Book info

• Title How to Get Ahead in Television
• Author Sophie Cousens
• Year 2015
• Genre Humour

Poppy Penfold desperately wants a career in television. She is thrilled to get her big break with a temporary job as a runner for RealiTV. But to land a permanent role, Poppy will need to go head-to-head with fellow runner Rhidian: arrogant, highly competitive – and ridiculously good looking. Poppy goes all out to impress, but somehow things don’t go to plan. Whether allowing a washed-up soap star to become roaring drunk during Scottish game show Last Clan Standing, or managing to scare the horses in Strictly Come Prancing, Poppy gets noticed for all the wrong reasons. And as she gets to know Rhidian she realises the stakes are even higher than she anticipated: will Poppy win in work and in love?

Thoughts

This book doesn’t seem to exist in the Kindle store anymore, so goodness knows how long I’ve had it in my ‘to read’ pile. I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I did on this one, thinking it was going to be a cheesy trying-too-hard comedy romance novel. Actually, it was really good - funny, well written, believable if still absurd situations, a bit of a parody on the world of television production, with some great characters and a story you want to know more about.

The only downside to it was, I think, the construct of each chapter being a step in how to get ahead in TV, like a self-help book. It was good to start with but I think by the end it was a bit more torturous and maybe hindered rather than helped the structure of the story. But I still enjoyed it from start to finish, so no complaints.

Rating: 4 / 5