These Girls

These Girls
by Sarah Pekkanen

This novel focuses on three different women in New York, who have different personalities and become roommates.

Cate recently had a job promotion to features editor of Gloss, a high-end lifestyle magazine.  She is under pressure to make her first official magazine issue the best.  This is a new position for her, new pressures and she is still figuring it out.  She questions having a co-worker edit a piece she doesn't feel is quite strong enough, and there is a power struggle to get him to edit his piece.

Renee is in the running for beauty editor at Gloss.  However, she feels the pressures to be thinner.  Her normal size 12 is fine, but she feels only someone thinner could receive the promotion that she so desperately wants.  She begins taking diet pills, that do help her lose weight, but also gives her side effects such as trembling hands, a racing heart and fainting. 

Abby is their newest roommate.  She is a graduated student who had been working as a nanny.  Something happened to upset her, she fled, and isn't quite talking about it yet.  Cate and Renee are friends with her brother, Trey, and that is how she connects with them and becomes the third roommate.  

I enjoyed this novel.  The character I found most interesting was Renee.  Talking diet pills is not the way.  Or starving yourself.  You just want to take those away and tell Renee she is good enough, she doesn't need to lose weight to make a good beauty editor at the magazine.  

This novel was better than the last one I read by this author.  I read The Ever After a week or so ago.