Oh! You Pretty Things

a A Hollywood native from the wrong side of the Walk of Fame makes a play for star status (Cosmopolitan) in Shanna Mahin’s acclaimed debut novel, called quite a breakout by The New York Times. a Jess Dunne is third-generation Hollywood, but her star on the boulevard has yet to materialize. So when she upgrades her nowhere barista job to personal assistant for a film composer, she falls as hard for the nearness to fame as she does his perfectly designed kitchen. Jess kills at cooking, a talent that only serves her intensifying urge to dig in to Los Angeles’s celebrity buffet. a But then Jess’s food garners the attention of Eva Carlton, an actress on the rise, and Jess is all too eager to jump ship to Eva’s entourage, a decision that threatens to explode all her personal relationships. And when Jess’s mother-a failed actress who puts the strange in estrangement-turns up toting a suitcase full of secrets, Jess must confront the truth she’s been running from all her life.