3.5ish stars, rounded. While it may seem strange to call a book about someone on a murderous rampage "fun", that's really what this story was. Lots of designer namedropping and fashion industry type gossip help to offset Anya's impulses to permanently eliminate anyone who threatens her career and aspirations. It's darkly funny, and while Anya's murders are gruesome they aren't described in a way that makes them too difficult to read. It's a darker alternative to books like The Devil Wears Prada, and I think fans of books in that vein will enjoy this as well.

This book was dark, twisted and utterly messed up and good lord, I loved every minute of it! I don’t remember having this much fun with a serial killer since Dexter. Anya glories in her murders and she doesn’t limit herself to the bad guys. She kills anyone who slights her or stands in her way climbing the ladder at the fashion magazine where she works. It's almost understandable because the women at her office are completely the worst. They are so mean, superficial and judgemental that it’s hard not to hate them all. The combination of laugh out loud humour with graphic, gory murder is unusual and totally worked for me. If you can’t see the humour in someone being killed by a Marc Jacobs backward heel shoe to the face then this may not be the story for you. I laughed so many times and sometimes felt kind of bad about it because it is inappropriate to laugh at people being killed in horrible ways but it was impossible not to be charmed by this deranged story. The fashion references were icing on the cake. It was like Sex and the City with multiple murders and it was perfection. OMG! It’s, like, the best book of the summer! Let me instagram this!

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

From page one I decided to have an open heart about this story, because soon enough we learn there’s a major difference here from the classical trope of "regular girl dreams to be the pseudo-perfect tall, thing, blonde and popular girl": which is that Anya is a psycho. Literally. It's kind of great to see Anya’s thoughts getting darker and darker Funny thing is, even though there’s the whole creepy and murdery vibe, there’s also a satirical and weird humor that made the reading experience actually really really fun!

There’s a thriller element to this, definitely, but to me it was more of a “this is so weirdly fun” than a “i’m so tense, i don’t know what’s going to happen”. I love when Anya has to interact with the Jennifers in events and gives her perspective on the whole fake friendships, and who’s who of the fashion world. The author is a former fashion editor herself so she definitely absorbed a lot during those years and knows these situations and interactions by heart.

There’s not a lot of surprise here ‘cause once you understand how Anya’s mind works we can kind of guess where things are heading to; there are some great moments and chapters that the first sentence got me like WHAAAAAAT? The story is fun to read, even though there’s violence and murders and stuff, it’s kind of an easy reading. It’s the authors first novel and if she’s planning to stick with these kinds of stories, I’m so in.

Finished this in less than 48 hours. It's absolutely "cray" (to quote the characters).

Everyone has already made the <i>Devil Wears Prada</i> meets your-choice-of-crazy-novel. It's definitely that...maybe a lot of <i>Single White Female</i>, if that had been written by the crazy person's perspective. This book is so over the top ridiculous that it you have to have some suspension of disbelief. But then again, it also reminded me a lot of <i>Disco Bloodbath</i> (or <i>Party Monster</i>, depending on which edition you have)...except that was all true. So maybe this isn't so far fetched.

Regardless, the complete randomness of the first-person narrative is so effective. It's a bit unsettling to have enjoyed reading this, considering. I kept expecting some crazy twist, but there wasn't one. It was just really good (and alarmingly twisted) storytelling. And I like that you know from the very beginning how messed up Anya (the protagonist) is.

Thanks to Netgalley for the e-ARC!

3.5 death, lip gloss and, like, OMG stars!!!

If Clueless and Jawbreaker had a baby, it's name would be #FashionVictim.

God, there was always so much work to do. Update this, kill so-and-so. I wish people understood how hard we worked in fashion - all to make it look effortless, easy.

#FashionVictim follows Anya St. Clair at top fashion magazine La Vie. She has a coveted position of Associate Editor while simultaneously working to become BFFs with coworker and socialite Sarah Taft. Sarah is the alpha to Anya's beta. She's tall, lithe, has flowing blonde hair and comes from wealth, privilege and a prominent family.

When a promotion gets thrown on the table by their boss Celia, things get interesting. And by interesting I mean bat-shit crazy. Anya's numero uno goal is to be besties with Sarah and she see's this within her reach if she can only win this promotion. Any by win the promotion, I mean go on a killing rampage.

