Mim Warner's Lost Her Cool

February 28, 2005
From the author of Fashionistas
—a very funny novel and soon-to-be film about the fashion magazine industry—comes this mildly entertaining novel about young Manhattanites in the cool industry. For Mim Warner and her staff at Pravda
, "coolhunting" is a way of life: they predict and track teenage trends to help fashion companies develop and market their products. Pravda
founder Mim is famed for her keen trend-sniffing ability, but when she begins making outrageous cool forecasts ("slut" T-shirts for third-graders; snuff pipes as accessories), her credibility and mental sanity are called into question. Meghan—an affable 20-something junior coolhunter, narrates, as she investigates Mim while dealing with her own widowed father, dramatic roommate, and sometime-boyfriend, writer Ian. Of these subplots, Meghan's relationship with Ian is the most detailed and layered: Ian's first book is a gritty urban crime story with—oops!—a Meghanesque villain ("he gave the symbol for the decline of Western civilization my face," she laments). Ian aside, however, Messina's novel struggles to find juicy subjects: the much-discussed subject of cool, for example, wears thin. A love story and a bizarre mystery develop during the second half of the book, though, and Messina's bouncy chick-lit style will keep the reader curious throughout, if not deeply concerned.

March 1, 2005
Meghan Resnick has the kind of job many young women dream about: she works for Mim Warner, a trend hunter who predicts what's going to be in fashion before the fad catches on. But lately Mim has been making some rather embarrassing missteps: she predicts teens will trade cigarettes for snuff and foresees the return of superhero-style capes. Mim's business partner and best friend, Helen, decides Mim has to be watched and cut off from the outside world before she runs their company, Pravda, into the ground. Meghan frets over being disloyal to her boss, but when she notices Mim paying visits to crime scenes, she realizes that Mim might have some very deep problems. Messina's third novel occasionally veers into the slickness that her previous offerings, " Fashionistas" (2003) and " Tallulahland" [BKL Ja 1 & 15 '04], managed to avoid, and the plot is thin at times, but hip young readers will marvel at Mim's offbeat antics and Meghan's attempts to curtail them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)