FASHION JUNGLE by KATHY IRELAND & RACHEL VAN DYKEN

“There is no in between. That’s not life, and that’s not how people should love, with only part of their souls or just when it’s easy and pretty. Love is ugly, it’s painful, it’s full of sorrow, long days, terror filled nights. Love asks for everything and nothing all at once. I love the only way a person should love. With every part of me that’s tethered to this universe”

It’s a jungle out there! Wow! Just Wow! What a uniquely, thrilling, lusciously dramatic, romantic and suspenseful read! Based on true stories and events, we felt like voyeurs, enjoying a ‘behind the scenes’ look into the mired world of the fashion industry, through the eyes of three very different, formidable yet achingly vulnerable best friends. With twenty years in the fashion industry, Zoe, Everlee and Brittany, have secrets…many, many secrets and we were dying to hear all of them. Starting with the death of their best friend Danica.

“…this city has a way of hurting you in ways I don’t think most cities do. Like you said, New York is a living, breathing thing, isn’t it? A monster if you let it be. Or a savior. An escape. It can be whatever you want it to be, and I came here thinking it would be this great adventure. And it was, but everything has a cost, you know?”
“What was your cost?”

The gripping synopsis gives you all you need to know about this story and its various players and it’s a story that’s best enjoyed completely spoiler free. As we closed the last page, we felt as though we knew each of the characters intimately, experiencing the myriad of emotions felt by the characters, desperate to uncover their pasts and devour the secrets they slowly shared with us.

‘Love wasn’t cut and dried, and if you couldn’t fight for something, that meant a person didn’t deserve to have it in the first place…….
He’d fight for the rest of his life to deserve her.’

Kathy Ireland and Rachel Van Dyken make an incredible and exciting writing partnership bringing swoony romance, unrequited love, political and celebrity scandals and buried secrets between all characters. Secrets that bubble to the surface and threaten to explode in the weeks leading up to New York Fashion Week. Oh gosh, it was all so DELICIOUS! We couldn’t get enough!

“Sometimes, men have no choice but to become monsters to protect those they love from the darkness.”

Kathy Ireland and RVD strikingly captured the passion of these women, their strength, their camaraderie and the hurt and the take downs that marred their confidence. Yes, they were beautiful and had the world at their feet, yet they were crippled by insecurity in an industry brimming with predators and people prepared to tear you down. Their resilience was a credit to them.

It’s not just the women who held us spellbound, there were two unbelievably gorgeous men who completely stole our hearts. The sweet and swoony Dr Oliver Desmond (the way Oliver leans against a door frame…talk about swoooon) and the mysteriously mouth-watering devil in a dark suit, Dane Saldino, whose cloak and dagger antics had us on the edge of the seat. His love for his sister Danica, and her friends, his ingrained protectiveness towards these women made our hearts swoon! We would LOVE a Dane Saldino spinoff! Prepare to fall hard and fast for these guys!

‘…..when you loved Dane, you loved the good and the bad. You loved the man and the monster. ‘

We were completely enthralled by Fashion Jungle from start to finish! Our inquisitive minds were teased, our romantic hearts were tantalised, and our venturesome ways were satiated in this story of friendship and love against a backdrop of lies and betrayal. Clever, poignant inventive storytelling with a real life feeling woven between the pages ensured we enjoyed every single moment!

‘He’d save her because he was selfish. Because he saw, he fell, he wanted.’