Fabulously Fashionable »

Holly McQueen has wanted to be a writer ever since discovering that the nuns at her junior school would let her off maths homework if she wrote a story instead. After unexpected detours via law, magazine journalism, and even musical theatre, she began writing her first novel in 2006. Holly lives with her husband in London. She still avoids math.

Twenty-eight-year-old Isabel Bookbinder has figured some things out:she’s moved in with her loving lawyer boyfriend, and despite her mother’s adoration of all things matching, she’s finally discovered her true calling—fashion design. After all, she knows her Manolos from her Louboutin, her Pucci from her Prada, and she’s always poring over fashion magazines (the celebrity pages of fashion magazines, that is). She’s even landed a position with Nancy Tavistock, editor at top fashion magazine Atelier, and creative muse to hot designer Lucien Black.So learning from the very best, the future’s looking bright for Isabel Bookbinder: Top International Fashion Designer. Within days she’s putting the final touches on her debut collection, has dreamed up a perfume line (Isabelissimo), and is very nearly a friend of John Galliano. Yet nothing ever runs smoothly for Isabel, and fabulously fashionable as her life may be, it soon seems to be spiraling a little out of her control.With her characteristic humor, charm, and tendency to stumble into sticky situations, Isabel Bookbinder is an irresistible heroine you’re sure to fall in love with.

Publishers Weekly

McQueen brings back the charmingly inept heroine of The Fabulous (Double) Life of Isabel Bookbinder for another bubbly misadventure. Fresh from realizing she might not be cut out to be a bestselling novelist, 27-year-old Londoner Isabel Bookbinder now sets her sights on becoming an international fashion superstar, armed with not a lick of sewing talent but a lifelong love for celebrity style. After some false starts, Isabel fibs her way into a job as a personal assistant to Nancy Tavistock, business partner and “professional muse” to famous designer Lucien Black, whose recent breakdown is threatening to devalue his label. Despite the turmoil, Isabel thrives and discovers that if she can avoid the kinds of catastrophic misunderstandings that derailed her literary aspirations, she may be destined for fashion superstardom after all. Though the occasional stroke of extraordinary luck stretches belief, Isabel is a charming character whose wisecracks and personal evolution help her to stand out in the sea of airheaded urban fashionistas often found in the genre. (May)