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Techbitch - Lucky Sykes and Jo Piazza


Imogen Tate, editor-in-chief of Glossy magazine, is a legend in the fashion world. But when she returns from a sabbatical to find her twenty-six-year-old former assistant, Eve Morton, behind her desk, she realises times are changing.
Armed with a business degree, naked ambition and an iPhone, Eve announces she has been brought in to turn Imogen's beloved magazine into an app. With herself at the helm.
In this terrifying new world, Imogen is almost invisible. In place of her team of dedicated staff is a constantly evolving line of twenty-something bloggers at their desks day and night ('Only losers need sleep!'), amateur snaps instead of elegant photo shoots, and a URL address in place of Imogen's glossy pages.
But Imogen isn't ready to give up her hard-earned career without a fight. Where Eve has Twitter followers, Imogen has experience, talent and real relationships, and she's prepared to fight for the fashion world she knows and loves. Even if it means going to war with a ruthless Techbitch . . .

I LOVED it - keep reading to find out why.
I love fashion - but even if you don't you will love this book as it is about so much more than that. It's about the smart bright young things in any business who think because they can work an app and get online they know it all - experience counts for nothing. Imogen Tate the lead character thinks it's true too - until she begins to turn the tables with the help of some fabulous supporting characters in the form of Rashid who is a tech know all buddy and the fab Aerin Chang who I wish existed in real life as I would love to follow her IG account.
For me this book was Ugly Betty meets The Devil Wears Prada, but was so much better than either of them. The two writers obviously know their fashion stuff and that comes across in the book and makes it so much more of a substantial book than a chick lit novel, this also meant I had to slow my reading speed down! But it relates to any business really with the talk of disruptive thinking and YOLO - the new buzzes. The authors have created the ultimate Techbitch in Eve - you will have met her maybe worked with her - so true to life.
There are some great insights into seeing tech from the viewpoint of someone who is out of the loop but Imogen also catches on fast......
 "Something told her that Eve knew exactly where she was at any given moment. There was probably an app for that" 
also a great reference back to the wonderful Abbot and Costello with the "who's on first base" joke. I've stopped referencing this joke as no one today knows of it - so fab to see it again in a book with an up to date twist.
One little thing that did annoy me is that I can't believe someone in Imogen's position would have become that outdated with tech in a short time away from work - surely her daughter tweets, uses IG - would she really not have had a clue - but I went past it as it did make the book very entertaining.
There was also the article written when Imogen begins tweeting "When olds tweet" - this just made me laugh out loud. Imogen's recovery from it was fantastic.
I don't do spoilers so all I will say is that Imogen turns out to be a "real" lady in business and for me the ending was a little subdued, but I guess that's her style!
My thanks to Netgalley for a free e copy of book to review.

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