Susanna Covers the Catwalk

Susanna #3

by Mary Hogan

SUSANNA BARRINGER, TEEN reporter extraordinaire, has the hottest ticket in town, covering Fashion Week for Scene magazine. She’ll see the new collections unveiled, meet the biggest names in fashion, and go behind closed doors to uncover the secrets of style.

But this assignment is harder than squeezing into a size 2. Bribing models with brownies is not the way to get backstage. Nell’s nemesis is trying to lure Susanna to work for her. And Brian McDermott, Susanna’s former crush, has moved back to New York and just might be ready to pick up where they left off. . . .

Will Susanna be left one Manolo short of a pair? Or will this wily reporter land the story and the boy, all in a day’s work?

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2008

About the author

Though an Okie by birth, I grew up in Southern California in the era of baby oil tans. Except mine. My youth was filled with sunburns and other red-faced events. Now, I live in the blessed shade of skyscrapers. New York City. Where I was meant to be all along.

At the risk of sounding bigheaded, I love GOOD books. I like to read writers who inspire me to read their sentences over and over just for the joy of it. You know that feeling? Like, wow, how did she think of that phrasing?

That said, I joined Goodreads because I'd become a genre snob. There are good Sci-fi novels, right? Historical? To my delight, I've found that to be true. As in life, when you open up, the world opens with you. Or so said Oprah. Before she abandoned us. :)

On a personal note, I am married to the man of my dreams. We share our home with the lovely Lucy, a Catahoula rescue dog who, frankly, isn't that into us. In another life, she was Greta Garbo. When I smother her with kisses she literally rolls her doggy eyes.

Professionally, I'm the author of ten novels. Seven Young Adult novels (HarperCollins), one bestselling mainstream book (TWO SISTERS) an historical novel called THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO (William Morrow) and the upcoming love story, LEFT (Morrow). Goodreads helped me open up to WRITING in new genres, too. Thank you!!

Both LEFT and TWO SISTERS are personal novels for me. TWO SISTERS was inspired by my own sister, Diane, who passed away in 2010. The fictional story emerged as I struggled to understand why my sister died the way she did. It's a story about secrets and how they can disintegrate a family.

LEFT is a love story with a twist. It tells the tale of a woman who develops a fantasy life to cope with her husband's descent into dementia. Alzheimer's and other dementias run in my family. This novel is for the current--and future--caretakers who inspire me every day.

For another VERY personal story, I wrote an article about my mom's last days for Woman's Day magazine. If you've gone through your mom's passing, or soon will, you may relate. (If you feel like reading it, I posted the link on my website maryhogan.com)

I swear it's all true.

Reviews

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grabbed this today at the bookswap, then went and read it in the sun (23 whole degrees! Go Wales!) before returning it to said swap. It was actually a lot better than I was expecting, and I would read more in the series if I came across them! She's a bit too boy-obsessed for my liking, but apart from that Susanna has a really great voice and is a fun character. She's the "average teen" intern for a fashion magazine who, apart from being obsessed with getting a boyfriend (perfect when year-nine-flame Ben returns to town after previously having moved to Chicago and totally broken Susanna's heart), is also obsessed with getting backstage at Fashion Week. The way in which she finally succeeds at this is brilliant, as is what happens when she is eventually discovered! It's a bit like a teen version of the Devil Wears Prada or something, and really loads of fun. There's also a strong "love your body!" message as Susanna watches all the stick-thin models who don't eat and rants about how unrealistic they are and decides to "embrace her curves".

On the down side, there are tons of pop-culture references which will date it very soon, if not already. It possibly would have worked better to use only made-up celebs, cull down the name-dropping, or pick stars who have been bigger for more than the month prior to this being written.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Susanna Covers the Catwalk," by Mary Hogan, somehow managed to catch my eye with the cartoonish cover. I personally am not a fan of fashion and was extremely bored at the start, when Susanna kept spouting out all kinds of things about the catwalk, and how she was going to cover the fashion show for her latest Scene magazine article. Although I gradually gained interest as she used her past experience and inspirations to work through her issues. At the end of the story she evolves into a girl, who isn't as fashion obsessed, and body worried, whish pleased me greatly. Overall I really enjoyed the point where she was embracing her body, that wasn’t model thin. This is because I feel it's a big problem nowadays, where people can't accept the size of our bodies, due to these idolized characters in the industry. Being perfectly honest though, I believe the ending wasn't up to par, nor was it realistic, but that may be because I haven't entered the work force, so I can't say CEOs, act a certain way. The book overall was pretty good, but the romance was minor, which in this story was intended, but I find romance to be more of my genre, but I will surely recommend this, since it has great word choice, and covers a topic I feel is important, for those around me.