Shaking Her Assets: 6

Shaking Her Assets is about a woman who picks her editing career up off the sidewalk - where her former boss tossed it - and haphazardly launches a start-up company which quickly turns into something she's fighting for, something she's really proud of. Rachel Chambers, a sensitive and loyal heroine compared to the usual career-driven femmes fatales found in chick lit, has a knack for putting people in their best light, optimizing strengths over weaknesses - crafting slamming entry essays to top business schools around the world. But Epstein and Kaplan know that women and men, alike, don't always apply their marketing talents to themselves, and in Rachael's world it's the 'artsy' man behind every crazy scene she gets herself into that illustrates, literally, her real POW! Shaking Her Assets takes on losing what's closest to you and moving forward. It's smart and funny, and at just the right moments it feels as warm as a big hug. Full of good advice and comic relief, this read is like spending quality time with your best friend.

Believable and engaging, deftly written and clever, this book is a satisfying read for anyone looking for a vicarious taste of what it's really like to be a sassy single twenty-something in NYC.

What a fantastic and entertaining book!! I read it on a recent flight and could not put it down. It's funny, smart, and Rachel's story is one that every New Yorker can appreciate.

In the space of a month, our main heroine Rachel has lost both her job and her boyfriend of two years. Just when she thinks things can't get much worse, her best friend Ben drops the bomb that he is getting married... to his Park Avenue girlfriend. That in itself isn't so bad, but Rachel has always secretly wondered what would happen if she had ended up as his girlfriend, instead of just his friend. Now it seems she is too late. Bored with her sudden joblessness, Rachel flits from temp job to temp job, until one night, as a joke, she decides to start a letter-writing business. More specifically, a business where she would help prospective business-school applicants write their entrance essays and letters. After papering Manhattan with leaflets containing her name and phone number advertising her business, she promptly forgets about it... until she gets her first call from someone wanting to hire her. Around the same time, Rachel starts a new temping gig at an environmental information company and makes friends with Zach, the art director. Zach is not her type at all, but they hit it off as great friends, and she ends up regaling him with tales of her disastrous dates and work scenarios. Zach surprises her by turning her stories into fodder for the heroine of a hilarious comic strip on his website. Just when I was contemplating giving up on co-written books, Shaking Her Assets turned out to be the great single-girl-in-the-city book to change my mind. This book is warm, witty, and genuinely interested me in the main character's life. Epstein and Kaplan's writing blended together well enough where I couldn't tell their writing apart- to me, it was just one very well-written and entertaining book. Best of all, there are genuinely hilarious examples of the comic strip that is loosely based on Rachel's life occasionally thrown into the book sporadically. The authors don't overdue it by including one in every chapter - although they were funny enough that I wouldn't have minded! Overall, this was a wonderful read, and I definitely suggest picking yourself up a copy. Be prepared to laugh out loud!

This book is a great read. Get if for the subway commute, the bus, the beach or for your bedside table. Really smart and funny. I received Shaking Her Assets yesterday afternoon, finished it this morning. DO IT!