The Intern by Gabrielle Tozer
Series: The Intern #1
Also in this series: Faking It
on February 2014
Pages: 336
Goodreads

Funny, insightful and written with warmth and understanding, THE INTERN is for everyone who has had and survived the job from hell! Ages: 12+ Josie Browning dreams of having it all. A stellar academic record, an amazing career in journalism - and for her current crush to realise she actually exists. The only problem? Josie can't get through twenty-four hours without embarrassing her sister Kat or her best friend Angel, let alone herself. Josie's luck changes though when she lands an internship at the glossy fashion magazine Sash. A coveted columnist job is up for grabs, but Josie's got some tough competition in the form of two other interns. Battle lines are drawn and Josie quickly learns that the magazine industry is far from easy, especially under the reign of powerful editor, Rae Swanson. From the lows of coffee-fetching and working 10-hour days, to the highs of mingling with celebrities, scoring endless free beauty products (plus falling for her cousin's seriously gorgeous flatmate James) this is one year Josie will never forget.Totally fresh and funny, this debut novel from industry insider Gabrielle Tozer reveals just what is behind the seeming glamour and sparkle of the magazine industry. Ages 12+

The Intern is a fun contemporary novel featuring Josie, a first year journalism student about to start an internship at a fashion magazine. Wanting to be a serious newspaper writer and having no idea about the glossy world of magazines (I have a feeling Josie would consider herself about as glamorous as a garden gnome), Josie is out of her depth. But she’s determined to succeed at her internship and not let down all the people who believe in her.

This book has been described as The Devil Wears Prada for the young adult set – and that’s a great description. Josie is serious about her future as a journalist. She’s top of her class at university and despite spending her days laundering outfits for fashion shoots isn’t part of the plan, Josie is willing to pay her dues. Reading about Josie’s adventures in the fashion industry was fantastic. She seems to have more than her share of embarrassing moments yet she doesn’t let them get the best of her. Josie is intelligent and I loved her sense of humour.

As well as the magazine side of things, The Intern features realistic and interesting relationships. The ones between Josie and her professional colleagues at Sash magazine were fun to read about. Josie’s bond with her sister Kat and her best friend Angel are fantastically down to earth and whilst both have their problems, they are realistic and loving. And then there’s the romance! It’s sweet and lovely. Josie’s romantic life is full of embarrassing incidents (much like her professional life) but her relationship with a certain blue-eyed boy is one I loved reading about.

Over the course of the novel (and over the course of her internship), Josie really grows as a character. Spending time in the City with people who work in her dream industry, Josie goes from an unsure teenager to an adult who takes responsibility for her life. This is one of those coming of age novels in which the character’s growth feels natural and right.

I loved reading The Intern. The magazine lifestyle, Josie’s romantic adventures and the antics of everyone she meets along the way – this book is fun, heartfelt and one of my favourite contemporary reads of 2014 (definitely worth the half hour I spent trying to decide which colour cover I wanted to buy…). I could not be more excited that Gabrielle Tozer has written a sequel following Josie’s adventures, Faking It, and it will be released next month.

 

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Favourite quotes:

“Melons. The girls. Gazongas. I could rattle off every nickname in the world for my boobs – oops nearly forgot jubblies – but it didn’t change the fact they were small.”

“Everything I could see was soft, fluffy or cuddly. What was I supposed to do? Towel the guy into a coma?Shampoo him to death?”

“I was only one more embarrassing incident away from morphing into a rom-com character”