I LOVED Devil Wears Prada so I was really excited to read this book! I really loved all the different characters and really liked Noora at first but struggled with her as the story progressed. There was so much potential for this storyline and I really loved that Noora is a blogger but overall the story could have been…more. Definitely a book you may want to read by the pool or beach that easy with a whole lot of pop culture references.

Thank you @netgalley for an early copy of this book

4 stars for this fun and quick read! This read almost like a satire of figures like Anna Wintour, and the worst part is I can see that some of Loretta's behavior is rooted in reality. I enjoyed reading about the war between the digital and print teams at Vinyl. It was a refreshing take on movies like The Devil Wears Prada, and it's an extremely fun book mixed in with points of tension and insightfulness. I read it in one day! Thank you so much to SourceBooks for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

See below for synopsis from Goodreads:

Noora's life is a little off track. She's an aspiring writer and amateur blogger in New York—which is a nice way of saying that she tutors rich Upper East Side kids and is currently crashing on her sister's couch. But that's okay. Noora has Leila, who has always been her rock, and now she has another major influence to lean on: Vinyl magazine. The pages of Vinyl practically raised Noora, teaching her everything from how to properly insert a tampon to which political ideology she subscribes to.

So when she lands a highly coveted job as assistant to Loretta James, Vinyl's iconic editor-in-chief, Noora can't believe her luck. Her only dream is to write for Vinyl, and now with her foot firmly in the door and the Loretta James as her mentor, Noora is finally on the right path... or so she thinks.

Loretta is an unhinged nightmare, insecure and desperate to remain relevant in an evolving media landscape she doesn't understand. Noora's phone buzzes constantly with Loretta's bizarre demands, particularly with tasks Loretta hopes will undermine the success of Vinyl's wunderkind digital director Jade Aki. The reality of Noora's job is nothing like she expected, and a misguided crush on the hot IT guy only threatens to complicate things even more. But as Loretta and the old-school print team enter into a turf war with Jade and the woke-for-the-wrong-reasons digital team, Noora soon finds herself caught in the middle. And with her dream job on the line, she'll need to either choose a side or form her own.

(2.5⭐️)
A Hundred Other Girls by Allan Hariri-Kia is perfect for fans of The Devil Wears Prada because the similarities are endless.

I had somewhat expectations for this book after seeing Tiktok after Tiktok talking about this book, but after reading the first couple of chapters I was disappointed. One of the main reasons I didn’t really vibe with this book was because of all the Gen Z slang and references. I enjoy reading because it’s all fictional, so obviously I don’t like seeing real stuff in books.

Overall, this book could’ve had so much more potential if it weren’t for all the modern things the author tried so hard on.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I initially wanted to read this book because I follow the author on TikTok. I’m SO glad I got approved to read this early. I loved it! Definitely had a Devil Wears Prada vibe which she acknowledges, but that’s one of my favorite movies so I knew this would be right up my alley. I can’t wait to see what she does next!

Absolutely awful- if I could give this book 0 starts I would. Poorly written, characters with no development and a story line that in no way engages the reader. Save your money!

I went into this with high hopes … and this just didn’t meet them. This is basically if the Devil Wears Prada was thrown up on by Gen x culture… except some of the culture wasn’t even accurate? This is written hyper modern, but it comes off extremely pandering. The references are over the top and obnoxious regarding Gen Z/late millennial culture… except they’re not even always accurate. (For instance, the main character has a blog. Most true blogs are mostly just Instagram and Tik tok now. I’ve not read a blog in like ten years?) The entire premise is based on death of the print media, but that also seems to have happened ten or twenty years ago. It’s not groundbreaking now. This is just not original, written in a super immature tone, and no one is morally sound while seeming to be holding themselves out to be “great people.” Also, this MC refers to herself as the C-word at one point, which I find to be pretty offensive.

A story about important topics with great messages.

The characters are authentic. Saffron is great. Loretta is a nightmare but so much fun to read about. There is a security guard that Noora calls Superman that had only a tiny part in the story but I thought he stole every scene he was in. I would have loved if he had a bigger role.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this digital arc in exchange for my honest review which is not affiliated with any brand.

