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    Sad Desk Salad: A Novel
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    Sad Desk Salad: A Novel
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    Sad Desk Salad: A Novel
    Ebook271 pages4 hours

    Sad Desk Salad: A Novel

    By Jessica Grose

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    As a former editor for popular websites, including Slate and Jezebel, Jessica Grose intimately understands the realities of life in the blogosphere--and she employs this knowledge to hilarious effect in her edgy and timely debut novel, Sad Desk Salad. Grose's story of a savvy blogger who stumbles upon an irresistible scoop--one that could cause irreparable damage to a young woman's life and reputation--and must reconcile her true values with the ruthless demands of a gossip- and reality-obsessed culture is a stinging and wildly funny indictment of America’s obsession with celebrity dirt. This fictional behind-the-scenes look at a booming online industry is smart and sharp contemporary women’s fiction, a The Devil Wears Prada for the twenty-teens.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 2, 2012
    ISBN9780062188359
    Unavailable
    Sad Desk Salad: A Novel
    Author

    Jessica Grose

    Jessica Grose is an opinion writer at The New York Times who writes a popular newsletter on parenting. Jess was the founding editor of Lenny, the email newsletter and website. She also writes about women’s health, culture, politics and grizzly bears. She was named one of LinkedIn’s Next Wave top professionals 35 and under in 2016 and a Glamour “Game Changer” in 2020 for her coverage of parenting in the pandemic. She is the author of the novels Soulmates and Sad Desk Salad. She was formerly a senior editor at Slate, and an editor at Jezebel. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, New York, the Washington Post, Businessweek, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and many other publications. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughters.

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    Reviews for Sad Desk Salad

    3.5/5

    80 ratings27 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Interesting "behind-the-scenes" take on Jezebel and similar sites and the question of privacy.
    • 5/5
      From Lilac Wolf and StuffThe synopsis isn't quite right. It's not a no brainer, Alex is tortured by her choice. She's already spirally out of control when the story begins. She doesn't shower much and has been wearing the same muumuu for weeks, it literally smells bad to her. She doesn't like posting about the catty celebrity stuff, but with the pressure for pageviews, she feels the need to go that route more and more just to keep her job.I think it's a brilliant look at how the internet can turn dangerous and make anyone lose touch with reality. She loses sight that it's not real, it doesn't really impact her life. When Alex finds a hate blog dedicated to her company's blog, but mostly about her, she freaks out. She starts pushing away all her real relationships, trying to protect her online reputation. Her relationship with her mother even ends up strained.Smooth pacing, and light-witty writing make this a fun read. I stayed up too late last night trying to finish it, and once the boys were dressed I picked it right back up this morning. It's a fun chick-lit that again deals with important issues. Most importantly, privacy in this new digital age. And what morals are bloggers held to, or should they be?
    • 4/5
      I can't recall where I first heard about Jessica Grose's "Sad Desk Salad", or who recommended it. The title alone is intriguing and I’ve wanted to read it for a while. The copy I checked out had the feel of having been read in a bathtub, or in some other watery, steamy place. The first chapter, where Alex describes her morning routine of waking to coffee followed by searching the internet for new stories to post on the women's website she writes for, almost wore me out from reading it. She is under considerable pressure to research and post her stories before another site picks them up, so I knew this would be a quickly-paced sort of novel. And the website, Chick Habit, catered to readers looking more for gossip than for substance, which bothered Alex even though she did like the excitement of it all. After chapter one, I decided to skim ahead a bit, didn’t follow the plot well, and ended up quickly at the final chapter, "Nine Month's Later." That chapter was interesting enough to make me want to find out some of the things it mentioned. What was this website, BTCH, that wanted to undermine Chick Habit and especially Alex? What happened between Alex and her boyfriend, Peter, between her and her mother? Who was Cassandra? I found answers to all those questions here and there, and had a good, if non-linear and non-exhaustive read of this interesting novel.
    • 3/5
      I needed something light and funny and this was the perfect book for that. Though it was not just happiness and sunshine, no this book did look at the internet a bit more closely too.

      Alex the heroine gets up around 6 am and then works for almost 12 hours. She does not dress, take a shower and often forget to eat. She is obsessed with her work as the tempo is high and she needs to find and write several pieces a day and get a lot of traffic for the website. Is she happy? I think she is too busy to consider this. But I did like that she wanted more.

