4 out of 4 stars
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With its stunning cover art and shocking opening words, The Creatives is a hilarious “chick lit” novel by new author Lindsay Lewis. Set in modern Los Angeles, Lissy Swanson works as a lowly data entry clerk for a prestigious advertising agency, and she has two simple dreams in life. One: become one of the “Creatives,” the more glamorous and respectable team members who lead the advertisement campaigns. Two: experience ultimate satisfaction in the bedroom. While the latter remains perpetually unachievable, Lissy actually has a chance at becoming a Creative when she wins a product-naming contest and goes on a company holiday to Hawaii.
Unfortunately, life in the “creative” world isn’t as classy as she thought it would be. Lissy still has to deal with her troublesome little sister, her meddling mother, her own unfortunate tendencies to embarrass herself, her best friend’s jealousy, and her potential dream man, all while juggling a new position and a new account with a pharmaceutical company. The Barbie Pill, a new drug that not only prevents skin cancer but also provides its user with gorgeously clear skin, loss of weight, and an increase in libido, sounds like a dream product for Lissy to promote for her first big campaign. However, Lissy quickly discovers the pill’s dark secret, and she is forced to choose between her career or her love life.
From the moment I opened this book, I was sucked into the pages. The opening is extremely attention-grabbing, and I must have sat with my eyes bulging out my head for a good twenty minutes after reading the first few paragraphs. From then on, it was laugh-out-loud hilarious through most of the book, with a few gasps of shock and, “What?!”s of surprises thrown in now and then. Lissy is an excellently developed character, and any scene containing interaction between her and her unique best friend Amir, the gay Muslim, had me chuckling under my breath.
The story is told predominantly through Lissy’s eyes, but every several chapters, a brief side-story appears. The first time this happened, I thought it was some kind of mistake. The humorous story of Lissy and the graphic scene of Abby during childbirth seemed to have nothing to do with one another. However, as the plot progresses, the relationship between these two seemingly unrelated stories slowly unfolds and is then brought together wonderfully by the end of the book. The author did a great job with maintaining my curiosity about this side-story.
While there are a handful of grammatical errors scattered throughout the book, they had little to no effect on my enjoyment of the story. The plot was too enjoyable, the characters were too entertaining, and I was just too enamored with the book in general to even care about such petty details. If I have to say anything negative at all about the story, it’s that Lissy is entirely too nice to her little sister. I would have disowned her a long time ago if I were in Lissy’s shoes.
Because of my overall enjoyment of this story, I gladly give The Creatives a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend this book to anyone who finds entertainment in light, humorous chick lit containing well-written characters. I look forward to reading more from Lindsay Lewis; she definitely has a lot of potential as an author.
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You know I hated that book! 