<em>A Hundred Other Girls</em> unfortunately did not really work for me. The high concept of <em>The Devil Wears Prada</em> meets <em>The Bold Type</em> is true of this novel, but I didn't enjoy the execution much at all. The narrator Noora is an Iranian American who longs to work at the fictional Vinyl magazine. As with <em>The Devil Wears Prada</em>, she lands a job as the executive assistant to the Miranda Priestly-like Editor-in-Chief Loretta James, who is at war with the magazine's Digital department (as in <em>The Bold Type</em>. The book is set in 2019, but I still think the Print vs. Digital distinction was goofy; a few years ago, we all knew that the future of magazines was digital, and thus, it seemed ridiculous that Noora found herself caught up in the war between teams. I appreciate that Iman Hariri-Kia included a diverse set of characters in the book, but she also tried to cram in as many topical references as possible. The novel read like a Wikipedia page of Gen Z terms. And while Noora was quick to express all the times she felt tokenized or experienced racist microaggressions out in NYC or at Vinyl, she was also incredibly judgmental, immature, and obnoxious as a main character. I didn't really care for her as a character. I understand she's only twenty-two years old and still coming into her own, but I found her a really weird paradox as she expressed the challenges of her experience as the child of immigrants (valid), but she was also constantly judging those around her—then judging herself for judging and constantly checking her privilege (this felt forced). Ultimately, this novel was neither as fun or as impactful as I hoped it would be.

A Hundred Other GirlsA Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Okay, why the heck was this book advertised as General Fiction (Adult) | Women's Fiction. This was clearly, except for one graphic scene, a young adult novel. And I do mean YOUNG. Was this satire? I admit I was the wrong audience for this book, but nothing in the book's description really made me understand that the author was ageist. I received this as an ARC and am told to give an honest review-well here goes:

Bigotry abounds. And just in case you want to jump on me for this opinion, this is the meaning of bigotry: "
big·ot·ry
/ˈbiɡətrē/
noun
obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction; in particular, prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.
"the difficulties of combating prejudice and bigotry""

Okay, I got that out of the way. It wasn't just the age slurs that were bigoted, but I won't discuss the other biases here.

The usage of every pop culture reference known to man/woman/it kind just made my skin crawl. And yes, I did understand most of them.

All of the characters were unlikeable throughout the entire book. There was very little at the end of the book that redeem even our protagonist, Noora.

This is the perfect book for those who are ultra woke, ultra Liberal, and a Democrat (it surprised me that no negative comments were made about Trump!)

I admit I did read this until the end, hoping for some redeeming value for my time-I found none. However, you may.

It seems strange that we're already at a point where there's an update, a "modern" version of the Devil Wears Prada but that's what this is. Noora thinks she's achieved her dream when she goes to work for Loretta but like Andie before her, she discovers that not all is wonderful in the world of being a personal assistant. This is almost frenetic in it's approach and the pop culture Gen Z references come fast and furious. I liked that this has broad representation and know that it will speak to others more than it did to me. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for a digital ARC of this book.

A Hundred Other Girls follows Noora, an Iranian American living in New York City. Noora is a writer who dreams of working at a big time magazine. When she gets a job as an assistant to the head of print at her favorite magazine, she overlooks many red flags to pursue what she thought had been her dream. What she thought was the opportunity of a lifetime turns into a deep look at how far one might go to get fame, recognition, or success.

Noora is bold, makes things happen, and stands up for herself. I found her views on writing inspiring to me, someone who hasn’t had motivation to write in quite some time. Noora shares her experience as a Middle Eastern American in her blog as well as throughout the whole book, calling out micro aggressions, informing white readers of things we will never experience due to privilege, and celebrating her heritage and culture.

In terms of writing style, this read similarly to a magazine article- and I loved it. All the pop culture references felt authentic, as if Noora was speaking directly to me in casual conversation. It flows and makes sense. There is also so much diversity included, and not in a “oh look, we need to make this whole character’s personality revolve around their gender identity” but in a “this is real life” kind of way, which was refreshing and realistic. Most of the story focuses on her life at her job, sometimes glossing past other moments of her life. I think by the end, that’s the point, and reflects in Noora’s character development.

To sum up, this was an incredible insightful, poignant read about a 20-something year old making mistakes, learning, and growing. This is perfect for women who are feeling lost in their career, their life, or in general. I highly recommend!

The best thing is the diverse characters, especially Iranian representation and the cut-throat media industry setting. I felt engaged with the plot throughout as it dealt with a situation where the main character had to decide which side she will take and it was interesting to see how she would handle the consequences of her decision. There is a sort of race between digital and print departments of a culture magazine and things get messy with all involved parties getting extremely competitive day by day. I also feel Noora as a person has a lot to grow as there were many things that she did feel immature.