      The book takes place during a hectic week as she gets an email with a video. Do post or not to post? Where does one draw the line? She already has angry comments on some post and this, this could be really bad, but also really good for the site. There is pressure and figuring out what really is the right thing to do. Not to mention, getting out of that disgusting muumuu she is wearing.

      I liked the light was it was written, and there was a lightness in the air too. But it did not get too light thanks to the drama going on.

      A fun book that you can read in a heartbeat
    • 4/5
      This was a fun quick read, I finished it in during the winter storm that never was, and really enjoyed it. I can now never look at my favorite news blogs the same and I have a much greater appreciation for bloggers in seeing how much work goes into maintaining one. The story was cute although I found some things annoying like the drawing out of her fight with Peter and the absurdity of the hate site. I think this a great book for the early to mid twenty crowd as it focuses a lot on the after college life/ quarter century crisis that so many of us experience.
    • 3/5
      This book was okay, but I kept hoping that Alex would learn something. I was a little disappointed that she never seemed to have that a-ha moment that will prevent to drama of this book from happening again.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. At first I wasn't too sure about it since it mainly revolves around Alex who writes blog snippets for a website all day. I thought it would get boring after awhile since she is mostly indoors doing the same thing. But not so! I could hardly put this book down. I loved how Alex was already beginning to unravel at the beginning of the book (not taken showers for awhile, wearing the same clothes, ect). I loved that the author jumped right in. In a digital age where most everything is either done or at least read about on the internet, I think this is a fabulous book that shows how much of society revolves around "celebrities" and how easy it is to get sucked into the digital world instead of living in the real world.
    • 4/5
      I got this book because I was reading an article that my husband forwarded me and in the credits it said the author had written a book called Sad Desk Salad. I loved that title and told him jokingly "I'd read a book called that" and then he said it was on sale for the Kindle and he bought it for me. I had no idea what it was about other than the title.It is also the first time I have ever read anything on a Kindle (my husband's).I was delighted by this book. I found this story to be fresh and funny and engaging.I loved that the backdrop was the world of blogs. I read a lot of blogs and the insight into the deadlines and pressure to make page views was really interesting to me. And all of the detail jived with what I know from just being a blog reader.The plot was well devised and almost constructed like a whodunit. I found myself reaching for it again and again because i was really interested in seeing how it resolved.The characters were really well formed. - I thought the writing was snappy and I was just so surprised and delighted at what a great book I found in such a random way! Hooray for having a really great eye catching title!
    • 2/5
      Eh. Not that exciting urban chick lit.
    • 3/5
      Interesting "behind-the-scenes" take on Jezebel and similar sites and the question of privacy.
    • 2/5
      I read a lot of fiction. I read a lot of what some would call "chick lit." I really wanted to like this book. I really wanted to finish this book. Neither of those things happened. I just didn't care enough about the protagonist. It wasn't particularly funny and it wasn't particularly interesting. If you would like to read interesting chick lit, or funny chick lit check out my library. But, this isn't it.
    • 4/5
      Sad Desk Salad initially comes off as a breezy, chick lit, type of book and in some ways it is. The writing is simple, yet effective, and the characters seem to interact mainly on the surface of things. When I started Sad Desk Salad, I was afraid that it was going to be another book like The Nanny Diaries or The Devil Wears Prada. I've already admitted to not really getting the humor in those books. I was very happy to discover that Sad Desk Salad was nothing like that for me. It has funny moments and was light reading but it never felt like I was supposed to find amusement in the negative situations in which Alex finds herself.Although it never travels too deep, Grose does offer the reader many topics for contemplation including the issue of privacy for individuals related to those in the spotlight. Online bullying is touched upon as well. The business climate for the women of Chick Habit is one of friendliness and camaraderie one day, after discovering the existence of a hate blog about them, to accusing each other of being behind the hate blog and trying to steal each others jobs the next day. Alex spends so much time "reporting" on the gossip of the world or writing stinging commentary on relevant news that she forgets how to actually live in the world. Her romantic relationship and her friendships suffer because she can no longer see past her computer screen. Sometimes I just had to shake my head and wonder if Alex would really be able to repair any of the damage she had caused to her own life.Sad Desk Salad only took me two days to read and, after the heavy ending to my reading of last year, it was the perfect way to start this year's reading.
    • 4/5
