People writer Julie K.L. Dam takes on the world of high fashion in her debut book, Some Like it Haute. Set in Paris during Fashion Week, Dam’s main character, Alex Simmons, a fashion journalist, is in town to cover the runway shows for her magazine. In between dressing to the nines, hobnobbing with giants in the fashion world and making a fool of herself on national television when she collides with a supermodel, Alex runs across a mystery and meets the man of her dreams.

The mystery is one reclusive designer, Luis-Heinz, who has disappeared. Along with her friend Lola and her former high school French teacher Jacques, Alex investigates the designer’s disappearance and quickly gets herself into hot water. Her investigation is compromised by Nick Snow, the man of her dreams who has a secret of his own. Will Alex be able to find the designer (and write a story about it) and find love in the world’s most romantic city?

Unfortunately, unless you’re incredibly into high fashion, you probably won’t find Alex’s struggles in Paris all that interesting or entertaining. Filled with name-dropping and endless talk about fashions that probably ninety percent of readers will never even dream of affording, Some Like it Haute quickly becomes tedious and annoying. Alex is not that interesting or deep of a character and her obsession with expensive shoes comes off as snobbish rather than endearing.

The plot is pretty thin as well, filled with fashion shows and crises involving not being able to find the right shoes to go with an outfit. When the action starts happening near the middle of the book, readers will have probably already lost interest and won’t much care if Alex finds Luis-Heinz or gets together with her clichéd dream man. Unless you’re as obsessed with haute couture as the book’s main character, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere for an entertaining chick-lit book.