I was embodying the deranged cat crying emoji. My hysteria levels were rising.

When we enter into the story Anya is at the very beginning of an ever-growing mania. Her mental health is waning and she's just dipped her toe into a murder spree that will last the entirety of the book. This is told solely from the POV of Anya and she is something else, to say the least. She's one of the most complexly one-dimensional characters I've ever read. She's absolutely you're unlikable, unreliable narrator trope to a T. However, I don't think Akhtar wrote these characters to be likable, they're written to be entertaining and this book was pure entertainment.

I would've liked to see some break-up of Anya's frenzy. While I enjoyed reading her POV I think the book suffered a bit because it ended up being a little choppy. I would've loved to see the Detectives take on things or a past / present break up of how Anya got to where she is today.

"I need to look like I belong in a photoshoot! That I'm cool and chill and don't care. I need to affect - what's the word? Not boredom?" "Ennui?" "Yes!" I jumped up and clapped. "I need to ennui the fuck out of my life. You're brilliant Dr. M."

There was a dry, dark and campy humor here that really drove my rating and overall enjoyment of the book. However, despite the interesting premise things grew a bit tired for me. The overuse of OMG, WTF and other abbreviations was grating at times. There is also quite a bit of stereotyping going on in this read. From body shaming to the assumption that anyone working in fashion is vapid, vane and dense. There was a lack of development into the ending that lead to some logistical holes and that coupled with the stereotyping and redundancy drove my rating on this one.

Since we're given the POV of the killer instead of the victims there aren't many "twists" per se. However, I don't think the story was worse for wear because of it. It was fresh and entertaining from start to finish. I think it'd make a great movie but wasn't written in a way where that was clearly the end goal.

It didn't hurt that there was a million and one Law & Order: Special Victims Unit references either.

No one called Elliot Stabler by his first name. Except for Benson but hello? She'd earned that right.

I completed this as a Traveling Sisters read. Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a dark, crazy and rather enjoyable book. It is graphic! Anya is works with La Vie magazine, and obsessed with her co-worker. At times witty, and at times gross. This is just bazaar, but a fun quick, read.

Unfortunately, this book was just not for me. The dark humor had its entertaining moments but that's about it. Hate to give bad reviews but I couldn't wait to be done with this book!

Thank you Netgalley for my copy in return for an honest review.

Wow - I was not expecting this book to be what it was! That being said, it was a wild ride, and a great and quick read! I was a little confused in the beginning, but once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down because I had to know more! Also, as a NYer, the story comes even more to life because we all know people who work in fashion!

Wow! What a book! Fans of "The Devil Wears Prada" will love this one. I'm very surprised that this is the author's first book. Highly recommended!

I loved this book so much! And I love how a lot of people are talking about it as well. Thank you so much for allowing me to review this book. It was great from beginning to end

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Anya St. Clair is a fashion editor for La Vie magazine, with a twist. She is obsessed with her co-worker, Sarah Taft, and she not only wants to be her BFF, she wants to be HER. When their boss pits them against each other for a promotion, Anya will do anything to win. Anything... including knocking off anyone who gets in her way or she feels threatened by. He house calling psychiatrist, Dr. M, tries to put her on the right path, but what does he know? This is a darkly humerus, highly entertaining first novel from Amina Akhtar, and I certainly look forward to seeing more from her! I devoured most of this book in one sitting. Loved the characters, and was sorry that some of them had to go. But that's the way the fashion industry works. #amirightoramiright

Couldn’t put this book down! I love reading the perspective of the antagonist in books. This book had me laughing and shaking my head at the same time. It was hard to feel sorry for any of the characters as they were all so self absorbed but that is why I enjoyed reading the book so much.

Working in fashion, there’s so much to do. Plan the next spread, choose people to photograph, kill so and so, find the next blogger to work with, the list goes on. How Anya can fit it all in is a mystery!

But Anya doesn’t have everything she wants. Not like Sarah Taft.

When Anya starts to work at La Vie, funny things start happening and when the first body turns up, terror ensues. Who has it out for the people at La Vie? Is anyone safe?

