this ride with Corki as she tried to navigate parenting demanding and often sordid stars and her ‘lively’ young son. I also got to see her deal with a bank robbery, car accident, and sort-of sting operation. It was fun, funny, and great escape from the ordinariness of my own life. I also liked the message at the end. Rather than happiness being with a guy, it was with Corki finding her own self-respect and happiness in life. Absolutely worth the read

[Astrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book of the life of a celebrity assistant (C.A.) - a fictional story but based on the author's experiences as a C.A. Makes me tired and my head spin to think of all she did and how financially precarious that job can be - crazy when you see the $$$ spent by celebs on stuff and not her salary. Sure I'll take a gift bag worth $3,000!

Fun read - a glimpse into the celeb life (at least the more extreme ones) like what the Nanny Diaries did for NYC diva moms:)

[Maui · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5!

I started this book last night and I could not put it down because the stories were so intense. Corki Brown is a superwoman. He went through all of the trouble for her clients but she never got a thank you, plus with the issues with her son she has quite a lot up her sleeve.

I do applaud her for being a professional worker to her clients and an exceptional mom to her son. I was really happy that she finally found her happy ending in the end.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hysterical! Great summer read!

[Katie Murphy]

I have not finished this book yet but it is a great read! Man I sound like a dork!

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, quick read. Started a little slow, but then I couldn't put it down.

[Rebecca King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy, wacky tales from the front lines of Hollywood! The personal whims of the famous from film and TV are straight from outer space. Fun book.

[Mary Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was hilarious. It gives you a glimpse of how wacky the folks in Hollywood can be. I loved it!

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the funnies books I have read in a very long time! When you think your having a bad day just read a chapter, sit back and reflect on how glad you are your not a Celebrity Assitant.

[Lisa Pfeffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny book I needed a laugh today

[bigmuzz · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting and easy read...all i know is, there is no way in hell i'm ever gonna be a personal assistant after reading this and some of the ridiculous things you have to do and put up with

[Tiffany Maese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, a total entertaining page turner. Super fun easy read, constantly made you wonder which celebrity the author was referring to. Great book to read on vacation.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Corki Brown is a single mom of a ten year old boy, Blaise, and has her hands full with her job as personal assistant to celebrities. She is always on the go dropping off their Ferrari, cooking a meal for eleven, buying party favors, coordinating a New Year's Eve party, and keeping the paparazzi at bay from her wealthy clients. When several clients no longer need her services for several months, she is forced to consider new options. But will her old clients let her go, even though they don't need her?

This is a book of fluff; it has no real substance to it and I flew through it in just a couple days. It's really a chick-lit book though I imagine there are some men who might like it too. Corki is an interesting character with her son who is forever getting into trouble at school. I do feel like their characters are somewhat flat though and could have been better rounded out, though like I said before, this is just a piece of fluff literature, like cotton candy. Sweet for a few minutes but not filling. The setting is mostly in Hollywood, California, though there are some scenes set in Greece. It was written in 2005 and meant to be set around that time-frame. There are several sex scenes, some of which are pretty graphically described. There is a lot of alcohol use and abuse throughout this book. There is at least one scene with illegal drug use. There are a couple of scenes of violence. This is not for young teenagers, though more mature teenagers could probably handle this okay. I am giving this book three stars for the somewhat flat characterization. I did like this "cotton candy" book.

[jeanne kanfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chore whore

An entertaining read, the story was a little superficial and predictable, but good for a beach vacation. If this is a true depiction of the career of celebrity assistant, what a thankless job!

[patti mosberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Name dropping book

This book reminded me of The Nanny Diaries. She drops names and really explained what it is like to be a Hollywood assistant. I couldn’t put it down!

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good but didn't hold my interest.

[Regina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short read
October 2014

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Beachy read. DNF. I had better books to read.

[Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this light read shelving and was pleasantly surprised. The author is certainly knowledgeable about the perils of celebrity assisting, though at times it reads like a stressful to-do list. The story would make for an entertaining, quick beach read; I would've liked to have had the option of a sequel so that I could read about Corki's adventure opening the Count's hotel/restaurant in St. Barts but the author hasn't written anything else. It was more about Corki's job than her love life, which I liked, as well as her relationship with her clients and ten year old son.

I will spend the rest of the morning trying to figure out who she was working for.

