Secrets of the Model Dorm — Amanda Kerlin

Welcome to the model dorm, where you're not mad that your roommate, Christiane, is hooking up with a Brazilian male model on your bunk, but that she's wearing your Dior heels while doing it; where the alcoholic Kylie leaves stains from her Metamucil martinis on the carpet; and where you help Svetlana, the Ukrainian cokehead, clean up after her very public nosebleed. You're all beautiful girls, dropped in the middle of the most exciting city in the world, crammed together in a ten-by-twelve bedroom, and you've made the dorm your home -- for better or for worse.


Eighteen-year-old Heather Johnston knows she has been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when she is signed by a premiere New York modeling agency. She leaves her small Virginia hometown dreaming of Vogue spreads and a luxurious loft with a glorious view. Arriving in Manhattan, she is instead given the key to a one-bedroom apartment furnished with bunk beds and IKEA floor samples. Her roommates are girls who are new to modeling, new to the country, or who just aren't making enough money to pay rent anywhere else. Despite their humble quarters, they form an unlikely family. By day they shuttle between castings and shoots. At night they really come to life in the VIP rooms of New York's hottest clubs.


While this world is fast-paced and fun, Heather questions whether modeling is the fairy-tale she imagined it to be. When she gets a part-time job at a prestigious gallery and discovers a passion for art, she starts to reconsider her future. Is she ready to say good-bye to her dreams of wealth and celebrity and follow a different path?