#FashionVictim: A Novel

Written by Amina Akhtar

Narrated by Bailey Carr

A darkly thrilling take on the fashion world―and soon to be a major television series on E!―#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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Sep 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781978630123

Amina Akhtar

Amina Akhtar is a former fashion writer and editor. Her satirical first novel, #FashionVictim, drew critical acclaim and was covered in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Martha Stewart Living, Entertainment Weekly, Fashionista, Book Riot, CrimeReads, and more. Akhtar has worked at Vogue, Elle, the New York Times, and New York Magazine, where she was the founding editor of the women’s blog The Cut. She’s written for numerous publications, including Yahoo Style, Fashionista, xoJane, Refinery29, Billboard, and more. She currently lives not too far from the Sedona vortexes.

Reviews for #FashionVictim

[kakini · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dark & delightfully wicked fashion. The narrator ... amazing! #Totes

[Sarah Landis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was so good! I loved listening to this book being narrated from Anya’s point of view. She’s crazy but has no clue! It was so fun being along for the ride and watching what she’d do.

[michelle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Anya reminded me of a female Joe Goldberg from 'You' with her attitude towards life. the story was interesting and pretty quick in pace although i did find some of the writing a little cringe. That said I'd listen to a sequel.

[akbouterse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think I liked this? Very different than what I was expecting because I knew almost nothing going in but very interesting.

I think I found out about this book on Crime Reads so I think I was expecting a bit more of a traditional mystery or thriller. That is not what this book is. The tone of this is quite satiric and overwritten in a way. There is no traditional mystery here really. Luckily, I enjoyed what I did get from this book so this mismatch of wasn't an issue for me. I think a lot of people wouldn't like this book but I imagine that an incorrect expectation might be part of why this book has such a low rating.

Some of the critiques I saw of this book is that the characters are horrible people and that Anya, the main character, is completely unlikable. I don't disagree with those statements but they didn't make me dislike this book. I read the horrific nature of basically everyone in this book as very intentional by the author. I think in order to enjoy this book you do have to kind of appreciate being in the head of someone horrible in order to experience that through a work of fiction. I do like that experience. To be a bit crass briefly, I like to read about fucked up shit happening in my fiction so the fact that these characters were such airheaded caricatures of typical mean girls was a plus to me, not a negative.

I liked how this frame also allowed the author to do something really different than most mysteries. There is a character in this book who is the detective in these murder cases who you can also imagine being the main character in a more typical mystery. I don't know if this was intentional by the author but I loved this element because I could so clearly picture the way twists would have played out from the perspective of this detective.

Even though this wasn't a typical mystery, I thought the twists were well done. I personally would have liked a different ending I think this book would have been better if Anya had actually killed herself at the end rather than her surviving. I think you could have gotten the same conclusions and ending but I would have been more satisfied if Anya had died , but I was still satisfied.

If you are going in expecting a typical mystery, you most likely won't like this book, If you don't like being in the head of really messed up characters, you probably won't like this. If you don't like satirical writing and characters that are mostly caricatures in order to make some point about some industry, in this case fashion, you won't enjoy this. I really like all of these things, so I did enjoy this. If you go in with the right expectations and you like those same things, I think this could be a book you would really enjoy.

[sboren-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I purchased this book in my @bookofthemonth box and read it with my bestie @mycornerforbooksand. All opinions are my own. ???? #fashionvictim by Amina Akhtar. Who knew the world of fashion was such a cut-throat industry. ?? The cover of this book says it all Bitches get stitches........people die.......heads will roll....and magazines will still get published and publicity the more of it the better the sales. So even bad publicity is better than none. Anya is obsessed with Sarah and Sarah is obsessed with being Queen Bee and Celia had to manage them all. What a shocking story of twists and turns and death. Review posted on Instagram @borenbooks, Library Thing, Go Read, Goodreads/StacieBoren, Amazon, Twitter @jason_stacie and my blog at readsbystacie.com

