I read BOTH book 2 and 3 so you don’t have to – and I just watched the The devil wears prada 2, and I have the rundown for you. I will try and not spoil the second movie’s plot (nobody wants this, even if you think you do!), but there will be spoilers of the second book – it is after all COMPLETELY different from the movie. And for the ones that are interested, there’s a small summary of book 3 – Emily’s story. (And if you didn’t know – YES, there’s a third book and it tells us Emily’s story after book 1&2.)

The devil wears prada

Just as a refresher: the movie changed a lot about the book to make it more palatable to Hollywood standards. Andy is much more innocent and an underdog we want to root for in the movie, while in the book her choices come off as heartless ambition (or dare I say realistically selfish?) And her boyfriend Adam (not Nate) is a teacher (not a chef) and not the villain the movie set him up to be. (Or our new 2026 perspective views him as.)

The second book builds on the first book and not on the movie (obviously), the roads diverge and we have two entirely different stories.

Revenge wears prada: the devil returns (book 2)

The book opens a decade after Andy quit Runway and is about to marry Max Harrison a descendant of a notable media family; rich and handsome is understating it. The union being against his mothers wishes knocks Andy a bit off balance. 

From there we travel back and forth in time seeing how she met Max, and joining forces with Emily to start a new bridal magazine called “The Plunge”.  As Andy marries her prince charming and finds out she’s pregnant, the magazine becomes a success and they end up back on Miranda Priestley’s radar. 

The company behind Runway now wants to buy into their magazine but keep the staff, but they have to sign a contract stating that Runway has final say. For Andy this is a non-negotiable. She doesn’t want to be under Miranda’s thumb yet again, but Emily sells her out, goes to her husband Max who is an investor and behind her back they make the deal. Leaving Andy betrayed by her best friend and her husband, leaving behind her marriage and her magazine and becoming a single mom without a job. And that’s when she runs into her ex Adam (or Nate, as he is called in the movie.) 

The book came out in 2013 and the fans of the first book and the movie didn’t particularly like it. Reviews are mid and only a small fraction of readers even bothered to pick it up. 

Personally, I kind of liked that not everything worked out just like she wanted. It’s more realistic that she gets a divorce, gets betrayed by a friend, goes back to an ex because that’s what feels safe after you’ve experienced betrayal. The main problems I had with it was that the writing wasn’t great and the endless descriptions of fashion didn’t work with this storyline. While in the movie – it works because it’s visual and doesn’t disrupt the story. 

But then again, the movie took a different approach to Andy’s story.

The devil wears prada 2

The movie begins with Andy at an awards ceremony and winning an award for her investigative journalism just seconds after she and the entire staff of her paper “Vanguard” is fired via text. She uses her acceptance speech to give a rant on why real journalism f****** matters. 

Simultaneously, Miranda Priestley is being blamed for Runway endorsing a fashion brand that is exposed as a sweatshop. To aid in handling the crisis, the owner of the publishing house above Runway -Irv Ravitz – hires Andy as features editor to do damage control. 

Andy reunites with Miranda and Nigel at Runway and their first stop is to Dior to ensure they keep their advertisers amid the scandal. At Dior they meet Emily who is now a senior executive, and thus the gang is all back together again. From there the movie jumps from one smaller story to the next within the main story of saving Runway’s reputation and trying to survive the death of print media in general. 

Andy tries to get on Miranda’s good side by bagging an exclusive interview with a closed off celebrity divorcé played by Lucy Liu. Miranda tries to get back on Irv’s good side so he will give her that promotion he’s been promising her before the scandal hit. Andy meets a new love interest. Emily meets a new love interest. Nigel still gives Andy access to great fashion. 

There’s also a small scene where Andy toys with the idea of writing a book and her friends say she should write a gossip book about Miranda to which she responds she couldn’t do that or she would never be hired ever again, which I felt was a (unnecessary) slight to the author of the books. The author who has since moved out of the country with her family on to a trawler and has left the industry behind completely aside from publishing an article in Vogue looking back on 20 years of the book taking on a life of its own. It’s a great piece and I recommend fans read it for some valuable insight into the life of the creator. You can find the piece online on VOGUE – Life after the devil wears prada by Lauren Weisberger.

I won’t spoil any more of the main story, but I will say this – it still has a great supporting cast with Tracie Thoms returning as Lily, Simone Ashley as Miranda’s new first assistant, B.J. Novak as the heir to the publishing house, Kenneth Branagh as Miranda’s fourth husband to name a few.

It is also PACKED with cameos: Lady Gaga, Donatella, Marc Jacobs, Jenna Bush Hager, Heidi Klum, Winnie Harlow, Ashley Graham, Jon Batiste and many MANY more! So keep an eye out!

It also does a lot of self referencing to the previous movie, which is fun for the fans. I gave it a 10/10. It was all I could possibly want from a sequel and I thought it was very smart to have it center around the current media climate, the death of print media and how problematic AI is, while also giving us the fashion moments, a walk down memory land and and a look into the industry as a whole.

When life gives you lululemons

In the third (and hopefully final) installment of the Devil wears prada we get Emily’s story after her and Andy part ways. (Honestly the third book was better than the second, as is also reflected in the average reviews.)

If anyone cares about where Emily ends up, here’s a short summary of it. Sadly, she ends up as a secondary character of her own book. Can you imagine not even being the protagonist of your own story? 

Mother of two living in Los Angeles, Emily is working as an image consultant/publicity manager when she’s called back to New York to deal with a crisis. But her client ditches her for a younger up-and-comer and starts questioning everything. 

She goes to seek some consolation from her friend Miriam, a Harvard attorney turned stay at home mom with her own problems. She hasn’t had sex with her husband in a long time and she’s gained some unwanted pounds. 

While in Greenwich Miriam’s friend and previous supermodel and a senator’s wife Karolina is stopped by the police and arrested for a DUI. Her husband who has presidential ambitions throws her under the bus in the media to secure his own image. 

Together the three women work the Lululemon scene to rework Karolina’s image, investigate her husband and use some powerful allies to succeed. 

I enjoyed the book mostly because of Miriam and Karolina. Emily got a little lost in the group for me because I don’t see her having authority as a leader. She’s a follower and one that can take advantage of a situation, but she’s no pioneer. She ends up doing a complete 360, ending up back at runway. Which is kind of sad.