Brooke Parkhurst—self-described "Belle in the Big Apple," former Fox News assistant, Conde Nast blogger, and the blonde next to Julia Allison in our little pin-up shoot—has a chick-lit novel coming out from Scribner in September. Also titled Belle in the Big Apple, we hear that "apparently it had to be padded with 'recipes'—27 of them." That might be a bit unfair, since she's been writing about food for a while now. (Also, the book is subtitled "A Novel With Recipes.") But wait! This blurb sounds fairly autobiographical:

"Bright Lights, Big City" [don't push it! -Ed] meets "Sex & the City"-with 30 fabulous recipes-in Brooke Parkhurst's debut novel about a sassy, food-loving Southern belle who moves to New York City to chase her journalistic star... Belle Lee is a 25 year-old small town Southern girl who leaves Alabama-and the comfort of Granddaddy's newspaper-for the fast-paced, glamorous Big Apple media world. But a career in Midtown and a love life south of Houston (the street pronounced nothing like the Texas city she knows) isn't all that Vogue promised it would be. Belle finds herself at a thankless gig in the mosh pit of a conservative 24-hour news station facing corruption, conspiring co-workers and money-hungry executives intent on fixing the presidential elections. If this is what it takes to be a big time "journalist," she's not interested. In the end, Belle follows her true passions-writing, cooking and writing about cooking-and finds a career, love and, of course, herself.

Sounds like some low-level secrets about Fox News, Parkhurst's former employer, might be revealed. (As well as the secrets behind Grandma's sweet tea.)

[Photo: Nikola Tamindzic]