[jess_reads_books · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Anya St. Clair is one of the up and coming fashion editors working for La Vie. She has worked hard to get where she is. Changed her name. Bought a wardrobe worth thousands of dollars. Enhanced her resume. Stepped up her social media game. Killed a few people. Sarah Taft sits the next desk over from Anya and instead of working to get the same position, it was given to her just because of who she is. Sarah comes from a wealthy, prominent family. She was destined for life in the limelight since birth with her perfect hair, perfect body, and perfect ability to work the crowds. Anya desperately wants to be her friend. Her best friend. BFFs.When their boss, Celia, throws out a competition between Anya and Sarah for a promotion, Anya can feel her destiny coming true. This is her chance and she’s willing to do anything for both the promotion and her friendship. The problem is in order to win the competition, she must beat Sarah and the only way to beat Sarah is to become Sarah. Just how far will Anya go? What will happen to those who stand in her way?#FASHIONVICTIM is being promoted as American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada and I cannot think of a better comparison! Anya leads the reader through the book as the narrator, but you never can be sure of Anya’s point of view. Let me make this clear, Anya is not the unreliable narrator you’re thinking she might be. She’s so much more! Anya is calm, cool, and completely murderous. She’s exactly what I would dream up as a female version of Patrick Bateman. Akhtar does a fantastic job of dropping the reader into Fashionlandia and life as a magazine editor. Everything from frenemies, to the Lauren-bots, to Instagram, to Botox. Each detail is incredibly well done that you feel like you’re watching a movie while reading. It’s so rare to find a comedic aspect to crime fiction, but #FASHIONVICTIM delivers the goods! There are absolutely laugh out loud moments within these pages without being overdone or detracting from the story. Once you pick this one up, be prepared to binge read!A special thank you to Crooked Lane Books for providing me a free copy of this book!

[titania86_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Anya St. Clair is clawing her way to the top of the fashion industry as a writer. She needs to be just a little bit thinner and prettier to make it to the next level, being invited to the most exclusive parties and fashion shows with front row access. The person she simultaneously puts on a pedestal and identifies as a rival is the flawless and beautiful Sarah Taft. Success and fame come to Sarah effortlessly while Any works hard to fall short. Anya wants to be her best friend, be her, and destroy her all that the same time. To claw her way to the top, she has to take the cutthroat nature of industry literally.#FashionVictim is kind of like You meets The Devil Wears Prada with the dark humor and social commentary of American Psycho. Everything is pitch perfect, hilarious, and biting. Anya St. Clair seems like a struggling fashion writer at first. Her name is never recognized or found on a list right away and her seat is never in the front. She's tagged in hideous Instagram pictures and constantly teased about her weight. I thought I knew what to expect until she had visions of an assistant with a shard of glass in her eye that turned into a real murder. Anya decides to solve her work problems with murder. Toss in her very unhealthy love/hate obsession with Sarah, the woman whose every move is front page fashion news, and things couldn't be more uncomfortable.As she spirals out of control, Anya still completely follows the fashion industry and their ridiculous expectations. She doesn't really fit in, but she's willing to break herself to do so. Over the course of the novel, Anya's troubled background and delusions become more apparent. It starts with small comments like her recognizing the sound of bones breaking to more obvious things like being annoyed with typical police questioning. Her delusions include hallucinating her victims around her and considering the police investigator an interested suitor. The story bounces from her normal work experiences to her creating obsessive collages to her carrying out her planned murders. It plays out like a slasher film from the perspective of the killer with a large dose of black humor. Every detail drew me in and proved to be different than other killers.The fashion industry comes out looking pretty terrible here. Everything is extremely superficial and nothing is based on merit. People only care about weight, fashion labels, and accessories. Conversations are riddled with backhanded comments, cruel gossip, and vapid subjects. All out screaming is only acceptable at very top along with outright abusive treatment. The book also touches on institutionalized racism within the industry that has companies not wanting to be branded "ethnic" and hiring one person of color per department to basically not be sued. When the body count piles up, most people aren't bothered. Sarah makes particularly cruel comments about the murder victims, which makes me root more for Anya even though she's a literal murderer.I read #FashionVictim in a day because the story just grabbed me and ran. The world of fashion felt alien and cruel, not too different from Anya's twisted mind. With both, certain people have no value and are treated accordingly whether that's screaming and basically being treated like a slave or murder. This book worked for me on every level. It's a biting commentary of the fashion industry that brings in pitch black comedy. I would love to see it as film because it's untreaded waters and could be super fun. Highly recommended.

[montzaleew · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

#FashionVictim by Amina Akhtaris a book I requested and the review is voluntary. This book has Mean Girls marries Dexter and you get the main character in here. It is a dark, odd, but good book but....it does have murder (gory scenes), racism, fat shaming, and bullying. There is dry humor, dark humor sprinkled through the book. It is a strange subject, fashion, to have murder going on but it works. Interesting and disturbing, funny at times and hated it at times, a one of a kind!

[cherylk_44 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a book that I wanted it to work. In fact, I held out hope as each page was turned and I got further and further into the story. However, I just got more frustrated by the characters. Both Anya's boss and her co-worker Sarah were both horrible. They were true "mean girls". Which I might have been able to brush aside if the rest of the book had been great. Yet, it was not. Anya, herself was not impressive. She was not such a go getter as she is a follower. The fashion world I imagine can be tough and maybe full of some fake and catty people but if they are all like the ones in this book, I would be running as fast as I could out the door. There was really no joy for me in the characters that I wanted to keep reading. Therefore, I put the book down.