Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone

by Gemma Crisp

After surviving a less-than-ideal start as a hot-shot editor in the competitive magazine industry, Nina Morey has picked herself up, shaken herself off and is back, ready to do deals with the devil in her job as editor of Juice, one of Australia's hottest weekly celebrity gossip magazines. In the cut-throat world of weekly trash mags, Nina thrives on the adrenalin of out-bidding her rivals for scandalous photo sets, scoring exclusive rights to Australia's A-list weddings and having the most influential celebrity managers on speed-dial. But in her personal life, things aren't quite as glossy. Just as she's back on the single scene, all her friends start getting up the duff faster than you can say, 'Welcome to Nappy Valley'. While Nina spends her days managing her magazine's multi-million-dollar budget and stalking Kim Kardashian's every move, they're managing their minuscule maternity leave allowance and stalking their local daycare waiting list. Suddenly she feels like she's being rejected from a club she doesn't even want to join. With a reality TV show in the works and a Facebook feed overflowing with endless baby updates, Nina heads to New York on an impromptu girls' trip to get away from it all - but little does she know that things are about to get a whole lot more complicated...

Genres: Chick Lit, Contemporary

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Gemma Crisp developed her love of books and magazines while growing up on a sheep farm in the prehistoric days before the internet. After her first magazine internship, Gemma moved to Sydney and has spent the last 12 years working for some of Australia's glossiest magazines, including New Woman, Girlfriend, OK!, Cosmopolitan Bride, NW, DOLLY and CLEO and is currently the associate editor of Stylist in the UK.

Reviews

[What to read next ....... · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, was actually quite good, did not know what l was going to expect.
The storyline is entertaining and the writing style is great, so good to read a fun Australian author.

Nina Morey has picked herself up after surviving a tough start as an editor, in the competitive magazine industry.
Nina is now back, ready to do deals in her new job as editor of ‘ Juice’, one of Australia’s 🇦🇺 hottest celebrity gossip magazines.

Nina’s personal life things aren’t quite as glossy.
Just as she’s back on the single scene, all her friends start getting pregnant 🤰🏽.
Suddenly Nina feels shes being rejected, from her friend group, and feels she does not connect.
With a reality show,in the works, and the endless baby 👶 updates, Nina heads to New York, on an girls trip, to get away from it all, but little does she know, that things are about to get a whole lot more complicated.

Great 👍 📖 book, easy read, and great cover.
Worth the read !

[Sam Still Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finishing Be Careful What You Wish For, I was very, very glad that I had the second book about Nina Morey, Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone in my possession for immediate commencement. The first book ended on such an unexpected fate for editor Nina Morey that I just had to know what happened to her. Did she manage to pick herself up and get back into things, or was she still self-medicating with vodka as she lost control? Happily, I can tell you that the Nina we meet some time later is happily back in the magazine industry and in control as the editor of the celebrity weekly, Juice. She’s got away from the bully Lizzie and seems to be more grounded in reality than the first book. Although she’s split with Jeremy, her boyfriend, she’s happy and has a team of friends who help her to see that life is not all about cover shoots, product launches and deadlines.

Everything appears to be going swimmingly for Nina – she’s planning a New York girls’ trip with her friend Heidi and work is sweet. But then two curveballs hit her – all her friends are getting pregnant and going baby ga-ga while her magazine is being turned into a reality television programme. Both these things cause Nina to lose the plot as she’s no longer in control. Will she lose her friends as her celebrity status goes upwards? Will she be able to handle fame? Who is intent on bringing Nina down?

Crisp once again puts Nina in a number of very awkward positions and sometimes her reactions are childish and cringe worthy (but completely honest – somewhat of a redeeming feature). Nina’s reactions to her friends getting pregnant in quick succession is somewhat like a toddler temper tantrum, yet the things she says show how scared she is of change. If you’ve been through a similar situation (or even the ‘all my friends are getting married and turning into complete Bridezillas’), it’s easier to empathise with Nina – even though you wouldn’t have said that yourself. While Nina comes across as immature at times, there’s the theme of female competitiveness and having your friends move through life at a different pace to you. Nina’s scared she won’t be able to relate to her pregnant friends and will lose the camaraderie of the big night out, which I think is true for many stages of life for young women – can you still maintain a friendship when your priorities and commitments are completely different? Is Nina behind because she’s boyfriend-less? Was she wrong to choose career? This book relates a lot of the issues affecting young women today in a humorous fashion.

The other main issue affecting Nina in this novel is her accession to fame. Once only a photo on an editor’s letter, she’s now the star of Freshly Squeezed Juice, magazine reality show. She’s recognised in the street, had pictures taken with strangers for Instagram and gets quite a few perks and freebies. While it’s fun at first, Nina soon gets sick of it as it’s interfering with her job and lifestyle. She whinges to the wrong person, which is taken completely out of proportion and suddenly her creditability is on the life. I found this interesting, the way a comment or two is taken out of context and spread over the media until it’s a storm across the media. It’s another reflection of how women can be really cruel to each other.

In between these serious issues, there’s a big fun story to be had. Nina’s still a clueless innocent at times (an incident with self-harm has Nina thinking her friend has a rare dermatological disorder) but she’s loveable and learning. I’d love to see Nina return just to check she gets her happy ever after.

Thank you to The Reading Room and Allen and Unwin for the copy of this book.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first began this book in 2015, but for whatever reason it just didn't grab me.

This year though, I decided to pick it up and give it another chance while I was waiting on other books to arrive in my post box.

I still found it a little slow to begin with, but I persisted. I really enjoyed the voice of Nina. She was fun, sassy and a little flawed, which made her real. I also enjoyed the portrayal of the magazine world through Nina's eyes, and think Gemma, with her own experiences, did this really well.

I'm not going to bang on about the storyline, I'm sure others have in their reviews, but I enjoyed it enough to keep reading. I think the book actually improved the more I read, and by the end I was keen to see how it would all play out.

Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone, is a satisfying read with a good message woven through and I'm glad I stuck with it.

[Karleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is fairly terrible as you would imagine however I didn't hate it and managed to finish it so it gets 2 stars from me. I received it as part of an online book exchange pyramid-scheme-like thing. It's your typical trash book holiday read, easy mindless passing the time.
Maybe it's just not my genre, but the main character is not very likeable: self-obsessed, immature, materialistic etc. and the whole book is very superficial and very focused on consumerism, multiple brand names are frequently mentioned.
Wouldn't recommend to friends but I'm also not throwing it straight in the bin.

[Kylie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basically, overall not a bad book. Well written. But had way to many common slang terms that aren't actually used in day to day conversation - no real grip on reality there. But really cinched it for me was the reference that pre-term babies would have to be fed through an eye dropper... Um sweetheart - perhaps do a little research, premmies are not kittens

[Monique · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was such a weird book. I thought it had such great potential, but by the end I ended up severely disliking the main character. She was selfish, rude and totally stupid. I get the author wanted to create a 'true friendship will prevail' vibe, but I think she missed the mark. Had potential to be awesome, but just...wasn't.

[Katerina Whitefield · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nina still annoyed me, is it possible to hate the main character? Because I did. She was selfish and kinda mean.

[lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great followup

loved this follow up book. Great insight into the publishing world. Would have loved there to be more focus on max though....

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, well written book.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good glimpse into the advertising world, but a bit cliché for me. The single career woman who loves fun who gets loathed by her friends talking about babies.

[Bec Johnston · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rubbish. I wish there was an option for 0 stars.. Sorry

[Grace🌻🐝 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, i found it again pretty immature and i think the main girl just really annoyed me! it was again a quick read but i wouldn't rush out to read it again.