Book Review: #FashionVictim | Amina Akhtar

Do you ever finish a book and think, “Wow! WTF??? But still wow!” That is the best way I can describe this fun, dark, twisted book. It is completely bananas!!! The protagonist Anya is off her rocker. Some might say whack-y (get it? Because of the murders!) I was really intrigued when I read the description of this book, and it was much better than I even imagined. I genuinely could not put it down. And for such dark subject matter, I frequently found myself laughing out loud! What a trip this one was!

About the Book

Anya St. Clair is finally getting the life she wanted. The life she deserves. She is a successful fashion editor with an amazing wardrobe and a knack for writing pithy articles. But Anya doesn’t quite have everything she wants. Yet.

Sarah Taft, Anya’s colleague and cube-mate truly has it all. She is gorgeous, wealthy, has amazing social capital, and she’s the darling of the magazine. Anya knows she and Sarah will be BFFs, if only Sarah can realize that Anya is the perfect friend. But Sarah insists on befriending other people and subtly putting Anya down.

That won’t last for long, though. Anya will do anything to be Sarah’s best friend, even if it leaves a trail of dead bodies in her wake. And when Sarah and Anya are up for the same promotion, let’s just say Sarah better watch out. In fashion, one day you’re in, and the next day you’re dead.

Reflection

This book is like The Devil Wears Prada meets American Psycho and by the third chapter I was completely living for this book! Anya is someone who is destined to carry a novel. Her voice demands to be heard, and she doesn’t shy away from anything. It might be hard to imagine that living inside the mind of a delusional, deranged, murderous fashionista would be fun, but here we have proof that it is.

Anya is absolutely nuts, in the most fun way. We may see her killing someone off, only to later envision interacting with them and calling them #TeamAnya (Thanks, girl!). Every time this would happen I got positively giddy! There is something about the way Akhtar writes that is so readable. Despite Anya’s complete psychotic, murderous behavior, there were still relatable parts to her.

For instance, the feeling of being left out. The feeling of thinking you’ve done something for someone, only to have them brush you aside. The feeling that you aren’t as good in some way as someone else you admire. These are all things many of us have experienced. So while hopefully none of us resorts to murder to cope with these feelings, I did find that without her extreme mental illness and abhorrent behavior, Anya could have turned out to be someone that we’d find ourselves relating to.

And then that ending! Wow, what a trip the ending to this book is!!! It is perfect and delightful and twisted—just what I wanted from Anya and her cast of zany fashion friends! I heard that this was chosen for a Book of the Month and I’m so happy for Amina Akhtar. It is a well-deserved, but surprising choice. (Surprising because this book is so different and unique, not because it isn’t amazing). I loved it! I am already excited to see what Akhtar does next!

I read this one with the Traveling Sisters so peek around at their reviews. We had such a fun time with this book!

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books for my advanced copy to review honestly.