Even after living in NYC for 5 years, those days still come along that feel like a New York fairytale. They’re the days that I literally dreamed of as a little girl. And a few weeks ago, I got to experience one of those days while celebrating the release of the new novel Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford.

The day started when I headed uptown to DryBar in the Le Parker Meridien. I had heard rave reviews about DryBar before but had yet to try it myself, so I was excited for the experience. A handful of other bloggers (including Jessi, yay!) and I were greeted with cookies, coffee and mimosas, followed by being pampered with a great hair wash and blowout.

I loved DryBar and would definitely recommend it, especially before a special event or night out.

After DryBar we all headed around the corner to The Plaza Hotel. Yes…THEE Plaza Hotel.

I had only been to The Plaza twice before but only for their spa, so I was pretty thrilled when I found out we’d be doing the classic tea/lunch there.

It was pretty much a girly girl’s (AKA me) dream. Adorable tea sandwiches, mini desserts, and of course delicious tea.

We were joined by author Stephanie Clifford, and it was such a pleasure to get the opportunity to talk to her about the new book. It was casual and relaxed, and she was so easygoing and fun to talk to. We asked her more questions about the book (which we had all previously read) as well as her inspiration, her background (as a NY Times reporter!), etc.

To give you a brief idea of the story, here’s a synopsis in author Stephanie Clifford’s own words from our lunch.

Everybody Rise is a book about fitting in and figuring out who you are…it follows a 26-year-old named Evelyn. She’s from Maryland, she moves to New York and is trying to find her place here. She ends up thinking she’s found it when she falls in with this old, money-set driven job. In order to fit in there, she begins lying-she changes the way she dresses, she changes the makeup she wears, she changes her hair. The lies quickly get bigger and bigger until she has to reckon with the sort of made-up life she’s come up with.

It was important to me have a heroine who wasn’t redeemed or rescued by a man. She gets herself into a ton of trouble, and she’s the one who has to scrape herself out of it in the end. It’s also a story of mothers and daughters. It’s sort of fitting with having tea at the plaza because one of my favorite scenes in the book is Evelyn at age 10 visiting New York with her mom for the first time. Her mom is there to revisit her own glory days, and at tea Evelyn can’t do anything right. Her mom is like, “No. No. No. No lemon in there. Cream in there. Don’t hold it like that, Evelyn.” That sort of anxiousness in wanting to please her mom builds a lot of what happens later on, 16 years later when she’s a young woman in New York. She’s still trying to gain acceptance, still trying to be seen because she was never quite seen by her mom.

I must admit that I’m typically not the biggest fan of fiction novels. But I’ve got to say that I seriously loved Everybody Rise. It was a fun summer read, which was much-needed since I’ve been traveling so much over the past few months. I loved the storyline, especially since I could relate to the whole “newbie in NYC” aspect of it.

If you’re looking for a new read, you should definitely check it out. You can also enter to win a copy of Everybody Rise of your own by leaving a comment below! Tell me the best book you’ve read lately. I’ll choose a winner on Monday 8/31 at 5pm EST and contact them directly. Open to U.S. residents only, ages 18+.

Good luck!

*** Congrats Janel - you’re the winner! I just emailed you for your mailing address ***