[Ket Lamb · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you've ever entertained the idea of working as a celebrity assistant, read this! Single-mom, Corki Brown, babies a handful of spoiled stars more than her own juvenile delinquent. Laundering the flavor of the day's underwear, buying a birthday present for Stephen Spielberg, shipping illegal Cuban cigars, washing the Masertai, throwing an impromptu Carribean dinner for ten without wheat or dairy products, and cleaning out the shark tank are all in day's work. Why such a talented, creative whiz, who speaks a handful of languages and works her tail off is always broke and worried about losing one of her quirky part-time jobs is beyond me, but it's amusing to hear about her ridiculous chores. When Corki finally has the well-paid opportunity to work for Jennifer Anniston, it's difficult to comprehend why she would even debate about leaving her tenuous position with a spoiled Academy Award winner and her abusive boyfriend. But, hey, this is L.A. where twisted co-dependent relationships are the norm. Sure, Corki can organize a wedding in Greece and try to foil an extortion plot when one of her employees gets literally caught on tape with his pants down, but will she do what's best for her family? Given the author was a personal assistant for some of the biggest A-listers in Hollywood for over two decades, this fictionalized account is loaded with believable stories that make The National Enquirer look like a Disney magazine. Read it and laugh. If you still want this kind of job, lawyer up and get a decent contract.

[Jai · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Devil Wears Prada has nothing on this book; instead of one crappy boss, Corki Brown, personal assistant to the stars has *many*. Written by a celebrity personal assistant who has worked in Hollywood for over 20 years, it tells of the day to day horrors and indignities that Corki endures in order to pay her bills and take care of her son Blaise. There is a lot that her clients ask of her, often on little or no notice, such as cooking for 50 guests in 3 days, finding the perfect gift for Steven Spielberg on the DAY of his birthday, moving and unpacking for them and taking care of every detail. And that is just the normal, reasonable requests. She has crawled around in a toiletseat graveyard, been stabbed, spat on, driven over.. reading this made me glad to have a "regular" 9 to 5 job! It was like watching Jerry Springer for the stars. The only problem with this book is that it is mostly a day to day of Corki's life with very little story - mostly about getting stiffed for her pay and underappreciated by her bosses, and trying to deal with her son who keeps acting up in school. There is a good resolution however, and as the back blurb says "its time to get out", but luck plays a big part in that, as Corki doesn't know what else to do: this has been her job for 20 years and she is very good at it.

[Ralph Maughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Best

This is the best of the hired-help subgenre of celebrity tell-all. Number one, the lady can write; number two, she was in the top tier of personal assistants in Hollywood for 20 years; number three, by casting her story as fiction, she can include plot, character development, moral of story, and scenes that speak to the senses. Nonfiction is bound by fact that you cannot punish the guilty or reward the deserving so memoirs can often end up unsatisfying. Also, the majority of the people who set out to write them are terrible or at best only passable storytellers and writers. Often they will hire a ghost writer who, if they're good, tries to capture their "coauthor's" voice. If the ghost is not that great or is being underpaid, they either can't or won't tell a compelling story or attempt to hold an audience. Fortunately, this is not the case with Chore Whore. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I consider myself a tough critic.

[TBML · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corki Brown is a put-upon personal assistant for some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Between grocery shopping for playboy Jock Straupman and planning picnics for mercurial actress Lucy Bennett and her new boyfriend, the crass Tommy Ray Woods, she is trying to make sure she has enough money to pay the rent and keep her brilliant but mischievous son, Blaise, from getting expelled from school. Corki starts to fret when one of her biggest clients lets her go. To add to the disarray of life, she gets caught in the middle of a bank robbery. As circumstances start to culminate to a climax of natural order, Corki starts to wonder if maybe she is tired of being a personal assistant. Howard worked as a personal assistant for 20 years. Thinly disguised roman a clef by a celebrity personal assistant but great fun all the same. Joe
http://tinyurl.com/4hlhgdo

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was cute. It was about Corky and Blaise written by a former celebrity personal assistant. Celebrity are not good people according to this book. She has been a personal assistant for twenty years and is still struggling financially. She has to do so much work and finagle how to get paid. It appears to be very stressful. In the meantime, her son appears to be neglected. She has a couple of issues going on. She's in a car accident. One of her employers attacks her. It doesn't seem to be worth it, but it is all she knows how to do. It never occurs to her to go back to school and get her degree? Move away from Tinsel Land and find a way to make due someplace else? Ultimately, she does the latter and I think that she'll be happy for it.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

fiction written by former celebrity assistant. the book rambles..on, and on and on at an almost frenzied pace of name dropping and strange situations, that I'm sure are totally plausible, but don't feel "right" in a book. It just sounds like a run on sentence for about 200 pages where I keep asking myself, "what is this book about"!
It finally gets interesting toward the vert end.
I cant say it was terrible. I was looking for a quick read, and found portions of it humorous. It probably would be ideal for a plane ride or time wasting book.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fun - details life a celebrity personal assistant, including visibility into the variable tasks undertaken by the single-mom heroine. Heather Howard was a celebrity personal assistant before writing this celeb-u-expose. And while no actual celebrities are named in the book - the characters are fictionalized - it's fun to imagine what experiences are based in real life and what is 'fiction.'