So well written that I couldn’t put it down. I had to know what happened to Anya, I had to know about the people being murdered and about the friendship “blossoming” between Anya and Sarah. It’s addictive and so well written. It makes you constantly question the sanity of the characters involved. Would highly recommend!!

A darkly thrilling take on the fashion world, #FashionVictim is Heathers meets The Devil Wears Prada..

Fashion editor Anya St. Clair is on the verge of greatness. Her wardrobe is to die for. Her social media is killer. And her career path is littered with the bodies of anyone who got in her way. She’s worked hard to get where she is, but she doesn’t have everything.

Not like Sarah Taft. Anya’s obsession sits one desk away. Beautiful, stylish, and rich, she was born to be a fashion world icon. From her beach-wave blonde hair to her on-trend nail art, she’s a walking editorial spread. And Anya wants to be her friend. Her best friend. Her only friend.

But when Sarah becomes her top competition for a promotion, Anya’s plan to win her friendship goes into overdrive. In order to beat Sarah…she’ll have to become her. Friendly competition may turn fatal, but as they say in fashion: One day you’re in, and the next day you’re dead.

I was really torn while reading this book and even now as to whether or not I enjoyed it. I will say the plot is interesting, with some fun twists along the way. But the formatting of the book was really off - I'm not sure if that was intentional or not - but it definitely detracted from my overall reading enjoyment.

If you can get past the difficulty of actually reading the book, you do uncover a storyline that delivers on the Heathers meets The Devil Wears Prada vibe promised in the summary of the book. I give this book a solid 3 out of 5, which could be bumped up to a 4 if not for the difficulty of actually reading the words on the pages due to bad formatting.

So this was a DNF for me, i got about 20% of the way through and couldn’t read anymore. It started off well, seemed like a good light hearted read but after getting further into it, i just couldn’t. I was bored and even the text talk was starting to grate on me. This for me had the potential to be a book that i would really have enjoyed but, unfortunately, it just wasn’t.

This was a good read and despite knowing who the killer was from the start, there were enough twists to hold my interest and still provide the shock factor especially towards the end. None of the characters were particularly likeable but it appears to be the authors conscious decision to show the worse sides to everyone and the struggle to maintain ethics and morality when in a cut-throat business. Overall, I would recommend this to those wanting a book that you don't have to take too seriously and to read quickly.

I know that a lot of people loved this book, Unfortunately it was a miss for me. I wanted a little more humor and a few less murders.

e-ARC provided by netgalley in exchange for a review.

TW: fatphobia & fat-shaming, racism, intrusive thoughts, graphic descriptions of violence, murder & gore.

This book was.....unsettling. Not that that's a bad thing, because I have a feeling that was exactly what the author was aiming for. It was a book I very much enjoyed, and I do think that it is a worthy read. However, I would like to preface that I wasn't exactly fond of the fact that the book had no content & trigger warnings when I think that there were a lot of content in the book that could be triggering for a lot of readers. With that said, readers of the book, let me know if I missed any TWs in the beginning of this review.

I've seen several reviews about this book saying that it is 'damaging' and makes fun of marginalised groups, and while I do agree that it can be triggering, personally I never saw this book as an attack to any marginalised groups. Rather, this book is meant to be a satirical commentary towards the hostility the fashion industry displays against these marginalised groups. Given that Akhtar herself is a WOC who worked in the fashion industry, I don't think she would purposely hurt her readers.

Anyways, with that out of the way, I will say that I enjoyed the book. I finished it pretty fast, and despite its heavy themes and dark plotline, it felt like a light read to me just because of how fast I could get through it. #FashionVictim follows the story of Anya St. Clair, a fashion editor with high ambitions who will stop at nothing until she is at the top of the ladder and 'belongs' in the industry. Without giving out spoilers, Anya is honest to god such an unsettling and terrifying main character. While I empathised with her in some ways ( i.e. Akhtar makes some pretty good points on intrusive thoughts via Anya ), she definitely was NOT someone who I would root her. Despite that, I think that being frustrated with her and being absolutely terrified by her was what made the story.