      I expected this to be a humorous chick lit. book but was pleasantly surprised at the underlying serious issues about today's media and intrusions on privacy. I'm personally not a fan of celebrity gossip but this book held my attention and was a quick read.
    • 2/5
      Sad Desk Salad was a quick read. But I just did not enjoy it. There were parts of the book that I was interested in finding out how it would be resolved, but I wasn't hooked. I wouldn't say that I found the book humorous but I am not into blogs or gossip columns. If you are just looking for a light read, this will work. I was just expecting more.
    • 4/5
      In this day and age of instant information, the internet, Facebook, and Twitter, there seems to be no such thing as privacy or discretion. What we don't share about ourselves, others share for us and about us. The wealth of information about people that is instantly available for anyone with a little technical expertise is truly staggering. And we've developed a culture that feeds on this "news," feeling entitled to know everything we can, especially about the celebrities and public figures we love or loathe. Prurience seems to be at an all time high for certain. Worse yet, we don't care how this desire affects and even potentially destroys the lives of those we read or hear about. Jessica Grose's new novel Sad Desk Salad focuses on the gossipy, exposed world that our extreme need to uncover the private lives of others has created.Alex Lyons is a writer/blogger for celebrity gossip website Chick Habit. She trolls the internet for information, writes a short bitchy article and sits back to watch the hits (the method by which her company measures her success) accumulate on her articles. This is not what she envisioned she'd be doing with her life but she's gotten quite good at it, finding juicy tidbits and exposing them to a large and faceless audience day after day. And then an anonymous tipster sends Alex a link to a video showing the college-aged daughter of a very conservative, smug "perfect mother," and rising politician doing cocaine. This is the sort of story that would cement Alex's always precarious job and take down a fairly nasty politician but it could have many other repercussions, especially for a college girl who never asked to be in the limelight but was thrust there by her mother's political ambitions.While Alex wrestles with her conscience about posting the private video, obsessing about the situation and these people plus her own guilt, she is unable to see the ways in which her own life and relationship with her boyfriend Pete is completely breaking down. Her work is changing her as a person, and not for the better. When she finds a blog devoted to attacking the Chick Habit writers and discovers that it saves most of its vitriol for her, she is horrified and alarmed even as the fall-out and attacks as a result of her decision to run the coke snorting video also ramp up. Feeling attacked on all sides, Alex must face who she's become, what it has done to her important relationships, and how she can possibly make the changes that will bring her back to herself.On the surface, this is a light and quick read but it certainly does contain important deeper themes and issues facing us in our instantaneous information, instant gratification, nothing off-limits age. What is the new morality and ethics; is it still the same old morality and ethics just in a new medium? Alex as a character is funny and snarky and delightfully neurotic. Her life is both fast paced and isolated and that definitely rings true. The secondary characters are fairly flat and one dimensional but since they exist mainly as screen names who interact with Alex in person only very rarely, this is perhaps fitting. It is interesting to see the other side of the glut of celebrity news, that of the people who find the information and make it available to the rest of us. If we feel slightly dirty for reading it, what must they feel as they ferret it out or expose it to a wider audience? Set over a very short time, Alex's revelations come to her rather quickly and the ending is resolved just a bit too easily but this is well-written and fun and anyone who enjoys, guiltily or not, celebrity gossip will enjoy this inside look at the way in which that particular beast gets fed.
    • 4/5
      As an avid follower of celebrity blogs, "Sad Desk Salad" was an interesting read. The main character writes for a blog, and this job has kind of overtaken her life. The author makes reference to the latest pop culture happenings, so if you enjoy celebrity gossip and scandal, this is the book for you. It's a nice, quick, enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      I think that anyone who blogs will appreciate Alex’s story for sure, especially those who blog professionally. Internet and blogging ethics are still evolving and this book is a great commentary on the nebulous state of them today. Also, the author worked at both Slate and Jezebel so I assume that Alex’s story is fairly realistic as far as what it’s like working as an online writer.Alex has to keep up on pop culture as part of her job and this book is full of pop culture references which was fun if you are an entertainment junkie like me. I love reading dirt about celebrities even though I know I shouldn’t. Alex feels twinges of guilt about her snarky posts just like I sometimes do when I read that kind of snark.The author did a great job of making the stress that Alex feels palpable to the reader. I spent most of the book wishing Alex would take a shower! She wears the same ugly dress most every day and doesn’t have time for much personal grooming because she must be in front of her computer at her editor’s beck and call.In addition to the ethics storyline, there is also a mystery element as someone is trying to sabotage Alex’s career. I already found the book fun to read and the mystery made it that much harder to put down.If you spend a lot of time online (and who doesn’t these days?) and are looking for something quick and fun to read, then this would be a great book for you.
