Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns
by Lauren Weisberger, Fiction (Released June, 2013)
Bottom Line: Read it.
Summary: In the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, Andy Sachs (who still shudders to hear Miranda Priestly’s name even ten years later) teams up with her former Runway nemesis, First Assistant Emily, to start a high-end bridal magazine and, of course, encounters Miranda along the way.
My Thoughts: I loved The Devil Wears Prada, so I was disappointed to read that its sequel had gotten such mixed reviews. The mixed reviews obviously didn’t stop me from reading the book, but I did go in with fairly low expectations. Imagine my surprise when I stayed up late reading a quarter of the book the first night I started it! I had just read a serious book (In the Shadow of the Banyan), so I found Revenge a refreshingly light and entertaining contrast. It was an easy read following Banyan, which was exactly what I needed! Initially, a lot of Revenge is Andy rehashing memories of her time with Miranda and these snarky descriptions are what made the original Devil so good. This time around, the Miranda memories do feel a bit warmed over, but are probably necessary to set the stage. In Revenge, Andy and Emily end up on the receiving end of the charming version of Miranda (the version most celebrities saw in Devil). It was interesting to see the  juxtaposition of how she treats people she wants something from versus how she treats her underlings. You can feel her transform between personalities right before your eyes and then back again in seconds. I also enjoyed the secondary storyline of Andy’s marriage to Max Harrison, the son of a media scion, and found her stuck-up snob of a mother-in-law to be a somewhat amusing character. Even though she was dislikable, she added some humorous ridiculousness to the story. Despite enjoying the book and flying through it, I hated the ending, and that seems to be the consensus among other reviewers. It couldn’t have been more cliche and you could see it coming a mile away. Actually, there were a lot of cliche moments in this book and I rolled my eyes at some parts. But, I have to go on overall feeling while reading a book and I enjoyed this one for what it was…something light, easy, and not thought provoking. Sometimes you just need a book like that. I’m putting Revenge on my Summer 2013 Reading List.