Working, networking, selling, buying, exploiting, guiding, ignoring, destroying, The hunters and the hunted. “Good and bad people having fun, and also not. Rich and famous people and all the models and photographers partying, drunk, high, doing things that they won’t remember. When talking about some secret photos Iris comes across of parties from back in the day when she was modeling she describes all the people in the photos. I hope that this isn’t extremely prevalent today, but you never know and I’m sure some of this does still go on – at least to some extent. Being blackmailed for sexual favors in exchange for not being blacklisted by fashion houses and magazines. High on drugs to stay thin or awake enough to work nonstop shooting for campaigns, walking in runway shows, being seen at all the parties that you need to be seen at to keep your career. Models who look so put together, beautiful, carefree, and glamorous on the page (or on social media these days) may be taken advantage of behind the scenes.

The author, Eugenia Melian, has a background as a model and agent so although Wildchilds is fiction I’m sure she drew upon experiences or things she has seen/heard over the years. It’s an interesting look in to the dark side of that sort of life and how there is a down side and wickedness to the glamorous lifestyle that seems to be portrayed. I found the novel really interesting especially since I am so in to fashion, pop culture, and the culture of “celebrity”. Not only does Iris have to face the past she ran away from and has avoided thinking about all these years, but she must also face an enemy from her past to recover the photographs and Gus’ legacy before he does. She hasn’t been back to Paris since she abruptly left 16 years ago nor has she seen Gus since then and now he is gone.

She is left his estate which includes his collection of work – Gus, her ex, was a famed photographer – but she must travel back to Paris to find and recover it all. Wildchilds by Eugenia Melian follows Iris, a former model, as she copes with the death of her ex-boyfriend and father of her teenage daughter and all the memories his death brings. But when I finally started it I was hooked and tried to fit in time to read whenever I could. I was sent this book months ago, but it got kind of lost amidst the sea of books I have to read.