Search - This Year's Model

The average New Jersey Jane, Melody Ann Croft (Mac), gets whisked off into the whirlwind of the modeling world. She is a wholesome, insecure young woman thrown into a den of wolves, photographers, designers, agents, and models. As she delves deeper into the world of models, she puts up with the atmosphere of eating disorders, drugs, alcohol, and sex all to get to her goal: college. Somewhere along the way, Mac loses this goal and decides to stick it out as a model. Through it all, she makes an unlikely friend, Jade. Since Jade is the complete opposite of Mac, she isn’t a threat for jobs, making friendship possible. This book was mildly entertaining and predictable. Mac seems to be a character that even the author doesn’t understand. She starts out as an intelligent young woman working towards college, aspiring to be a doctor and help people. Modeling becomes an easy way to earn tuition, but even after Mac gets a full scholarship, she decides to keep working in an environment full of things she hates: drugs, alcohol, and promiscuity. By the end of the book, I was exhausted and fed up with all the characters and the world that the author had built. I was more than happy to return to my own life.

Reviewed by Angela S. for TeensReadToo.com

Melody Ann Croft is your average hometown girl - very practical, with her whole life planned out ahead of her.

That all changes one day when a customer at the restaurant where she is working tells her she could be a model and gives her his card, along with the numbers of all the top agencies in New York. Melody is a little curious, despite thinking this man is crazy, so she calls one agency and just with the mention of this man (who happens to be a famous photographer), she gets an appointment immediately.

That begins her career as MAC, the model, for Delicious Models. Her booker, Francesca, has her going on go-sees at lightning speed and she books her first job in no time.

Melody plans to save her money for college so she won't need a scholarship, but making so much money so quickly with modeling is addictive, and Melody starts thinking that maybe she can defer college and model for a few years instead. With the obvious perks of modeling also come the many pitfalls: lecherous men, drugs, and other things Melody is not used to.

After a fling with a male model named Duncan and being stabbed in the back by her so-called best friend, Jade, Melody starts to wonder who she can trust, if anyone. But after booking her first cover, only a few months into her career, Melody is hooked on modeling and traveling to exotic locations.

The only question is, how much of herself does she have to give up in order to succeed in the modeling business?

This was a fun book to read, but MAC's rise is a little too fast for this one book to chronicle. I really enjoyed tit nevertheless...