This book is The Devil Wears Prada meets The Bold Type tv series almost exactly. I liked this book, but I couldn't help but feel like it's a story I've read and watched already. I liked the author's character development and writing style. I would read another book by Iman Hariri-Kia in the future.

I really enjoyed this book! This was a very anticipated read for me as I’ve been following along on the authors journey of creating this book! The representation in this book was great, along with a fun storyline. I loved the realness of her relationship with Cal also. It’s so much different than other romance books where the guy is amazing and does it all! What stood out to me the most was the realness of this book. Incredible story, loved it!

rating: 3.5/5

first off I just want to say that I am so happy for this author. she ended up on my fyp one day and it's been so nice to see her journey with this story!

this is marketed for fans of the devil wears prada and the bold type which is completely accurate. this is a more modern version of that which I think truly fits the world we live in today.

loved loved loved the iranian-american representation!

warning that there is going to be A LOT of pop culture references and if that isn't for you, then maybe stay away from this book. there's a small small romance plot so don't expect anything of that either.

think all of the references and sometimes the immatureness of the female main character (noora) made sense due to her age and the stage of life she's at.

didn't end up falling in love with the book like I wanted to but I still think it's a great story for people to read. the book made me want to book a trip to nyc asap though lol

This book made me laugh out loud so many times. I loved the lightheartedness but also the real elements like anxiety.

A full review will be up on @astitchedspine 💛

This book had so much going for it. I am a huge Devil Wore Prada fan, (who isn't), and the concept of an innocent starting as an assistant at at glitzy magazine is definitely not new. This book made me remember my days of watching Ugly Betty (one of my all-time favorite shows- and may need a binge rewatch!). What was so interesting to me is how much things have changed in the last 15 or so years- magazines are dinosaurs departed trying to stay relevant while digital and online articles and clickbait are where we are now. It made me very nostalgic remembering my high school days and how devour the Back To School issues of Seventeen. Magazines seemed like a glamorous other world that I longed to be a part of. Those days are definitely over now and most of my magazine reading comes on my iPad with our digital Apple subscription. Entertaining, but definitely not the same.

There was a lot that I enjoyed about this book. I liked that the protagnist was a plucky Iranian- American GenZ who entered Vinyl so earnestly. I enjoyed how she dove into the petty politics of magazine publishing and the very real attempts to keep magazines and newspapers afloat. The very real and eloquent descriptions of post 9/11 New York were gut wrenching to me. I think that many do not understand the experiences of Middle Eastern and South Asian immigrants at that time. Very well done. I also really loved the article and descriptions of unrealistic beauty trends about body and facial hair. Also really loved the diverse cast of characters - a true representation of NYC- a wonderful melting pot of ethnicities, religions and genders. Loved that no one was a caricature. A lot of the book was very funny and did make me chuckle.

So why a lower rating? Well, maybe this Gen X reader just could not get over the bashing from Gen Z, especially about the inability to understand technology. I also felt that there were too many trendy, buzzy remarks that irritated me. It just seemed like the book was trying too hard to be cool. I think that there are so many great themes in this book that should be explored more but the constant name dropping, language etc was not appealing. I will definitely read more from this author because I think she has a lot of interesting things to say.
Would round up to 3.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and SourceBooks for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion

I was really excited by the THE BOLD TYPE comp but this definitely leaned more into the THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA one. Also, the couple references made about side characters’ Jewishness were pretty off-putting, as they all played into the JAP/“all Jews are rich and snobby” stereotype.

As an educator (creative writing), this doesn't quite hit the mark for my students, especially those who are Gen Z. It's hard to imagine any of them putting up with a "devil" of a boss; many of them balk at the idea of the old "pay your dues" work attitude. In addition, the writing fell a bit short, so I wouldn't use it as an example.

As a reader, I did enjoy the diverse cast and that characters called out workplace microagressions (though sometimes the tone was a bit confusing). It was a great fit for reading poolside and relaxing. I do recommend it as a fun and smart read.

I was so excited about the novel by Imani Hariri-Kia and was excited to be approved, but after just a couple of chapters, I was a little disappointed. I found myself having a tough time following the "Gen Z" dialogue and pronouns throughout the novel. As new phrases came across the page, I was getting distracted and would sort of trail off. I love the premise of the book and the subject itself. I can relate to the Main Character in many ways, but I just got lost and turned off by the dialogue and lingo.

I really appreciate Net Galley allowing me the opportunity to read and review this novel!