THESE GIRLS

Book excerpt: Cate, Renee, and Abby have come to New York for very different reasons, and in a bustling city of millions, they are linked together through circumstance and chance. Cate has just been named the features editor of Gloss,a high-end lifestyle magazine. It's a professional coup, but her new job comes with more complications than Cate ever anticipated. Cate's roommate Renee will do anything to nab the plum job of beauty editor aGt loss. But snide comments about Renee's weight send her into an emotional tailspin. Soon she is taking black market diet pills, despite the racing heartbeat and trembling hands that signal she's heading for real danger. Then there's Abby. Once a joyful graduate student working as a nanny part time, she abruptly fled a seemingly happy life in the D.C. suburbs. No one knows what shattered Abby or why she left everything she once loved behind. Pekkanen's most compelling; true-to-life novel yet tells the story of three very different women as they navigate the complications of careers and love - and find the lifeline they need in each other.