    • 4/5
      SummaryAlex Lyons is a blogger for a popular women's website that posts more flashy stuff than anything. Her job depends on a daily quota of posts as well as comments on said posts. She competes with 3 other women bloggers whom she very seldom sees...they IM each other most days as they search the web for worthy info to write about. Alex's boss Moira depends on her "Chicks" to keep the ball rolling on her website Chick Habit and applies pressure when and where it's needed and even when and where it's not needed. When cutbacks loom via the website's parent company, Alex finds herself making decisions about what she submits to Moira as well as what she writes about based on trying to meet her quota rather than quality and ends up posting a controversial video of an obnoxious political candidate's daughter. What I LikedThe IM format breaks - at first they were kinda confusing bc some of the characters' screen names are not their real names...but once I figured out who was who, these breaks offered a real insight into a more digital world of writing that adds to this story bc the digital side is exactly what Sad Desk Salad is about.Peter - this is a guy we all hope our daughters find...a sensible fella, a lot of fun, but knows when to be serious as well. He loves Alex for who she is, warts and all, and calls her on her crap when she gets all wrapped up in the job enough to hurt herself...not him. He doesn't give her ultimatums...just points out the facts and let's her decide. Good guy, this one.Alex's relationship with her mother - the first time her mom called her "puffin," I thought, "Oh no, here we go with the cheese!" but I was wrong. The childhood connection is obviously there, but Grose made Alex's mom a woman in her own right, making her way in the world after her husband's sudden death. Their relationship is one of space on a daily basis but closeness when needed...and even if they don't talk for a few days, that closeness automatically comes back...and there's no pressure.Moira - while I don't "like" her and could never work for her (wait, I think I have), it was refreshing to meet a woman who was not afraid of being who she was, demanding what she wanted, and saying whatever she felt like...she reminded me of a crass Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada.LOVE the murky privacy issues - this is such a timely conversation too with celebrities acting like idiots and being caught on tape and then those who are stalked and captured on film in the privacy of their own homes...and on into the children of celebrities and what's allowed/not allowed where they are concerned.The conversation is not preachy and Grose lets the reader make up his/her mind based on a close look at both sides. What I Didn't LikeDarleen West - as a mom, one of the first cardinal rules for me is NEVER say "my kids would never do that" or spout off all the time about how great your kids are. Just as soon as you do that, kids are gonna be kids and make mistakes...sometimes big ones. Not only do you set yourself up by claiming to be the best parent in the world, but you set you kids up too...to fail...big time. And, to make matters worse, you will have stepped on enough toes along the way, that when your kids do make mistakes, there are plenty of folks waiting to pounce on it, many times to the detriment of your kids more than you.Rebecca West - 23 years old doesn't exactly get you the protection loophole of being a famous person's child. As far as I'm concerned, all bets are off when the person whose "privacy has been violated" was doing something illegal.Alex's mumu - huh?? I did not, could not understand why Alex kept putting on the same dress...also couldn't understand why she kept skipping the shower...I get that she's so wrapped up in her job and being available to Moira that she doesn't have time for anything or anybody else in her life...BUT a shower??Alex's anxiety got on my nerves. But, at the same time, I got it. I've been that person (especially in my younger years) who's trying to decide what to do about a certain situation and ends up making the wrong decision despite what my gut tells me and the trusted people around me tell me. But, it's hard to read about a person like that. Alex is younger than me, so I chalked up her behavior many times to immaturity.The ending wraps up a little nicer than I usually like, but I was in the mood for just that, so it was ok. Overall RecommendationThis was a fun, fast paced read; I read it in about 3 hours. Sad Desk Salad would probably qualify for Chick Lit, but I don't usually like Chick Lit, so I think there's a little more substance here brought on by the timely discussion of web writing and privacy issues. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the world of blogging professionally even though the author said in her Acknowledgements that her own personal experience working online was nothing like Alex's.
    • 3/5
