Anon Pls. by DeuxMoi

 

I'd never actually heard of DeuxMoi before reading this book. Apparently it's a real gossip distributor on Instagram, which I guess makes ANON PLS. autofiction. The real DeuxMoi operators are anonymous but in this book, the site is managed by an abused fashion intern named Cricket. The comparisons to Gossip Girl and Devil Wears Prada are honestly pretty on point. You get the bitchy boss and celebrity adjacent juiciness, with the "xoxo just dropped devastating truths about your personal life, love GG" suspense.

This was purely an impulse buy but I couldn't put it down. It's chick-lit without much romance, although there is a bit of romance and some spice. Cricket is a flawed FMC who is likable but also a little bit morally grey, and I liked her friends. There's something almost nostalgic about this book that made me think about the 2000s-era chick-lit I used to love... I think because often, in those books the heroine was just as focused on her career as her relationships (maybe because of Sex and the City?). Now, it feels like in a lot of rom-coms, there really isn't as much focus on the heroine's corporate life.

The first half of this book was fantastic and the second half, while good, wasn't quite as good. The vampire stuff and the overly neat resolution didn't 100% work. It was fun trying to figure out the real-life allegories some of this stuff must be based on, though. I also wondered how much of this autofiction was actually fiction, and how much is rooted in truth. Deny, deny, deny.

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars