Amanda Wakes Up - by Alisyn Camerota (Paperback)

"Entertaining." --People

When Amanda Gallo, fresh from the backwater of local TV, lands the anchor job of her dreams at FAIR News, she thinks she's finally made it: a six-figure salary, wardrobe allowance, plenty of on-air face time, and a chance to realize her dreams, not to mention buy herself lunch. Instead, she finds her journalistic ideals shredded as she struggles to keep up with the issues in a ratings-crazed madhouse: battling for hair and makeup time; coping with her sexist (but scathingly handsome) coanchor, Rob; and showing Benji Diggs, her media maestro boss, that she's got what it takes.

As the news heats up in a hotly contested election season and a wildcard candidate, former Hollywood actor Victor Fluke, appears on the scene, Amanda's pressure-cooker job gets hotter while her personal life unravels. Walking a knife's edge between ambition and survival, and about to break the biggest story of her career, Amanda must decide what she's willing to give up to get ahead--and what she needs to hold onto to save herself.

Review Quotes

"Camerota combines her TV insider's knowledge with a flair for comedy and hot-button issues in this entertaining story of a journalist who gets her dream job."
--People

"Amanda Wakes Up uses a breezy story to provide an insider's guide to a closed world."
--The New York Times

"When Amanda Gallo signs on for the job of her dreams at FAIR news, she expects a life-changing career move. What she finds is chaos, vipers, and relentless competition. You'll laugh, you'll cry."
--Glamour (The Best Books to Read This Summer)

"Amanda Gallo is my kind of girl: funny, self-aware, and unable to resist a makeover. Who knew there was so much good drama behind the perfectly coiffed talking heads we see every morning on cable news? I held my breath through the whole book as Amanda made her fierce and fabulous way through this crazy media maze. I loved this novel."
--Lauren Weisberger, author of The Devil Wears Prada and When Life Gives You Lululemons

"A hilarious, eye-opening glimpse into the TV-news trenches, from one who's had to navigate them backwards and in heels."
--Samantha Bee, host of Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and author of I Know I Am, but What Are You?

"Amanda Wakes Up [is] flat-out terrific: think 30 Rock meets The Devil Wears Prada, only with dimension, heft, and a timely message about women in the workplace. Amanda Wakes Up neatly straddles the beach-read/book-club divide; you can enjoy it as a frothy office comedy, and/or you can appreciate it as an authoritative exposé of newsroom culture. I did both, and I loved every word."
--A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

"It is no surprise to Alisyn Camerota's devoted viewers that she would write a smart book with real warmth and a shrewd, perceptive eye. Amanda Gallo's struggles to maintain her heart and mind in the jungle of TV news make for sly fun, enlivened by a revealing, behind-the-scenes perspective. Like all of us, Amanda is trying to make it in the modern world with a little integrity and humanity. Thanks to Camerota, she succeeds on both counts in this always entertaining fictional debut."
--George Hodgman, author of Bettyville

"A fast-paced romp through the world of broadcast news and politics that feels oh so real. Alisyn Camerota is surely psychic as she takes us through Amanda's--and our own--coming of age."
--Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle and The Book that Matters Most

"Amanda is my favorite heroine to come along in a very long time. Every page crackles with the tension of this surreal moment in politics and media, and Amanda's earnest and honest efforts to juggle ambition, morality, and matters of the heart will suck you in from the opening chapters. Alisyn Camerota holds back nothing in delivering a novel that is steeped in perfectly accurate details about a life on live television and the universal desire to have it all."
--Nicolle Wallace, author of Eighteen Acres and Madam President

"Devil Wears Prada meets Newsroom . . . A perfect summer read."
--Cupcakes and Cashmere

"If anyone has the talent to write an innovative narrative about the realities of working at a popular cable-news station, it's Alisyn Camerota. . . . Amanda Wakes Up is an energetic and sometimes surprising look at the life of an ambitious news anchor. Readers' loyalties will swing back and forth as different characters' perspectives are introduced into the story line. At its core, the novel offers a lot of comedy, a touch of romance and a healthy dose of what it means to weigh ambition against truth."
--Associated Press

"A fascinating glimpse at a highly curated world . . . Journalism and entertainment blur in this story of a rising cable news star who lands her dream job only to see her life unravel around her. . . . Amanda has echoes of Bridget Jones as she walks a confounding line between ambition and bewilderment."
--Kirkus Reviews

"With a plethora of parallels to the most recent U.S. election, Camerota's timely send-up will engross readers from both sides of the political spectrum."
--Booklist

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