The Wrong Girl, by Zoe Foster

The best thing about Australian chick lit is that it is Australian, meaning local readers of the genre can enjoy the cultural familiarity – no translation required. Zoe Foster’s characters are well drawn and their relationships are largely believable. The use and abuse of drugs and alcohol is a strong underlying theme that is very relevant to contemporary Australia, but the sexual references are surprisingly coy. At its best Foster’s writing is wryly amusing, but every aspect of the plot is completely predictable. Set in the world of TV chefs, The Wrong Girl is entertaining enough - in the manner of fast food – easy, tasty, but ultimately not really satisfying. Overall it is pretty bog standard chick lit, so it’s surprising that it is apparently being filmed for channel 10. Just goes to show that success really is about who you know.