      Taking us behind the scenes of the world in which author Jessica Grose has forged her career, Sad Desk Salad gives a lighthearted insight into modern day tabloid journalism.Alex Lyons is a blogger for Chick Habit, an online zine site focusing on celebrity gossip, fashion, pithy social commentary and controversial opinion. Responsible for publishing a dozen or more posts a day, Alex obsessively browses through Twitter, Facebook, her RSS feeds and news sites for inspiration from her couch, churning out pieces designed to attract the attention of Chick Habit’s readers. Sad Desk Salad traces a frenetic week in which Alex’s desperate desire to meet her quota (1 million hits a month), creates a conflict between her real and virtual life.Caught up in her world of virtual drama, which includes being targeted by an anonymous ‘hater’ who sets up a blog “Breaking the Chick Habit” Alex fails to recognise the changes in her self that are putting a strain on her relationship with her boyfriend and friends.Her perspective warped by her immersion in a arena that rewards controversy, gossip and scandal mongering, it isn’t until Alex posts a damning video that could do irreparable harm to the reputation of a young woman who is only a ‘celebrity’ by association with her politically ambitious mother that she is hit by a crisis of conscience and begins to reconsider what is important to her.Grose keeps things light in Sad Desk Salad, it is often funny and sharp but unfortunately the novel lacked the insight I had hoped for. The author’s examination of the eroding boundaries between ‘public’ and ‘private’ arenas is superficial at best. Not exactly a surprise really considering the author’s own background as a writer and editor at sites just like the fictional Chick Habit, but disappointing that the potential of such a relevant social issue was left unexplored.What Grose does do well is highlight society’s growing obsession with virtual connections. Alex doesn’t shower for days in the fear of missing an important text or email, her iPhone is her constant companion and her obsession with the virtual world overshadows her interactions with real people. Sadly Alex reminds me of at least a couple of women I know whose obsessive checking of Facebook and Twitter has stalled many a conversation.Sad Desk Salad (so titled in reference to the meal women most often consume as they browse the internet during lunch at their desks) is a quick contemporary read. Largely amusing and socially relevant (especially if you are a blogger) it’s light entertainment for the igeneration.
    • 4/5
      The Good Stuff •Delightfully wicked and fun •Perfect for a day at the beach or for commuting •Good character development and relevant to today's life (Damn people get paid to blog -- cough cough somebody pay me please) •Actually makes you think about the moral dilemma involved - what would I have done in the same situation - do we have a right to intrude into the family of celebrities, etc •Laugh out loud funny yet almost heart warming at times •Nice to see realistic friendships between the characters •Actually quite fast paced for this type of story - was engrossed could not put it down (Um maybe not good for commuting after-all - nothing worse than missing your stop because you were too engrossed in a book - not that that has ever happened to me or anything-- cough cough LIAR) •I really enjoyed her commentary on judgmental mothers and those that propose that staying home with your kids is the ONLY way to raise healthy, happy, successful children •Love the real relationship between Alex and her mom The Not So Good Stuff •A tad repetitive at times Favorite Quotes/Passages"These days if feels like I get paid to be a bitch. It makes me feel pretty terrible when I think about it, but the meaner I am, the better my posts do - and I can't afford to meet my quota.""If I had rebelled by doing whippets in the woods rather than reading in my room, would it have been because my mom wasn't home to open the front door for me every day of her damn life." Who is Darlene West anyway, to tell people that they're bad parents? Now that she's running for office, she has the potential to have even more influence on American women than she already does." "Now I go silent. I thought my mom would have an easy, soothing answer for me. But now I realize that was a foolish expectation. I have to take responsibility for my own choices."Who Should/Shouldn't Read •Perfect for fans of Jennifer Weiner, Jen Lancaster, Jenny Lawson and Helen Fielding •Blog writers will get a kick out of it •Anyone who just wants a smart but fun read 4.25/5 Dewey's I received this from William Morrow in exchange for an honest review
    • 3/5
      Well, if you're reading this, you're connected online in some way - reading blogs, surfing websites, tweeting, posting etc. Now how much time do you spend online?Alex Lyons, the main character in Jessica Grose's debut novel, Sad Desk Salad, spends a minimum of twelve hours a day online. She's a writer for Chick Habit - a women's website that skewers just about anything and everything. When Alex receives an anonymous email with a link to a blockbuster scoop, she has to decide if her job is worth more than her morals. For, the scoop may ruin another young woman's life. And is the job ruining hers?It was interesting to see behind the scenes of an online site - the frenetic postings, the pressure to find the next scoop, to have the comments and stats needed to stay on top. Grose herself worked as an editor at Jezebel and Slate. Both publications bear a remarkable similarity to Chick Habit, so it truly seems like Grose has given us a real insider's look behind the curtain. Grose raises interesting questions about our fascination with celebrity, gossip and the effect modern media has on our lives, using