I think that other than the lack of trigger warnings, I also had a bit of an issue with the wording of some of the sentences. There was a lot of use of terms like 'OMG' & "WTF', which I didn't mind too much, but some of the excessive abbreviations ( especially when not done in a dialogue context ) took me out of it for a bit. However, in the grand scheme of things, I'd say that that is pretty minor compared to how fun of a read this book was.

This was a good, high-fashion crime read, and if you love a good murder plot in the midst of a fashion magazine with a LOT of subtle digs and commentary at the real world fashion industry, this is for you.

Also that ending? That gave me chills. I wonder what that meant....

Have you ever daydreamed about a mash-up between The Devil Wears Prada and American Psycho? Me neither, but I tell you what: it really, really works.

This book is so far out of my wheelhouse. I hated American Psycho so much (don’t trust a boyfriend who says it’s his favourite book – blech), but I’m always intrigued by unreliable narrators, and I loved The Devil Wears Prada, so my curiosity got the better of me when it came to #FashionVictim. I was a little worried in the opening chapter that it would be too graphic for me, but in the end I found even the murders much less disturbing than I thought I would. The story is utterly compelling and I had to force myself to put it down to go to sleep!

The cut-throat world of fashion magazines is a great setting for a murder mystery, but a mystery this is not. We know from the very beginning that Anya, our protagonist, is completely unhinged and responsible for the deaths. What keeps the story rolling along is Anya’s voice, which is fascinating – friendly, but psychotic. She’s a wonderful study in unreliability, and I was thrilled to watch her justify her actions. You’re not exactly rooting for her, but you’re fascinated and can’t look away.

The violence here is mainly directed against women, but it lacks the sexual overtones that made American Psycho so disgusting to me. Anya kills out of jealousy, insecurity, a misguided need for love – she felt very real to me. I liked the use of the psychiatrist sessions to highlight how very subconsciously aware she was of her own issues. She’s pretty unapologetic, but weirdly understandable? The fashion world makes so little sense that amping the bitch-fighting up to Level: Murder just works – it kind of makes you wonder how Andy never went mental and smashed Miranda Priestly’s head in.

I also loved the cutting take-downs of social media and bloggers. I used to be a fashion blogger. I know that shit. No one ever tried to murder me, but damn was it competitive and jealous. Anya uses Instagram and Twitter as a vital tool in her plans to deflect suspicion, and it added a lot of dark humour to the situation.

Basically, it’s fun. Dark, witty, murdery fun. It would make a really great Netflix series, in the vein of Santa Clarita Diet. Four out of five stars for sure!

PS. I’m pleased to report no nightmares last night, so it passes my scare test!

#FashionVictim is the debut novel from Amina Akhtar, a fashion and lifestyle writer who has written for publications from Vogue to Refinery29. The description of #FashionVictim being a combination of The Devil Wears Prada and Dexter was appealing to my eclectic concept of fun in reading. I was provided an ARC copy by NetGalley in exchange for my fair and honest review.

From the beginning, our lead Anya St. Clair is presented as an unreliable narrator. Stating herself that she needs medication in the prologue. The first chapter breaks into a violet fantasy that straddled the line of reality and making you believe the worst has happened before pulling you back. Despite this, I found myself sympathetic to a character who's coming from behind and entering a difficult industry solely on her own merit (or at least ingenuity). I wanted her to do well - at work. I didn't want her personal life to be falling through the depths of madness.

Anya is a clear case of the anti-hero. There is no real good guy in this story (ok, maybe one). As Anya herself points out, the fashion industry is cut throat, maybe just not this cut throat. (There are just too many killer puns to have fun with here.) You root for her, you want her to meet her goals. There's nothing actually Dexter like in her, she's no anti-hero killing off bad guys, she's feeding her own madness.

Akhtar's writing is fun and witty. She's not dragging you down a dark path, she's pointing out the directions and your running after ready to find out what pops out from the next corner. I would say this book is great for anyone who liked the Pretty Little Liars tv series. Especially if you occasionally rooted for A.

Final verdict: #FashionVictim is fun. It's fast paced and you're never dragged down by lengthy exposition. You find out everything in due time, but there's enough ground work that it flows. I'm looking forward to seeing where Akhtar goes from here (and if she feels like telling us more of Anya's story, I'm here for it).