Everyone Worth Knowing
Lauren Weisberger
 Shaken by the news that her best friend Penelope has gotten engaged to Avery, who neither she nor Penelope's other friends think is right for her, Bette Robinson suddenly quits her job at UBS, the investment banking firm where she has worked in the five years since she and Penelope graduated from Emory. However, she does little to find a new direction in life until her uncle Will, an aging nationally syndicated entertainment columnist, introduces her to event planner, Kelly. Shortly thereafter, Bette finds herself working for Kelly's firm, Kelly & Co., planning parties, eating and drinking at the city's most fashionable night spots ... and becoming a regular subject of a popular online gossip column, whose anonymous author seems determined to link her romantically to wealthy playboy Phillip Weston. While she does find Phillip somewhat attractive, much like the heroines of the romance novels she secretly indulges in, and the association becomes of great benefit to her in her new job, she is later drawn to Sammy, a bouncer at Bungalow 8 who turns out to be from her hometown of Poughkeepsie and harbors ambitions of being a chef. The two connect on a trip to Istanbul, and Sammy's culinary skills impress Bette's parents, former 1960s radicals, on a Thanksgiving trip back to Poughkeepsie. But he, too, is tied to a wealthy socialite, and dreams of escaping the high life to open a small restaurant. Bette, meanwhile, finds herself growing distant from Penelope and her other friends, and must choose between the person she once was and the one she is becoming.