Alex as a vehicle. Sadly though, I just didn't like the main character. I found Alex to be shallow and self centred and very two dimensional. I identified more with her best friend Jane, who was more grounded and saw things with clearer eyes. Although Alex makes some personal revelations as the book progresses, they just came too late for this reader. (And I'm pretty grossed out by the fact that she doesn't bother showering and wears the same mu mu for nearly a week.)There is a thinly veiled 'mystery' that kept me reading as I wanted answers. And, I wanted to know if Alex would reclaim her life. The final chapters do provide neat tying up of ends. Fans of the aforementioned online sites will eat this book up, but for this reader it was just okay.Tag lines have declared the book funny and comic. Others may find it humourous, but I didn't. The cover is pretty cute though. Speaking of eating - the title? "We get the most readers around lunch-time, when girls in offices all over the East Coast eat their sad desk salads and force down bites of desiccated chicken breasts while scrolling through our latest posts. We get another traffic bump around four, when our West Coast counterparts eat their greens with low-fat dressing." On reading the author's notes at the end, Grose thanks many people - "for encouraging the crazy idea that I could write a novel in five months while holding down a full-time job without having a nervous breakdown. And they were mostly right." Hmm.....
    • 5/5
      This was an interesting and engaging peek fictional at on-line bloggers! I read alot of blogs and crazy celebrity websites and it gave a fun take on what goes on with on-line bloggers (made me think of Cafe Mom as they have a variety of bloggers writing about a bunch of different topics). I always wonder how they come up with some of the topics they do!There was a bit of "who-dun-it" which made it fun too and kept me guessing as to who the culprit was.Very enjoyable!
    • 5/5
      This was an interesting and engaging peek fictional at on-line bloggers! I read alot of blogs and crazy celebrity websites and it gave a fun take on what goes on with on-line bloggers (made me think of Cafe Mom as they have a variety of bloggers writing about a bunch of different topics). I always wonder how they come up with some of the topics they do!There was a bit of "who-dun-it" which made it fun too and kept me guessing as to who the culprit was.Very enjoyable!
    • 3/5
      Like others, I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. It was fun, witty, and smart, and kept me reading throughout. It is a good venture into possibly the new era of chick lit.
    • 5/5
      I received this book from Library Thing Early Reviewers and of course, I had hoped to enjoy it and not be bored or irritated by it but I didn't expect that I would like it as much as I do.It was a great story. There were times when I couldn't put it down. It shows a life that I am not familiar with but I see from a distance. I see those postings on Yahoo and other places but I never really thought about who would be writing them and why, where and how. And how the writer might also be reading those comments. I love good character development and I thought that it was really good in this book. For me, good character development means things don't seem phony and exaggerated, it just seems realistic, and these characters did. Even though it is about a generation of women much younger than me, some things remain the same, like best friend connections. No matter how much time has passed since you've seen each other, that is the person who understands you. That's the person you need to talk to when things get crazy. Things like that made me able to identify with the main character, regardless of her age.There were lines in the book that left me thinking for a while and not every book does that. To paraphrase one, she basically says that while life often moves at a frantic pace, the consequences of the choices we make only unfold over a long period of time. That type of statement makes it a 5 star book for me.I expected that at best this would be light entertainment and it was light entertainment but I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. Great book!
    • 4/5
      This was a fun book! I was quickly drawn into the week long whirlwind of Alex's life as a blogger. I tore through this book in just a few hours and enjoyed every minute. The pop culture references made me laugh and I could sympathize with her moral dilemmas as well as her paranoia about faceless online haters. A fun quick read that I would recommend for those that enjoy contemporary chic lit.
    • 4/5
      Alex Lyons is a stressed out blogger for the gossipy website Chick Habit,whose frantic life is turned even more inside out by a scoop that seems to land all too easily in her lap. A video clip of a professional tiger mom/politician's golden girl daughter indulging in sex and drugs is just the thing that Alex needs to keep her post quota high enough to hold onto her job. Her quandaries about publishing it are minor compared to the appearance of a hate site called Breaking the Chick Habit that appears to be targeting her more than the other women writers at CH,plus competing with an eager beaver intern who may or may not be after her top spot. Even when posting the video makes her an overnight celeb,Alex's troubles are far from over as a mysterious blackmailer threatens to expose some of Alex's own dirty laundry. Sad Desk Salad is a fast paced and furiously funny read-think of it as The Player crossed with Mean Girls and a touch of Nancy Drew.