Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes

★★★★✩
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Plum Sykes beguiling debut welcomes readers to the glamorous world of Park Avenue Princesses, the girls who careen through Manhattan in search of the perfect Fake Bake (tan acquired from Portofino Tanning Salon), a ride on a PJ (private jet) with the ATM (rich boyfriend), and the ever-elusive fiancé. 

With invitations to high-profile baby showers and benefits, more Marc Jacobs clothes than is decent, and a department store heiress for a best friend, our heroine known only as Moi is living at the peak of New York society. But what is Moi to do when her engagement falls apart? Can she ever find happiness in a city filled with the distractions of Front Row Girls, dermatologists, premieres, and eyebrow waxes? Is it possible to find love in a town where her friends think that the secret to happiness is getting invited to the Van Cleef and Arpels private sample sale? And how is she going to deal with the endless phone calls from her mother in England demanding that she get married to the Earl next door?

With enormous wit and an insider's eye, Sykes captures the nuances of the rich and spoiled in a heartwarming social satire, featuring a loveable "champagne bubble of a girl" who's just looking for love (and maybe the perfect pair of Chloe jeans).

Plum Sykes’ Bergdorf Blondes is certainly an eye-opening read. Incredibly, she uses her experiences with New York’s actual Park Avenue Princesses to create “Moi” and tell this curious story about finding love in New York society. As Moi and her best friend, Julie Bergdorf, navigate charity balls and sample sales and last-minute trips to Paris in search of the perfect Prospective Husband, it’s light, funny, entertaining and not to be taken too seriously. It reminded me of both Sex and the City and Gossip Girl, and similar to these TV shows, Moi’s world of fashion and shopping, private jets and the public eye intrigued me simply because it is so far removed from my own. It’s astounding.

I must say, Bergdorf Blondes is not my typical read – I don’t tend to pick up much “chick lit” – and I expected to be completely put off by excess and superficiality. To be sure, there are ridiculously excessive and superficial moments, but they appear in manageable doses. Moi’s voice, while at times it exhausted me with her first-person chatter constantly directed at me, is likeably sweet and I had to hope her search would turn up the right Prospective Husband. So, surprisingly enough, I did enjoy Bergdorf Blondes much more than I expected. While I understand it’s not the book for everyone, it’s a great read for readers who enjoy chick lit and are interested in the life of a New York society girl.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours, I received a copy of Bergdorf Blondes and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own. To read other opinions of the novel, click here.