NEW RELEASE
The Temp - Emily Benet (2014)
Amber works as a temp and frequents art gallery events with her best friend, writer Farrell, purely for the free booze. Seeing the conceptual art on display, she ponders that there's really no reason she couldn't produce something similar and make a name for herself. When Amber comes across a discarded sack of bananas at the catering company she's working at, she may have just found her vehicle. Using guerrilla tactics across London establishments, soon her pretentious art instalments are fast gaining her attention while she's out to impress art patron Elliot. This was originally published on Wattpad as Spray Painted Bananas - a name which suits the story a lot more than its published title. Amber's temping work doesn't really feature at all - apart from giving her the impetus and time to work on becoming a conceptual artist. Overall, this had a great concept and it sort of works - and it sort of doesn't. Like art, it will all come down to the eye of the beholder. The love interest, Eliot, was horrid right from the word go - and there wasn't a lot of convincing chemistry between Amber and her other choice either. Have to file this one under great premise, not quite sold on the finished product.
The Temp, the new novel by Shop Girl Diaries author and blogger Emily Benet, is about a temp who decides to become a conceptual artist. The summary says: "Amber is a twenty-something, out of university with a degree she's not sure what to do with ... so she temps in order to earn enough money to live in London. One of her favourite life-hacks is to attend modern art gallery openings for free wine. It is during one of these that she thinks 'if they can do it, why not me?', and meeting a handsome gallery promoter cements her ambition to become famous through her art. With the help - and sometimes hindrance - of her friends Farrell, Bibiana, and Egg (short for Egbert), can Amber achieve her dream AND snag handsome Elliott?" The Temp, which is also published as a seven-part series and was known as Spray Painted Bananas on Wattpad, is out in October 2014.