Former MGM assistant Christine Stringer draws on personal experience for this delightful novel blending nostalgia for the 1990s, chick lit, and red-carpet Hollywood.

Charity Trickett is killing it as assistant to the director of the year’s biggest blockbuster film, even if her love life just blew up. So when she’s invited to LA to finish production, Charity seizes the chance to make her screenwriting dreams come true.

Of course, problems pile up: she’s broke; dreamy work colleague Kai is off limits, and the assistant producer, Saffron, thinks Charity is her personal assistant as well as rival. When an FBI investigation puts her job and future on the line, Charity learns who her real friends are.

Stringer makes deft use of the beloved conventions of the chick-lit genre. Charity is upbeat, relatable, and adorably hapless, from the moment she surprises her surfer boyfriend in bed with another woman. The prose breezes along, studded with lively humor and crisp, often hilarious dialogue. Stringer’s background offers entertaining glimpses into the world of movie production, premieres, studio wrangling, and the assistants who keep everything running.

There are some problems as well. Characters are one-dimensional, and Charity’s glib inner monologue comes off as a lack of depth. Additionally, the dramatic structure isn’t as strong as it could be: Side characters like A-list besties Blake and Vivy add color but limited plot development; the lack of a sense of inner growth robs the happy ending of the satisfaction it could otherwise deliver.

If one isn’t looking for a lesson learned, however, the rewards outweigh the flaws. Overall, this is a saucy, sunny send-up of the industry, ’90s pop culture, and the Hollywood dream.

Also available as an ebook.