Book Review - Techbitch by Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza

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Title: Techbitch

Author: Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza

Format reviewed: Paperback

Source: Competition Win

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Date: 19th May 2015

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Imogen Tate, editor-in-chief of Glossy magazine, is a legend in the fashion world. But when she returns from a sabbatical to find her twenty-six-year-old former assistant, Eve Morton, behind her desk, she realises times are changing.

Armed with a business degree, naked ambition and an iPhone, Eve announces she has been brought in to turn Imogen's beloved magazine into an app. With herself at the helm.

In this terrifying new world, Imogen is almost invisible. In place of her team of dedicated staff is a constantly evolving line of twenty-something bloggers at their desks day and night ('Only losers need sleep!'), amateur snaps instead of elegant photo shoots, and a URL address in place of Imogen's glossy pages.

But Imogen isn't ready to give up her hard-earned career without a fight. Where Eve has Twitter followers, Imogen has experience, talent and real relationships, and she's prepared to fight for the fashion world she knows and loves. Even if it means going to war with a ruthless Techbitch . . .

This book feels like an incredibly up to date The Devil Wears Prada, brought right into the digital age, and dealing with everyones obsession and reliance on social media. 

Imogen Tate is the editor-in-chief at Glossy magazine, and she is returning to work after a six month sabbatical to no longer recognize her work place. Her old assistant Eve, has been through Harvard business school and is determined to do away with the print version of the magazine and make Glossy an app, where everything you see is available for purchase instantly. 

Imogen has never really been good with technology, and struggles to come to terms with this new world order. For the initial part of the book you really feel for her, as a slightly older woman, trying to deal with all this change, and having many conversations where she doesn't understand half the words being said. 

She soon realises she needs to fight back and watching her come to grips with twitter is hilarious, and then instagram is impressive. Eve however is determined to make Imogen's and the rest of her colleagues lives a misery, and she is a devil of a boss to work for. 

If you have ever felt overwhelmed by the amount of various social media options available nowadays then you will completely empathise with Imogen's position. If you thought you knew some technological things (like me), you may still be confused by the sheer quantity of things mentioned, but yet once you get past the initial section, you have a fabulous story. 

There are quite a few elements to this story, which deals with both cyber and workplace bullying. The workplace bullying is truly terrifying, but I can unfortunately believe that it does go on to that extent. 

I loved every second of this book, and found it was become easier to read and more gripping as it progressed and despite being a bit distracted while I was reading this, I didn't really want to put it down at all. This is a very contemporary book, with two different but equally strong female characters, as well as a whole host of other support characters,. In places you will be laughing at loud at the antics, and even some of what Eve makes her colleagues do, if they were isolated incidents could be quite funny.